Beer of the Week

The beer: Earth Day IPA

The brewery: Guinness Open Gate Brewery, Halethorpe, Maryland

Description (from Untappd): "This beer is brewed with our whole hearts focused on the importance of sustainability and utilizing local, sustainably sourced ingredients. The barley comes from Harbor View Farms on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, malted by our friends at Delaware’s Proximity Malt. We added a touch of Eastern Shore honey for good measure, from Apex Apiary, along with Citra, Simcoe, and Talus hops. Candied orange and a touch of pine come through in full hop glory, backed up by the local malt."

Would I buy it again? A honey IPA sounded good, but the issue here is that the honey is frontloaded (and frankly the honey taste is fairly minimal). Once you get past that, this beer really only has hoppy bitterness to offer. The aftertaste is very bitter on this one. I'm really not a fan of it, so I would not go for this beer again.

Beer of the Week

The beer: Pineapple Coconut Stout

The brewery: Guinness Open Gate Brewery, Halethorpe, Maryland

Description (from Untappd): "Believe it or not, our stouts have been a big part of the beer culture all over the world for centuries - including in many tropical locales around the globe. With that in mind, our brewers sought to include the tropical flavors of pineapple and coconut in a traditional stout, adding pineapple puree post fermentation and then resting the finished beer on toasted coconut chips. Enjoy!"

Would I buy it again? I happened to be in the neighborhood of the Guinness brewery a while back and decided to stop by for a quick beer. I had a lot of options, but I absolutely made the right choice. This beer is delicious, with plenty of pineapple and coconut taste, but not so much to overpower the stout. Obviously, it's not as easy to drink as a lighter ale or lager, but the fruitiness still makes this a wonderful beer to drink over the summer. I'd love to get this again.

Beer of the Week

The beer: Bubble Tea Inspired Stout

Brewed by: Guinness Open Gate Brewery, Halethorpe, Maryland

Description (from the Guinness Facebook page): "Let's raise a glass to the AAPI community! For our latest collaboration beer, our brewers worked with our own Pan Asian Network, Baltimore’s Asian Pasifika Arts Collective, and the smooth flavors of Brown Sugar Bubble Tea. Bubble Tea Inspired Stout was brewed with brown sugar, vanilla, tapioca and black tea - the perfect nod to the popular drink. The coolest part? We even nitrogenated it, giving it a creamy, silky smooth texture that suits the style amazingly well."

Would I buy it again?: I was really disappointed with this one, it promised so much, and since it's from Guinness, I was expecting to get a really interesting beer. But the nitro ruined it. Not that it was bad, far from it. But it tasted pretty much like a regular Guinness, and that's not what I drove 45 minutes to get.

Beer of the Week

The beer: Gingerbread Spiced Ale

Brewed by: Guinness Open Gate Brewery, Halethorpe, Maryland

Description (from the bottle): "Imperial brown ale brewed with allspice, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg, finished for 2 months in bourbon barrels for warmth and complexity."

Would I buy it again?: Well, this was a very limited release from late 2019 that I only got around to recently, so I couldn't, but if I could, I think I would. I'm not sure how much it tastes like gingerbread, but I like this beer. It's a very winter beer, it goes well with the season. Guinness makes good dark beer, so if they do decide to make this beer again, I would support that decision.

Beer of the Week

The beer: Crosslands Clover Honey Ale

Brewed by: Guinness Open Gate Brewery, Halethorpe, Maryland

Description (from the can): "Golden Ale featuring clover honey from Apex Bee Company, a local apiary. The delicate flavor of the honey is balanced with biscuity malt and tea-like hops."

Would I buy it again?: I absolutely would. It is an interesting combination of flavors, the breadiness and the honey, but it works surprisingly well. In my eyes, this is a Guinness sleeper beer, you wouldn't go there to get it and they're definitely not known for it, but it's really good, and I've already purchased it multiple times (well, twice, once at the brewery and once as a six pack).

Beer of the Week

The beer: Chocolate Stout

Brewed by: Guinness Open Gate Brewery, Halethorpe, Maryland

Description (from the bottle and the website): "Pure cacao was added post fermentation to give this beer bitter chocolate flavors to balance light, malty sweetness. ... Made with Columbian coffee from local roaster, Vent Coffee."

Would I buy it again?: Yes, two Guinness beers in a row. While the Yuengling Hershey Porter remains the ultimate chocolate beer, this is pretty good, and I would definitely buy it again next time I go to the Guinness brewery. Once again, dare I say it, but this may be better than the standard Guinness stout.

Beer of the Week

The beer: Guinness Blonde

Brewed by: Guinness Open Gate Brewery, Baltimore, Maryland

Description (from the website): "Irish tradition meets American spirit in Guinness Blonde. Complex and flavorful. Light, floral and alive with citrus. This beer is perfectly balanced with a lingering malt and biscuity finish. ... When we opened up our new brewery in Baltimore in August of 2018, our goal was to combine 260+ years of Guinness brewing experience with American beer creativity. The first item on their list was to re-interpret our flagship American beer, Guinness Blonde. Their goal was a sessionable golden beer with Guinness character. Focusing on making it more refreshing in taste and lighter in color, they supplemented the Mosaic hops with Citra for tasty citrus notes and adjusted the grain bill. The result is a clean, crisp beer that hits the sweet spot between flavor and refreshing taste."

Would I buy it again?: Yes, I would. This is a great summer beer, tasty and drinkable. Not too hoppy either. It's slightly unfortunate that I was introduced to it in the middle of winter, so I won't be in a huge hurry to buy more, but come June or so, I'd definitely buy this again.

Beer of the Week

The beer: Winter Warmer Ale

Brewed by: Guinness Open Gate Brewery, Baltimore, Maryland

Description (from the bottle): "Brewed with cinnamon, whole nutmeg, and vanilla, our winter warmer is reminiscent of the season. Baking spice on top of caramel encompassed by a solid malty base."

Would I buy it again?: Well, this beer was made for an extremely limited time in not a huge quantity, so I'm guessing that even if I did really want to buy it again, I wouldn't be able to. But I was a bit disappointed by it. There was a lot less spice flavor than I was expecting; it wasn't bad, just a bit underwhelming.

Beer of the Week

The beer: Cascara & Coffee Ale

Brewed by: Guinness Open Gate Brewery, Halethorpe, Maryland

Description (from the bottle): "Brewed with Cascara (fruit from the coffee bean), sourced from Baltimore's vent coffee roasters. Bold espresso flavors partner with subtle smokiness and dark fruit."

Would I buy it again?: You might be a little confused as to the brewer here. Guinness? In Maryland? That can't be right. Turns out this is that Guinness, and this brewery is the first time Guinness has brewed beer in the United States for a very long time. Why they went with Baltimore I don't know, but here we are, a bottle of beer that you can only get at the brewery itself. The beer itself is a bit spicier than I was expecting, not at all bitter, honestly it was pretty good. I'm going back next week, if it's still available I'll probably get it again.