Beer Reviews

Kona Brewing Co’s: Big Wave Golden Ale
Location: Hawaii
Beer Advocate Score: 81
Our 2 cents: A very light malt profile with a pleasant tropical hop flavor and aromas. One of my all time favorite beers. Get a 12 pack or a case cause this beer is refreshing and easy to drink.

Cismontane Brewing Company’s: Coulter IPA
Location: Rancho Santa Margarita
Beer Advocate Score: 83
Our 2 cents: One of my favorite IPA’s from OC. Low malt profile with plenty of hop aroma and flavor. A great every day IPA.

Noble Ale Works: Naughty Sauce
Location: Anaheim CA
Beer Advocate Score: N/A
Our 2 cents: One of Noble Ales newest brews. A white milky stout with coffee flavor and aroma. This is easily one of my newest favorite beers. I could drink it all day long. It has a nice malty body with a strong, but very nice coffee flavor and aroma. If Starbucks made an expensive beer, this would be it. I hope this becomes a regular at noble.

Cismontane Brewing Co’s: The Citizen California Lager
Location: Rancho Santa Margarita
Beer Advocate Score: 84
Our 2 cents: Cismontane’s The Citizen California lager. This reminds me of a old german lager. Malty, bready with a little hop. I would assume a california lager would be lighter, clearer, and with citrus hops.

Old Orange Brewing Co’s: Thumb Master IIPA
Location: Orange CA
Beer Advocate Score: N/A
Our 2 cents: A decent IIPA. A little more malt flavor than I like and not enough hop flavor and aroma. It doesn’t let the hops shine.

Old Orange Brewing Co’s: Old Dummy Ale
Location: Orange CA
Beer Advocate Score: N/A
Our 2 cents: A nice amber ale or strong ale, with lots of malt flavor and low hop presence. For a 9.3% alc beer, it is surprisingly easy to drink.

Lagunitas Brewing Co’s: Wilco Tango Foxtrot
Locations: Petaluma CA
Beer Advocate Score:88
Our 2 cents: A decent strong ale. Lots of malt sweetness with a hoppy bit. You have to be in the right mood to really enjoy this one.

Tallgrass Brewing Co’s: Buffalo Sweat Oatmeal Cream Stout
Location: Manhattan KS
Beer Advocate Score:85
Our 2 cents: A very flavorful, smooth, oatmeal cream stout that is really easy to drink. Grab a few of these, they will be gone before you know it.

Lagunitas Brewing Co’s: Bavarian Style Dopple Weizen
Location:Petaluma CA
Beer Advocate Score: 91
Our 2 cents:An interesting beer. Lots of banana and clove. I’m not a big fan of the kind of yeast used in this beer. Besides the strong yeast flavor, the beer was good.

Russian River Brewing Co’s: Pliny The Elder IIPA
Location: Santa Rosa CA
Beer Advocate Score: 100
Our 2 cents: It is said, this is the best beer ever made in the history of beer. It is delicious. The best part is the hoppy after taste. However, I don’t believe it deserves a score of 100. Mid to high 90′s for sure, but for my taste, there was more malt flavor than I expected.

Epic Brewings: Spiral Jetty IPA
Location: Salt Lake City UT
Beer Advocate Score: 77
Our 2 cents: A very nice IPA. Low malt profile with a nice citrus hop aroma and flavor. Beer Advocates Score is not accurate. This should easily be in the high 80′s – 90′s.

Caldera Brewings: Hopportunity Knocks IPA
Location: Ashland OR
Beer Advocate Score: 81
Our 2 cents: With a name like Hopportunity Knocks, I figured it would be some kind of heavy hopped IPA. However, its basically an amber made with centennial hops. Lots of malt flavor with little hop bite and aroma.

Eagle Rock Brewery: Populist IPA
Location: Los Angeles CA
Beer Advocate Score: 85
Our 2 cents: A very well crafted IPA. Low malt profile with a well balanced hop bitterness and flavor. A little more bite and this would be a perfect IPA. I would recommend this to anyone.

Left Coast Brewing Co’s: Hop Juice IIPA
Location: San Clemente
Beer Advocate Score: 80
Our 2 cents: A nice IIPA, but a little malty for me. I think it would taste better if they dailed back the malt profile.

Port Brewing Co: High Tide Fresh Hop IPA
Location: San Diego CA
Beer Advocate Score: 91
Our 2 cents: Nice hop aroma and flavor with mild bitterness. Nice and crisp, refreshing warm weather beer.

Port Brewing Co: Hop-15 Ale
Location: San Diego CA
Beer Advocate Score: 93
Our 2 cents: Nice citrus hops and low malt profile. Makes for a good IIPA. However, its chunky. I wish they filtered the beer, or maybe it was just my bottle.

Stone Brewing Co: 16th Anniversary IPA
Location: Escondido CA
Beer Advocate Score: 86
Our 2 cents: Not the best IPA to come from Stone. The balance is off between the hops, malt, and yeast. For an anniversary beer, I think they missed the mark.

Bayhawk Ales: Chocolate Porter
Location: Irvine CA
Beer Advocate Score: 64
Our 2 cents: The BA score is way low. This chocolate porter won bronze in the 2011 WBC, so it cant be that bad, right? Very refreshing porter with low hops, great malt profile, and a slight chocolate taste.

Fort Collins Brewings: The Incredible Hop imperial black ale
Location: Fort Collins CO
Beer Advocate Score: 84
Our 2 cents: Dark, heavy, hopped beer. This one was good for a couple gulps, but was hard to swallow.

Ballast Point Brewing Co’s: Sculping IPA
Location: San Diego CA
Beer Advocate score: 98
Our 2 cents:A very well balanced IPA. Love the hop aroma and flavor. A must have. It is considered one of the best IPA’s ever.

Ninkasi Brewing CO: Believer Double Red Ale
Location: Eugene OR
Beer Advocate Score: 86
Our 2 cents: Very malty with a hint of black malt. Low hops all around. A good beer for malt lovers.

New Belgium Brewing: Shift Pale Lager
Location: Fort Collins CO
Beer Advocate score: 84
Our 2 cents: Surprisingly delicious. Low bittering hops with great flavoring hops and slight aroma hops. Reminds me of a budweiser, but with more hop flavor. Pretty easy to drink, crisp and refreshing.

Firestone Walker Brewing Co: Union Jack IPA
Location: Paso Robles CA
Beer Advocate Score: 94
Our 2 cents: A nice IPA. More bitter hops than flavoring and aroma hops. I wish there was more flavoring hops. But all in all, a nice IPA.

Karl Strauss Brewing Co’s: Tower 10 IPA
Location: San Diego CA
Beer Advocate Score: 83
Our 2 cents: Great IPA. Nice bittering hops, not over powering. Very smooth flavoring hops with little aroma. Buy a few of them because they go down easy.