Great Lost Bear-- 30 November 2005

Maine Beer Notes


11/30/5

4 tasters (5 oz) .. Great Lost Bear, Portland, ME ….

First one is one I reviewed highly earlier on bottle …. Smuttynose IPA (NH) … 92 … very yummy, clean, nice hoppiness .. .. quite lovely beer ….
Would recommend on tap or bottle….

Second is another I have had before .. Sheepscot Pemaquid Ale (ME) … pretty good stuff … 88… good stuff … pretty rich …

Third … Anchor Steam X-Mas Ale (CA) … very distinctive taste … its growing on me ..… generally a big fan of Anchor Steam … I think I prefer on memory now Anchor Steam (90) and the Porter (92) .. … Not sure how to rate it … I think it’s in the 85-86 range … I will go with 85.5 ….

Fourth …. Harpoon 100 Barrel Stout .. Pretty Good stuff .. 87 … yummy .. drinkable … Nice rich taste .. good stuff.

I like it …

The best of the Group is the Smuttynose :)P

2nd Group of 5 ... The first was Cape Ann's Fisherman's Brew (MA) ... Clean, good very nice taste .. nice beer .. 86

Allagash White Beer (91) ... very distinctive, yummy beer .. like it better on tap than on bottle (85) . Had some in the bottle on Saturday and it was nice but not spectacular ...
Very nice, very distinctive beer .. it is a white so has an almost sour taste.

Allagash Double Brown Ale ... Yummy, very, very good rich .. gave at 89 at the Bear but will give it an extra point for a 90 .. Allagash is a great brewery and I will try any of their beers ...

Stella Artois. .not bad .. 81 ... to me a very, very overrated beer .. some call it the Bud of Belgium ... a little sour .. its OK .... I am not in the cult of Stella .. prefer most other Belgians or American Trappist-style ale

Atlantic Bar Harbor Blueberry ... To me this was the best of the night. I really like this beer, there are blueberries in the beer and it gives it a sweet quality, very, very yummy. A nice ale with blueberries in the flavor. Very Good/Excellent .. 93

I also had a round of 3 Cask Conditioned Beers .. One really surprised me....

The Shipyard Old Thumper Ex. Spec. Ale (cask-conditioned) ... Pretty good ... yummy ... maybe 2 points better then non Cask .. 86 .. Its nice .. not spectacular...

Sheepscot Boothbay Bitter (Cask) ... rich, nice body and flavor ... Quite good, tasty stuff .. 88

The real surpise was the Geary's Hampshire Special Ale .. I am not a huge fan of this in bottle (80) ... But the cask tastes much, richer and smoother .. .its a totally different beer and a very, very good one ... 90 ... Its a full 10 points better on Cask then in bottle... I was really surprised how much I liked this ...

Most likely to order the Allagash Double Brown, Atlantic Bar Harbor Brewery Blueberry (highest rated of the night) and the Geary's Hampshire on Cask, all are very good beer... I was also a little surprised how much I liked the Allagash White on Tap....

Always love going to the Bear, hopefully the internet will work next time.

edmund davis-quinn


edmund