Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Tasting Tuesday: Funky Buddha Nib Smuggler Porter


One of our favorite things is when someone brings us beer from a region that we normally can't get. For this week's Tasting Tuesday, we have a beer that was hand-carried over 1,200 miles back to us. 😎


Friends of ours went on vacation to south Florida and, being avid beer fans, they tried as many local beers as they could. On the way out of town, they stopped by a liquor store to bring us a few more brews from Florida. 

One of them was Funky Buddha Nib Smuggler porter. They mostly purchased it because of the name, and because I'd be a fan of the '80s-inspired label, but it turned out to be an interesting beer, too.

This 6.3% ABV porter is a dark, heavier beer with mild carbonation. It's made with dark chocolate from South America, along with vanilla, and both flavors come through pretty clearly.

Being a porter, it was slightly bitter (no doubt enhanced by the chocolate) and, despite what you may think, it really wasn't sweet at all. There was a mild milk chocolate flavor in aftertaste, and was actually a little dry. 

To be honest, I liked it, but I don't know that I would drink it again. My friends really liked it though, so don't let me sway you. We've been hearing good things about Funky Buddha, so if I ever get to South Florida, I'd be interested to try their other beers.

Bottom line, a good beer for the casual fan and beer geek alike. This one's a seasonal, so you'll have to wait a few months for it to return.

So what local beers have you tried when away from home? Let us know in the comments below & feel free to tag those breweries to show them some love.

Monday, June 6, 2016

Tasting Tuesday: Not Your Father's Vanilla Cream Ale


This week's Tasting Tuesday is related, and comes via popular demand from some of you - our fans.

Long known for their signature hard Root Beer, Small Town Brewery followed up the wild success of the soda-licious brew with NYF Ginger Ale. 

The root beer was the best hard root beer I'd had in a while. The ginger ale, however, didn't impress me as much. Personally, I don't care for ginger beers, but I expected it to follow suit with the root beer, and taste like soda. But, it didn't really taste like ginger ale, either. 

So when the subject of NYF Vanilla Cream Ale came up at one of our recent Beer Club gatherings, we were asked to give it a try & report back.

This past weekend our friend (and long-time Frank About Beer fan), John, invited me over for a sampling of  beers he'd recently acquired. Among those being a bottle of NYF Vanilla Cream Ale.

Out of the bottle, this 4.1% ABV ale pours a dark gold color with good carbonation. And, really, you want this out of the bottle because there is a BIG aroma of vanilla.

That big vanilla continues to the flavor, which fills your mouth with an abundance of sweet, fizzy flavor. The aftertaste is slightly bitter.

Oddly, we both noticed there's a slightly odd flavor that appears on the sides of your tongue. My guess was black licorice, but it's an off flavor that showed up in the root beer, too. We've since come across a few other beer aficionados who agreed with us, but none of us can put a finger on it.

If you're a fan of cream soda (or vanilla), you'll likely appreciate this one. It's fun to try, but it's rich enough that you probably wouldn't drink more than one at a sitting. In fact, you might appreciate a glass of water as a chaser.

So - what do you think of the Not Your Father's line? Let us know in the comments below.