Upper Hand Brewery might not be a brewery that you’ve heard of, but they have a heck of a pedigree. Upper Hand is a division of Bell’s and was founded by Larry Bell himself, with the mission of trying to brew beers with a lot of personality of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. So since this is an IPA, is it going to be like Bell’s Two Hearted? Watch to find out more!
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Violin Monster is Arbor Brewing Company’s Fall Seasonal Stout. I’ve never had Violin Monster and I think part of has to do with this fantastic label redesign. I’m happy to see now that Arbor is putting much of it’s beer in cans because I feel like that’s helping on a couple fronts – it’s helping to let everyone know how fresh the beer is, and I feel like it’s also helping with the consistency. What does that have to do with my review of the beer? Watch and find out!
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I don’t know how many of these are going to come out, or if we’ll see a Brut IPA explosion like we saw in the last two years with the New England style, but the exciting thing about Brut IPAs are that they’re new, and they’re popping up all over the place. This time I have Oddside Ales Brut IPA, Caged Wisdom (Yes, Arrested Development fans…) so with this being only my second Brut IPA, I only have Brewery Vivant’s Champion Brut to compare it to, so what’s different? Watch and find out!
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Pumpkin beers seem to be a binary choice in the craft beer world – love them or hate them, there are few people that fall in between. I personally don’t mind them, as long as they’re done well. I figured as it was getting closer to Halloween, I should probably try my first pumpkin beer of the season, and what better way to start than with Saugatuck Brewing’s Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Pumpkin Chai, which is brand new for 2018. This is officially listed as 2018 Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Pumpkin Chai, which is another release in Saugatuck’s Bourbon Barrel Aged series, which joins prestigious company like Beam Me Up Stouty and BBA Neapolitan Milk Stout (which I NEED to get my hands on). So which side of the fence am I on with this Pumpkin Beer? Watch and find out!
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When I think of Bell’s beer, I think of more traditional styles, like Expedition Stout, Winter White and Two Hearted Ale. What I don’t think of is a New England Style IPA, and that’s exactly what I have here today – Bell’s first EVER!!! New England Style IPA, Side Yard Ale. They decided to not go too crazy with different hop varieties and stuck with Chinook hops, which were freshly harvested from their very own hop yard. This is a wet-hopped NE IPA, and those chinook hops went from harvest to boil in just 4 hours! Holy Logistics, Batman! So how did Bell’s do with their first NE IPA? Watch and find out!
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