Rogue Brewery || Yellow Snow IPA

Yellow Snow IPA | Bottle | A+> | Anthracite - Wilkes-Barre, PA | 11APR12

Tons of small floaters; confetti. It's a party and yet the bottle/label looks so docile/proud/triumphant/proper/stern. It's as if the depiction on the LABEL is the post party or victory whereas the BEER is the pre-, or "during" what happened to cause the label mood. I can't help but feel like by opening the beer and pouring it out, I let out the chaos that had just finally been contained. I just opened a prison and many lives were lost in vain. I feel like everyone involved in capturing this thing walks out from behind stage, takes a bow and the audience erupts in applause; it was all in good fun. At the first taste I feel like I'm at a Furthur show or RatDog show. The explosion of that-kind-of-hop is amazing. I don't know how they captured it. It's PURE HEMP and it tastes so damn good. In fact, I was able to envision myself searching for a case of this ASAP. It's bitter, oh yes it is, but the sweetness dives through a hoop like the dog on the label. It had such a fresh and clean refreshing taste; think "Terrapin So Fresh, So Green". These both have the same fresh cut grass on a hot humid morning in summer. Chewy. As with Rogue Dead Guy Ale, these both have a quality that I cannot put my finger on. It's different. It's probably the hops used... Amazing.
I raise my fist to you in peace, Rogue. This is my second interaction with this and I enjoyed it way more this time for some reason. Maybe it's the good company... 

Patch Block || Cabernet Sauvignon 2008

Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 | Screw Cap | C+ | | 07APR12

Going in, I knew that this wasn't going to be anything special. To tell the truth, I didn't even realize that it had a screw cap until I got home. Knowing that prior-to, I wouldn't have gotten it. Anyway, as I said, going in I wasn't setting the expectations high. Pouring looked quite similar to the others of this type: Deep red, and purple at the edges that fanned out to and eventual transparency. Upon the first sip, there was NOTHING UP FRONT.... NOTHING!!! At the back was a bite and some nice berries. I almost didn't even have anymore. Literally, it tasted like water up front. It was such a weird thing. Intrigued, I left the cap off to get some air in there and sure enough it helped bring out the up-front over time. Now I was able to say some more. I was getting hints of butterscotch at times, but it was ever-so-slight. It was quite different and I did like that. As for the rest of it, it was kind of hard to drink... Not the worst and CERTAINLY not the best. 

Would I buy again? NO. Not unless there wasn't anything else available.

Unibroue || Terrible

Terrible | Bottle | A | Wegman's | 05FEB12

Looks like "cola" and definitely the same mouth-feel save for carbonation (which was definitely present, just not as prominent). Upon first smell, there's a Gushers candy rush that eventually [as delta "t" would govern] becomes unripe/green banana, (getting wierder) confetti-popper party favor smoke, slight sour cherry/blueberry-brawling. There's a TOUCH of mojo-hand, or black pepper up front that's very hard to detect... I definitely got lucky in that I got it. The flavors immeditely exposed are sour berries and their respective juices. It all seems to rest upon some type of wet wooden foundation. Not jungle, but more like a wood shack in the moist rolling grren hills of somewhere-Belgium; genuine. With that being said, that familiar "Belgi-american" water is present, but this time it's more Belgian than American. The lees are directly connected to every drop (which is a good thing). This beer is chaotically aromatic yet contained in the bottle. To Unibroue: Good job taming/capturing this feral beer.