Long Wood Imperial Stout

Ratebeer 3.12 43rd percentile
Beer Advocate A-

This is one of my favourite styles of beer. The other is a good Saison.

Taste +3

The nose is quite sweet with chocolate, burnt almonds, slight oatmeal and sherry (alcohol). Every lovely sip is rich, smooth and creamy that leaves a slight oily coating in the mouth. The mild roasted coffee flavours mix well with the not too bitter chocolate.

Aftertaste +1

Sadly it is over quickly with only a trace of bitter chocolate left.

Alcohol Content +1 7.2%

The alcohol shows up as a sherry/port like taste; the sweetest form of alcohol.

Value 0

When I ask for an Imperial Stout, I want a bitter and strong face sucker. This was almost there, but not quite.

Ingame Enhancement 0

Meh, didn't play tonight.

Overall 5/10

This was a very silky Imperial Stout, but a little lacking in the bitter chocolate department. To be fair this was made at a brewpub and general these brews do not stay too far from the norm.

Drakes Imperial Stout and Executive Class Guilt
Hammer Imperial Stout and Get Rich Quick
Pike XXXXXXXX Extra Stout

Longwood Pub Dunkelweizen

Ratebeer 2.89 with 8 ratings
Beer Advocate B-

This is another sampling from the Naniamo brewpub. This is still a wheat style beer. With addition of darker malts you in theory could taste richer flavours like toffee, chocolate and roast.

Taste +1

The nose is very faint of wheat and slightly caramel. The flavour is a little watery but the wheat and malt sweetness still come through. After a good hit of caramel a pleasant flowery hop bitterness washed it all away. Maybe there was a bit of bruised banana in there, but that would be a stretch.

Aftertaste 0

A clean ending and that was it.
Alcohol Content 0 5%

Value 0

It was OK but I'm not digging it.
Ingame Enhancement 0

This lackluster beer did not enhance my video gaming experience at all. All I could think about was other brews in my beer fridge to make my palate happy.

Overall 1/10

This just seemed a little off for a Dunkel.

Baron Bohemian
Warsteiner Dunkel

Any male drink that can help a male problem is a welcome change. In this study, greater consumption of alcohol lead to a reduced rate of developing an enlarged prostate. This is also called Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia or BPH. What makes this even better was the more you drank, the greater your reduction of risk for developing BPH. Compared to abstainers, those who drank more than 36gm of alcohol daily had a 35% lower chance of developing an enlarged prostate. That works out to about 3 macro lagers a day. Sounds great so far, but it doesn't end so rosy. With increasing alcohol intake, there was a direct increase in lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). These LUTS could be difficulty voiding, waking up in night to pee or excessive urgency of urination (aka. gotta pee NOW). So it is not very hopeful, you might have a smaller prostate but you are still complaining about the waterworks. The authors felt it made no difference which alcoholic beverage was consumed beer, wine or spirits.
Source: The Journal of Urology, Oct 2009

Longwood IPA

Ratebeer 3.2 58th percentile
Beer Advocate A-

This one comes from the highly recommended brewpub in Nanaimo, BC.

Taste +3

The nose is right away sweet grapefruit. Your taste is a very simple sweet caramel followed by a floral, grapefruit hops sweetness. This was a very refreshing and drinkable pint, you must like the hops though.

Aftertaste +1

It was almost a +2, but the slight astringent and earth ruined a perfect sweet ruby, red grapefruit finish.
Alcohol Content +1 6.5%

Very well hidden.

Value +1

I liked it. A solid IPA, but not exceptional.

Ingame Enhancement +1

My only weakness is driving games. This week it is Need for Speed:Shift on the PS3. It does not concern me if people think it is a ripoff of GRID and Gran Turismo; Shift is just a lot of fun. All driving games are rip offs of each other. Yes it is a little arcadish, but so what.

Overall 7/10

This is a great, true to the style, IPA.

Stone IPA
Racer 5 IPA and the bailout
Brockton IPA - Granville Island