Samuel Adams Alpine Spring

I will admit that I am a huge homer for Samuel Adams' beers, which is easy to see by the fact that my sampling glass is from the Samuel Adams brewery.   I can say without bias however that I really look forward to their seasonal brews and the new Alpine Spring is no exception.

This beer truly tastes like a spring lager with hints of citrus and the slight aroma of flowers.  It pours nice with a slight head like all Samuel Adams brews.  The light color is reminiscent of an IPA and is unusual for a lager.  It indicates how smooth of a beer this really is.  Like all of their brews, this is a beer for enjoying with a meal and not for slamming with your bros.  A definite recommendation.

Boddingtons Bitter/Spitfire Ale

I took some time off this week and went with the family to England.  There I was able to sample two very different English brews.  First up is Boddingtons Bitter:

This was available on draught at the hotel so I gave it shot.  Boddingtons was originally brewed by the Strangeways Brewery in Manchester England, but it is now owned by Anheuser-Busch.  This beer doesn't really have much of a personality at all and was overall disappointing.  It poured with a nice thick head and had a good color, but the taste and aroma were too mild.


We found the second beer while waiting for our plane at Heathrow Airport.  It just goes to show that you can find new and interesting beers everywhere.  You may notice that the picture is of an empty bottle of Spitfire Ale and that is for a reason.  This Kentish Ale was fantastic and didn't stand a chance.  Spitfire is brewed in Kent by the Shepherd Neame Brewery which claims to be the oldest brewery in England.  It is a rich dark amber colored ale with an excellent flavor and aroma.  It went down smooth and is a   definite recommend if you come across it.

Birra Messina

Italy is known for wine, for pasta and for fashion.  One thing it is not know for is beer.  In the last two years I have tasted almost all of the beers the country has to offer from Moretti to Castello with Peroni in between.  While none of these beers are bad, they lack the ability to wow your taste buds like some of the other brews I have had.  Unfortunately, Messina is no different.

The beer presents with a deep amber color and a medium heavy classic lager flavor, but that is where the story ends.  Messina does not take any challenges and is therefore indistinguishable from the other Italian lagers or even American standards like Budweiser.  This brew will not offend your tastes and is worth sampling for the sake of checking it off the list, but i wouldn't recommend buying it by the case.