Founder's Double Trouble Double IPA - Founder's Brewing Company

http://www.foundersbrewing.com/the-lineup/double-trouble

Founder's Brewing Company in Great Rapids, Michigan is growing to be one of my favorite brewing companies in the United States.  Their Backdoor Bastard Ale, a thick high gravity beer aged in bourbon barrels, is one beer that I will drive to another town to get (you can get it at The Brick Store near downtown Atlanta, GA, that is where i first encountered it.)  Needless to say, I have high expectations for their double IPA.  Extra hoppy and  high gravity, these types of beers go beyond what a traditional IPA does and is turning in to a mark of quality  for a brewing company.  The better their double IPA, the better the overall brewing company is.

Sight - What a great head for this beer!  You can tell this beer is fresh as can be with the insane amount of carbonation that is happening within the glass.  Not even a Coke has this much carbonation, and this is a good thing.  This beer has a fresh from the tap sight, even brewing keg, and hopefully smell and taste.

Smell - Right when the cap of the beer is removed, the aromas of fresh hops is released, even before the beer is poured.  Smelling the beer straight like any other beer overwhelmed me and proved to be very potent.   I do not recommend do this unless you want your head cleared.  Overall, this smell again shows the freshness of this beer.

Taste - Be wary, beer drinkers, this is an excellent tasting beer but it is not for those who have no idea what an IBU (this beer stands at 86 IBU's, extremely high) is or have never had an IPA.  The bitterness of the beer hits you at first, but slowly sizzles out, more prominently in the after taste of the beer.  Once the intense bitterness subdues, the true flavor of the beer  reveals itself as a heavily hopped beer that means business.  The high gravity (or alcohol content) of the beer also hits with the bitterness, but is a welcomed relief.  It is an effective mix of alcohol, bitterness, and carbonation, just what people expect from a double IPA.

Overall - This beer is meant to sipped at a snail's pace.  The high alcohol content and IBU should ward away anyone who tries to down this in under 10 minutes.  Take an hour to drink this one, it gets better the more it breaths.  Plus this is a fresh beer that has not been setting on a store's shelf for a long time.  Its great taste should remain all the way through January, so go grab some now.

4 out of 5 cheers!

Guinness Draught in a Can - Guinness Brewing Company

http://www.guinness.com/en-us/thebeer-draught.html?gclid=CJ7A7O6Ruq0CFQXd4AodfnVHBw#

Guinness Draught
The legendary Guinness Draught stout.  Nothing shows to the world that you are a serious beer drinker, and perhaps a serious man, than ordering one of these on tap.  Sadly, living in Boone, fresh Guinness kegs are extremely hard to come by.  Because of this, I am forced to go for a can (sorry Arthur Guinness, you must be rolling in your grave).  The team at the brewing company does not simple can and ship, they supply the can with plenty of features to try and keep the stout fresh as possible.  This includes a little ball that sits right below the tap that guarantees a fresh tap that will produce the legendary head of Guinness.  But is this can worth the investment, or are you better off waiting for a fresh keg from Dublin hitting your town?

Sight - It's a can.  It looks appealing....but we will see.

Smell - Surprisingly, this can preserves the mighty smell of Guinness fairly well.  You know it is a Guinness from smell alone, but it is not as fresh as the keg.  The unmistakable barley that is used in stead of malts in this beer are preserved well enough.  It still has a slight flat smell to it, which is not good for the beer.

Taste - Sorry Arthur, your famous stout should just not be canned the way it is.  The taste is just insulting to the grand brand of Guinness.  The legendary head is just lost.  Completely.  One good thing that the can offers is the slight more dryness that the can provides due to extra fermentation that happens in a can over a keg or bottle.  The dryness maybe be a turn off though for people who never have had a Guinness before.

Overall -   If you have never had a Guinness from a keg before, do not buy this at all.  Go find a keg and enjoy!  If you are huge Guinness lover and there are no kegs around in your town, pick up a four pack of this and semi-enjoy!  This beer in a can fixes a hankering for a Guinness if you have one, but don't let it be your first.  Just like any other first,  it needs to be the best possible or be forever scarred for the rest of your life.

1 out of 5 Cheers!