Recently on the Jersey Shore, I tried Troegs Dreamweaver and their Pale Ale from their summer brews pack. One of these beers did not knock me off my seat, but the other one did. Watch to see which one and let me know what you think of Troegs in the comments. It’s amazing how different these two beers are. One is simple and elegant and I was not impressed by the simplicity. The other brought a little more sophistication to the table.

Here’s the rundown of beer.

At the 5:00 mark, we try Grey Lady
At 9:37 we dive into the Pink Lady
At 15:44 we talk about “How to taste a beer” and dive into the Summer of Lager around 18:30.
At 25:55 we tackle the Bailey’s Blonde and the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (for comparison)
The Whale’s Tale Pale Ale follows.

Hope you enjoy the show, let us know in the comments.

Great Divide Samurai – Rice Beer – B+
Great Divide Hades – Belgian Ale – B+
Fat Tire Belgian – Amber Ale – C+
Brasserie de Brageries – La Moneuse – Saison – B+
Dogfish Head – Palo Santo Marron A+

Major problems in the Belching Monkey studios make for a weird ending. Delicious Rock Art Brews are not highly complex, but they are a nice entry level craft beer. Dinosaur Jr. is the featured band.

Rock Art American Red Ale: Rating: C
Rock Art IPA: Rating: C+

Roxy Rolles: Rating: B
Wychwood Bah Humbug: Rating: C+
St Peter’s Winter Ale: Rating: C

As far as I can tell, I am one of the first people to drink Harpoon Chocolate Stout. According to our friends at beernews.org, Harpoon Chocolate Stout is brand spanking new for this year. I found it at a company gathering where it was part of Harpoon’s winter variety pack. I was actually reaching for one of my favorites, the Harpoon Winter Warmer, when it caught my eye. I figured it would be a lot easier to get my hands on the Winter Warmer, as I am certain they sell it in 12 packs, than this diamond in the rough, and knowing that I had Belching Monkey on the front burner, I grabbed the bottle, an opener and my iPhone.

I opened the bottle and immediately noticed the scent of chocolate. which was a little bit stronger than I expected. The vapor has a soda-like quality to it which I was not expecting, but that I should probably have expected from a company who does not normally brew stout.  This is not a bad thing, it usually results in a lighter stout which can be interesting.

This is one of those cases.

Harpoon Chocolate Stout does indeed have a certain carbonated taste about it. Although they claim the chocolate flavor is subtle, it is actually very evident. The beer is quite smooth aside from the carbonation. You could look at that as slight turbulence. I was not certain at first, but after a couple of tastes, I realized that it finishes with a hint of cherry flavor. This is a welcome new seasonal offering from one of my favorite regional breweries. It does not play in the same league as say a Young’s Double Chocolate Stout, but I am giving it a 79. I see room for improvement, but given that Harpoon is better known for IPA, this was a very courageous effort.