What do Green Flash, Lost Abbey and New Belgian all have in common to be combined into one post? They are all fine craft brewers and I happened to sample each of them tonight!

Good ‘ol O’Brien’s had an excellent selection, as usual. For this Thursday’s cask, they had Green Flash’s 30th St. Pale Ale. It was an orange color with a nice BIG, white head. The aromas were of a slight hop character. The hops, caried through to the taste, which was very much hop forward. There was some nice bittering hops in there! The mouthfeel was a grainy almost chewy. Almost like you could have this brew for dinner. Not a problem! Overall, its a bad example of a pale ale according to any style guide out there. But it just might be the perfect crossover between a pale ale and an IPA. In fact, this brew, might make some pale-heads, hop-heads. Chew on that for a minute!

I moved on The Lost Abbey’s Carnevale Saison. This one was a golden orange in color with a small head. In keeping with the saison tradition. The aroma was spices, as well as sour notes. The taste won me over as I am not a sour fan [yet]. There was a nice hint of spice [that I like] as well as some sour. The mouthfeel was very smooth on the palate. Overall, this is a nice brew. I am not a sour fan, but this one may make me a convert.

Well I was on a kick at this point. A kick in the obscure direction, as I often am while out sampling brews. I went for the New Belgian Bierre de Mars. Now, I know New Belgian via their infamous Fat Tire [Pale Ale] as well as their 2 Below [Winter]. I have had countless pints/gallons of both. The Bierre de Mars caught me first by name and then by intrigue. The name caught me because I knew who New Belgian was [or at least I thought I did] and then by intrigue because of the seemingly German name. This one starts out in a goblet of a golden, orange color with a nice head on it. The aromas are pure ester and sour. Like a sweet and sour, impossible right? The taste was sour with some very nice ester notes. Very well ballanced! Again, I am not a sour fan, but this might be a game changer! The mouthfeel was smooth and lite. It let you taste the flavor, rather than be obsonded by the carbonation or the chewyness. Overall, very tasty and enjoyable.

Oh and the O’Brien’s portion of the title. Well, all of this was enjoyed at O’Brien’s! Here is an idea of the type of service you get at O’Brien’s: The pub was busy, as usual, I tried to get a seat at the bar, of course there were none. Micaela, being the excellent employee she is, saved me a seat at the bar, then came outside to where I had found habitat and offered me a seat at the bar. Pretty bad ass, if I do say so myself! Oh and I did manage to get away with this fancy goblet:

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