Mix-and-Match 6 Pack --week 2

"There's no such thing as a bad beer, some are just better than others."
       --Andy Wofford

That's one of the pearls of wisdom I remember from my father. I remember as a kid always offering to get him a beer when we were working outside, and of course to be polite after taking it out of the fridge in the garage I'd open it and take a sip. Had to make sure it hadn't gone bad, it was the least I could do. I don't remember what he was drinking back then, we were living in Hampton, New Hampshire at the time, it could have been a good old Budweiser but I could be wrong.

On to this week's M&M 6 pack. I didn't have any theme like I did last week with the wheat style beers, I did try and step out of my comfort zone and try something new to me. So here we go, this week's selections are (left to right):

• Breckenridge--Oatmeal Stout (Denver, Colorado)
• Stoudts--American Pale Ale (Adamstown, Pennsylvania)
• Ommegang--Three Philosophers Quadrupel Ale (Cooperstown, New York)
• New Belgium--Snapshot Wheat (Ft. Collins, Colorado)
• Thirsty Dog Brewery--Twisted Kilt Scottish Style Import Ale (Akron, Ohio)
• Flying Dog--Doggie Style Pale Ale (Fredrick, Maryland)

I will admit that I haven't sampled all of my selections for this week, I'm saving the Ommegang to try with a buddy of mine when we brew our graham cracker beer (watch for the future posting).

I did a better job of taking a picture of each of the brews after I poured them. I returned to two of the breweries that I enjoyed last week, Ommegang and Flying Dog. The oatmeal stout and quadrupel ale are the "out of my comfort zone" beers. Normally I do not like a dark beer and have shied away from them in the past because I assumed that all dark beers are very bitter. However, I move forward with an open mind, it's a lot easier to buy a single beer to try it rather than commit to a six pack. 

To start with I had the Breckenridge Oatmeal Stout. This is a dark, just about black beer. At first I thought it was too bitter, but you can't judge well from a single sip. As I continued to sip I liked this beer more and more. I was surprised that it wasn't a heavy beer, it was somewhat creamy and very enjoyable. Consider my preconceived notions broken. I want to try Sam Adam's Cream Stout, I would have purchased it this week but they didn't have it in the single bottles. I will definitely drink this one again.

Wow that's dark!

The next one I had was the Twisted Kilt Scottish Import Ale from Thirsty Dog Brewery, local brew!!! I was first surprised how dark this one was, I was expecting more of a amber/red ale, this one was dark, check out the picture below. This one was good! It had a great flavor, not heavy, went down nice and smooth. I'm going to research Thirsty Dog Brewery and see what else they brew and being so close I think a tour is in order.

I like the picture of the label!

Next up was the New Belgium Snapshot Wheat Beer. It is an unfiltered wheat beer, so it has a hazy appearance. I will admit I was disappointed with this one, it was okay didn't excited me. It was no where near as refreshing or smooth as the Ommegang Witte or Flying Dog Hefeweizen. I would not buy this one again. 

I next tried the Flying Dog Doggie Style Pale Ale. This was pretty good, a bit of a hoppy taste to it but not unpleasant. It was very similar to the in taste to the Stoudts American Pale Ale that I tried tonight. In fact they were so close in flavor that I probably couldn't tell the difference in a blind taste test. 

Very good flavor, it will find it's way into my fridge again.

The Flying Dog was slightly less hazy than the Stoudts.

That sums up what I have tried so far this week. Sometime this week I will be brewing my next beer, I'm going to be brewing a rasberry wheat beer. Hopefully all goes well, until next time....