January Beer of the Month Club Review - Gourmet Monthly Clubs

Hey all you craft beer drinkers! It's that time again! What time? New Beer of the Month from Gourmet Monthly Clubs time! Yeah... we know, it doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. But the beer... The beer tastes good. So let's get to it!

This month, we've got beer from Mercury Brewing Company and Abita Brewing Company. Mercury sends their Ipswich Original Ale and Nut Brown Ale, while Abita has their Jockamo IPA and Turbo Dog. On a side note, Mercury Brewing Company is quite local to DrinkCraftBeer.com. They're just about a half hour away in Ipswich, MA. They brew some delicious beers, so we're stoked to get reacquainted with these local brews (especially twice this month as we got Mercury beers from both of our Beer of the Month Clubs). With that in mind, let's get to the beer!

And, as always, if you want to get the same club as us go here: Click to Join

Mercury Brewing Company Ipswich Nut Brown Ale

Appearance: Wow, that's a beautiful brown beer! Clear, reddish brown with a chocolate milkshake head.

Smell: Sweet malt with some molasses.

Taste: That's a pretty good brown ale! It's a little nutty. Actually, it's peanuty, which would make it a legumey beer. But that doesn't sound nearly as appetizing as this beer is tasty, so let's go with nutty. It goes very well with roasted unsalted peanuts. The malt really makes this beer, as it's lightly toasted with a hint of nut. A nice session ale at 5.4% abv.

Mercury Brewing Comany Ipswich Original Ale

Appearance: Pours orange with a slight haze, just like a typical American Pale Ale. Cream colored head sticks around for quite a while!

Smell: There's a little bit of malt and almost a hint of booze.

Taste: Hops and malt are in a perfect balance for an Americanized English pub beer. Neither of the flavors really dominate, but rather work together to make a very complete and easy drinking flavor. There's a little bit of buiscut from that malt. This is another good beer from Mercury Brewing Company, which we found in both Gourmet Monthly Clubs and Amazing Clubs this month with the Ipswich and Stone Cat lines, respectively.


 

Abita Brewing Company Jockamo IPA

Appearance: Looks like an IPA. Nice amber hue with off-white head.

Smell: Smells like an IPA. Very piney, resinous hops dominate.

Taste: Tastes like an IPA. Sounds like an IPA... OK, so IPA's don't actually have sound. But it does taste like one! Hop bitterness are just balanced with the sweet malt. Great hop flavor. This is definitely an underrated IPA. If you like hops, you'll like this beer! Not as dry as some west-coast IPA's, but this is still one hoppy beer that anybody who likes hops will enjoy.


Abita Brewing Company Turbo Dog

Appearance: Held up to a light, this beer is dark brown with ruby hues and a creamy brown head that turns quite craggy.

Smell: It smells almost like a milk stout, sweet yet chocolatey.

Taste: Ooooh, that's tasty. Sweet and roasty, but not bitter roasty. Super smooth finish! This definitely has a slick mouthfeel, but not heavy. We're really impressed. Lots of chocolate in this as well round out this flavor.