"Ruben & The Jets" from Lagunitas

Someone at Lagunitas is a BIG Frank Zappa fan. They've created numerous brews in honor of Frank Zappa's albums. This one is "Ruben & The Jets", a "BoppaDooAyDoo" style ale, according to the label. It's a big rich, sweet ale with an alcohol content of 8.6% abv. It poured a deep brown, with some ruby highlights. The head was small and disapeared very quickly. The flavor had plenty of highlights from dark fruit, brown sugar and caramel. It finished with a strong hoppiness that nicely offset the sweetness. Lagunitas does a good job with these bigger beers. I have a couple of other varieties in the fridge for the future.

Petrus Winterbeer

Tonight's beer is from Belgium, brewed at Brouwerij Bavik in Bavikhove. It's called Petrus Winterbeer, and it's my first winter seasonal this year. It poured a medium brown color with a large fluffy white head that diminished rapidly. It's pretty well-carbonated as many Belgian ales are, and is light to medium in body. It's fruity and spicy, with some sweet malt and raisins coming through at the end. I know it's a little early for winter (even though Wal-Mart is already playing Christmas music!) but I have a weak spot for beer bottles with Santa on them. This was a good warmup for the season, and I'll be looking forward to the rich, malty, spicy, syrupy beers to come!

Wychwood Brewery Hobgoblin Dark English Ale

Tonight I chose an import to accompany my dinner - Wychwood Brewery's Hobgoblin Dark English Ale. Wychwood is in Witney, Oxfordshire, England, which has a brewing tradition dating back to the mid-1800's. Hobgoblin is approximately the same color as root beer, with a sizeable cream-colored head. The aroma is mostly toffee and malt. The beer is fruity, and malty with flavors of toffee and raisins. As it warmed up, the sweet toffee became even more evident. It had some hop bitterness and alcohol in the finish. I'm a big fan of malty beers like this, so Hobgoblin was a good choice tonight.

Orkney Brewing Dark Island Dark Ale

This ale surprised me, right out of the gate. I wasn't expecting a smoky ale, but that's the first thing I tasted. From using smoked malt in my homebrew, I believe it is peat-smoked malt used in Orkney Brewing's Dark Island Dark Ale. The picture is dark because of a thunderstorm that was going through here, but you can tell that it poured a deep brown, with a small beige head. Aside from the smoke, I also tasted some roasted malt, some toffee, and even some burned fruit. I have tried several beers from Orkney, and I have been impressed every time. This Scottish brewer has a good thing going. Check it out.

Ebulum Elderberry Black Ale

Ebulum Elderberry Black Ale is part of the "Historic Ales of Scotland" assortment I picked up a while back at Whole Foods. The 4 brews in the assortment were made by Heather Ales in Scotland. Black pretty well describes this ale, as you can see in the photo. When held up to the light, there were some ruby undertones to the beer. It had a small beige head that evaporated very quickly. The beer had a roasty flavor, and a soft creamy mouthfeel. I could smell the fruitiness of the elderberries more than I could taste them. This is another fine ale from Heather Ales. So far, the assortment is two for two - both of the bottles I have tried have been very enjoyable.