Very light, pleasant blonde ale. Easy to drink. The mango flavor is light but definitely there, enough to twang the tongue but not enough to feel out of place.

Just a taste of this, but enough to know I didn't like it. Citrus. Fennel. Rubber.

Lots of lime, sweet cereal finish. The lime flavor is somewhat cloying, almost like candy. Kind of an oily finish.

Definitely lives up to the name. A mildly sweet, caramelly-chocolate beer with a buttery coconut finish smoothing everything out. Just a hint of cherry underneath it all. It's not syrupy, which is why it succeeds.

Roasty, coffee stout. Perhaps on the bitter side, but it beats the sweetness that I was afraid of. I had a few sips of this because the server switched our beers, but I did like it.

Light tropical fruitiness on top of a mildly caramel, light-tasting lager. It didn't scream lychee but it wasn't too hard to squint and see it. On this day, and paired with a typically tasty meal at the Redhook Pub, a really nice choice that I'm glad to have tried.

Major flavor is roasted, sweet coffee, with some dark spiced bread flavors. Thinnish body with prominent alcohol flavors. It wasn't clear from the menu that this was dark, or a doppelbock, and I found myself wishing I'd ordered something else.

Fruity, sweet and cereal - tropical and buttery with a bit of a peppery finish. Almost candy-like, but not cloying. Tasty. They had a Bravo version as well, but I didn't get to try it.

A strong, nutty coffee flavor distinguishes this from the Long Hammer. You can tell there's an IPA underneath but it's more coffee-dominant than other coffee IPAs I've tried. It does still build up more alpha than I like over time, though.

Not enough coffee to taste like coffee, just enough to make this beer weirdly and unpleasantly sweet.

Dry-ish saison with more than a little hop character in it. Little bit of a notable sweetness on the opening before it dries out. Kind of unmemorable.

Fruity hop-flavored ale, somewhere between a pale and an IPA, with a bit of a toasty character. Stylistically indistinct, but a perfectly decent beer.

A creamy porter with light chocolate and coffee flavors. The flavor is very light, almost to the point of being watery, but holds together. A decent, summer-drinkable dark beer.

Lightly flavored lager with an American pilsner character. The smoke is light but pokes through in a lingering aftertaste, reminding me of something like a Laphroaig. I know Francis couldn't taste any smoke, but I definitely got it, and solidly.

A mildly tart dark saison with some good stonefruit but also a lot of Belgian spice / clove, which was a minus for me. Otherwise a pretty good beer.

Nice flavors in front, a slightly spicy cereal followed by sweet malty notes. Some fragrant hop notes. The finish, though, was a big wall of acrid bitterness, which seemed well out of balance.

A slight smokiness from a decent amount of roast, this is a porter on the sour side, like a lot of English porters. It has a bit of an empty-feeling body but it does sweeten out. A bit nutty and a finish reminiscent of a malted chocolate milk ball, but not nearly as sweet. Very decent, I'd say?

This was all perfume and resin and no body. Which is not automatically bad -- the flavors were good. I just wish there was something to offset the perfume.

Thin brown that moves somewhat unexpectedly to a rich, creamy caramel sweetness. It was almost one-note, but very pleasantly so. A treat beer that won't distract from whatever else you're eating.

Very pleasant banana & spice Belgian pale, mildly sweet and refreshing. Had it with Redhook's pulled pork sandwich, and it was perfect.

They said this was barrel aged and 9.2%. This was surprisingly tasty! Malty-sweet with strong butter caramel notes and maybe some estery fruitiness under the covers. Finish hints at being boozy but rounds out with a subtly dry bitterness that recalls malty Scotch Ales.

A bit of skunk on the nose and a clear, rounded berry essence right at the front. It really is more of an essence than anything like juice, and sweet it's not. Fills out well, cereal-wise and finishes with a good bitter tang at the end; that is, a perfectly good if not very crisp Kolsch, and the berry complements it well.

I liked this in the past, but today it seemed to have basically no interesting flavor whatsoever. The hot dog was good, though.

Basically indistinguishable from a cream ale. Very light, with a touch of funk on top. Good carbonation. Not bad.

Light and mildly roasty with the creamy finish of a good black lager. It's a little insubstantial, but very drinkable.

A thin brown with a nice cinnamon graham like balance of spices. Not especially beer-like, but kind of yummy.

A light porter with distinct and pleasing bourbon barrel characteristics. I could drink a whole lot of this - and I probably did.

Sweet bourbon presence, sweetish malt finish. A tanginess is more present than any real bitterness. Has a peanut, almost butterscotch finish. The nitro smoothing effect worked well here and isn't strong.

Solid sporting lager. Could drink this all day. Excellent substitute for lower-class stadium fare.

A bit light on flavor, but decent.

Like an ESB, but made darker without changing the flavor.

Big and fruity with huge amounts of piney florality and a pithy finish. I really enjoyed it at first but I think it was almost too floral; by the end it was tasting like fabric cleaner to me.

Acidic bite to this. This is not the Big E Scotch Ale I remember from years ago. Watery finish.

Slight resinous finish with a good malt sweetness that accompanies it. Not a complex IPA.

Very light, with very subtle carbon and a lemony tang leading into bright wheaty goodness. Nitro still isn't my thing, but this was yummy.

Hoppy, yes, but, with a nice malty finish that really turned the experience around. After the ESB it was a relief and a pleasure, and nice way to finish the tour.

Part of the brewery tour. In context, this was the low point. A little too bitter with not much to mitigate it. I've enjoyed drinking this on its own so it's interesting how it changed for me here.

Part of the brewery tour. Plain tasting lager, not much cereal flavor and no funk or nuttiness. Reminded me of a Sam Adams.

Part of the brewery tour. The high point was at the start -- an easy drinking light ale with not much florality and a nice crisp cereal malt finish. Just a touch of spicy hop to start.

Hoppy and dark brown with dry toasty coffee notes, some deep caramel, and fairly smooth in spite of all that. A nice beer for the cold weather, even if it was just a bit more strongly hopped than I usually like. I haven't liked hoppy porters in the past, but call it something else to change my expectations and I'll probably be more forgiving.

Meh.

like drinking nutmeg... you've REALLY gotta be in the mood for a spiced beer to enjoy it

The hops add a really nice fragrance to this cider and the flavor really works, too. I wouldn't have thought it, but something about the bite actually makes the apple flavor more natural. I couldn't help feeling this needed just a tiny bit of adjustment on the sweetness dial -- not sure which way -- but it was nice.

I had to try it on cask at the brewery, but it wasn't a good idea. To a certain extent, I think this beer needs the kick from regular carbonation to keep it interesting & balanced. The flavor of the finish also seems to have suffered.

Bored now.

Validates my love of lagers.

Slightly more enjoyable than your average Guinness.

I was really very pleasantly surprised by this beer. Nice fragrance, and a fruity, resinous start that gives way to a rye-like pepperiness (is that the hemp seed?), before leading to a finish that threatens to but never quite gets bitter.

Smell: mild hop smell. Taste: resinous, like a dry straw taste. Starts like it should be bitter but doesn't go there. The resin continues post-drink. I want this to be a good IPA but it's not there.

Seriously, still no Big Ballard on tap?!?