My favorite: Sum­mit Black Ale

Mmmm beer. 2011 was a good year for it. Over at my beer blog, 195Bottles, I com­piled the best and worst of the 300-some beers I reviewed over the last 12 months. For those that pre­fer to cut to the chase, here’s my high­light and lowlight:

Sum­mit Black Ale
Sum­mit Brew­ing Com­pany
Amer­i­can Black Ale | 6.50% ABV

4.47/5
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | over­all: 4.5

A lit­tle research shows this is the same brewer that made up the very very tasty India Rye Ale last year. This beer does what many dark ales fail, or at least fail to mas­ter, the bal­anc­ing the lighter upfront hoppy notes with the rich dark malts. This beer smells like fresh grape­fruit and cit­rus fruit sit­ting on top of toasty cocoa bar­ley. Yum. The fla­vor fol­lows up with a big­ger malt kick and hint of wheat and caramel sneak­ing in as the pine and orange peel build on the choco­late malt through­out the fin­ish. This is one of the best black IPAs I’ve had, right up with, maybe above, Deschutes’ Hop in the Dark.

Palma Louca Pale Pil­sner
Cerve­jaria Kaiser
Ger­man Pilsener | 4.50% ABV

1.95/5
look: 3.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2 | over­all: 2

I hope nobody is seri­ously call­ing this mess a Ger­man pil­sner. I don’t usu­ally walk away from a beer, but I left nearly half of this at the bar. This tasted like well water with lemon cookie ground up and mixed in. Yes, the body was watery. No, it wasn’t refresh­ing or pleas­ant. Steer clear.