So November is the month we've added a new section to the Beer of the Month Clubs reviews. We're now getting the Beer of the Month Club from Amazing Clubs, and we'll review it for you every month. This way, you Craft Beer Drinkers can see what kind of quality they're sending and make the most informed decision possible. We're really happy to be able to bring you this information on DrinkCraftBeer.com.

"The Frosted Mug," Amazing Club's monthly newsletter, give you a history of both breweries each monthly and some tasting notes on all four beers. You'll be able to find the answers to most of your questions about these beers here.

This month, Amazing Clubs sends us two local favorites (local for us, not necessarily for you!). Sherwood Forest our of Marlborough, MA and Shipyard from Portland, ME. We're quite familiar with both breweries, having been drinking both for a few years now. Sherwood is represented by their flagship Archer's Ale and the Maiden's Blueberry Ale. From Shipyard we're drinking their Prelude Special Ale and the Longfellow Winter Ale, both winter seasonals.

And, like always, if you want to join this club go here: Click to Join.

Sherwood Forest Archer's Ale

Appearance: Red-amber with a bone white head.

Smell: Creamy malt with mild hops.

Taste: Nutty malt with some mild hops. A sessionable interpretation of an English Pale Ale. It's good, but not phenomenal.

Note: So Sherwood Forest is brewed right in our backyard, based in Marlborough, MA. It's definitely a nice beer to revisit. We've always enjoyed it as a good local session beer. We're very glad to see people outside the area getting a chance to try it!

Shipyard Longfellow Winter Ale

Appearance: Dark dark brown with red tinges at the sides. Light brown head.

Smell: Figs, chestnuts and spices. A good winter ale smell. Dark fruit in there.

Taste: Dark cherries with a light chocolatey finish and some roastiness. Light on the tongue, but finishes full. A very nice winter ale from Shipyard.

Note: Again, this is a beer brewed locally for us (Maine). It's nice to see some local breweries getting exposure all across the country in these clubs. That's why we love these things. There's enough "hype" beers out there. People need to see theres a lot of just good drinkable beers all over the country as well.

Sherwood Forest Maiden's Blueberry Ale

Appearance: Pale straw color with a white fluffy head.

Smell: Blueberry. You can smell it from several feet away. But authentic blueberry, not fake blueberry flavoring.

Taste: Tastes like heated blueberries (except it's cold)... meaning it tastes like the blueberries in pancakes or pie. Honestly, we went into this skeptical expecting not to like it. We opened one between five of us... and ended up immediately opening a second beer upon tasting it so we could each have more. Nice biscuit flavor backing up the blueberry. This isn't one we'd have a bunch of, but we're definitely enjoying this! Much more than we expected. And we don't normally like fruit beers. Check this one out. Also, be on the lookout for a waffle recipe involving this beer. We're currently perfecting the concept.

Shipyard Prelude Special Ale

Appearance: Red... Straight up deep garnet with a tan head.

Smell: Dates and raisins. Dried sugary fruit... Fruitcake.

Taste: Bold and robust malt with some biscuit and light roast. Mildly spiced in the back of your throat. We almost want to chew it... like a gingersnap cookie. There's some molasses in there. This is a very solid winter ale that will warm you up on a cold night!

Hey all you craft beer drinkers! It's that time again! What time? New Beer of the Month from Gourmet Monthly Clubs time! Yeah... I 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 got beer from Wild Goose in Maryland and Christian Moerlein in Cincinnati, Ohio. Wild Goose has a Brown Lager and an Oatmeal Stout this month while we drank the Christian Moerlein Over the Rhine Ale and Barbarossa Double Dark Lager. Like always, Gourmet Monthly Club's "Malt of the Earth" newsletter has some great information on both breweries as well as detailed descriptions of all four beers.

If you want to get the same club as us go here: Click to Join  

Wild Goose Brown Lager

Appearance: Tan head, dark brown clear beer.

Smell: A little cocoa-y.

Taste: A little bit of bitterness from the malt. It has a chalky (not in a bad way at all) mouthfeel, with some bitter chocolate and nuttiness. Almost like peanuts. It's very dry and crisp for a dark beer... this would be a great beer for drinking on a hot day when you want something not-pale. Easy drinking. We like it!

Christian Moerlein Over the Rhine Ale

Appearance: Clear ambery copper. Very little off-white head.

Smell: It smells sweetly hoppy. You can definitely smell some citrusy hops, but there's solid malt sweetness backing it up.

Taste: It's like a sweet brown ale with hops. It's a super interesting beer, and great to see something this cool clocking in at 6% abv. This is what we think you'd get if you mixed a brown ale and a citrusy IPA 50/50. A little bit of honey, too. We like this one a lot! We reiterate, really interesting! One of the better beers we've recieved from Gourmet Monthly Clubs.

Wild Goose Oatmeal Stout

Appearance: Pours dark dark brown to black. Light brown head.

Smell: Smooth mild sweet smell.

Taste: Tastes roasty and chocolatey, with a sweet ending. Super smooth finish, almost chewy. This is another really good beer from Wild Goose! Well done Gourmet Monthly Clubs!

Christian Moerlein Barbarossa Double Dark Lager

Appearance: Clear dark amber... Khaki head.

Smell: Clean and crisp, not too much going on.

Taste: Crisp with a little malty nuttyness. Tastes like a brown ale, but crisper. Very clean finish from the lagering. It's not amazing but nothing negative to say either. We wouldn't refuse it but wouldn't seek it out.

This month, we got beer from Saranac and Atlanta Brewing Company. Saranac was represented by their Pumpkin Ale and their Oktoberfest, while we drank the Atlanta Brewing Company Brown Ale and Pale Ale.

If you want to get the same club as us go here: Click to Join

Atlanta Brewing Company Red Brick Brown Ale

Appearance: Tan stable head, about an inch and a half. Appropriately, the beer is brown.

Smell: A little bit of roastiness and some molasses sweetness. But fairly mild.

Taste: Smooth, slightly sweet. Almost creamy. A hint of hazelnut. Delicious! We would definitely drink a bunch of this. This has a great complex malt taste, quite nutty at the end. Still exceedingly drinkable!

Saranac Oktoberfest

Appearance: Bone white to tan head. Fluffy and sticks around. Looks much lighter than most oktoberfests... Copper.

Smell: Light, a little bit of malt. Not much smell to it.

Taste: Drinkable! Very smooth. Crisp even. Very light on the palate. Lacking the malt body normally expected from an Oktoberfest, but we like it. This would have been a great beer for our Oktoberfest party. Reminds us of Weihenstephaner Festbier. This gets better as you drink it. A bit bitter, but not hoppy. We approve!

Saranac Pumpkin Ale

Appearance: Off white head. Coppery orange color.

Smell: Spicy. It smells like pumpkin pie.

Taste: Quite spiced with pumpkin pie spices. Not very pumpkiny, really. A bit thinner than normal pumpkin beer. We may have been a little harsh earlier in our Pumpkin Beer Tasteoff. We still think it lacks a little of what we look for in a pumpkin beer, but it's quite a good fall spiced beer. This could go well with pumpkin pie or Thanksgiving dinner. In the context of a Pumpkin Beer Tasteoff, this is a little lacking when compared to others. But as a spiced beer, it's pretty good.

Atlanta Brewing Company Pale Ale

Appearance: White head. Not to fluffy, but it sticks around. Light orangey coppery amber.

Smell: Crisp hop goodness! Mmmmm... We could smell it just pouring it into a glass. The hops are almost orangey, like orange zest.

Taste: Dry and crisp with a great hop bite. Nice bitterness for a pale ale, a lot of smooth bitterness, they were not shy on this front! The hops taste great, too... still some of that orange zest. And, to round it all out, the malt backbone of this beer really complements the hops. This is a very well put together pale ale. This is probably one of the best beers we've received from Gourmet Monthly Clubs. We were told the hop shortage is making it harder to acquire hoppy beers for the club, so we're extra glad they were able to send this one out!

It's always an exciting day when our beer of the month club comes in. It's sort of like a mini christmas each time, you don't know what you're going to get as you open the box only to discover exciting and interesting new beers. Once again we got a shipment of beers we'd never tried before and given we've tried a lot of beer and we mean A LOT that's saying something.

If you want to get the same club as us go here: Click to Join

Woodstock Inn Pig's Ear Brown Ale

Appearance: Brown, light tan head... decent size head.

Smell: Mild, slightly sweet. Smooth

Taste: Very smooth and easy to drink. Good malt flavor, light hop bitterness, but enough to keep the beer very well balanced, if not on the maltier side. A very drinkable session brown ale. Got enough flavor to make it tasty, with a god bit of roast to it. Not too flavorful to make it tough to drink a lot of it.

Woodstock Inn Red Rack Ale

Appearance: Well, surprise surprise, it' red-ish. White head that dissipates real fast.

Smell: Earthy hops... light smell to it, nothing overwhelming. Almost a little smoke in there.

Taste: Light tasting, with a nice hop bitterness to it. Balanced just like the Pig's Ear, but on the hoppy side rather than the malty side. Very drinkable, another very good session ale!

Tommyknocker Butthead Bock

Appearance: Deep brown with some amber hues and a rich but light brown head.

Smell: Malty. Brown sugar and mollases. Smells sweet.

Taste: Sweet. It tastes like a sweet Oktoberfest. Maltiness coats your mouth, it's a pretty thick beer. Definitely a tasty one to enjoy on a cold night!

Jeff Says: It's good for what it is. A bock. I just don't love sweet beers that much. But it is a good example of the style. I like it, but wouldn't seek it out.

Devon Says: I like it. It tastes like a sweet marzen, which for me worked well. Bock's are actually normally a style that I don't care for but I'd definitely drink this again.

Tommyknocker Pick Axe Pale Ale

Appearance: Dark golden with a white head

Smell: Smells good even just pouring it into the glass! Piny hops. Ryan says it smells like Christmas.

Taste: Dry, hoppy, piny and very tasty! Not overly bitter, but great hop flavor with just enough bitterness to make it crisp. This is definitely the winner of the bunch. A great session ale that we could drink all night long. This one is definitely recommended.