ApriHop - Dogfish Head Brewery

    ApriHop is an American IPA that is brewed with apricot juice. This fruity and hoppy beer is brewed by Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton, Delaware as their Spring seasonal. It also seems to be craved by psychotic, albino rabbits, so that's something.

    The apricot IPA pours a clear, brass color with a half-finger head with great retention.

    ApriHop's aroma is strongly fruity as the hops and apricot juice form their own unique smell. Citrus notes as well as the stonefruit scents can be picked out, as can an earthy undertone. Light malt sweetness lies underneath the fruit and hop scents.

    The fruity IPA is medium bodied and sports a medium level of carbonation. Overall, the beer feels nicely creamy on the tongue. Dogfish Head's love of higher-than-normal alcohol levels makes the beer's alcohol content of 7% ABV unsurprising.

Stay away from my beer, or I'll devour the little one's soul!

    ApriHop's flavor is actually kind of disappointing. I was expecting a nice, lightly fruity, hoppy beer. Instead the flavors I'm getting are mostly earthy and herbal hops notes with a strong ale flavor at the end. There really isn't much apricot OR hops flavor in the beer, especially when you consider that the beer's label describes it "massively hopped". The label goes on to describe that the majority of the "massive hopping" was dry hopping after fermentation, which explains why there is lots of great hops scents and not so much flavor.

    This beer's label has me really concerned that there is a population of apricot-crazy albino rabbits somewhere out there. Just looking at that thing's eyes tells me that it would stop at nothing to enjoy its sweet, sweet apricot nectar of the gods. Plus, it's a widely accepted fact that albinos actually consume the souls of their victims. All I know is that if I run into one of these things on the street, I'm outta there.

    I was very interested in Aprihop at first. I could easily see how apricot juice would go well with hops and was excited to give it a try. As previously stated though, I ended up being disappointed in it. The beer was still decent, but not at all as advertised..

Amulets and Ale Rating:

Follow Amulets and Ale on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/AmuletsAndAle!

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - Xbox 360

    Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine is a Third-Person Shooter created by Relic Entertainment and published by THQ. The game was released in 2011 on the PC, Playstation 3, and Xbox 360. Space Marine comes directly out of Games Workshop's hugely popular Warhammer 40,000 series, most known for the table-top miniatures game of the same name. It may come as some surprise that Space Marine manages to make the transition between table-top to video game quite well. In fact, playing the game actually stoked my curiosity into the rest of the Warhammer 40,000 world.

Pumking - Southern Tier Brewing Company

    The Fall season is upon us, and you know what that means! It won't be too long until we start seeing pumpkin flavored everything. Every year adding pumpkin flavoring to things seems to get more and more out of control, and for the most part, it's not even real pumpkin. To me, that's the worst part of the pumpkin craze; that so much of it is just adding chemicals which taste similar to pumpkin pie spice, not like the fruit itself! Beer also suffers from the "pumpkin season", but it's not always a bad thing!

    Pumking is, as you may have guessed, a pumpkin ale. This festive brew is created by the Southern Tier Brewing Company that is located in Lakewood, New York. While I lump Pumking in with the myriad of other pumpkin flavored items, it's actually released in mid-August and is usually out of stock by the time November, and a lot of the other pumpkin items come around. Honestly though, I can't think of a better way to kick off the season!

    Pumking pours a light amber color with an orange tint. A small one-inch head forms at pouring but quickly subsides into nothing.

    Right away the smell of sweet pumpkin pie hits your nose, and I mean real pumpkin pie, not that artificial chemically smelling/tasting stuff used in other seasonal items. The ale also gives off scents of vanilla and toasted sugars.

    The beer is pleasant on the tongue with a medium body and a low carbonation level. There is a nice creaminess to this ale that makes it a pleasure to drink. I really don't get any alcohol warmth, which is surprising to me as the beer has an alcohol content of 8.6%!

Bow before your king!

    Pumking features flavors such as caramel malts, nutmeg, a hint of vanilla, and, oh yeah, PUMPKIN! I cannot express how happy I am that Southern Tier uses actual pureed pumpkin in this beer, rather than something artificial. And, honestly, this choice is what makes Pumking one of the absolute best pumpkin ales I have ever tried! Southern Tier manages to blend that pumpkin pie flavor perfectly with ale flavors so that you don't just feel like you're drinking a dessert, but rather enjoying something completely different while still reminding you of comfort food.

    The only bad thing I can say about Pumking is that, in both scent and flavor, the ale has a slight...candle-ness to it. By that I mean that the beer smells and tastes kind of how a Fall-themed, super-expensive jar candle would smell, the idea of which isn't exactly pleasant. This is easily overcome thanks to the balance of flavors in the brew. Plus, if you let this beer age for a few months, the unpleasant flavor diminishes and the nice, sweet flavors become more intense.

    Obviously if you're not a fan of pumpkin flavor, you most likely won't enjoy this beer. Pumpkin pie happens to be my favorite pie, so I love pumpkin flavor when it is done well. Pumking blew me away the first time I tried it and I had to track down another bottle to review. Definitely seek this one out, especially since it's one of the earliest (and best) pumpkin flavored foods of the season!

Amulets and Ale Rating:

Follow Amulets and Ale on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/AmuletsAndAle!