Okay enough dilly-dallying on my part...it's review time:
This is one I've been meaning to try for awhile. I had Lunch early last year and loved it, but haven't bothered with anything from Maine Brewing Co. since. Found a bottle of this bottled on 03/04 and decided it was time to change that. This one is bottle-conditioned so I poured it gently enough to where it only generated a minimal head. Poured a transparent golden color (it's actually lighter than the picture would leave you to believe). Aroma on this one is light and crisp, with subtle citrus notes. Taste is very similar. Get a lot of lemon, orange, and pineapple from this. Not incredibly malty on the back end. Just a really nice, super-drinkable pale ale. At 5.5%, I would love to make this a session beer. The only thing holding me back is the price. Definitely worth trying if you can find a fresh bottle, just can't see myself shelling out $7 for a 16.9 oz bottle of a 5.5% pale ale that, while great, doesn't exactly blow me away. 9.3/10
Another Maine Brewing Co. offering. Seeing that this one gets a respectable score on BeerAdvocate and that the bottle in question was a week old at the time of purchase, I couldn't pass this one up. Another bottle-conditioned beer. Pours a light, hazy orange color with a soapy head that dissipates at a moderate pace. Aroma on this one is something else. Huge citrus bomb on this one. Lots of orange zest with a hint of a grassy floral note in the background. Taste is equally as delightful. This beer is truly a single-IPA version of Heady Topper (on its best day). From the appearance, to the aroma, to the taste this beer IS Heady Topper Jr. Like Peeper, this one is extremely light, crisp and drinkable. No booziness for 7%. This one had me feeling some sort of way. Will be seeing more of this in the future. Now if only I could get my hands on MO and Dinner...10/10
This next one was recommended to me by da god at the beer distributor. Excluding Sucks, I tend to disregard a lot of Lagunitas beers. After telling da god of my acquisition of a few bottles of Pliny, he recommended this beer and said that he thought it was similar enough to where trading for Pliny wouldn't be worth it. Trusting his judgment and seeing that a new case came in, I opened up the box and took a bottle. Appearance on this one is your textbook west coast IPA. A transparent color somewhere between golden and amber with a somewhat soapy head that stays for about 2-3 minutes. Aroma on this one is, again, textbook west coast IPA. Some citrus, pine, dank onion/garlic quality to it. Rather enjoyable. As far as taste goes...da god was right. This one is like a Pliny and Enjoy By 4.20.14 had a baby and it was a lot more mellow because it learned from its parents' mistakes. Not saying that Pliny or Enjoy By are flawed but....okay bad analogy. Regardless...this is a great beer and I definitely see da god's point. Shouldn't have slept on this one. 9.5/10
Figured I'd save the most hyped beer for last. Got this one relatively early compared to most Long Islanders. I had this on tap back in June and wrote about how I thought this was good, but that it didn't blow me away. This pours like motor oil. Thick, pitch black, with a minimal, cola-esque head that dissipates quickly. Aroma on this one wasn't doing it for me. You don't get the massive vanilla notes that you get from the bourbon barrels in Backwoods Bastard. Some coffee is in there, some chocolate is in there, a roasted quality is in there...but the bourbon kind of blows it in this one. It smells as if someone dropped a shot of JD in a Breakfast Stout...and this is coming from someone that thinks BCBCS is one of the best smelling beers ever. Taste on this one also didn't really do it for me. Too much of that upsetting bourbon flavor, and an almost cola-esque quality to the taste. Wasn't feeling it. Actually ended up giving half of mine away. I'd take BCBCS, BCBS, Parabola, Founders Imperial Stout, and Founders Breakfast Stout over this any day of the week. Not the worst beer I've ever had by any stretch of the imagination, but don't believe the hype. 8.5/10