Beer of the week: Duck-Rabbit Amber Ale

Beer score: 5.7
Web site: The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery

ABV: 5.5

IBU: unknown

Pours a very dark blonde color, almost like a tea. Has a bit of a burnt caramel in the scent over the glass. Not a lot of foam or carbonation, but not flat. Quite wet, and a little more sturdy than your typical amber ale. Starts off (very) slightly sweet, but the hoppy bitterness grows in strength on the back of the tongue and the more you drink. A touch of caramel in the taste, with maybe a bare hint of fruitiness. This is quite the respectable beer, though I wouldn't classify it necessarily as a great beer. This brew is light enough and flavorful enough that a beer snob could drink it all day without being embarrassed, so if you're a beer snob looking for something you can keep on hand in your fridge for regular, every-day drinking, this would not be a bad choice by any means. The craft brew comes to us from Farmville, North Carolina.

Double Diamond

Beer score: 6.2
Web site: Carlsberg
A lager-like English ale with a little kick and just as much carbonation. A nice, clean beer but nothing out of the ordinary. Formerly brewed by Tetley's Brewery, but Carlsberg has taken over the company and is shifting some things around. So, as of summer of 2010, I'm not sure this brew is still on the market. Let me know, if you know, and I'll report it here.

Dos Equis Special Lager

Beer score: 3.4
Web site: Dos Equis
Pretty weak overall but has a little carbonation that adds to the strength. You can get much better brews for less than the price of this Mexican beer.

Dos Equis Amber Lager

Beer score: 4.2
Web site: Dos Equis
A little more hardy and less fizzy than Dos Equis Special Lager, but still not much special here. An odd mix of Mexican beer texture and flavor with a little bit of European taste thrown in.

DAB Original

Beer score: 3.5
Web site: Dortmunder
Tastes like any other German brew made for the American premium beer market - in other words, bad. Cheap beer drinkers who want to feel like someone can drink this. This stuff comes from Dortmund, Germany, but that doesn't improve its taste.

dog days golden ale

Beer score: 3.6
Web site: Flying Dog Brewery

This has a cheap-beer taste to it, as if it were a premium beer (like one of the many out of Milwaukee, for example). All the carbonation makes it hard to swallow. This beer was brewed by Broadway Brewing, LLC, of Denver, Colorado for Flying Dog Brew Pub in Aspen, Colorado, when I tasted it back in the 1990s, but apparently it is no longer being made.

Dock Street USA Amber Lager

Beer score: 4.0
Web site: Dock Street Brewing Company
Sorry, folks at Dock Street Brewing Co. of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but this tastes like a premium beer that's only been given a little bit of extra oomph. Typical beer drinkers could guzzle this stuff down. True beer snobs should take a short taste, realize it's nothing great, and move on.

Dixie Jazz Amber Light

Beer score: 6.1
Web site: Dixie
A slightly fruity/tangy light beer. Wet and refreshing. If you have to drink a light beer, this isn't a bad choice.

Dixie Crimson Voodoo Ale

Beer score: 4.1
Web site: Dixie
Has a decent bitterness with a little too much burnt sourness. Doesn't taste much like a red ale, which is what the bottle says it is. You're not missing much if you skip this one, which is unfortunate because I love this brewery's lager.

Dixie Blackened Voodoo Lager

Beer score: 7.8
Web site: Dixie
The Dixie Brewing Co. of New Orleans, Louisiana, makes this fine brew. It looks and tastes like a porter, though the burnt maple taste of a porter isn't quite as strong here as is a sweet molasses flavoring. Quite an enjoyable drink. You dark beer lovers will love this.

Devil Mountain Tasmanian Pale Ale

Beer score: 5.9
A little strong for a pale ale but goes down smooth. There's a train on the label, which is kind of cool. This brew would score a little higher if it weren't so bitter. It's called a Tasmanian pale ale because the hops are supposedly Tasmanian. Unfortunately, this brewery is no longer with us.

Devil Mountain Summer Mountain Brew

Beer score: 5.3
Another brewery that's gone out of business. What a shame. This beer was watery and weak but still too strong for your average Budweiser drinker. A slight bitterness with some fizz. The light fruity smell was quite nice. There are worse beers out there.

Devil Mountain Railroad Gold Ale

Beer score: 5.7
A cloudy pale ale-type drink with a little sweetness. Went down smooth and wet. But it's no longer in production since the Devil Mountain Brewery of Ohio went out of business. Shucks.

Devil Mountain Honey Wheat

Beer score: 3.0
Smooth and frothy but way too sweet, so much so that the sweetness lowers this beer's score considerably. The Devil Mountain Brewery in Ohio made this stuff before going out of business.

Devil Mountain Five Malt Ale

Beer score: 6.0
This beer comes from Devil Mountain Brewing Company. This brewery's beers were supposedly originally brewed in an old railroad station in Northern California. The batch of beers I drank from had Cincinnati, Ohio, marked as their brewing place. This is so sturdy it could almost pass for a stout (okay, okay, a weak stout). The taste grows sweeter the more you drink.

Devil Mountain Black Honey Ale

Beer score: 8.0

Imagine a stout with plenty of honey stirred in and you've got this beer. Trust me, it's worth tasting. The sweetness comes from African black honey. Though this drink is very stout-like, it doesn't quite have the bitter strength of a stout, though it does have the texture and coloring of a stout. Originally from California, this beer is now being made in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Desperados

Beer score: 5.2
Web site: Desperados
A French beer made by Brasserie Fischer which is in competition with the most common Mexican-style beers, such as Corona and Anheuser-Busch's Tequiza. It tastes kind of like Corona with a strong fruity, spiced sweetness added in. One is pretty good, but after a few the fruity flavor get a little annoying. Made with a tad bit of tequila, and you can just barely taste it.