Southern Tier Harvest Ale

I completely forgot about this seasonal brew from Southern Tier while trying their sampler pack. In retrospect, I do notice a taste pattern with Southern Tier, its brews are all golden and hoppy in nature, each one not tasting far too different than the other besides the India Pale Ale which left a gritty aftertaste. Southern Tier brews will leave the drinker thirsty for water afterwards but they do cram a lot of flavors in a bottle.

Young's Double Chocolate Stout

I've seen this bottle many times over but was not a big chocolate fan, well, not enough to drink over a pint of it. I settled on getting one as a dessert type of beer and I think dessert would have been an understatement. This beer is thick and creamy, like there was a chocolate bar blended right into it. There is no bitterness in this one, it goes down easy, and there's no gritty aftertaste. I could easily say this was a full on meal and if it was socially acceptable, you can trade this for a Nutrament drink. Young's isn't domestic but I've seen it pretty frequently in a lot of stores, it's worth trying for chocolate fans.

Smuttynose Portsmouth Lager

The box says, "Make mine a Smutty!" I thought that "m" could be replaced with an "l", or not. I like a good lager because they go great with chips, burgers, and all the foods that would also go great with soda. Smuttynose makes a darker lager than the typical American lagers and it doesn't taste like them. This one doesn't have the carbonation overload and thin density common in most lagers. Overall, this was good, I'd put it up there right below Brooklyn Lager for being great lagers.

Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix

Sometimes, I get this vision that I could bake something and the smell of sweet stuff would fill the kitchen, and whatever it is that's in the oven would be amazing. No, that never happens. For the life of me, I just overmix stuff, not mix enough, or can't tell the tablespoon from the teaspoon. Thankfully, prepackaged cake mixes solve all that mess for poor saps like me who can't seem to get it mostly right. I can't read all the mono-sides and other substances in the ingredients list, but that does not deter me from eating it. After making a big mess, the end result is a chocolate cake with premade icing plastered all over it. It's good stuff.

Butternuts Farmhouse Ale Moo Thunder Stout

I bought a Butternuts variety pack a few weeks back and slowly went through each wacky labeled one. I was a bit surprised a small brewery pushed their product in cans. I'm not biased against beer in cans, but I wouldn't be happy if it arrived in a plastic bottle. I had to try the stout first, partly because I liked the whole happy cow plastered in the front. What does Moo Thunder taste like? I'd have to say it's pretty thin, but in a good way, and I wasn't hit with the sour and bitter at once. Overall, it was a mild one that could have used perhaps a plastic widget to keep the bubbles going. This would probably be great on tap with more carbonation.

Butternuts is from New York, but I'm sure it's possible to find the variety pack in stores along the east coast.