Harbinger

At long last, the Beer Ratings Page has been updated with eleven new entries (pushing the total up to 338 beers). Most of the new batch are summer brews (naturally).

One notable and tasty exception is Tyranena's Dirty Old Man Rye Porter. That's right, porter aged in rye barrels and yes, it is as good as it sounds. It's part of their "Brewers Gone Wild" series which means it was only available for a limited time.

A couple of foreign entries are also in the mix with Kokanee from Canada and Harbin from China. Both are light, easy drinking beers that for the most part meet their relatively low expectations.

In the meets medium expectations category we have Boulevard's Zon and Breckenridge's Agave Wheat. Decent craft summer beers, but nothing special.

A little bit better is a Surly's Bitter Brewer. And a notch above that are New Belgium Brewing's Springboard Ale and Fort Collin's Major Tom's Pomegranate Wheat. Although I rated them equally, I have to give an edge to Major Tom's. The fabulous label is not just fancy window dressing. Although I was initially a little skeptical of the use of pomegranate, the beer has a very unique and refreshing taste that combined drinkability with real flavor. Exactly what you want in a summer offering.

Finally, we have the return of Schlitz. Love the ads, love the look, love the fact that they went back to the recipe they used in the Sixties. But the beer itself? It's still Schlitz. I do prefer it to the mass produced American lagers of today and in general I would describe its taste as adequate. Enjoy it for what it is (nothing more) and you won't be disappointed.