Key West Sunset Ale

I hadn't had a beer from the local Florida Beer Company up until this point, so when I saw that they were being represented with this beer at EPCOT's Food & Wine Festival, I jumped all over the opportunity. I wasn't really expecting anything spectacular besides your average local beer. Sunset Ale is classified as an American Amber Ale with a tropical twist. Florida Beer Company brews it with pale and caramel malts. They also blend it with hops to create a crisp satisfying taste. FBC describes the beer as "more dark than light" and "more malty than hoppy." I can't find the ABV anywhere, so I have no idea the %.




A - Reddish amber in color, Key West Sunset Ale is easy to see through, as it lacks any type of cloudiness. A small white head and ring form upon pour but dissipate rather quickly and leave no trace.

S - Upon first smell you get a good whiff of citrus and caramel malts. After deciphering the scent more there's a slight presence of grainy malt hidden.

T - The taste actually follows the scent pretty well. The first response to the taste is grapefruit which gives way quickly to what seem like out of place caramel malts. The finish is full of floral hops and grain. In my opinion it's a truly odd pairing of tastes, but it's not bad. (I didn't say it was great either.) It's just unique.

M - Low to medium bodied with low to medium carbonation. It's got a smooth texture to it. Easy on the palate.

D - It's a drinkable beer, definitely. Seems like a good beer to be out on a hot day, which is when I was able to taste this. It's not something I'd want very often. Heck, it's not a bad beer but I'll probably never have it again. It's not extremely appealing to me.

Grade - One Thumb Down.. I guess it's a bit unfair of me to label this as a one thumb down beer, but based on me not wanting to drink it again, albeit it's not a bad beer, it has to have some type of negative grade.

Samuel Adams Cream Stout

I normally stay away from stouts.  Heck, I stay away from dark beers in general.  I have no idea what persuaded me to try this beer.  Maybe it was the cream title that was attached to it, who knows?  Sam Adams says, "The cappuccino of beers. Roasty, smooth and sweet.  Samuel Adams® Cream Stout is a true cream stout, balancing body and sweetness, with the natural spiciness of grain and hand selected English hops. Our brewers use generous portions of roasted chocolate and caramel malts as well as roasted unmalted barley to impart a fullness of body, a roasty malt character and rich, creamy head. Its dark, mahogany color makes it almost as easy on the eyes as it is on the palate."   It's totally something under normal circumstances that is complete turn off to me.  Even when the girl poured it, I laughed.  I had no clue what I was getting myself into.



A -  It was like looking into the night sky.  Black like water in the Gulf of Mexico.  Frothy and fluffy tan head with tons of lacing.  Based on first look, it seems like a BIG beer that is going to be very filling.   I was shocked it find out this was only 4.9% ABV based on the look. 

S - Roasted coffee is the dominant scent in this brew.  There's also hints of chocolate and caramel stuffed in here as well.

T - A chocolatey coffee taste hits the tongue on first taste.  It's a pretty bold taste, but what surprised me is the sweet vanilla finish which I was a huge fan of.   The sweet vanilla in the finish also gives way to a sweet milky taste.

M - Full bodied and creamy.   Very little carbonation if any at all.

D -   If you like the taste, it's a very easy beer to drink.  Goes down without a fight.  Due to the full taste and feel of the beer, I'm not sure you could drink a whole bunch of these.  It's more of a dessert.  One or two of these and you'll be full and satisfied.

Grade -  I'll give it a thumb up.   I don't know if this is a ridiculously good stout or if my palate is finally accepting dark beers.     I'm just glad I went away from the ordinary and actually tried this beer.  I was rewarded nicely.

Leffe Blonde

Let's get this straight.   I've pretty much disliked every Pale Ale I've ever had.   I didn't even realize Leffe Blonde was a pale ale until I looked up a little information about it a few minutes ago.   The website says the following,  "Abbey of Leffe blonde beer is a highly fermented beer to be savoured. The ingredients are light malt, corn, water, hops and yeast, which give it a bright golden colour with dazzling reflections. The alcohol content is 6.6 %, the ideal serving temperature 5° to 6 °C. As a bottled beer, it is to be savoured with pleasure, as a draft beer it is thirst quenching. The taste is full, sweet and fruity (with a hint of bitter orange), and the after-taste is powerful and surprising."   Maybe I've had an incorrect understanding of what a pale ale is, but I've always thought a pale ale had the sharp pine tasting hops.   Maybe this is different due to it being a belgian pale ale.   Well, onto the review to find out if I liked it or not..




A -  I'm not sure why, but I've always thought Leffe was a witbier.   I was wrong obviously, and boy was I shocked when the girl poured it and it was a golden amber color.   It had a nice fluffy finger head that stuck around for a minute or two.   The beer was "sticky" as it had some great lacing on the cup as I was drinking it.

S -  It started off with a sweet scent which surprised me due to it having a darker color than what I was expecting.   The sweet scent gave away quickly to a spicy, pepper-like scent which was much more of what I was expecting.

T - Tastes different from the smell definitely.  There's an initial clove taste on the tongue.   Afterwards it's followed up with some grapefruit and banana.  The finish is spicy with a slight hop bitterness.

M -  Light bodied with high carbonation.   It's really bubbly upon first taste but the finish is more smooth.

D - Light flavored but complex at the same time.   The ABV is hidden quite well which makes it a pretty drinkable beer.  I'd definitely drink it again.

Grade - Two thumbs up.  I hate pale ales for the most part, and can't believe that I stomached this one, let alone enjoyed it thoroughly.

Radeberger Pilsner

As most of you already know I'm doing an internship with Walt Disney World right now which has drastically cut into my beer reviewing lately.  I just don't get the time to sit down for an hour, enjoy a beer and then give my thoughts.    Yesterday though, I got the opportunity to attend Disney's Food & Wine festival at EPCOT which also has quite a bit of beer.   I had the mindset going in that I wanted to try a handful or two of different beers so I could treat you guys to multiple reviews as an apology.  I succeeded.   The next few reviews will all be from beers that I had yesterday.  Some were better than others.

Radeberger Pilsner

I neglicted to get a picture of the Radeberger Pilsner so I'll just include a stock photo of it.  I aplogize.

Radeberger Pilsner is a German Pilsner, brewed by Radeberger Exportbierbrauerei (yeah a complete mouthful), and it has a 4.8% ABV.   Radeberger suggests that it's ingredients are pale malt, aromatic anad bitter hops, with soft water and yeast.    Radeberger really stresses that they are state of the art when it comes to their beer and put a lot of time and effort into making quality "perfect" beers, with their pilsner being no exception.


A -  Pours a clear yellow color similar to corn.  A one finger soapy style head that dissipates rather quickly and leaves minimal lacing.

S - Bready malts with sugary citrus.   There's also a hint of yeast and some bitter hops.

T - Bitter front that gives way to sweet citrus and sweet malts.   The finish is dry and grainy.

M -  Light bodied beer with medium carbonation, which is ideally how a pilsner should be.

D -  It's an average tasting beer, but when you combine that with it being light bodied and a <5% ABV it leaves it pretty drinkable.  I'd find it more desirable if it didn't have a grainy finish/aftertaste.

Grade -  One thumb up.   It wasn't a good/great beer.   It was okay.   The only thing I didn't like about the beer was the finish taste of the beer.

Genesee Cream Ale

I had a lot of fun when I pulled a review out of left field and went macro and reviewed Pabst Blue Ribbon. I've been waiting awhile to follow it up with another macro from the same level. In Buffalo, I always looked at Genesee Cream ale and snickered and would walk by. That was until I found out that Genesee Cream Ale was in Orlando, for some odd reason. I figured I just HAD to pick up a 12 pack because of this. Perfect opportunity to do another beer review of a adjunct lager. Despite it being a Cream Ale, it's definitely an adjunct lager. But who am I to tell Genesee they are wrong?

A little history on the "award winning classic."

In the old days, there were ales and there were lagers. Ales were flavorful. Lagers were smooth. And never the twain did meet.

Until Genesee Cream Ale. And then the twain met head on to form an American Original with the flavor of an ale and the smoothness of a lager.
Cream Ale is unique. Then. Now. Always.

* We skillfully warm-ferment Genesee Cream Ale with our own signature top-fermenting yeast.
* During the aging process, every batch of Cream Ale is krausened to achieve an uncommonly smooth character.
* The process results in Cream Ale’s remarkably creamy white head and a body that is far more distinguished than standard American lagers.

5.2 ABV which seems slightly high for your standard macro. No complains by me, I normally find the better tasting beers to hover around the 5.5 ABV area.




A - Standard straw colored macro looking beer here. Very minimal lacing, and what lacing there is, dissipates rather quickly. Very minimal head on the pour that also dissipates quickly. I wasn't really expecting anything different, so I can't say I'm disappointed.

S - Not a very strong scent is present here. Adjunct corn and some malty sweetness pretty much sums it up.

T - Slighly metallic grainy flavor. Slight hop bitterness mixed with adjunct corn flavors. Finish is dry, zesty and clean.

M - Low to medium bodied. Closer to medium than to low. Carbonation is present, but it seems "right." Seems like just enough, not overdone.

D - Very drinkable beer, as most adjunct lagers are.

Grade - One thumb up. It's good for what it is. Genesee Cream Ale is very similar to Pabst Blue Ribbon in my opinion. Both beers are poked fun at, but if you compare them to the standard BMCs, they are clearly better, and even cheaper.