Black Raven Seasonal IPA (Quarter 4)
Very perfumey; orange, melon, sweet and thin. A little fakey.
Draft
Draft at Schlafly Beer Bar & Grill, St. Louis Lambert Airport
A malty, fruity, floral IPA. Very much on the pungent, resinous side, it became hard to keep drinking after a while.
Draft
True to Postdoc’s modus operandi, this is nice-forward, clean, with a slightly funky cereal finish. Pineapple is writ clear on its shoulder. Very pleasant.
Draft
Better than my memory of this. Still a little prickly and bitter, but a smooth chocolate roast evens it out. Most of it was going to go into the corned beef anyway.
Bottle
Matchless Ol’ Lifewine (2021)
I don’t know if this turned, which would be surprising after 2+ years, but this wasn’t great. Murky, caramel, astringent. Lots of sediment which was unpleasant.
Bottle
New Glarus Nectar Ale (2022)
Smells more tart than actually comes through in the flavor, which is a very pleasant grape/peach. Ends with some funk and is maybe too sweet, but is nice.
Bottle
This went bad, very bad. This was basically rubbing alcohol with a fungal aftertaste.
Bottle
Extremely light, nominally sweet, refreshing rice lager. Not crisp, but mellow.
Draft at Thirsty Hop, Kirkland
Fort George Matryoshka (2023)
Extremely sweet; so sweet that I thought I had gotten some other beer by mistake.
Draft at Thirsty Hop, Kirkland
Caramel, faint spice, brandy. Tastes a bit like a boozy, less-sweet ginger-molasses cookie. It's fairly mellow. The flavor doesn't totally resolve into something unified but it is tasty overall.
Bottle at Odin Lounge
I mean, this is almost like drinking strawberry preserves fresh from the jar. It's so, so jammy. It's not cloying, though, I think the rhubarb halts the sweetness right at the very end into something a tiny bit funky and tart.
Bottle at Odin Lounge
Clean, lemon-pine IPA, moderately bitter, just south of perfumey.
Draft at Black Raven Brewing Company, Redmond
Again, need to take away points for this not at all tasting like kimchi. But if you're in the mood for a tart but effervescent ginger drink with a hit of heat, this might fit your needs.
Can at Odin Lounge
Tastes like a sweetish pale with a bitter brett funk that is pleasant, but comes off a bit like leather perfume.
Can at Odin Lounge
A funky beginning, kind of like musty peach, but resolves to a clean, tart plum flavor. Ends unsophisticated but enjoyable.
Can at Odin Lounge
Subdued cereal and wet grass and very, very brackish. The overall effect is pretty balanced, if not totally refreshing.
Draft at Redmond's Bar and Grill, Redmond
Slightly sour, not sweet, but very mellow and smooth. Cola-like but not at all fruity. I think this is pretty great, actually.
Draft at Redmond's Bar and Grill, Redmond
Very interesting in this actually gives more of an impression as a coconut sour than a pineapple sour, although it certainly communicates the idea of a piña colada very deftly. Decently tart, enough that it’s a sipper.
Draft at Flatstick Pub, Redmond
Impressions from my last log of this beer stand.
Draft at Flatstick Pub, Redmond
Thinner-mouthfeel stout, tasty if actually pretty spicy for the style. Also I can’t help but admit I was expecting coconut based on the name, but if there was any it was not evident.
Draft at Flatstick Pub, Redmond
Resolves with sweet cereal, although there are more up-front flavors than I expected: a little fruity, hops, yeasty funk. Altogether I felt this could have been cleaner.
Draft at The Pumphouse Bar & Grill, Bellevue
Easy drinking and not at all the bitter-fest that my previous log seems to indicate. Dominant flavors seem to be black coffee and burnt sugar.
Draft at Tavern Hall, Bellevue
About as close as you can get to drinking a Cadbury caramel chocolate bar. It is thick, yes. It is sweet, yes. It is boozy, yes. It still hit me in a good place.
Draft at Great Notion Brewing, Seattle
Georgetown Rum Barrel Aged 18LB Imperial Porter (unknown release)
Chocolate, mellow, sweet notes of rum. Slightest hint of coconut. Smooth caramel finish.
Draft at Georgetown Brewing Company, Seattle
Georgetown Curaçao Barrel Aged 18LB Imperial Porter (unknown release)
The spicier one of the two, with a slightly more cola-like character to the flavor, but still really good.
Draft at Georgetown Brewing Company, Seattle
A smooth dark lager with lots of caramel. Lightly sweet. Just enough roast to balance.
Draft at Georgetown Brewing Company, Seattle
Lots of citrus, lots of banana. It's really easy to see where the hybrid bits meet here, plus it's tasty!
Draft at Georgetown Brewing Company, Seattle
Lemon-pine, cereal-sweet. This has a dessert bar appeal without being over the top.
Draft at Georgetown Brewing Company, Seattle
Coffee, light caramel. This was really good (and seemingly better than last time). This is an exemplary flight overall.
Draft at Georgetown Brewing Company, Seattle
I don't know if this is the same as the old Nut Brown so I'm logging it separately for now. This is a very solid brown, with a toasty, dry cracker character.
Draft at Big Block Brewing, Redmond
Less toasty than the brown, slightly fruity on the nose. Finishes bitter. This is hoppy for a Scotch ale.
Draft at Big Block Brewing, Redmond
Briefly tastes like a pilsner but gets very hoppy very quickly. I'd say this ventures clearly into IPA territory. It's especially bitter on the back end, but I guess I do taste honey?
Draft at Big Block Brewing, Redmond
Prickly and acrid. I guess you have to go somewhere if the Boss was already where an IPA usually is.
Draft at Big Block Brewing, Redmond
Big Block Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Brown Ale (unknown release)
Once again, this was quite sour, Flanders-like, but with a brightness that is IMO off-putting. Bears no resemblance at all to the Brown Ale in this flight, which is what I'd hoped for. I don't know why I keep taking chances with the barrel aged beers here; they've all been like this.
Draft at Big Block Brewing, Redmond
A really nice counterpoint to the House of Pancakes. Smells strongly of peanut butter; the beer itself is thinnish and only mildly sweet, which is nice and kind of lets a base flavor of beer poke through. More peanut butter cereal milk than it is a brownie, but I liked it.
Can at Odin Lounge
Undoubtedly weird. More campfire than bacon but you can squint and taste it, but the weird thing about this is that it's quite sour. Tart citrus, like someone took lemon juice to the cast-iron after finishing the bacon? It's an interesting smoky sour, but what I don't get at all between all of it is maple or pancakes.
Can at Odin Lounge
I think if there was an ideal West Coast IPA this would be pretty close to it. Lager-like in opening, with clean cereal notes, which transitions to measured piney hops. Finishes with a strong but not pithy bitterness.
Can at Odin Lounge
Delicious and sweet; light. If uncomplicated.
Draft at Thirsty Hop, Kirkland