Elk Creek Aleworks – Penn Valley Pilsner – I’ve almost cleaned out last years beers. Two more to go after this post. This beer will make the review short and sweet because they don’t have it listed on their website even though I know it’s the correct brewer. No ABV or IBU for this beverage. I’m not sure it needs it either. If you happen to wander into central Pennsylvania and don’t quite feel like drinking a Budweiser or Miller Genuine Draft, this beer is for you. It’s a pilsner! It’s plain jane and does the trick.

New Holland Brewing Company – Ichabod – I went to my lady’s office Christmas party and lucky enough for me, they had two beers I hadn’t tried before. Surprisingly, New Holland still had some of their pumpkin ale on the shelves to be served at the event. Now, I’m not my older brother who tries to constantly drink pumpkin beers but I do love the flavor. They suggest having this beer with dessert but I’m quite sure you’d go into a sugar coma if you did that. The cinnamon and nutmeg helped to push this beer into the overwhelmingly sweet territory. Those flavors marry well with pumpkin but it’s easy to over do it. New Holland doesn’t help you out either as this is a very sessionable beer since it has a 4.5% ABV. You can go into sugar shock before getting drunk. As you can imagine with all of the sweet talk, this beer has a 26 IBU rating. If you’re like my older brother and try any pumpkin beer, here’s the area of availability.

Oskar Blues – Dale’s Pale Ale – This company is well known for putting their craft beer in cans which they started doing in 2002. This beer is their biggest seller. I can understand why. For those of us just getting comfortable in the deeper end of the hops pool, pale ales are a nice middle ground. They aren’t too hoppy but there’s more than enough of a bite in them to make you realize it isn’t a pilsner. This beer fits perfectly into that mold with a 65 IBU. Oskar Blues makes it easy to remember the ABV because it is 6.5%. This company is expanding almost as quick as New Belgium so if you like the pale ale, go and find it because this one is worth indulging in.

Southampton Publick House – Double White – Double, aka Imperial, Stout and Double India Pale Ale are both familiar to my palate. A Double White is not something I had tried before wondering into the Knick during the Altoona Christmas trip. I like white beers so I figured it was worth a try. Double White gives you the wheat that you want along with that friend of the Belgian styles, that peculiar yeast. They toss in orange and lemon, with the later not coming through as much as the former. Southampton throws in entirely too much coriander which is a very assertive taste even with Belgian yeast and wheat swimming in your mouth. The one thing that doubles do for anyone is pump up the alcohol content. Though it isn’t double your standard beer, the ABV is coming in at 6.7%. Southampton doesn’t list the IBU but it is pretty low. This beverage is worth taking a swig of, unfortunately you can only get it on the east coast and Idaho.

Go out and enjoy a #SippyTimeBeer this weekend. I know I will be. – Kevin