Big Daddy IPA - Speakeasy Ales & Lagers

    Big Daddy IPA is an India Pale Ale created by Speakeasy Ales & lagers which is located in San Francisco, California. I received this beer as part of my second shipment of my craft beer club.

    Big Daddy pours a bright copper color with a finger of off-white head which sticks around for a while and leaves a small amount of lacing.

    The IPA's aroma is mainly made up of malt sweetness with small bits of citrus and grassy/herbal notes.

    Big Daddy IPA is medium bodied with a mid-level of carbonation. The IPA has a bit of an oily mouthfeel, though it finishes dry.

Big Daddy's gon' kick you and take your money!

    The ale features great hop flavors that can be likened to citrus fruits such as grapefruit and lemon. A nice subtle malt sweetness balances out the ale keeping the bitterness from becoming overpowering. With an alcohol content of 6.5% ABV, Big Daddy actually has a slight warmth to it, though the ale has no harsh alcohol flavor whatsoever.

    To be quite honest, I'm a little bit afraid of this beer's mafia undertones. Even the bottle describes the beer as:

"No lightweight, Big Daddy I.P.A tips the scales with a huge hop flavor and a clean, dry finish that leaves the scene without a trace."

I find myself a bit scared that the beer is going to beat me up and take my stuff. Either that or provide me with a pair of concrete shoes and take me swimming. I'm almost afraid to enjoy the beer, as if that would be entering into a contract with Big Daddy (he made me a beer I couldn't refuse?) that would end in me needing to kill someone for him.

     Scary mafia references aside, Big Daddy IPA is a very well balanced and enjoyable India Pale Ale. I find the citrus and herbal flavors to be quite nice and somewhat reminiscent of tea, strangely enough. I could see drinking a few of these on a hot summer day, mafia or no mafia.

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Prohibition Ale - Speakeasy Ales and Lagers

    Prohibition Ale is an American style Amber Ale created by Speakeasy Ales and Lagers which is located in San Francisco, California. This beer came in my second shipment of beers from my craft beer club.

    The ale pours a dark amber color with one finger of cream colored foam on top.

    Prohibition Ale smells very malty. There is just a tiny bit of hops in the smell, but the beer's scent is mainly sweet.

    Speakeasy's Amber Ale is medium-light bodied and has a mid-level of carbonation. The hops leave a slight oily film in the mouth after swallowing. With an alcohol content of 6.1% ABV, the Amber Ale has no hint of an alcohol warmth or flavor.

N'yeah see!

    The beer's flavor is actually somewhat surprising from what one might expect from the smell. Lots of roasted, malty sweetness is present as the scent of the beer suggests. Unexpectedly, there is actually a good amount of hops flavor and bitterness in the beer as well. This bitterness sticks around long after the malt flavor has subsided, creating a somewhat unpleasant aftertaste.

    The real problem with this beer is not its flavor or character, but what it turns you into. After drinking a bottle of this American style Amber Ale, I had to be stopped from running around the apartment with a Nerf gun screaming "You'll never take me alive coppers!!" I was finally stopped by my wife when I attempted to make our cat an offer he couldn't refuse, with just one caveat, that he send our other cat to the "big litterbox in the sky." She hadn't been paying her protection money after all!

    Prohibition Ale is a decent Amber Ale though the hops come through a bit more than I think they should. This hop-heaviness doesn't stop the ale from being an easy-drinking beer, however.

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