Can from Total Wine Houston enjoyed at home. Inky black with a small but quickly fleeting off white head. Earthy roasty flavor and aroma with hints of gingerbread spice? and licorice. Odd mashup of flavors but somehow it works.

I picked up a 12 oz can of Buried Hatchet at the nearest and best beer shop earlier today. I am some time between stouts, ready to sample this one. The can is open and I lift into a glass. Dark brown certainly with a small head of tan foam. I smell chocolate and a bit of ash. A drink, ah, it is rather ashy along with grain, milk chocolate, malt and perhaps coffee. Quite thin. I hoped for something more substantial in all ways.

6 October 2022. At The Dooryard, San Antonio. Shared with the lovely Anke!

A: clear golden, stable, white head.
A: unripe strawberry, raspberry, yoghurt, wheat.
T: sweetish strawberry, gooseberry, bread & wheat.
F: soft grassy hops, cereal & strawberry.
P: medium body, watery texture, average carbonation.
Not a bad attempt but strawberry remains a weird flavour.

This 12 oz can came from a Total Wine in Houston. The New Belgium globe glass, my mainstay, is catching the pour. I see an opaque, yellow-gold body with a strong head of off-white foam. The smell is sweet yellow fruit and perhaps some grain. And the drink is decent without being challenging. Grapefruit, a bit of pineapple, white bread, malt and a small bit of hops. Not bad but not really different than many dozens of similar beers. Give the people what they want.

So an IPA claiming to be West Coast style. How unusual these days. This 12 oz can was selected at Mr. T’s locally and is ready to be poured into a Cowtown tulip glass. The view is a cloudy gold going to orange with a steady film of near white foam. The scent is a bit of grapefruit but more heavily tropical. I lift to take a drink, mango, pineapple, apricot, some grapefruit bitterness and a little hoppiness. Not what I hoped for. I think these varieties of hops tilt away from traditional WC attributes. Still, this is a fairly tasty beer.

This 12 oz can of Fracker came from the local craft beer store, appropriate for Midland I believe. Chilled now and pouring inside of a handled bar beer glass now, I determine a yellowish gold liquid topped by a finely-bubbled head of white foam. The scent is a nice presence of grass and pine. And the taste is decent for the style, pine needles, sweet malt, bread and straw. Some sweetness and a little bitter, I call this a low-key, throw-back IPA, best praise I can give it.

On tap at Twisted Acre. Pours an orange ruby with small off white head that diminishes quickly. The aroma is floral, berry, wheat. Slick body, cherry candy, hibiscus, lacto, light acidity, good.

I possess a 12 oz can of Valkyrie that was brewed on 11/29/21 and I can tell you, the label has certainly changed. 9.27% ABV indicated on the can, a slight change there too. A local Buffalo Bayou tulip glass catching the liquid, I see an, opaque, dark orange body with a slender ring of silvery tan foam. An appealing scent, the smell is fermented apricots, some hoppiness and malt. And a drink goes along with that. A touch of pine, hops, yellow fruit, a malt backbone and a crackers taste and dryness. Fairly thick and full. This brew goes off on a tangent that I appreciate that was established by 120 Minute. An IPA that is not exactly an IPA by the traditional standards.