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I am not a big fan of drinking cider and maybe that is because I generally do not come across it often back in the states. However, I have noticed that many of the pubs here in England offer at least one kind of cider on tap.

That got me thinking and because my beer store always carries Strongbow Cider, I decided that I would finally buy a four-pack of the 500ml cans and give it a shot.

Strongbow is a dry cider and at first glance appears to be apple juice when poured in a glass. To me it taste like a tangy/bubbly apple juice with a kick. Coming in 5.0% ABV this cider can really sneak up on you after having a few.

I can only drink about one or two of these before my taste buds have to take a break though. As I stated earlier, I am not a big cider fan, but I do enjoy the occasional glass.

So far, Strongbow turned out to be better than what I was expecting in a cider. I will be tasting a couple more ciders in the future, so stay tuned.

Leffe Blonde is a Belgian Pale Ale and at first I must admit that I was not that into the taste of this beer. However, after my second time tasting this beer I began to really enjoy it.

It pours a nice clean golden color with an aroma of spice and fruit. The initial taste was sweet and spicy with hints of clove, yeast, and banana.

It seems that after drinking a couple Belgian beers now, I have noticed that each beer recommends a special type of glass. Apparently almost every Belgium beer has its own special drinking glass.

Overall, I would definitely drink this again.

This is my first “beer post” so I figured that I will start with my new favorite beer…Hoegaarden Witbier. Hoegaarden is a Belgian white beer brewed in the town of Hoegaarden.  Although this is considered a summer ale, I am just now enjoying it for the first time in mid December and must say that it is just terrific.

At first glance, I think it poured a hazy golden yellow color with an  initial aroma of yeast and pepper with a slight hint of cloves and orange citrus. The taste was a very mild and pleasant peppery/citrus taste leaving no aftertaste. Also, the beer feels light and creamy on the palette and overall I find this to be one of the best beers I have ever had. A little disclaimer though, this is my first beer review so I hope in the future that new beers will surprise me and take over the number 1 position.

As I have stated before, I started this photo/beer project because I absolutely enjoy drinking beer and taking pictures. So, I figured I would take pictures of the different beers I try while living in Europe and share those experiences with others.

You may be wondering what photography and beer have in common. Well, the short answer is they are both things that I enjoy a lot. This got me thinking that maybe I should start taking photos of some of the beer I get to enjoy so I can have a personal record of the ones I like.

Let me start by stating that the only thing I know about beer is that I like it. So, please do not read my reviews and base your beer tasting experiences off them.  This is just a place for me to share what I think specific beers. Who knows, a couple of years from now I may actually know what I am talking about.

Shortly you will begin to see pictures and brief overviews of each new beer I taste. This entire idea/project all started because I recently discovered a Belgium beer that ended up being so delicious that I wanted to write about it here on my blog.

So…stay tuned!

I will start off by saying that I am definitely not a beer connoisseur nor do I claim to know more about beer than the next guy. I am just another guy that likes drinking beer and decided that while I was here in Hawaii I would try and find some local brews to try. One of the local brews that I found at many restaurants and also in local stores was the Kona Longboard Island Lager made by the Kona Brewing Company .

The first thing I noticed about the Kona Longboard lager was the great aroma it presented. The smell was grainy with a hint of fruit. I found Longboard to be quite smooth tasting with a slight sweet and spicy taste. Overall, I really enjoyed the Kona Longboard lager and would recommend it to others. I purchased it from a local store for about $9 for a six-pack.

My only wish would be more time so I could try some of the other Kona Brewing Company brews.

Another great thing I enjoyed about the beer was that under every bottle cap was a Hawaiian saying with an English translation. It is a gimmick that I really think is fun and interesting. So, go out and grab some Kona Longboard Lager if you get the chance.

I love Japan and the fact that you can buy an Orion draft beer straight from a vending machine. This is something you definitely don’t see back in the states.

If you have ¥290 or roughly 3 dollars you can have a great tasting beer from a vending machine!

Just in case you forgot how to use a vending machine, here are a couple pictures that may make things a little easier for you.