So I took a two or so month hiatus. I will be back every now and then to talk about some of the new beers I am trying. We’ll see how often this is, but it won’t be anywhere near my previous pace.

I haven’t had the opportunity to have an AleSmith recently, so I leaped at the My Bloody Valentine Ale I found while perusing a beer shop. I am exactly one day late to still be in February and therefore in valentine season, but who cares.

The beer pours a beautiful deep red color. Beer is pungent and sweet to the nose. Flavors immediately start off strongly sweet, just teetering on the edge of cloying. Notes are reminiscent of a dense chocolate cake. This does not last long, as a pile of hops tumble into the mix. The sweet and chocolatey things about this beer are rapidly doused in bitterness. I had a quite successful Valentine’s with my wonderful girlfriend (who helped support me in my silly year of beer) but were I to find myself without her, this beer would be one of the first places I would turn, for its character and flavor are one of bitter regrets, loneliness and self-indulgent heartbreak.