Rating My Beer Runs #2

About a month ago I made a post about the beer runs I had made over the course of a couple months, see it here: https://steemit.com/beer/@bigskycustoms/beer-runs
I thought it would be fun to go back and see how i liked the beers I picked up in the reviews. I will just do one or two of the runs per post but will be rating them all on how well I did on picking good beers. As a criteria I am using the Untappd rating system since that is how I rate all my beers. So using that system, anything between 0.00 and 2.00 I would consider to be a bad to mediocre beer, those between 2.00 and 3.50 would be considered fair to midling beers, decent on most occasions, beers from 3.50 to 4.25 would be very good beers and those from 4.25 to 5.00 are to be considered the best, very good beers to my palate.

So this post will cover two more beer runs, one completed in Mid-February from Big Heads Bottle Shop in Missoula, Montana. My friend Cody stopped there with a list of beers I had compiled for him to pick up based on what they had listed on Untappd. Big Heads has an excellent beer selection and they are constantly updating it with new beers and of course they offer single beer sales.

Here is the picture from this run:

There are 8 beers in this run (I actually had a few more but I am separating those out as they are combined in a picture with some other beers).
So what were they rated:

• Firestone Walker - Nitro Merlin - 4.25
• Firestone Walker - Mocha Merlin - 4.25
• Ballast Point - Red Velvet Oatmeal Stout Nitro- 4.50
• Wasatch Brewing - Apricot Hefeweisen - 4.00
• Wasatch Brewing - Outer Darkness Imperial Stout - 4.50
• Wasatch Brewing - Polygamy Porter Bourbon Barrel Aged Porter - 4.00
• Upslope Brewing - Mexican Chocolate Milk Stout - 4.25
• Upslope Brewing - Ozo Coffee Brown Ale - 4.00

Average Rating: 4.25/5

This is a high rating, all the beers were really good, the lowest rating was 4.00, with several rated at 4.50. I hand picked these beers based on the type and other than the Apricot Hefe, they are all dark beers, so I would hope I liked them all. I rate this a very good beer run and all beers on the list are highly recommended. I have reviewed most of these beers already on Steemit but if you are interested in more information about any let me know.

Lets check out this beer run from early March. It was to Toppers Wine Cellar in Helena, Montana, another good beer and wine store with single beer purchase encouraged. I have had pretty good luck finding beers here that are not available in Great Falls, so was looking forward to stopping. I hadn't been here for about 5 months. Here are the beers I picked. Was a bit disappointed in the selection, not many new beers:

Only 5 beers picked up and here are their ratings:

• Vernal Brewing - Winter Warmer - 3.75
• Boulder Brewing - Irish Blessing Oak Aged Coffee Stout- 4.50
• Outlaw Brewing - The Dirk Scottish Ale - 4.00
• Inveralmond Brewing - Rascal London Porter - 4.25
• Carlsberg Sweden - D. Carnegie Porter - 4.00

Average Rating: 4.10/5

As I mentioned above, I was a little disappointed in the selection of beers I wanted to try but overall, the five I picked were really good, the Vernal Winter Warmer kind of dragging down the rating but it was actually a pretty good seasonal beer, had a unique taste. The two porters from Europe were both more of the old world kind of porters but both very good, the one beer I was a bit disappointed in was the Scottish Ale from Outlaw, as SAs are my favorite beer type, it wasn't up to the level I want to see in a SA, but was still pretty good. Overall, another really good run.

The two beer runs reviewed today were both winners, I would not be afraid to recommend any of the beers on this list to anyone who likes the dark beers. Thought this was kind of fun and I will continue to do these beer run rating posts until I run out of the beer runs. Hope you enjoyed this and I can give details on any specific beers you might be interested in knowing more about. A lot of these I have already posted beer reviews on Steemit so I can find a link for you if interested. Cheers and good beer hunting!!