Orion Premium Draft Beer

Brewery: Orion Beer Company
Style: Rice Lager
ABV: 4.7%
Country: Japan

Went out for a sushi dinner, what better time for a Japanese beer? This came as a big 22oz bomber served in a chilled glass. Pale yellow color with a thick foamy head that was stark white. Mild aroma that was grains and rice. Taste was also mild, more grain and more rice. Nearly no bitterness to speak of. Finish was dry, sweet, and almost fruity and apple-like. Highly carbonated and crisp. A perfectly average beer, nothing to write home about and not worth seeking out, but quite drinkable. C

Purple Haze

Brewery: Abita Brewing Company
Style: Fruit Beer
ABV: 4.20%
Country: USA, Louisiana

Pours a cloudy and hazy orange with a small white head that dissipated quickly. Aroma is dominantly tart raspberry with a hint of wheat flavor to it. Given the amount of raspberry that can be smelled, I was surprised at the little amount of fruity flavor. The raspberry was present for sure, but just in mild amounts. Taste was quite dry with a slick and buttery mouth feel. Finished dry and left a big wheaty taste in my mouth. No bitterness whatsoever at any point. This beer isn't bad by any stretch but at the same time, there isn't anything terribly interesting either. The raspberry is nice but it isn't enough to carry the beer on its own. C

Sierra Nevada Porter

Brewer: Sierra Nevada

Style: Porter

ABV: 5.6%

Not usually a big fan of Sierra Nevada's offerings I was limited in choices from the local convenience store. I went with this due to it being winter even though I was in Florida with temps in the 70s.

Upon initial pour and inspection all I could think was coca cola only it maintained a slight lace once some of the head receded.

The aroma was that of toffee and roasted malt.

Taste wasn't anything to write home about, I didn't get much of anything until about mid mouth. Thats when I could taste the toffee with a slight hint of licorice. Finished off with a short lived bitterness. Mouth feel showed a light carbonation but not the smoothest beer I have drank.

I'm giving this a C, overall average, nothing to special.

-Roy

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Tusker Premium Lager

Brewery: Kenya Breweries
Style: Lager
ABV: 4.2%
Country: Kenya

Not much to say about this one. Pours pale yellow with a thin white head. Light aroma of sweet grains. Good mouth feel, and decent malt presence. Finishes quick and clean with not much else. Its drinkable, but nothing special. Completely average. C

Mikkeller Santa’s Little Helper 2010

Brewer: Mikkeller
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
ABV: 10.9% wooo!
Country: Denmark

It is very ironic that I chose to sip this beer out of a wine glass. When I opened it, it exploded and started foaming like a bottle of champagne. Did I shake it on accident? What the hell happened?

It's color is much like the belgian strong ales that I have sampled in the past. It also has strong "holiday" scents in the aroma. Where it is a departure with the other holiday beers I have sampled, is the carbonation. This beer was OVER-carbonated. It was so carbonated, that it seriously was hard to nail down the tastes in the beer. My wife agreed that it was hard to pinpoint taste notes because of the carbonation.

It actually had a decent aftertaste for being 10.9% beer, but it was somewhat of a letdown since you couldn't taste much in the middle of the sip.

I give this beer a C for some issues with carbonation that led to poor taste.

-Bo