Dogfish Head - Palo Santo

This beer is huge, tastes kinda woody... This is one that honestly i dont believe i can give an honest review till it has aged for atleast a year.
Ok so its decent,  but its just too boozy and woody as a fresh brew to really be good. It has slight darkfruit and cherry undertones, along with the woody acidity and some slight coffee bitterness.
It is just a meh for the time being unfortunately...

Yay for deschutes

So today for lunch we stopped at Deschutes brew pub for lunch... Awesome. Got some burgers, my wife got some cascade ale and i got some in house brown ale. Both were excelent.  I cant wait for the likes of cascade to make it to KC,  great hop flavor, but sans hop bite.  It is kind of a tease in a way with out being the slightest bit bitter, but the flavor is huge. Great hop flavor, great citrus, with a slight wheatiness to it.  Sadly i wont be able to get the brown ale in KC as its brewed in the restaurant, but i can live with that,  it was good,  but no better than 75st breweries and i can get that by the growler...

I wish i had taken some pics, but my stomach was taking control at the moment, but it is definitely a place i could go back to.

I love you boulevard, but...

So today is day one of my wife and I's vacation in portland,  and jesus am i tired...
We headed to whole foods to get some snacks to have in the hotel room for the week and i decided to sneek off to the beer fridge to see what they got.  First off, they still have the straight up saison up here that was replaced over a year ago by tank 7. I would have figured whole foods would not allow product to sit around this long... Second, boulevard products are less expensive up here than in KC. Wait,  what? Yes thats right,  only by a buck and change,  but still less expensive.
Ok, so i understand a giant like whole foods can buy product in much larger quantities (hence still having the saison) thus getting it at a lesser price,  but i still dont understand how i can live a matter of miles away from the brewery and pay more than someone halfway across the country... Mind boggling...

Arcadia Ales - Cerial killer

Ok so I wanted to post my old cereal killer review a long time ago but I didnt think it was right not reveiwing a fresh brew at the same time. Being that the original review was 2 years aged, it just didn't seem right. So here its the fresh review.
Right out of the bottle out had very little head, and poured a raisin brown that was slightly less hazy than the 2 year vintage. It has a large honey and dark fruit noise to it.
Just like the 2 year vintage, this beer is big in body. Yet still doesn't match the huge ness of the aged variety. The fruit is much less subdued as you would expect,  much more up front. On the tongue it has a huge malt and prune/raisin flavor backbone, as through the finish out fades into more of a honey flavor. I find this odd, as I would figure the honey flavor would be not add strong. Having tasted the aged version first,  of course, skews this a bit though.
All in all, a fantastic beer, and excellent example of the barley wine category, but if you have the will power, it is worth the wait to age this. Far smother, far richer, far huger, and gets you far drunker...

Southern Tier - Pumking

Ok so this is my first pumpkin ale, sacrelidge I know, but it was something I just never felt I would like... I figure if im gonna try a new genre of beer I might as well try one that every one thinks is good.
As it turns out I just dont like it. Dont get me wrong the flavor is great, it is just not my idea of what I like in a brew. It has a huge creamy body, for such a clear beer I found this to be very suprising.
The taste is nothing short of liquid pumpkin pie, but that is exactly why I dont like it. I dont like pumpkin pie... I like pumpkin flavor, but not a big fan of the horrible debacle that is the pumpkin pie.
Ok so next will be new belgium kick, which from what I understand is on the opposite side of the pumpkin spectrum... Only time shall tell on whether or not the turtle will find a pumpkin beer that changes his mind over whether or not pumpkin belongs in any of his brews.

New Belgium Brewery - Kick

Ok so my last experience with pumkin ale was not a great one, just wasnt my bag.
Thankfully this time it is my bag... Ok, so this time it is really my bag.
It pours a good pumpkin orange that is very clear, but has a slight haze to it. Maybe I am just a master pourer (not the case), but it pours with little to no head. Its got a slightly spicy and sour nose to it.
Ok so now to the important part taste! Ok so right off the bat it has a huge cranberry sour kick, bite and pucker. Cold it has a gigantic cranberry taste, but as it warms up the pumpkin really comes into its element.  It still has a harshly clean sour bite, but the pumpkin and cranberry start to balance each other out the warmer it gets. Finish on this beer is excelent, crisp clean and slightly sour.
All in all I like this beer alot, like could be a go to if it was available year round. All in all, this gets 4 out of 5 shells, er stars. I would give it a half more star if this wasnt seasonal...

Boulevard - nommo First tasting

Ok so this is probably going to end up more of a rant than a review, so I am going to call this a first tasting rather than the former... Even if it is a short rant.
Ther noise of this beer is rather off putting for a good beer. I like the taste and the spices that make up the flavor profile, but the smell is, well, different to say the least. I almost thought that I got a funky bottle when I first poured it, and almost poured it out. Then I took a drink and realized that that was the way it was supposed to smell.
The only real likeness that i could compare it to is wet musty moldy cardboard.  No really... I really dont understand how they could let that happen.  I mean who thinks, "we have this great tasting beer,  but it smells kinda funny...  Oh well,  let's send it out anyways."?
I also found it to be a little over carbonated and thin. Neither of which make it bad,  just not what i was hoping for.  But maybe this is just a beer that needs a year or so under its belt to really be great,  not just good.
All things aside,  i like it so far.  The cloves and anise flavor are subtle as to not over power your tastebuds, while the slight banana leaves the finish clean. This is definitely a brew that i am going to have to stash a few bottles in my "file cabinet of goodness" to let mature.  If for nothing else to let it de-carbonate a little and thicken up...