Saturday, June 8, 2013

Beer: Dixie and Breckenridge


Here are a few more craft beer reviews, just a smattering from the hundreds Goatsden has been responsible for. Shame on us for enjoying so much beer and keeping notes on it. 

Anyway, scores are, as ever, from 1 (awful) to 5 (awesome). Anything over a 3.5 or so should be considered worthy. With that in mind, check these out and judge for yourself. Keep beer independent and local, and down with the corporate monoliths and monopolies!

DIXIE BEER (New Orleans, LA) - 2.5

Dixie Brewing has a long history and is a beloved institution in New Orleans. However, the brewery has been closed since it was severely damaged in Hurricane Katrina. Now, Dixie is contract-brewed by Minhas in Wisconsin, and the results are not good.

Clear golden, with a fizzy white head. Lace is thin and weak. Aroma is malty, grainy, and lager-like. Very average. Tastes sweet -- very much like a thin adjunct character. As with other beers brewed by Minhas (as this apparently was contracted brewed by), this one's an unbalanced mess that lacks complexity and wallops the taste buds with heavy, syrupy sweet malts. Ugh.

As near to a drainpour as I've had in some time.

DIXIE (New Orleans, LA) - BLACKENED VOODOO LAGER - 3.0

Clean ruby/brown appearance, with a rich head of off-white foam. Definite lace, but seems spotty and erratic. Nose is like other Minhas brews -- adjunct and sweetly malty. Taste is weak and watery, like the regular Dixie Beer, but with a definite roasty malt tone.

I have to wonder if Dixie's beers were better once upon a time, as this one is really disappointing.


Opened in 1990 in beautiful Breckenridge, CO, Breckenridge Brewing has been a Colorado craft beer staple since the beginning. These are a couple of their regular year-round brews. Clean amber in color, with a nice off-white (almost tan) head. Decent lace. Aroma is biscuits and yeast. Like freshly baked bread maybe. Tastes much the same - bread. A hint of roastiness and a minimal hop snap at the finish. 

Straight-forward and sturdy, and a solid session amber ale.


Deep, dark brown and opaque. Almost black in appearance. Good suds, a little lace. Aroma is definitely, unmistakably vanilla. And good! Flavor goes straight to the vanilla. Creamy body, feels almost like a vanilla coke. The roastiness takes a back seat here, and likewise, I get no coffee tones. Still, this is a good-tasting porter, and a superb change of taste from the usual. Nice work!

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