Drifter Pale Ale

I normally don't like pale ales and I try to stay away from them because I fear the "normal" pine hop bite they have. I guess, to be honest, the only reason I grabbed this beer was because I have Widmer Hefeweizen stashed away in my fridge right now. It was a friendly sounding beer because the name was familiar. That's pretty much about it. Drifter Pale Ale sits in at a 5.7% ABV with 32 IBUs. The Widmer Brothers Brewing Company calls Drifter Pale Ale truly an original. Due to it being brewed with generous amounts of Summit hops, a variety known for their intense citrus flavors and aromas, Drifter has a taste unique to the Pale Ale category. True to style, the bittering hops are perceptible enough to give the beer a crisp, clean, quenching finish, yet also soft enough to keep the beer smooth and balanced.




A - Pours an orange-amber color with a frothy white cap. There was pretty good head retention throughout the tasting with decent lacing from a nice ring and cloud that stayed on the top of the beer.

S - Huge aroma of hoppiness and light caramel malts with traces of some pine.

T - A different taste based on the scent. Surpising. Citrus hops are present in the taste which I didn't find at all in the scent, even after I was tasting the beer. The finish is made up totally of bready and caramel malts. It's a great tasting beer, very flavorful, something I wasn't expecting at all.

M - Low bodied and slightly thin. Low carbonation also. Interesting how there's barely any aftertaste, it just rolls right off the tongue.

D - It's refreshing and sessionable. It's crisp and smooth to drink. Although it's a pale ale, it really has no true bitterness substance to it.


Grade - Two thumbs up! I'm not really sure it deserves the pale ale title, but it is what it is I guess. It's not a true pale ale, but a great beer regardless of what it is. I'd definitely recommend this beer to others. It's just a shame it's all the way across the country from me in Oregon.

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.