All about Eden
Eden is a member of Odin DBRD.
Eden has logged 3283 beers a total of 4295 times.
Eden's favorite beer so far seems to be Fremont Brew 1000: 
(logged 2 times)
(logged 2 times)Eden's most often logged beer so far is Firestone Walker Parabola Imperial Stout: (logged 16 times)
(logged 16 times)Eden's favorite type of beer seems to be Stout.
Eden's Log
Unexpectedly dominant guava juice flavor in this hazy IPA. Could be that my palate was a bit burnt by the KBS, but this worked really well.
Roast coffee, not too sweet, light but present bourbon. Did not seem nearly as punchy as 12% ABV would predict. Pleasantly surprised by how understated this felt after the strong sweetness of CBS.
Described as a stout with banana, strawberry, chocolate and vanilla, and it basically meets all of the above. Sweet and desserty, syrupy but not cloying, it tastes exactly like a fudge banana split. I don't love super sweet beers, but this was surprisingly enjoyable.
Lightly roasty porter with some faint coffee notes and a round lactic smoothness. Pretty tasty, although the finish is a little sour/tacky on the back of the throat.
Resinous hop opening, pretty dry, although some sweet cereal comes in near the end to mellow things out. Fizzy enough that it stands out.
Fairly bitter, somewhat rooty. Served at typically warmer cask temperature with also-typical flatness; lots of hop oil collecting on top. Yeah, nah, not so much.
Medium roast, coffee-centric. Smooth from the nitro but characterful enough. Again, the barrel character was almost nonexistent. This wasn't going to win any contest against the Splinters, but it was a nice, lighter followup.
Smooth, buttery caramel and strong bourbon. Goes down disturbingly easily. This seems like two years in a row where the Splinters take has been very good.
This was good. I only rated at the time, didn't write notes, so I can't say more than that, except that I remember thinking this was as expected for Firestone Walker.
Sweet but light nitro stout. Bit of a cereal milk quality. Very pleasant, if not distinctive.
A forward, sharp tartness, some followup chocolate, and a whole lot of authentic blackcurrant flavor. This was very good. I don't quite remember what the original Tart tasted like, but I have the strong feeling that this was better.
This was really good, although all told it was more red wine than beer. The stout was pretty hard to detect through all of the dry grape and brett funk. Rounded, only slightly bitter, with a lingering grapey fizz. This split opinion, but I liked it.
A bit raw in its hit of whiskey but otherwise a pretty good barrel-aged scotch ale. If it's reminiscent of anything it's Goose Island's Cooper Project Scotch.
A hazy, fruity IPA but with a sweet, slightly buttery cereal finish that really mellows out this beer. Still pretty bitter but I think it was my favorite of the night.
Very bitter, hoppy dark lager. This year's version is a lager for the first time in a long time, and I'm not sure I like it.
Dry, pleasant IPA with a bit of resin tang right at front. Nothing screams "fresh hop" about this beer, but it is tasty.
A mild, tropical IPA that has is smoothed out by the unusual step of added vanilla. The vanilla doesn't necessarily taste very fancy, but it still works, I think.
Medium sweet medium thick chocolatey stout, slight cherry, more hop dankness than I’d like.
Tart, intensely peachy, pie spice. Interesting overtone of wood smoke.
Surprisingly good despite a clover character I don’t usually enjoy. A little rooty, a little nutty, toffee/caramel. Like a candy brittle.
I... don't remember anything about this, sorry. It's been too long. I rated it then, so I trust that, but also there was no way this was going to win out vs the banana coconut Dragon's Milk for a full pour.
I thought this was fantastic, maybe my favorite of the Reserve series so far. You'd think this would be too sweet, but the banana is a very nice, rich, banana cream pie kind of flavor and the coconut smooths it and melds it nicely with the base stout. So yummy!
Mild banana, funky malt, Brett driness. Cherry is very light and gives more of a wine+pastry impression. Not revelatory, but complex enough to be intriguing, and pleasant besides.
Slightly sweet cream coffee Porter. Mild roast, light caramel, the slight sour mineral finish actually helps this one nicely
Slightly spiced Belgian pale like, banana bread. Some of that same mineral dry finish
Yeah, this was a super good coconut chocolate stout. Not nearly as over-sweet as Skookum's strong stouts tend to be, this was perfectly balanced. Seems they've bottled this as well!
Started out nice, roasty, thick, creamy, but not sweet. Built up in that bitter, burnt Stone way though. This variant did highlight its hop content. Seems to be a thing with their stouts.
Mellow, caramel barleywine with a good underpinning of whiskey. There's some vegetal, cider-like tartness, from the pumpkin? that just balances everything out nicely. This is a bit more simplistic than some other standouts in this category (Rumking anyone?) but it was very, very tasty.
A more standard IPA with some rindy bitterness. Not as good as the fresh hop.
Everything I've tried at BBC with the word "orange" in the name has had a weird, perfumey fake orange flavor about it. This ... was pretty much in the same vein. Better than the other ones; the rest of the IPA minimizes the perfume effect, but I didn't love it.
Starts with a hit of fragrant hops but transitions weirdly into like a cherry dessert bar. Oats and sweet cherry and a hint of cinnamon. It's a nice flavor but it really feels like two separate drinks smashed together.
I don't have the non-fresh hop version to compare this with, but this seems more bitter and less fruity than I remember. Touch of dry resin. After some food this did taste smoother though.
Breakside Err to Excess (2018)
I mean, this tasted like exactly what you'd expect. Take the standard bourbon barrel aged salted caramel stout, which is already excellent, and add hazelnut into the mix. Nuttiness is mild, and the caramel is mellow and sweet.
Good flavor, dry, fragrant. Doesn't necessarily taste like the strong fruit of a typical hazy ale, and definitely a little more bitter than I like.
Round bright raspberry flavor followed by a very mellow almost candy finish. Just a touch of wood. Clean and delicious.
Nice sour but with caramel darkness making it a bit unusual. Almost gritty?
Extremely bitter and a lot more resin than I expect in a fresh hop IPA. I guess there's more than one way of doing this and this is the way I don't like.
Bracingly tart, but clean; emphasis on dank pineapple flavors with some sweet wheat funk right at the end.
Goose Island Bourbon County Barleywine Ale (unknown release)
Surprise offering at Boardwalk. Very smooth, caramel, slightly fruity. Got boozier as the glass went on and by the end I was pretty wrecked. Felt it all night too.
Quite a bit more bitter than I expected. This place makes good beer, but they do like the bitter.
This was really, really good. Not bitter at all, dry, grapey flavor very like a brut IPA but with a much more intense fragrance. Different from most wet hop beers I've tried, and really fantastic.
Bellevue Fresh Hop Ale (2018)
Very pleasant, mild, fragrant fresh hop IPA. About exactly what you'd expect from a prime example of this genre.
The orange in this beer is just slightly over the edge into perfumey, though not nearly to the extent that similar beers from Bellevue Brewing go. Otherwise there's a very orange soda quality to the flavor. Finishes like a good kolsch/cream ale, but oy, that opening.
"Wow, this tastes so fresh, and complex, and... green. What is that flavor? It's right on the tip of my *burp* Oh. Cucumber. It's totally cucumber."
Is this a diabeetus joke? Bad taste aside, this is not nearly as sweet as you'd expect given the description, though it is fairly sweet. Balanced pretty well with a bit of dark chocolate bitterness. Medium-thick. I didn't love it, but it was still decent.
Thick texture, somewhat thin flavor, but sickly sweet. Smells odd, though not quite pizza in my mind. I don't know how different this is from before, but this time it was just really gross.
Smells nice, like a complex saison. That first sip, though, it's like an herb salad that kind of overpowers every other flavor that might be involved. Just a little too weird to get over.
This was really delicious, a sour hazy IPA! Combination I've never seen before. Grapefruit opening, a dry sour close, dissipating into an immaculate, clean finish. Loved it.
Light pumpkin spice, caramel amber. Thin body but quite pleasant.
Unusually hazy/yeasty for an Oktoberfest. Flavors are decent, but muddy. Suffers greatly in direct comparison to the Black Raven from last night.
Smooth, creamy, sweet Porter on nitro. Finishes noticeably hoppy and bitter. Incongruous.
High alpha hop bomb. Nice flavors and not too pungent but it hits you in the face and not very pleasantly.
Chocolate roast Amber with a significant hop presence. Finish goes from Irish red style caramel to quite bitter in a hurry.
Clean, straight sour. Passion and orange are obvious, guava not so much. Cereal finish, Berliner Weisse-like
Not too sweet, lots of spirit flavor. This seems much, much stronger than this beer used to be, and the numbers seem to back it up (server said this was 11+%!).
Sweet helles funk. Sharp hop bitterness and plenty of resin. The smell gets more strongly funky over time.
Pineapple spritzer mixed with cream ale. I'll take it.
Probably the least good brut IPA I've had yet. Why? I can't remember, but noting for the future.
I thought this was the brut on the menu and it turns out it was a hazy. So I wasn't really looking for this style; that said, it was perfectly fine.
A pleasant surprise, sweet-ish, honey cereal opening, just enough vanilla to balance out. Smooth, milky finish. This is pretty much like drinking cereal milk as a beer.
Worked with the meal, but this isn't much more characterful than a Budweiser. Thinnish, slightly sweet, some uric flavors.
Round, cleanly tart and fruity up front. Definitely reminiscent of "dragonfruit flavor" rather than dragonfruit itself. Some berry. Light, pale ale finish. It's tasty and drinkable, but I think the character is more like a radler than a beer beer, you know?
Best beer of the flight, but still topping out at a "Decent." Mellow, thin stout. Bit of roast, a sesame-ish unguent character on the tongue. Not too sweet. Smooth and drinkable.
Sweetish grapefruit IPA. Not super-remarkable, but pretty pleasant.
Fruity but not tart. Peach is subtle; main flavors here are coriander-clove Belgian spice. I don't normally gravitate to that flavor profile, but this was quite decent.
Unusually cloudy for a Pils. Mild forward bitterness, coriander-ish funk. Finish is a bit cereal, a bit bitter.
Medium tart, musty flavor. Hint of bit cucumber. Okay sour but not something that stands out.
You know, it's pretty fine for a CDA. I'm just reminded that I don't really enjoy the style.
Flat and pithy, with a distinct kind of chemical, Lemon Pledge flavor.
Grassy and bitter, with pretty high alpha and an unpleasant, raw cabbage-like edge to the flavor. Did not scream fresh to me at all.
Clean, slightly sweet Brut IPA, less funky and bitter than previous ones and more of a clean pilsner character. Super refreshing.
This was about as good as you could expect of a non-barrel aged stout; creamy, sweet, slightly boozy and roasty. I still don't know what I had back in Chicago, but it could have been this. Who knows?
Main flavor here is hazelnut, creamy and nutty. It really manages to overcome the sweet umami heaviness that usually characterizes this family of beers. Only real complaint here is that the chili was pretty much a non-entity here. I didn't taste it at all.
Watery lager. Doesn't taste premium at all. Might beat a Coors Light, but not much more than that.
Green Jalapeño flesh, dry and bitter. Slight cereal and fruit to finish, but primarily chili. Not spicy, just a hint of building warmth.
Flavor is somewhere between a hazy and a brut. Grapefruit, and grape; fairly bitter finish. I mean, this was perfectly fine? But compared to the previous two bruts I've tried, this was definitely the weakest.
Slightly funky, slightly tart peach to open, mellows into a light lager very quickly. An unusual combination of flavors, but pretty good. And anytime you get peach that doesn't taste like canning syrup, you have to count that as a win.
Fruity but not fake. Like a strawberry pie. Not tart, just a round, bright flavor.
Firestone Walker Pacific Gravity Bourbon Barrel-Aged Weizenbock (unknown release)
Just hints of spice, primarily caramel. Super mellow, less booze, more barrel.
Pure resin. I'm sure a lot of folks I know would love this beer, but me not so much.
Very similar to the pale, but with a fair bit more high bitterness at the end.
A mellow pale with a medium resin-on-the-tongue hop presence. Really drinkable and fairly tasty.
Really sweet, candy lemon flavor. Like a Lemonhead, I think. All hop character is basically overcome by the sweetness. I really didn't like this, but the folks with sweet tooths seemed to take to it better.
High alpha, very hoppy IPA. Didn't finish the glass, but I think more due to its strength than dislike of the flavor.
Caramel, slightly fruity (in a round, cola-esque way), still very drinkable.
Very rich, butter and cornflakes, yeast Tang and grass. Takes a little away from crispness, but it is tasty.
Superb pale, piney, touch of Mandarin orange and buttery diacetyls. Super mellow finish.
Loving this new style. Sharper than the Bellevue version but just as good, if not better. Vinous and bracingly bitter.
Slightly clearer than a hazy IPA but with similar characteristics. Slightly dry opening, a clear resin character throughout. Sweet cereal finish mellows it out. Very well-balanced.
A very interesting blonde, kind of a murky, rooty opening but with very nice honey / buttery notes featuring prominently. Reminds me of my mom's ginseng tea. Clean, thin body with a light cereal finish. Would be interesting to compare to Double D but that wasn't an option. Yum!
See notes on Slackwater, because this beer was very similar. This one had a bit more alpha, somewhat less resin, making this a little more one-note in flavor (bitter, sweet). Very similar finish. Good, but I did like Slackwater better.
I liked this -- a lot -- last time but it didn't work so well today. Maybe because it was last in the flight after stronger beers, which is unlucky. Light, almost watery, nice coffee notes, slightly musty.
The server assured me this wouldn't be sour like the other P-51s. The server was wrong. I mean, it wasn't as bad as I remember, slightly sour, slightly burnt. Otherwise decent smores flavors on top, but still not great.
Round hops, lots of caramel and a fair bit of toasted malt. Constant background of bitterness, but a nice, wintery kind of amber.
Goose Island Brasserie Noir (2018)
Smells like a fruity red, tastes like a fruity red. Well, with stout caramel on top, which makes it taste a lot like prunes. Tacky sourness lingers in the throat. Maybe this'll get better with age, but ... meh for now.
Sweetish drip coffee but with an unpleasant vegetal flavor right up front. Not so convenient.
This was really tasty. Reminds me a little of some Brett IPAs I've had, though this doesn't seem to have Brett. Slightly grapey, fruity but very dry. It's got the crispness of a nice champagne but definitely some hop fragrance and bitterness as well. If this is the new trend, I'm looking forward to it.
This was... kind of nasty. Smells good, but you're hit by a really funky, sweaty-something flavor to open. It goes fairly quickly to a sour, decent peach flavor, but the very next sip starts 100% funky all over again. Unlike many sours, this doesn't get better the more you drink.
The Herbfarm's menu says this is a pale ale, not a lager, although the flavor sits in the middle. Hoppy IPL-like, resin and sweet cereal.
Caramel coffee with light hop/yeast character. Comes off as fairly sweet-tasting. Not super in love with this, although I've definitely had worse in this style.
Absolutely disgusting. Sickly sweet, smoke is like a tire fire, acrid and bitter.
Showing 200 of 4295 log entries