What you will find below

Below is an alphabetical listing of all the beers I tasted from December 1997 to October 2009, all 527 beers. I have tasted many of these beers more than once to make sure of my thoughts on them.

The listings below will include the name of the beer, my numerical ranking based upon my own scale of 0.1 to 10.0, and a little of my personal thoughts about each beer.

H beers

Hacker-Pschorr Dunkel Weisse

5.5

From the same Munich, Germany, family that brings us Paulaner brews. This dark wheat (dunkel weisse) has way too much carbonation and a little sweetness. The flavor is nice but ruined by all those harsh bubbles. Hint: Don’t drink this and smoke a cigar because the heat from the stogie burns the tongue when it’s mixed with all that fizz. If you can’t tell, the carbonation hurts this brew’s score a lot.

Hacker-Pschorr Marzen Amber

7.4

Extremely wet and smooth with a touch of bitterness on the way down.

Hard Rock Hard Gauge Beer

4.0

Yeah, this is a brew from the Hard Rock Cafe people. This one is brewed in Detroit, Michigan. It’s a pretty bitter cheap lager-style beer. Drinkers of typical American fare might find this unusual, but the rest of us don’t. Wet.

Harp

8.3

This Irish lager tastes fantastic, but it’s just a little too fizzy for my taste. Good with just about any meal or for just drinking. Harp Brewery in Dundalk makes this stuff for Guinness.

Harpoon Ale

6.7

Great caramel coloring, and a little stronger than many American ales. This was Harpoon Brewery’s original ale back in 1987. Goes well with a pimento cheese sandwich.

Harpoon I.P.A.

6.5

Doesn’t taste like your usual India Pale Ale (that’s what the I.P.A. stands for). Has a stronger flavor than most I.P.A. beers, and also lacks the sour aftertaste of most I.P.A. beers. Tastes more like a sturdy pale ale. Good, light coloring. Give this one a taste. Comes from the Harpoon Brewery in Boston, Ma., and Windsor, Vt.

Harpoon Munich Type Dark Beer

6.2

This drink reminds one of a weak porter. It has strength, but it’s more like one of those mass-marketed dark beers than a true porter or stout. Has a decent burnt flavor that isn’t too strong for true beer tasters. Just the slightest hint of carbonation. Worth giving a try.

H. C. Berger Chocolate Stout

7.3

Those of you with a sweet tooth can halt getting your hopes up – there isn’t real chocolate in this brew. Very weak for a stout, more like a watery porter with some extra maple texture thrown in.

H. C. Berger Doppelbock Beer

4.6

An overly-sweet beer that is heavy on the tongue. A pretty stoutesque brew.

H. C. Berger Dunkel

5.4

Has a strong sweetness. Pretty wet. Tastes a lot like H.C. Berger Rauchbier, Doppelbock Beer and Kolsch Ale. Beer information: A brewmaster is a male brewer of beer, while a brewster is a female brewer of beer. Bet you didn’t know that, did you?

H. C. Berger Indego Pale Ale

6.9

This beer comes from the H.C. Berger Brewing Company of Fort Collins, Colorado. This is one of the stronger and more sour pale ales with a touch of sweetness in the aftertaste. If you like Old World pale ales, this drink is for you. Very wet and smooth but quite different from many of the more Americanized pale ales.

H. C. Berger Kolsch Ale

4.6

A slight sweetness with some beer-like bitterness. Tastes just like three or four other H.C. Berger beers.

H. C. Berger Rauchbier

6.1

Wet with a strong mixture of bitter and sweet. The sour turns sweet the more you drink, to the point of being annoying. Not a super great brew, but the best of several H.C. Berger beers that taste a lot alike.

H. C. Berger Red Banshee Ale

7.0

One of the stronger amber ales that’s worth your time. Pretty powerful and wet.

H. C. Berger Whistlepin Wheat Ale

6.6

From Fort Collins, Colorado. There’s a honey sweetness here and a little fizz that dominates. Goes down pretty easy and the sweetness isn’t too strong.

Heineken

4.8

This beer from Holland is fairly weak and a little fizzy. There is nothing special here. For the price, you can get a much better beer. This is one of the most overrated beers.

Heineken Dark

5.0

An extremely mediocre dark beer. Only beer snob wannabes and beer snob novices should drink this beer. If you are a beginner, don’t worry, the tastes get better with other beers. There is a little maple bitterness to this beer. That’s all.

Hempen Ale

5.5

The Frederick Brewing Co. of Frederick, Maryland, puts this stuff together. This beer is made using seeds from hemp plants. The drink is a sweet brown ale that at first feels oily to the lips. Drinkable and doesn’t taste awful, but that’s about it.

Heurich’s FoggyBottom Ale

6.9

Made by The Olde Heurich Brewing Company of Washington, D.C. Just a tad too much fizz, but goes down smooth. A bit of kick in the aftertaste makes this beer a little too much for novices, but just right for mid-level beer snobs.

Heurich’s FoggyBottom Lager

5.3

Too spicy for me, but goes down smooth and is frothy. Comes to us from The Olde Heurich Brewing Company of Washington, D.C. Rumor is this company tries to specialize in German beers.

Heurich’s SpringFogg bock beer

7.2

Fairly sturdy. Somewhat like a strong lager. A little froth. A little sweetness. A good beer to go with cigars.

Heurich’s WinterFogg porter

5.8

Not bad for yet another one of those spiced-up winter brews. Too much carbonation. Has a fruity flavor mixed into a fairly sturdy maple texture. One of the better winter brews available.

Highfalls India Pale Ale

5.4

This Rochester, New York. beer is from the same folks who brew JW Dundee’s Honey Brown Lager. This I.P.A. doesn’t have the overpowering sour taste of many I.P.A.s. However, it does have too much carbonation. The taste is slightly sweet, almost like that of a weak Scottish Ale.

Holsten pils

3.3

Comes from Hamburg, Germany. The color is weak and so is the flavor. Reminds me of a typical American beer like Budweiser. A touch of carbonation. A very smooth bitter flavor.

Holsten Premium Bier

3.2

Not worth fooling with. Weak, wet and a little bit of a beer flavor. Just stay away.

Hops Clearwater Light

5.8

Remarkably carbonation-free for a light beer. Very smooth. Almost too smooth.

Hops Hammerhead Red

6.3

A little too much carbonation, but has the slightly burnt flavor of a decent amber ale. Worth giving a try.

Hops Lumberjack Oatmeal Stout

7.1

Quite dark with a burnt maple strength, but overly smooth for a heavy beer. You can see a little light through this stout. Not quite sturdy enough to be a true stout, in my opinion, but not weak enough to be a lesser beer, even a porter. The burnt sweetness stays on the tongue a long time after you drink this.

Hops Lightning Bold Gold

6.0

A quite smooth medium lager that almost tastes like a light beer. Has a hint of honey sweetness on the way down.

Hops Powder Horn Pilsener

8.3

Extremely light and smooth. A favorite bar/brewery beer of mine. Slightly sweet enough to enjoy greatly. Award winning. I first tried this at the Hops restaurant in Winter Park, Florida, just outside of Orlando. Give it a try if you stop at one the Hops restaurants.

Hoster Amber Lager Beer

6.0

A little too weak for my tastes, but makes a good drinking beer. Not weak compared to most premium U.S. beers, but weak for the true beer snob. Worth your time to taste. A good pub beer or beer for hanging out with pals at home.

Hoster Gold Top Beer

5.9

A good, smooth, clean lager. Nothing extraordinary but worth tasting. Light enough that you could enjoy this regularly. Came from Hoster Brewing Company of Columbus, Ohio, but unfortunately the company has closed up shop the last I heard (though their Web page isn’t totally dead yet).

Hoster Hefe Weizen beer

7.1

A non-heavy beer with a strong fruity smell and taste on the way down. Folks who want something different than their regular premium beers, but don’t like strong beers, should try this. I’ve found some hefeweizen-style brews to be too fruity flavored, but this brew avoids that problem. Hefeweizens are a style of wheat beer.

Hoster 90 Shilling Ale

6.7

A Scottish-style ale but not overly sweet (though there is a little malt tartness). I find Scottish ales too sweet normally, but this one isn’t bad. I never really thought about it before now, but the bottle for this beer says Scottish ales are sweet (malty) because hops wouldn’t grow well in Scotland.

Hoster Rev. Purley Ale

7.8

A wet, strongly bitter pale ale. Classic pale ale drinkers would do well to give this a try. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Hubsch Pilsner

7.2

Brewed by Sudwerk Privatbrauerei Hubsch of Davis, California. This drink is strong for a pilsner, with a hardy bitterness. Very wet. Pretty good in chili.

Quote from Ernest Hemingway

Always do sober what you said you’d do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.

Other Beer Links

The Amateur Beer Snob’s Guide to Beer: The E Beers

The Amateur Beer Snob’s Guide to Beer: The F Beers

The Amateur Beer Snob’s Guide to Beer: The G Beers