The Swill: Scape Goat Pale Ale
The Still: Big Sky Brewing Company
Missoula, Montana
http://www.bigskybrew.com
The Drill: Pale ale, 12oz bottle, 4.7% ABV
The Spill: To tell the truth, I don't remember how this beer tasted. I can form an opinion and a what would probably be a fairly accurate depiction based on the website's description and a few online reviews, but what's the use in making something up? Based on the beer's low ABV, it's probably pretty mild and drinkable, as other reviews have described it. Tell you what: if I have it again, I'll make an addendum here and insert a real review.
Says Bill: Maybe the biggest challenge about continuing this blog is delving deeper into my past and encountering more and more beers I can't remember much about. What I can remember about this one is where I had it: Idyllwild, California, Memorial Day weekend 2008, when Holly and I celebrated our 3-year dating anniversary. That weekend, we also tried Wells Banana Bread Beer, Abita Purple Haze, and the horrible Wild Blueberry Lager. This beer didn't impress as much as the Banana Bread Beer, and it didn't disgust as much as the other two, so I guess it was relegated to the forgetful middle ground.
Refill?: Funny how a beer called Scape Goat has a review full of excuses from me, isn't it?: 2 taps out of 5.

The Swill: Old Stock Ale
The Still: North Coast Brewing Company
Fort Bragg, California
http://www.northcoastbrewing.com
The Drill: Old Ale, 12oz bottle, 12.5% ABV
The Spill: Sit down before drinking. Rich leather colors the brew, which smells of oak and alcohol. The flavor invites you in for a taste of fruit, rum, and brown sugar, but the overtones in the aroma still hold court in the taste, along with a significant amount of bitterness and what, for lack of a more specific term, I can only describe as oomph. The alcohol, as high as some wines, is a definite flavor characteristic, though it's said that aging the bottle will allow it to mellow. When drunk fresh like I had it, this is a beer that should come with its own seat belt.
Says Bill: I like a bold, adventurous beer, probably more so than the next guy. However, even my tastes are limited. Bigger isn't always better if you haven't acquired the appreciation for what you're drinking. A couple online reviews compare this beer to the barleywine style, of which I am not a fan. The brewers also recommend that you try this concoction at room temperature, which would wake it up even more, and surely throw me for an even bigger loop. In any case, it's a humongous beer, but I don't think I could take more than a few brave sips. At least, not without a little more practice.
Refill?: Well, yeah. Otherwise, I'll get teased for having met my match: 2.5 taps out of 5.

The Swill: Boont ESB (Extra Special Beer)
The Still: Anderson Valley Brewing Company
Boonville, California
http://www.avbc.com
The Drill: ESB, 12oz bottle, 6.8% ABV
The Spill: This bitter pours a light honey color with a generous ivory head. The nose is lightly hopped, along with an orangy-sweet maltiness. The taste is a two-parter: the malts come first, sweet up front with a slightly heavy mouthfeel. Then, the hops kick in, hitting the back of the tongue and cleaning the finish with a sharp and slightly sour punctuation. This award-winning beer tastes like a lot of good stuff is packed into it. Like carbs.
Says Bill: While their beers stand alone without the need for any kind of pomp and circumstance, the folks at Anderson Valley have still developed a fun little gimmick. They've printed a large series of quotes, puzzles, jokes and the like on the inside of their bottle caps, and if you collect 50 or more unique bottle caps, you're eligible for induction into AVBC's Hall of Foam.
Refill?: If the compulsive and competitive prospect of bottle cap collecting doesn't turn Dave's teetotaller girlfriend into a beer drinker, I don't know what will: 3 taps out of 5.

The Swill: Black Toad Dark Ale
The Still: Black Toad Brewing Company
Chicago, Illinois (contractor)
Goose Island Brewing Company
Chicago, Illinois (contractee)
http://www.gooseisland.com
The Drill: Porter, 12oz bottle, 5.3% ABV
The Spill: The beer is a deep, ruddy brown with a creme-colored head. The aroma has notes of chocolate, roasted malt and toffee. The flavor presents a tickle of fruit on the very tip of the tongue. The rest of the beer is dark bread, with a smooth, almost velvety finish and a touch of chocolate. It's a little light for a porter, but they call it a dark ale, which, technically, a porter is, but perhaps some expectation is reduced that way, and rightfully so.
Says Bill: Like the Stockyard Oatmeal Stout, this beer is actually brewed by Goose Island. Also like the Stockyard, I've only seen it at Trader Joe's. Why all the Trader Joe beer on the Wall lately? Easy. They sell bottles individually as well as in six packs, so it's easy to go and try a new brew without having to pick up more of them than you'll actually wind up wanting to drink. Why does Trader Joe's have so many sneaky beers that aren't really made by the people they say they're made by? I have no answer for that one. But this beer isn't half bad.
Refill?: Black Toad. Better than Bad Frog: 2.5 taps out of 5.

The Swill: Blackened Voodoo Lager
The Still: Dixie Brewing Company
New Orleans, Louisiana (contractor)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixie_Brewing_Company
Joseph Huber Brewing Company
Monroe, Wisconsin (contractee)
http://www.minhasbrewery.com
The Drill: Lager, 12oz bottle, 5.0% ABV
The Spill: This darker take on a lager pours red with a creme-colored head. Its aroma is fruity, with a hint of bread. Conversely, the taste is bready, with a hint of fruit. The body of the beer is light, with a carbonated mouthfeel, and the beer winds up with a slightly bitter, boring finish.
Says Bill: This beer has an alluring name, but the quality of the contents doesn't make it worth a repeat buy. The brewery itself has a much more interesting story: the Dixie Brewing Company was founded in New Orleans in 1907, but was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. They gave the brewing rights for this beer to the Joseph Huber Brewing Company until the brewery's fate is decided. Meanwhile, Joseph Huber, the second oldest continually operating brewery in the U.S. (established 1845), was bought out by the Mountain Crest Brewing Company, a Canadian outfit, and renamed Minhas Craft Brewery. So this beer, which boasts its origins in the South, is now made in Wisconsin, by a company from Canada, under a different name than its actual DBA.
Refill?: Not until I can prove whether or not Carmen San Diego works there: 2 taps out of 5.

The Swill: 60 Minute IPA
The Still: Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
Milton, Delaware
http://www.dogfish.com
The Drill: India Pale Ale, 12oz bottle, 6.0% ABV
The Spill: The more streamlined version of the spectacular 90 Minute IPA, this is clearly a little brother version. Lacking much of the intense quality of the 90 Minuter, this brew still holds up to standard IPAs. This brew is continuously hopped for a solid hour, which means that a measure of hops is added to the wort every minute, on the minute, for an hour while it boils, giving the beer plenty of hop character. Less on the citrus, more on the piney, and overall, more easy-going and drinkable, this beer is great for a drinking session, and it won't knock you off your stool until you're ready for the dismount.
Says Bill: Dogfish Head has introduced some real wild beers over the years, so I was surprised by how tame this one seemed. However, I guess if you're going to craft a standard, mainstream brew, and it comes out tasting like this one, it's nothing to complain about. It deserves a place right next to the Sierra Nevadas and the Firestones as a standard beer that still exceeds expectations.
Refill?: I could continuously hop my belly for 60 straight minutes too, if it meant drinking this: 3.5 taps out of 5.

The Swill: Bard's Gold
The Still: Bard's Beer Company
Utica, New York
http://www.bardsbeer.com
The Drill: Gluten-free beer made from sorghum malt, 12oz bottle, 4.6% ABV
The Spill: This beer pours amber with a frothy white head. The nose is of a wet pilsner quality. The flavor is light, yet surprisingly sweet. The aftertaste is a little undesirable, turning sour at the very end, but overall, the beer is unexpectedly good, particularly because it's missing one of beer's most basic ingredients. Taking that into account, it's hard to say what it should taste like, but it tastes more like beer than a good many piss-poor brews out there.
Says Bill: The founders of Bard's Beer Company both suffer from an intolerance to wheat gluten, as do roughly 2 million other people in the U.S., including my wife's cousin, Dawn. She told me once that beer gave her a bad reaction, with the exception of Budweiser, who infamously brews their beer with a good amount of rice to cheapen the cost of making it. This fact made it easier for her to drink their drivel, and it was the only choice for beer on account of her allergy. Thankfully, there is now another option for her and all the people like her. And of course, regular drinkers can try it, too.
Refill?: Dawn, put down the Bud. Pick up a Bard: 2.5 taps out of 5.

The Swill: Golden Stone Amber Ale
The Still: Metolius Brewing Company
Portland, Oregon
no website available
The Drill: Amber Ale, 12oz bottle, 5.5% ABV
The Spill: There isn't much going on with this beer. At a scant 21 IBU, there certainly isn't any bitterness, though there isn't a whole lot of anything else, either. I suppose it's sweetish (not to be confused with Swedish, which it is not), but mostly, it's just wet. My friend Robert tried a bottle, and called it, "Just beer." That's about the best review I can give it.
Says Bill: I didn't take any notes when I drank this one, mainly because I was left with nothing to write. It's amber, and it's beer. There's not much else to write, really. I don't think I'll be trying any of their other beers, either. From the .pdf file I found online that listed their 5 available beers, I didn't receive much encouragement. When your IPA is 16 IBU, you don't have to come right out and say it's weak. The numbers speak for themselves.
Refill?: What does Metolius mean? I wonder if it's the name of the Greek God of boring beer: 1 tap out of 5.

The Swill: Coney Island Lager
The Still: Shmaltz Brewing Company
Saratoga Springs, New York
http://www.shmaltz.com
The Drill: Lager, 22oz bottle, 5.5% ABV
The Spill: This unique lager pours honey brown with a white head. Rich malts escape the nose, complimented by a pleasant, light, cherry-hop note. The taste, fresh and cold from a glass, is sweet, and almost honey-like at the front, followed by a mellowing, smooth, lagery finish and the tiniest hoppy nip at the end. However, as the beer is given time to warm and breathe, the smile on the label's funhouse face turns to a sneer, and the deeper, more bitter notes of the beer take on a sinister affectation.
Says Bill: I've really enjoyed the stuff I've tried from Shmaltz. They put a lot into their beers. This one, for example, uses 8 different malts and 6 strains of hops. Also, their marketer, Melissa, was kind enough to leave a comment here the last time I reviewed one of their beers. Most lagers don't have this much character and complexity, and it's a perfect example of how a beer can mature and change in its surrounding environment.
Refill?: It's also a clear message to those nimrods at Coors that if your beer has to stay cold to be drunk, it must suck: 3.5 taps out of 5.

The Swill: Mission St. Pale Ale, Mission St. India Pale Ale
The Still: Steinhaus Brewing Company
Paso Robles, California
The Drill: Pale: Pale Ale, 12oz bottle, 4.6% ABV
IPA: India Pale Ale, 12oz bottle, 6.1% ABV
The Spill: The pale pours orange-yellow with a white head. It possesses a good, hoppy, citrusy aroma with a significant sharpness. The flavor is less intense than the nose, but with the same attributes. Still, it's a much mellower beer than it's aroma would lead you to believe.
The IPA pours a light honey color with a white head. Its nose is lighter than its brother brew, hoppy, but without the sharpness or the citrus. The flavor is somewhat hoppier, but still without the boldbness than one would expect from the beer's name and style.
Says Bill: Here's another one of those mystery breweries whose beer, I think, can only be found at Trader Joe's. Steinhaus doesn't have a website, which is rare for a brewing company these days. So rare, in fact, that those that don't are immediately considered suspect by this blogger. Paso Robles is home to the Firestone Walker Brewing Company, whose beers I have enjoyed a good many times. Methinks they've diluted their stuff and sold it to TJ's at a deep discount. It's good, it's just not impressive.
Refill?: Make it your mission to craft some braver beers: 3 taps out of 5.