Little Scrapper IPA

Today I'll be reviewing the Little Scrapper IPA from Half Pints in Winnipeg Manitoba.

       Pours a dark orange/copper hue with about 1.5 fingers of light, fluffy, just off white head. Pretty good retention and as it dissipates it leaves patchy lacing that continues down the glass as you drink. 

       Smell is fruity citrus hops (mostly lemon and some grapefruit) with a small note of pine.  There is a strong toasted malt background with maybe a little bit of caramel present as well; this smells like a really balanced and not too hop forward IPA.

        The taste starts with strong juicy citrus hop flavours similar to the aroma with a moderate amount of pine and bitterness dominating. This is then followed with a really strong toasted malt backbone with a slight caramel note to it to really balance out the hops.  The finish is another round of moderate citrus and pine bitterness that's not overwhelming and doesn't linger as long as one might hope.

        It has a medium body and not a ton of carbonation which adds a bit of smoothness rather than the lingering bitter or dry notes sometimes present in IPA's. As stated earlier the bitterness dies out a little quicker than is ideal.

        Overall a pretty decent IPA.  Really evenly balanced without any one particular overwhelming characteristic.  It has pretty decent drinkability as well even with the slightly heavier than normal body and could be a pretty decent session beer.  If you're just starting to get into IPA's and don't want to destroy your palate with a hop bomb this would be a good choice to start out with.

Final Grade:
Style:
Appearance:  4/5
Aroma:          4/5
Taste:            4/5
Mouthfeel:     4/5
Drinkability:   4.5/5
Overall:         82/100

Preference: I prefer an IPA that is either quite citrusy and a bit of a hop bomb or a superbly done traditional English style IPA. This offering fell a little in between for me although I can see what they were aiming for and it is by no means a bad beer.
Final grade: 78/100

-The Bear

New Years Eve Review: Anchor Porter

Anchor Porter: 5.6% ABV Anchor Brewing Co. San Francisco, CA

Served from a bottle into a standard American pint glass. Pours dark, almost black, with only hints of red/mahogany on the edges of the glass. The head is about two fingers high and an off white tan colour. It is creamy and has great retention and lacing. The lacing is patchy and goes to the bottom of the glass.

The aroma is of light coffee and roasted chocolate malt up front and moves to a light fruity sweetness in the finish. Over all a light aroma but very good.

The taste starts with dry roasted malts with hints of chocolate and light caramel. It hits an dry point in the middle and starts to smooth out into a nice finishing with almost fruity sweetness. The sweetness is a little to much at first but as you let the beer warm it all balances out perfectly and the sweetness dissipates. All in all a little to sweet though for a classic porter.

Mouth feel is medium/light with a medium amount of carbonation which works well with the flavour. It drinks very smooth and would work great for a sessionable beer.

Over All Style Rating: 8/10      Personal  Rating: 8.7/10

- The Ass

First review: St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout

Alright here it goes the first of hopefully many reviews to come.  St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout is brewed by McAuslan in Montreal Quebec and is an excellent beer for all you stout lovers out there.


         Pours jet black. There's no light getting through this beer at all. Leaves about 2 fingers of thick creamy head in a light tan colour that leaves awesome lacing all down the glass as it dissipates down to about a half finger that sticks around for the whole beer.  The smell is full of burnt and roasted malts up front backed by a healthy dose of coffee with some lighter notes of chocolate. There seems to be a little bit of vanilla just barely making itself known.  The taste is very similar to the smell with all those burnt and roasted malts dominating up front followed by coffee and chocolate.  The finish is bitterness from the burnt malts mixing nicely with a faint hop bitterness that lingers just a little.  Despite the colour and flavour profile of this beer it's not overbearingly heavy in body.  A perfect amount of carbonation mixed with the velvet like feel imparted by the oats help to give the beer a slightly heavy/medium body.

       Overall this is an awesome beer, a great representation of the style and one of my all time favourite beers.  The lighter than expected body makes this beer more than capable of being both a session beer or a nice sipping beer too.  If you like stouts and other dark beer and have a chance to pick this one up I'd highly recommend giving it a try.

We're gonna do final grades according both to the style and to our personal preference. For the style grade the beer will be graded on appearance, smell, taste, mouth feel/body, and drinkability; it will also get an overall grade. For our preference the beer will only be assessed an overall grade.


Final grades:
According to style:
Appearance  5/5
Smell         4.5/5
Taste            5/5
Mouth feel 4.5/5
Drinkability   4/5
Overall    92/100

According to my preference:
Overall    98/100
-The Bear