All about Eden
Eden is a member of Odin DBRD.
Eden has logged 5044 beers a total of 6602 times.
Eden's favorite beer so far seems to be Goose Island 2015 Bourbon County Rare: 
(logged 2 times)
(logged 2 times)Eden's most often logged beer so far is Black Raven Splinters Bourbon Strong Scotch Ale: 
(logged 23 times)
(logged 23 times)Eden's favorite type of beer seems to be Stout.
Eden's Log
A generally-mild tasting IPA with a very pungent apricot/resin nose and finish. Definitely gives the impression of an oily aromatic layer coating the surface of the beer.
Really nice, actually! A touch of dried fruit, cinnamon, some herbal bitterness, but also a drinkable, light, porter at heart. I think I prefer this to the more naked spice character of the Festivus.
In context, this was a very weird followup to the other beers. The increased fruity hop character was jarring. Lots of caramel. Definitely prickly.
Very nicely balanced, roasty stout. There's a vegetal/earthy coffee base here with a sweet cream finish. I don't know if you can taste purple, but aside from that (this just looks like a stout) it did make me think of an ube latte for sure.
Sweet, tart, jammy, with a butter cookie-like aftertaste. Very much tastes like the filling of a blueberry pastry.
Caramel, lightly roasted. Coffee. Carbonation's a bit spiky, but this is really pleasant to drink with a very dry finish.
Juicy and lightly fruity; apricot and citrus. Mild cereal finish.
Solid export stout although it's probably not as hopped as the style might demand. It's yummy, though.
Caramel, light flavor, what you probably want from a dark lager. Honestly, my taste buds are probably completely burnt out by now.
Light, almost watery, but not quite. Decent example of a simulated macro lager. I liked it, but I bet there would have been more nuance in this if this wasn't where it was in the order tonight! Will have to try again.
Threshold Barrel-Aged Jack Knife (unknown release)
Cacao, a hint of coconut. Much thinner than some of these other bombs. A really nice change.
Caramel, plum, spice. I'm running out of nuance in my taste buds, but this is delicious.
Fort George Matryoshka with Vanilla Bean, Cacao Nibs & Dates (unknown release)
Cacao bomb. Sweet and thick. But quite tasty.
Smells like vinegar but the taste is actually not so sour. Masa and salt... definitely getting a tortilla chip quality here.
Fabriek Juicy & Wild Muri-Elle (unknown release)
Sour and berry-like. I don't like raspberries, and this does taste significantly like raspberries (despite the fact that this is labeled as a blackberry lambic).
Jet says this tastes like a Christmas tree and I can't disagree. It's like spruce tips and hps without any of the bitterness or resin. I cannot remember what Anchor's Holiday Ale tasted like but this is good.
Tastes like a very nice coffee golden ale; not sure if I strongly detect pumpkin--and if there's spice, it's subdued--but maybe it's there in the fruity/sweet character.
Oversweet, intense vanilla is the leading flavor. Very thick. Not surprising for this brewery, but yeah.
Very sweet, boozy, mellow and buttery coconut, but this is definitely candy-like.
Fremont From the Vault (2022)
Thick, milky, light coffee. A bit too sweet, maybe. Finshes somwhere clean but with a sense of evaporated milk.
The coffee-est and roastiest of the three barrel vintages. More chocolate as well. The last one was Scotchy, this one has the most bourbon-caramel character.
Not as peaty as I thought I detected in Kenmore the other day, but this still has the "Scotchiest" character of the flight.
The alcohol burn has very much mellowed out here, and it's still light in mouthfeel but with strength. I didn't get this one in the flight last weekend, so I feel very fortunate to have gotten a second chance.
A perfect coffee stout, lighter in mouthfeel than expected. Medium roast, lightly creamy.
Woody and oily, slightly vinous. Quite dry. Nice finish: grape, buttery, clean.
Very much like the 2023 but a little more raw, spiky, maybe a little more chocolate up-front. About as hoppy on the finish as the maple.
Roast, thin mouthfeel stout, whiskey and peat, almost? Very mellow, dark finish. Had the most subdued hop character of the three.
Caramel, sweet, just a tinge of smoke and a very present bourbon backing. Definitely a barley wine, with some hop fruit and round bitterness on the finish.
Elysian The Big Blackness (unknown release)
Pruney and dark, the opening resembles port or brandy rather than bourbon, but you get the latter about halfway through and then a sweet, liquor finish. Tacky finish, definitely strong.
Breakside La Maison du Bang! (unknown release)
Plummy and tacky, drying finish. Definitely feels like a very strong beer.
Extremely pungent, resinous, dry, woody. There are times when I appreciate a beer like this but I kind of wanted something drinkable?
Surprisngly simple for a Deschutes barrel-aged beer - but maybe that's just in comparison to the Baptista. I
t's somewhat thin in mouthfeel with a sweet but not syrupy liquor-forward flavor. Some high-key bitterness in the finish.
You get a hit of that mezcal right up front - smoke, a little brine. This is otherwise a balanced stout, not too sweet, a bit tacky on the finish, with a mellow vanilla-chocolate flavor that results in a long finish. Strong!
Sweet coffee, not syrupy, a decent amount of pumpkin spice, but also a very vegetal component that might be the coffee bean, or maybe the pumpkin. Nice to taste real flavors though.
A nice Oktoberfest, sweet, a bit metallic, but there’s a juicy hop sheen that is a little off for me.
There's a disturbingly accurate Tootsie Roll quality about the flavor of this beer. I can't say it's bad, but it also doesn't really taste like Joe-Joe's either?
Both a dry lager and a mildly sweet pumpkin ale, cola-like, lightly spiced. Very drinkable.
Extreme strawberry jam character, with a tart finish. Has some funk but is primarily fruity. This all leads to a pleasing opening that becomes a bit hard to endure through an entire pint.
pFriem Oktoberfest (2024)
Sweet but drying, cloudy, cereal, brackish finish. This isn’t toasty, and the color is light to match - a wiesn maybe?
Quite nice - comes across more in the Kolsch camp than IPA. It's fragrant but not overly fruity; there's a lager-like turn to the flavor that finishes slightly uric. I liked it.
Very delicious. Not too sweet, just a hint of maple, a nut-butter overtone. You can definitely feel the strength over time but it's balanced, not over-the-top.
Blueberry-forward, slight butter-bitter funk. Evocative of pie.
Definitely a Bavarian flavor profile, but decidedly less sweet (watery?) than expected.
Vinous, ultra-dry, apple-grape, butter-bitter finish. Just exactly the right amount of funk. Gorgeous beer.
Like an extra strong version of the Icicle Helles I had earlier today but with a touch more banana. Finishes dry, bitter, tacky.
Grassy, lightly sweet, somewhat buttery/tacky/metallic, it's been a while but I wouldn't be surprised if this was fairly similar to the Hofbräu Original Lager.
I admire that Urban Family is always around to do offbeat sours. This is characterisitically tart but otherwise light and festive. Not sure if there's anything specifically pumpkiny about this but the pie spice is light but present.
Bracing; clean; fragrant. Piney without any other over-the-top qualities. This was great!
There’s something really off-putting about the fragrance of this beer, it’s like vegetal and herbal and sour and bitter like a sanitary puck. Flavor-wise it’s … fine? Pine-lemon, acrid bitterness. But I can’t not smell it.
Lemon-pine, thin up front like a soda. Finishes more Pilsner-like, brackish, grassy.
Extremely sweet if not syrupy, but ironically, tastes like syrup. Bit of burnt sugar, caramel. The syrup character is so accurate that it feels tackled on, surely these didn’t ferment with the beer?
Spiced, dark, caramel. It’s a lot drier than I expected, finishes like dried stone fruit. Thin in body.
Lightly sweet, lightly smoky. Definitely less smoke than other rauchbiers I’ve recently had.
Elysian Pumpkin Old Fashioned (unknown release)
Don’t know if this was mislabeled but it felt way less than the listed 12.3%. There was, however, a bit of whisky on the nose. Fruity, mildly sweet ale.
Extremely creamy pour. Lightly sweet, caramel cream ale with just a hint of cold fizz at the end. Perfect for what I wanted.
Pine-lemon IPA with a cloudy flavor and mellow finish. Bought it because of the name; worked better than the Redhook IMO.
Peach, lemon, very mellow, surprisingly unbitter. Kind of found myself actually wanting this to be more of a hop bomb.
Pineapple-forward, juicy, slightly tangy going to a high herbal bitterness. Clean finish.
Started off great, a little murky, dark citrus, smooth finish. By the end though I felt like I was sucking on grapefruit rind.
Not that different from the Fresh Bois, a little more lemon, more bitter, uric tackiness. Pretty good but love the can.
Matchless Fresh Bois (2024)
Fragrant of melon, lightly sweet. Other than that, a bit like a malt soda, I could hardly detect alcohol.
Orange-forward and very not-bitter. Slightly drying finish with not much cereal at all.
Definitely a beer in the lemon-pine strata-sphere. But very good example of that. If I have any complaints it's that it's overwhelmingly in the juicy-fruity arena with not much counterbalance
It's deifnitely spice-heavy, so if that's not what you like about pumpkin beers you might want to avoid. But it does seem balanced by the overall strength of this beer for me. This might appeal more if you're in the mood for a spiced liquor rather than a beer though.
A much better experience than the Evasion. Bright, only a hint of orange, lots of banana, finishes spicy. Kind of wish there was a stronger orange quality but at least this tastes like a beer.
Only learned after the fact that this is a gluten-free brewery. Maybe that's why it's missing any trace at all of cereal? Starts with a perfumey orange-flavor, a little candy-like, and then proceeds straight into bitter oils. Did not like.
A nice, earthy coffee flavor up-front followed by caramel. I don't really like how this finishes though, very tacky and a bit metallic-tart.
Starts with Apple-hop dryness, finishes with pithy bitterness. I liked this, but a little less than the Lumberbeard.
Early pith bitterness, with a lemon-pine flavor that carries straight on through. Finished clean. Brian thinks the opposite though.
Fremont Melange Barrel Aged Cuvee (unknown release)
Light, chocolate, caramel. Really excellent. Enough barrel to show itself but not in your face.
Light and fragrant. There's the typical rice sweetness, but also a little more of a bitter edge than I was expecting for the style.
Lumberbeard Disco Weapon (2024)
Bright up front, citron, pine, without that sweet lemon cleaner sheen. Finishes closer to the Kolsch than I was expecting: cereal, yeast. Very clean though.
Zoiglhaus Fresh Hop Kölsch (2024)
Yeasty, lightly estery Kolsch, finishes with cereal funk. Just one step removed from an American hefe. There's not a traditional fresh hop sheen on this, but it does seem to give a clean, bright crest to the flavor wave.
Lager with a drying, apple/cereal opening. Very light, clean and tasty, but the opening salvo of flavor is welcome. It does get increasingly tacky in the finish as it goes on.
Unlike last time I very clearly tasted the taro in this, which was super interesting. That said, there was also a very strong, musty smell about it which wasn't at all carried through to the flavor but was somewhat off-putting.
It has nice, Thai character, star anise, clove, coriander? But I've been making a lot of homemade phở lately, and I can't help but think of phở broth when I drink this, which isn't a great association. There's also a quality of Orange Crush too.
Bitter pine and hints of lemon. This is oilier than the beer from earlier.
It's fragrant all right. High-alpha, juicy citrus oil and a uric finish. Just a hint of acridity.
Samuel Adams Utopias (2021)
Smells like cherry; sweet, molasses, caramel. More subtle in flavor than expected. Dry, very strong alcohol. Warming like a whiskey. Tons of cherry molasses. I wouldn't buy this in a bottle full price, but it was nice to try.
Zoiglhaus Oktoberfresh (2024)
My palate may be muted today, but this seems exceedingly pleasant. Grassy, cereal, bit of toast on the backend. Finishes dry and clean. Not sure I’m getting fresh hop, but it is tasty.
A robust pilsner, but also the kind that if you don't log it for eight hours you won't remember anything specific about it.
Really nice. Lightly tart, clean (if a bit candy-like) strawberry flavor. Just a touch of funk on the finish tempers the drinkability a bit, but if you're in a fruity mood this is a good one.
A robust milk stout, lots of bitter roast and lots of lactic tackiness on the finish, but this isn't exactly sweet. Pretty good.
Clean, unsweet lager. A little bit of a metallic tang. Not sure I was able to identify any taro.
Orange grapefruit, thick, opaque, extremely juicy. Oily bitterness on the backend but finishes clean.
Probably influenced by the wide swath of flavors in today's tasting, but I definitely tasted the gochujang this time. It's still good, although it's definitely more eyebrow-raising.
Much less sweet than the AleSmith (anything would be), and nicely spicy. Some fruit body from the habaneros, though I would say there's not a ton of vanilla here. Really quite tasty.
Very, very, very, very sweet. Vanilla and chocolate, mostly. It's not unpleasant but I cannot imagine drinking an entire glass of this.
Quite tasty and clean, although it didn't scream "margarita" to me. No real hints of tequila and there's very little salt contribution (unlike what I remember from Savage last week). It is a tasty lime-forward citrus sour though.
Well-balanced hazy IPA, pineapple-forward juicy character and devoid of any bitterness. Finishes very clean for the style, IMO.
Postdoc Hogus Maximus Extremis with Amburana (unknown release)
Much sweeter than expected, thick, pungent, boozy, slight licorice flavors on the top.
Drinking a campfire, but in a good way. Lightly caramel, sweet, smoky, but completely balanced.
A very enjoyable light dry chocolate stout, and while there's just a hint of light gochu in the aftertaste which turns into a lingering heat, there is little to no discernible jang.
Starts with a really tart white peach flavor, almost candy-like, but resolves into a bit of drying bitter lemon, ensuring a clean finish.
Yo, it's a Guinness. More than anything, we just needed something to reset the palate after the chilies.
Starts up front with cacao and a bit of burnt sugar, and then the heat comes. The chili is actually quite fruity (the habaneros?) in a way that isn't super enjoyable IMO. Sits tacky in the throat afterwards.
Mellow roast, not explicitly briny but measured in a way that manifests as super-balanced. Really liked this, and it seems that oyster stouts remain on an all-time winning streak.
Citrus, smooth, cereal. Sunny D? Smells like a hop bomb but it isn't, and in fact isn't bitter at all. Very enjoyable.
Unsweet IPA, lightly grapey, turns to a nice cereal right when you think it’s going to turn bitter (which it never does).
I definitely seem to have evolved since I last had this, nine(!) years ago. Brut, grape and wood, some light bitter funk, sparkly. A hint of licorice on the finish? Only thing holding it back may be its lightness.
Starts out great, citrus, malty… but the citrusy finish gets cloying after a while.
Brackish, lightly sweet, a bit uric and tacky. Faintly floral, alcohol on the finish.
Toasty amber, lightly tart and dryingly bitter in a way that recalls a Brett saison? Not exactly what I expected but it was enjoyable. Finishes bready and clean.
Less citrus, more herbal than the Carpool Lane. This one's not sweet. Still oily, quite bitter.
Lemon pine backbone with a light, bright, lager finish. Bracing bitterness but it's not unpelasant.
Sweet, hint of tang, bright fruit; I know this is mango but there's a beautiful POG-like quality. Clean finish, definitely not cloying.
Citrus, a bit acrid in its bitterness, oily. Wears its alcohol plain on its sleeve.
Fantastic rice lager IMO. It's floral, sweet, light, but also brackish, cereal, almost a little salty. Great balance.
Extremely delicious, I feel like this may have been the best straight peanut butter stout I've had, maybe?
Boozy for sure, and stronger than you expect even knowing the ABV going in. If you can get past that there’s a nice caramel coffee stout underneath it all. You probably want to call it one and done though.
Intense but actually also well-balanced. Chocolate on the nose, notes of plum, cacao, toffee, caramel. Finishes clean. Comparison: Stickee Monkee?
Very floral, slightly tart, but so, so clean. Pith backbone but without some of the oily aftertaste you'd get from, say, a hazy IPA.
Clean dubbel character. Caramel, clove, and... licorice? Maybe not, but the flavor is hinted at for sure. Two exemplary beers so far.
Wonderful. Opens light, caramel, wood smoke that blends into a sweet but clean finish. Perfectly balanced.
Roast up front, creamy/lightly sweet finish. Drying aftertaste.
Definitely what I was hoping for- really bright cucumber and a puckery but not lingering acid tartness, passion-fruit like?
Sweeter than I expected, an orange agua fresca quality with almost a hint of watermelon (that could be lingering from the cucumber sour). Spicy in the end.
A hoppy dark lager, smooth, roasty, caramel. Bit of a brackish mouthfeel.
Coffee, roast, round, earthy hop flavors. Leans towards a CDA, nice sweetness from the honey though.
Super clean Hefeweizen, bright banana and clove. Dry, crisp, beautiful finish.
Really solid west coast IPA, not too fruity, good amount of malt. Pine, clean finish.
Fruity, hazy, hops up front and on the nose. Clean finish, although this definitely is closer to an IPA than a pilsner. Sweet fruit lingers on the aftertaste.
Booze bomb, sweet and syrupy but not quite at the level of the Slow Burn from yesterday. Notes of chocolate syrup, pineapple, caramel.
Sweet, roasty, not at all over the top. A really nice example of a beer that evokes a chocolate pastry.
High alpha hop bomb that is tempered considerably by a drying fruit finish. Lemon-pine-stonefruit. I think I sense a theme in the yeast here?
Quite tart, vinous. Apricot-grape. A little too sour for me to love, but it’s only a little funky and finishes clean.
Starts with a candy bar kind of sweetness but has a touch of the same tartness that was in the blonde that dries it out fast. Almost briny.
Lightly sweet, wet hay, light cinnamon and vanilla with a tart, drying kind of finish.
Smells a bit minty after the Quintessence. Too sweet! Almost fruity, with a candybar quality that is not unusual for this type of beer, although the mint herbality is different.
Smoky, sweet with a burnt sugar/campfire 'smore quality. Based on my memory of the Breakside Oligarch variant, that's the candy cap, with some umami. Coffee and vanilla follow. Normally I'd class this as too sweet but the flavors are so interesting!
A clean, lemon-pine IPA that leans toward the pine/spruce family of flavors. Very dry. There is something slightly acerbic in the smell.
Sweet, nectary peach flavor. Almost reminds me of an Asian soda in its candy-like fruit flavoring, although the finish is definitely tart. One of those sour peach gummies, maybe?
I don’t know if it’s my mood or if it’s that different out of the bottle, but this was waaaaaaaaaaay over the top for me this time.
Sweet up-front but with a bitter, grassy finish that gives it an assertive character. The only thing that hurts it is a bit of a dishwatery aftertaste.
Definite coffee porter, light, creamy, the coffee bean flavors come through as vegetal and earthy.
Decent amber. Malty, lightly floral, medium roast. The hops build in bitterness the more you drink.
Exactly what it says, a light wheat with clear honey notes. Not a lot of backbone but it's very drinkable.
Toasty, cocoa, light and dry with just a hint of tannic red wine. If you didn't tell me it was barrel aged, I wouldn't have immediately guessed, but the hints are there and it's very nice.
Chcolatey, smooth, sweet but not thick. A little prickly despite being on nitro, which honestly is a plus for me.
Chocolate, light roast, the flavor is good if an little murky; ends tackier than I like.
Sunny citrus, nice and juice. Back end is quite bitter and a little oily.
Coriander, banana, somewhat bracing yeast bitterness followed by a dry backend. It's summery!
Pretty good, fruity wheat ale. Apricot, clean, a bit of a musty cereal finish. I don't know how much the Ferran Adria name is influencing my reaction, but if it is, it's working.
A strong whiff of skunk upon pouring. Not too offensive in flavor, although there is an acrid, metallic aspect to the finish.
Grassy and sweet, wet hay. A little bitter. Leaves a prickly feeling on the tongue.
Similar to the Mahou but without the bitter buildup. A little bit of resin but overall it's clean (I could see how this might seem astringent if I wasn't in the right mood).
Grassy, lightly fruity, not too bitter. Reminds me of Estrella Damm, maybe?
Blackberry, juicy, medium tart. Not funky, but also not vinegary. Pretty good, altogether.
Strongly lemon-pine, sweet. Finishes light, but laced with strong herbality. Hard to take in quantity.
Thin, cereal flavor, lightly sweet. A bit over the top on the finish, reminded me a little of Hi-Fi's weirdly funky yeast. But not bad.
Strongly-flavored pilsner. Got more and more bitter as the glass went on and I can't say it felt very refreshing on a very hot day either.
I can't find any reference to this beer online. Tastes like a malt-forward red IPA; can't tell if I'm imagining chili pepper or if it's the patatas bravas I just enjoyed.
Doesn't taste particularly Belgian and I wouldn't know what myrrh tastes like. if I had to guess, a honey amber ale is what comes to mind. There is a berry-like dryness to the finish though.
I guess "demi-sec" brings this in line with the Brut IPA style? This one tastes Belgian, like a vinous saison. Grapey, bitter, lightly sweet.
Not sure I can detect mustard seed other than a higher front-side bitterness, which combines with pine and pith to follow you the whole way.
Sweet honey, grassy hops. Features some musty cereal but a pleasant, light flavor overall.
Though this is a "biere de garde" according to the bottle label itself, there are many similarities to the lager. The fruitiness tends toward a baked apple and it's way more carbonated.
Dry up-front, slightly vinous, white grape and apple. Finishes with an intriguing cereal funk.
Looks much lighter than I'm used to in a dunkel, and this is not a hint of roast in this one. Caramel and smooth, if a little lacking in personality.
This is roasty up-front, but finishes very smooth. A nice standard stout.
I mean, it's a Sam Adams! Caramel, light, clean hops flavor. Happy to be setting out on vacation, which helps.
Firestone Walker Gold Rider (2022)
Smells like a cocktail with bitters; sweet, dry, couldn't tell if this is what it would taste like fresh, much like some of the other FW "cocktail" beers we've had aged. I don't know my liqueurs enough to dissect the flavor here.
Resinous but clear IPA. Not sure I had a clean enough palate to properly judge this, but it didn't seem to be in my wheelhouse.
Plesant-enough creamy stout, but just a little bit too much on the sweet side; it got harder to drink throughout the glass.
Quite tart as you'd expect from a lambic, although there is a tannic dryness and a sharp tinge to the surness to the finish that may be the "terroir" here? Will be the first to admit I have no idea what a green walnut is supposed to taste like. It wasn't nutty.
Pleasant, Candi sugar and malt, smooth. Doesn’t strike me as strong as I’d expect a quad to be, but it’s nice.
Didn’t hit like it did in the past. Felt it was a little too tart and syrupy. Definitely tasted like mango, though.
Light, juicy, very, very much raspberry. A much better fit for a hot afternoon than the stout was.
A little less clean, a little more tart than I remember.
Fizzy, sweet but clean wine grape; this really doesn’t taste like whatever underlying lager is here (except some caramel) but more like a slightly funky wine seltzer. Which is to say it’s pretty tasty, but I do miss the beer of it all.
Roast and toast, but not very much body, at least in comparison to the Background Guys. Suffers in the comparison, but it’s decent.
Dark bread, pretzels? Clean, a tiny bit sweet but dry, nice body.
Starts bracing and tart, primarily guava, some citrus, but also quite a bit of toasty coconut coming up to mellow out the flavor. Clean-finishing.
Holy Mountain The White Lodge (unknown release)
Could have been mislabeled as the server seemed unsure, but this does have a classic wit flavor up front. It was the amount of cereal, lager-like, that really appealed to me.
Roasty but also somewhat thick and sweet. The coffee is definitely on the earthy, vegetal side. It's a little too sweet for me, but it's pretty good.
Candy-like, pleasant, and you definitely get that minty mojito flavor at the end. A little bit of syrup on the finish.
Round and peachy, good spice on the end, but doesn't taste like chili on its own.
Definitely sweet with a bourbon-like caramel sweetness on the nose and finish.
Russian River RnD IPA (#44)
HBC-586, Luminosa, NZH-106, Riwaka, Zumo. Pine, lemon, cereal, bitterness. High and dry aftertaste.
I don’t know if this is accurate because the picture doesn’t match my previous log. This tastes sour and hoppy more than fruity.
Good blond ale flavor with plenty of cereal but tinged a bit sour
Clear IPA with an intensely flavored, oily, sweet sheen. The flavor itself isn’t bad, but it’s a lot. Don’t very much love beers with this character, which seem increasingly common.
Neutral, nutty, medium thick. Roast and bitter chocolate and a lightly smoky/briny aftertaste. Completely unsweet. Don't often see this style anymore and I'm getting a lot of nostalgia.
Fair Isle Rankin (Batch No. 3)
Wasn't a huge fan - hits you with a ton of whisky up front and the aging is on the sour side. It's not quite as "turned" tasting as I've encountered at places like Big Block, but this isn't really my favorite kind of stout.
A consdierable increase in funk from the Alexandra and has none of the lightness or mellowness that tempered the tartness. This is much more one-note and I can't exactly claim to have detected hints of the sea.
Fair Isle Alexandra (Batch No. 1)
A light, slightly tangy saison with a scent of grape and a mellow, lightly bitter grassy fragrance that is tea-like and subtle. Very nice and light.
The bar didn't say "coffee" but this is the only cream ale I can find mention of from Gig Harbor. The flavor doesn't really make you think coffee in except the most abstract way, mostly it's a little insipid in flavor with a bit of dry tang.
Enjoyable, might have gotten a higher rating if my palate hadn't been blown out. A sweetish, buttery lager wtih bright citrus.
Not quite as rooty as the Star Wars version of this. A pleasant sour.
An excellent American lager, crisp but with a light cereal sweetness.
A lightly tangy gose, with a big hit of watermelon candy flavor. Not a huge fan when a watermelon beer basically turns into a Jolly Rancher over say, something more like fresh juice.
Really did not get any oatmeal cookie out of this, but it's a pretty solid brown ale. Malty with some roast.
Despite the description, this is not at all fruit-forward. It feels like a somewhat hoppy Belgian pale; spicy and dry, and if there is fruit it’s more perfumey and bitter.
Been a long time, and remarkably delicious. It has the basic Belgian flavors you'd expect but at least today there was a really bright and appropriately balanced fruit flavor in there too - apple maybe? I wish I'd taken notes but I do remember liking it.
Candied lemon, bright, sweet, buttery. Not unlike certain types of herbal lemon drops. Triumph, cryo hops, 6% 66 IBU
Dry and clean with a non-specific fruit tang, almost as sharp as a ginger beer. The habanero is quite forward and the heat lingers. I like this quite a bit.
There's a tinge of the sourness that usually afflicts these beers but for once it's just background noise and easily balanced by the chocolate and roast of the stout. It's still not something I'd go out of my way for, but maybe there's hope.
Not bad at all, somewhere between an American Hefe and a Kolsch, estery and buttery, with a big, bright hit of juicy pineapple. It’s on the edge of syrupy but not bad at all.
New Holland Dragon's Milk Reserve: Rye Barrel-Aged with Cinnamon, Toasted Chilies & Vanilla Extract (2022)
Really nice, cinnamon forward and slow build of heat from the chilies. It was nice and straightforward after the Foggy Noggins.
Foggy Noggin Duck's Ass (2020)
This one is not nearly as funky, but also maybe the most straightforwardly hoppy of the bunch. There's hints of sourness but the primary sense I got from this was hops and malt.
Foggy Noggin Duck's Ass (2019)
The most wildly complex of the three, and definitely the one that foamed the most. There's similarities to the 2018 but also a lot more funk: mushroomy, maybe? Or bleu cheese-like. Hard to say I loved it but it was interesting.
Foggy Noggin Duck's Ass (2018)
The most like a wild saison, and the driest of the three. No idea whether these have turned because my notes on 2020 last time did not give a hint of how wild and sour these were.
Bready, lightly estery. A little weaker in flavor up front than I expected but does finish with the right assertiveness.
Lemon-pine but also quite bitter and resinous. Gets more dank as time goes by.
Thick, extremely sweet and rum-like, with a candy-like coconut character. It was way over the top, I thought.
Ferment L'Or de Noir (2020)
This was really good. I wish I could remember more details, but I do recall it was very red wine-like with some tannic dryness, but delicious.
Maltier, more biscuity than is usual for the style. Still, if you’re in the mood for it on a beautiful day, it works very nicely.
A little simplistically on the malty-sweet side. Alcohol pokes through. Does taste like honey though.
Medium-tart, quite funky, nice florality mixing with hop bitterness up top. The bitterness lingers for quite a while.
Fruity but cleanly tart, sweet cereal but not otherwise sweet or syrupy. Delicious.
Pleasant enough; coriander-forward with hints of orange. Finishes a bit alcoholic?
I don’t have it to compare but this tastes suspiciously like the Moment of Zen from earlier today.
Extremely fragrant, floral. A funky cereal finish that is lightly sweet but also a little musty.
Mellow and light dark lager, lightly caramel, not too sweet. Pleasant.
Malty, roast amber or porter with quite a strong wood smoke permeating the flavor. Does remind me of Aecht Schlenkerla but it's a bit over the top.
Coffee, cereal, sweet, very clean. Nice to have this kind of beer without added vanilla or lactose to muddy the flavor.
Delicious! Bright, citron, cereal sweetness & funk. So clean.
Lime and pith, hoppier than I expected. Some brackishness on the finish that I can only assume is coming from the sodium.
Sweet, caramel, a hint of cinnamon. Thinner than I remember Dragon’s Milk being, but it’s been a long while. Tasty.
A quite unsweet lemon-ginger tonic mixed with a pleasant lager, which does provide a touch of cereal sweetness. While this tastes almost medicinal at first I grew to enjoy it.
Apparently better than the last time I tried this. Cloudy-tasting with a bit of sweet funk.
An old-school west coast hop bomb - high, clean, equal parts cereal and lemon-pine. Clean and extremely bitter at the same time.
Sweet and hoppy with a vegetal background. It’s too challenging; don’t love it.
Unfortunately, I don't remember the specifics of the flavor of this beer but I do remember thinking this compared favorably with the Anchorage Hazy I had at Thirsty Hop earlier that week.
I thought this tasted very unusual for a schwarzbier but I can't remember the specifics anymore, just that it really appealed to me.
Light, sweet, citrus. Like an Orangina with the barest amount of hop resin. Does build up in bitterness on the finish, but this is very drinkable.
Impressions from last time still hold, except I’m not sure it grew on me this time.
Bitter chocolate, caramel, just a hint of tartness as bitterness subsides. Brackish finish.
At once candy-bar sweet and profoundly complicated in the usual manner of The Abyss, which is an aspect I don't usually enjoy. In particular the woody, inky, tobacco-like finish is not very harmonized with the opening sweetness.
I've been told the apple makes this feel "less special," but I do like that the musty tart-sweet of the apple neutralizes any of the hints of syrup that a beer like the Belgian Red had. Both of these were Glarus-typical barely-beers, but quite pleasant.
Definitely avoids the cough syrup-ness of the last tasting, although it does very much skirt the edge. Nicely tart up front; there's just a hint of too-sweet on the aftertaste.
Definitely on the sweet side, but I'd forgotten just how solidly tasty this is. Smooth and thin.
Cloudy-tasting blonde, nice cereal and grassiness. Only had a couple sips before realizing they’d sent me the wrong beer.
A little thinner, a little fruitier. Less immediately appealing than the blonde but does settle nicely into its own, especially as the light roast starts to come through.
Black Raven Seasonal IPA Q4 (Quarter 4)
Very perfumey; orange, melon, sweet and thin. A little fakey.
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.
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.
A malty, fruity, floral IPA. Very much on the pungent, resinous side, it became hard to keep drinking after a while.
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.
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.
This went bad, very bad. This was basically rubbing alcohol with a fungal aftertaste.
Extremely light, nominally sweet, refreshing rice lager. Not crisp, but mellow.
Fort George Matryoshka (2023)
Extremely sweet; so sweet that I thought I had gotten some other beer by mistake.
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.
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.
Clean, lemon-pine IPA, moderately bitter, just south of perfumey.
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.
Tastes like a sweetish pale with a bitter brett funk that is pleasant, but comes off a bit like leather perfume.
A funky beginning, kind of like musty peach, but resolves to a clean, tart plum flavor. Ends unsophisticated but enjoyable.
Subdued cereal and wet grass and very, very brackish. The overall effect is pretty balanced, if not totally refreshing.
Slightly sour, not sweet, but very mellow and smooth. Cola-like but not at all fruity. I think this is pretty great, actually.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Less toasty than the brown, slightly fruity on the nose. Finishes bitter. This is hoppy for a Scotch ale.
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?
Prickly and acrid. I guess you have to go somewhere if the Boss was already where an IPA usually is.
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.
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.
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.
Jammy, oversweet blueberry is a lot to take. Not much soy backbone to balance this. That said, it is exactly what you might expect.
Sweet cereal backbone but really over the top on bitterness. Light florality.
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.
Georgetown Rum Barrel Aged 18LB Imperial Porter (unknown release)
Chocolate, mellow, sweet notes of rum. Slightest hint of coconut. Smooth caramel finish.
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.
A smooth dark lager with lots of caramel. Lightly sweet. Just enough roast to balance.
Lots of citrus, lots of banana. It's really easy to see where the hybrid bits meet here, plus it's tasty!
Lemon-pine, cereal-sweet. This has a dessert bar appeal without being over the top.
Coffee, light caramel. This was really good (and seemingly better than last time). This is an exemplary flight overall.
Sweet and mellow blonde, like drinking liquid cornbread, maybe. I’m a sucker for this kind of beer.
Chocolatey, medium thick, but just enough roast to give this a savory complexity. I wouldn’t say it went overly smoky but you can squint and see it.
It’s strong and hoppy, a little woody. Finishes bitter. It would be a lot but has a purity after the other beers of the day.
This certainly tastes like carrot cake. Sweet, hints of spice (Belgian?), a kind of a pineapple nectar juice quality running through it.
Wow, it’s a typical Northwest IPA flavor profile with a strong hit of evergreen scratch ‘n sniff thrown on top. Highly bitter on the finish. Give it points for effect.
Highly bitter and brackish, typical of the style, but with a caramel fruitiness on top of it. Probably would have been better as a first beer rather than a third.
Holy Mountain Kiln & Cone (unknown release)
Spicier and slightly more bitter than the Happy Hops. This is probably better balanced but suffers from being after.
Exceedingly pleasant, lemon-pine IPA. On the sweet and resinous side but avoids being unpleasant. Just enough cereal to balance. Clean finish.
Sharp citrus on the nose compared to the Pizza Pals, more lime. On top of a cereal IPA base with some lager-like dryness. I found this very enjoyable.
Sweet, citrus, recalls childhood memories of Five Alive.Slight bitterness, but very drinkable and accessible.
Sweet, cinnamon, thin texture but candy-like. Gets a little sticky in the throat. Pleasant but not more than ok.
Dry up front, fizzy. Tinge of bubblegum sweetness in the background, a bit rubbery on the finish.
So much cereal in this, right up my alley—not yeasty as some Kolsches get. Love it.
Light and non sweet with an overtone of molasses and spice. Perfect for what I needed. Cookie-like.
This one fizzed out the bottle and kept going for a long time, which made me fear something a little over-yeasted, but it was fine. Hints of pepper and spice on top of a roasty, medium thick stout. Not sure I tasted much bourbon, but the Tweak may have changed my palate.
Avery Tweak (unknown release)
Couldn't find a batch number on the bottle. Delicious, roast coffee and smooth booze, certainly not oversweet and not raw either.
Definitely not drunk fresh, but this was still really good - fizzy and drying up front with a caramel sweetness, kind of like a Vienna lager crossed with a pale.
Pretty exemplary straight-up stout. Roasty, creamy, notes of coffee and very light cocoa with just enough of a prickly bite to give it a character.
Sweet malty IPA, bit of a bubblegum overtone when cold but has a nice cereal backbone. Quite pungent with hop resin but it’s not overwhelming in the flavor, Ends bitter.
Plummy and dry, plenty boozy. It's quite good if in-your-face. Somehow they poured me a pint rather than 9 ounces!
Quite tart and I’m not sure I detect any cinnamon, and this is a sipping beer, but it’s quite good.
This year is on the dry side, with a lot of wood but less booze. There's some sourness that makes this sophisticated but maybe not as immediately delicious. Still, I'm not not going to order it.
Lots of caramel, but if there was apple in here I couldn't detect it. Tough beat for the palate going third though.
Aslan 4 Deep (12/15/21)
Smells more tart than it tastes, and it tastes very wine-like, like a bubbly dry champagne with some berry notes and some deifnite funk. I liked it a lot.
An assertive but clean Pilsner… high and bitter but brackish with sweet cereal on the finish.
They brought me the wrong beer. Eh, it was okay, but not at all what I wanted. Estery, a bit tangy, light.
Smooth, citrus, juicy. Lightly sweet. A hint of pith on the aftertaste but it fades without bitterness.
This is definitely on the dessert side, but any raw edges are mellowed out by smooth, buttery caramel. Yes, please.
The peach is quite strong here - it's not fake, but it's also not bright and juicy. It's more like the skin, fuzzy and earthy. The rest of the beer is hazy, yeasty, a bit bitter. It's interesting more than it is purely drinkable.
Extremely pungent with hop oil, even if it wasn't especially bitter. The flavor would have been pleasant in a less assertive beer.
Sour, a little funky, vinous and buttery on the finish. Slightly better than the Firestone Walker. (Bottled 9/17/21)
Firestone The Seventh Nail (No.001, 12/29/20)
Quite sour with a buttery funk at the end. Good but also challenging.
Juicy but clean, the can is old so the hop presence is muted but it’s quite good.
Tart but clean, and packed with pleasing blueberry flavor. The acid is more like lemon juice than vinegar.
Nothing bad about the flavors here but I’m not sure they go together in the most natural way. Sour plum and cinnamon candy, with a finish of sweet cereal.
Quite tart, typical for Matchless, but with a bright, jammy, strawberry flavor. Cereal sweetness on the end.
Clove forward, a bit like a banana muffin although the yeasty tartness kind of cuts the esters.
Sweet, a bit syrupy. Cherry and an unusual spice profile… it made me think a little too much of sweet Italian sausage- fennel maybe?
Fort George Matryoshka (2023)
Tasty but raw. Lots of booze, malt, caramel. Wears its strength on its sleeve.
Stylistically hard to pin down; lighter than most porters. Sweet, creamy, but ultimately there’s a backbone missing here. The coconut ends up feeling a bit perfumey before resolving into a slightly sour murk.
Somewhat savory-tasting stout; don't remember much about it but I did like it in spite of the fact that it didn't taste like what I expected.
Hoppy ale with notable caramel, but this screams IPA more than scotch ale. If I were really banking on the style I’d be disappointed.
Very much on the IPA side of the barleywine fence. Clean, woody, round hop flavors. English style?
Light, tart opening, very clean, resolves into a dry, biscuity sweetness. Doesn’t linger, really tasty.
Fremont Barrel Aged B-Bomb (2023)
I found this strangely subdued in flavor; not sure if it was the beer or if it was me. It still tasted very good - light molasses and plummy flavors fading into malt. And it's certainly been a while since I had a B-Bomb, but I just expected it to be more flamboyant, especially this young.
Ruby grapefruit, tangerine; lightly tart but with a very mellow finish. Extremely refreshing, I think - although getting a beer in a frosted glass sometimes messes with my flavor perception.
Hoppy, caramel, more than a little smoke/wood. Lots of bitterness in the finish.
Sweet, juicy orange-citrus IPA. Skirts with dankness but stays clean.
Lemon pine, less sweet than the Animal but extremely well-balanced. Even more so when considering it's a double.
Fruity, medium sweet IPA, fizzy and very clean all around.
Extremely lemon-pine, oily, but not as bitter as the Gone Fishin'.
Very fizzy, cola-like. Cinnamon and clove. Certainly feels festive.
A lot hoppier, quite oily and bitter... but seems like genuine character rather than something gratuitous.
Flat as expected, starts with some tangy lemon-pine hop acid, but finishes buttery and cereal with a Helles-like sweetness.
Malty-fruity-caramel opening, hops in the middle. Finishes with cereal, funk, and a long tail on the caramel. Brown sugar lingers in the aftertaste.
Quite tart, sharp passion fruit with a blood-orange-citrus finish.
Medium tart, with a primary flavor of blackcurrant. I don’t outright taste vanilla but there is a mellowness that may come from it.
Watery caramel notes and more roast than expected. The board says "notes of strawberry" and I have to agree, although it's not what I look for in this style.
Medium tart, apple, very dry backend. A bit astringent, like it has a Belgian yeast base perhaps?
Banana-clove Belgian. Sweetness is forward, but tehre's a nice bit of bitterness in the finish.
Buttery lager with an appley tartness. Pleasant, but it seems more like a Kolsch, and since they have a Kolsch on their menu it makes me wonder what that tastes like.
Hints of mango and apricot, nectar-like in flavor but not thick. Remarkably mellow, no bitterness at all. A bit nutty on the finish with just a hint of herbaceousness.
Exemplary coffee porter; malty, chocolate, intense but smooth coffee flavor. Finishes clean in contrast to the two Barebottle stouts, leaves a nice flavor on the tongue.
This stout is a hoppy, prickly, roasted imperial in the vein of Stone, but putting this on nitro is inspired, revealing a sweetness that is light and appealing. After the smoothness ends there’s quite a bitter finish though.
For a pastry stout this isn’t too sweet. Light fizz and a good balance between nutty caramel and roast. Tiny bit acidic on the end.
Thin for a hazy in a way which might not have seemed weird for a New England hazy ten years ago but I feel like this style has grown a lot more assertive. This is a little vegetal, a little watery, some light citrus and pine.
Floral, light, smells tart but isn't really. Definitely up the alley of what you'd expect from a hoppy sour. Bit of a bitter backbone from the hops.
What I would want from a dark lager. Cereal, roast, light sweetness. In other words, this is a lager first and dark second.
Might as well be a lightly sparkling white wine. Maybe just a little more funk?
Quite sweet. Molasses, fruit, caramel finish. Grows on you as you drink it.
AleSmith Barrel-Aged Speedway Stout (unknown release)
Sweet, strong coffee stout. The coffee is very good. Absolutely not syrupy, lots of roast.
Savage The Big Dark Rye (2023)
Light, chocolate, a bright stout. Finish is buttery caramel and roast. Hints of almond? Board says “macadamia/toasted coconut” and I definitely see the former, less of the latter.
Served a little bit less than cold, which I think helped. Chocolate, a round hop flavor, and some roast. Does have a fairly bitter finish.
I mean, by this point you pretty much know what you're getting with this.
Way too sweet… much better coffee presence than the Dead Man’s Hands but also a candy-like coconut-maple syrup quality.
Malty IPA crossed with a cocktail, as the description promises. I’m no expert, but gin and ginger beer come to mind. Very interesting.
Sweet coconut up front, some chocolate. Normally I would have said candy-like but after the Quintuple Baptist this is almost subdued. Finishes fairly clean with a little tackiness.
Sweet with a watery coffee, clear rum, a little sour. Didn’t love it.
Midnight Sun Arctic Devil (2014)
Plummy, a little vinous, concentrated. I know this isn’t the maple beer of the bunch but there’s a bit of a caramelized quality in the flavor. And I'm fairly certain this is not at all like what this beer tasted like when it was younger.
Fremont Barrel Aged Dark Star with Chocolate, Vanilla, and Maple (unknown release)
Sweet, malty, smooth. Hints of roast but it’s just really pleasant. The maple is certainly not as overt as it could have been (but that’s probably to its benefit).
Sweet and light, chocolate, whiskey, mellow finish but not without a strong alcohol flavor.
Smooth, sweet, coconut, rum. Like an Almond Joy without being syrupy. Really tasty!
Very sweet, very alcoholic. Has a prune / candy quality to it, though it’s not a “thick” flavor. Finished clean. The sweetness might be from the barrel, which was not identified on the menu.
Hits you right up front with smoky peat. Light-medium tartness that lingers on the lips. Very well-balanced despite having flavors that are hard to balance.
Very tart. Stone fruit, some funk as you’d expect from a lambic. Light smoke but it suffers next to the Laphroaig (understandably). Finished earthy and dry from the tea I’d guess, which balances it somewhat, but it’s still quite sour.
Still extremely excellent. Chocolate, toffee, a little bit of fire on the finish, but overall very mellow.
Very strange flavor at first before I realized this was kind of an unsweet maple syrup beer. Burnt sugar. Grew on me.
Sweet and jammy but not tart. Doesn’t have the body or roast I’d expect from a Baptist variant so the ellipsis is in the pie here. Strong, though, with a dry, bitter aftertaste.
Clean lemon pine opening, sweet follow-through and a somewhat bracingly bitter finish.
Light plum with a grapefruit finish. Sweet cereal funk.
[Edit: This was mislabeled as Backwoods King Size Stout] Mislabeled??? No idea. This is a tasty, robust, roasty, malty stout. Light cocoa, smooth finish, but taste like a candy bar this absolutely does not.
Dry coffee, a touch of chocolate, a touch of something herbal as well that wasn't quite but reminded me of mint.
Interesting fresh hop, with typical intense fruit-forward flavor - pear and nectarine, maybe? And some unusual vinous notes as well. Finishes a bit oily but also mellow. Just a tiny bit of funk on the end.
Cloudy, some sweet funk, but also… fruity? there’s an unusually round apple-berry flavor here that’s quite pleasant.
Darker with more tang than either of the others; less overly sweet.
Quite a bit different, brighter than 2022. More biscuit up front though the finish does resolve much the same.
Drying opening, chocolate, tang.
Smooth, lightly acidic coffee, caramel. Subdued spice profile. This is pretty nice!
Really unusual: definitely tart, dark, but with a light sense of mint through the flavor.
Not sure if this is different than the previously logged Peanut Butter Porter? This has roast up front but the peanut butter is very light. It comes through after a few sips, though. Finishes with vanilla rather than nuttiness.
Round, raspberry flavor at the front, with bitter mellowing black tea on the finish. The mango shows through at the end, too.
Spice forward, thin body, cola-like. Reminds me more of a root beer or a birch beer than gingerbread.
Starts like a typical pine citrus IPA, takes a brief journey through a bitter, floral perfume, but immediately transitions to a buttery cereal finish. Fascinating.
A light, fragrant, but very smooth IPA. Liked this quite a lot!
A cloudy, yeasty rice lager, a little bit sweet, a little bit fruity, notably grassy, bitter finish.
A sweeet, lightly fruity amber that makes me think of spiced cider - in a spiritual sense, not literally. May be something that doesn't appeal to me in isolation but after two somewhat strange misses this really worked for me.
Not sure if the wrong beer was poured or my palate was off (see the Fat Squirrel log), but it definitely doesn't match my previous try of this beer. Hoppier, not so sweet. To me it tasted like a (Decent-ish) amber ale.
I don't know if this has turned or something? But it does have more of a metallic, hoppy resing, drying finish than I would have expected from a nut brown. It was ok, but ok at best.
Reuben's BBIS (2023)
Unusually dark, latticed head, although apparently opinions differ? Chocolate, toffee, stone fruit, very smooth but also a touch tart. Delicious but tacky.
Really interesting on-the-verge-of-sour lager. Apple, Graham cracker, some funk. Cereal aftertaste. Would have guessed wheat ale, with pilsner not even being near the top of the list.
Looks like they rebranded this beer. First time I’ve had it on nitro and it was really good! Roasty, and smooth but somehow still has sparkly effervescence.
Seems thinner than my memory, with a lot of spice. Clove candy. Wish it had more body.
RIP Sumerian. Nice Pilsner, buttery, brackish, cereal. Not exactly super crisp but enjoyable nonetheless.
Keg blew on this. Quite a bit of bubblegum-like oily hop sweetness, on top of a thinnish Pilsner base. Can’t say I loved it.
Bitter, sweet blonde. Very effervescent. Decidedly doesn’t taste like a “whole lot of nothing,” so I guess the mantra is don’t get this in nitro.
Spicy, chocolatey, roasty stout. Pokes out a bit in bitterness but is on a solid foundation.
On its face it seems like a sweeter than usual but thin, effervescent Oktoberfest. That said it has maybe a little of the watery syrup character of a macro light beer which feels off.
Not as watery as earlier logs, a little spicy, a little floral. More tart on the back but overall enjoyable.
Pleasant tropical fruit flavor, opaque but not thick… a little bit of spicy buildup on the finish.
A light lager, risks being insipid at first but is rather more assertive than expected on the grassiness. Paired well with a nice dinner with family.
Delicious. Just a lightly tart, mango-cereal opening… but the real star of this is the ube-coconut that comes in quickly with a mellow, milky sweetness. There’s an earthiness/mustiness about this that makes it seem real. I hope.
Tart, but effervescent and with a really appealing bright fruit flavor that reminded me of a Brazilian guarana soda. Remains tart for a while but finishes with cereal.
The description promises a ton of fruit but it is actually quite subtle - primarily this is a wheat ale and the fruit is a hint at best. However, it's bright and pleasant and enough to raise it a bit above the crowd, I think.
Doesn't exactly have the coconut "punch" that is promised by the description, but there is a nutty and smoothening effect that is undeniably added to this IPA. It is quite bitter and there's something drying about the overall effect as well.
A little thinner than I remember, but really solid. Booze, chocolate, thin mouthfeel. And after all that, booze again.
Oh my cuke. This is interesting, almost savory; vegetal, pickley, but certainly something you may not want to have 6 full ounces of.
Extremely similar to the Gato Grande without the sweet finish. Pretty good though.
This is, if nothing else, an extremely accurately described beer. You can taste the individual elements of pineapple, orange, and coconut quite clearly. It's just not that enjoyable to drink.
Light, caramel, roast. Finished with a cereal sweetness; maybe that's where the Mexican lager comes through.
Pretty nice, a nutty, light brown ale. Some hop fruitiness differentiates it from the other beers today.
Unusual! More like a hoppy pale with pumpkin spice added. I have some more cans of this, which is lucky, because I need to revisit this.
A little more yeasty/sour than I expected. Wish this was crisper for a sunny day out.
Smooth, like a mellow candy bar with vegetal hints and a spicy bite on the finish. Really aged well, I think, despite being a canned product.
Hard to describe that works and what doesn’t about this beer. It’s sweet, it’s tangy, it’s got a nice berry jam character, but the sour goes on a little too long to feel like the peanut butter (which is very present) is a good balance. If it’s a sandwich, there’s way too much jam.
Creamy, sweet amber. If there’s pumpkin spice it’s light (but I may be operating with a corrupted palate). Clean and malty.
Kind of the polar opposite of the Fresh Fluff: This is vegetal, herbaceous, and finishes super bitter. Leaves the tongue a little prickly. Did not like.
Matchless Fresh Fluff IPA (unknown release)
Juicy, round nectarine/pineapple fruit forward IPA. More juice, fewer hops than the last several fresh hops I’ve tried. It’s also less hazy than I would have expected. Only wish is for slightly more carbonation.
Dang, I know this is sweet and gimmicky, but I love it. Manages to accurately convey both pandan and almond (think almond cookie, not butter), sweet but not syrupy. Lightly toasty.
Bready, clean, lightly sweet with a mild roast/bitter finish. Reminds me of something between a darker butter cookie or a toasted oat cake.
Did not taste like pink lemonade, really. A raspberry Berliner Weisse seems like a more accurate description, and this has pretty nice if you look at it that way. Not very juicy; bright, tart, a bit of tannic funk on the finish.
Smelled dank and on the verge of sunny but was surprisingly light and juicy. There’s a lingering sweetness in the aftertaste that this would have been better without but overall this was nice.
Clean, bracing, lightly sweet cereal. Maybe just a tiny bit timid on the edges but overall hits the spot for the style.
Kind of like if someone made a shandy with the lightest strawberry milkshake; creamy, light, but with a kind of dry, yeasty, almost sour finish that might even have been annoying in a different beer. I liked this one though!
Clean, effervescent IPA with a pine-citrus opening and a strikingly bright pineappley finish. Medium bitter aftertaste.
Juicy, grapefruit citrus, with bright flavor but a particularly acrid follow-through. I can't quite place it but it reminds me of modeling cement?? Not good.
Fruity, fragrant, bitter, bracing. Maybe dry-hopped? Nice cereal, though. I like a challenging lager.
Roasty, caramel, lightly sweet. Pumpkin spice is nicely balanced and not overdone. Cola-like on the finish, just a little tart. I'm going to guess there's no actual pumpkin in this beer.
Based on my previous notes, my impression this time seems to be somewhere between the first and second log entry descriptions.
It's a Sapporo, which is to say, on its own it was pretty insipid but it went great with fried food.
Sweet, pungent, tropical - grapefruit and guava, very juicy. Low bitterness except for a resinous undertone. Maybe a little too pungent to love, though?
Bright raspberry flavor set against a fairly alcohol-sweet, malty blonde base. Unlike the other berry beers here this one actually tastes like a beer (not that the others aren't good, but I was in a mood). Normally this might be too sweet but it was fine in context.
Savage The Big Dark (2022)
Light-bodied stout but with a rich caramel/chocolate smoothness. Just a touch of Port fruitiness, good barrel character.
Perfectly serviceable stout. Creamy, light roast, but a thicker mouthfeel. Just a hint of sourness.
A bit like the 2021 but is a little tangier, has a little more roast character, some vegetal hop bitterness and some funk. It’s more complex but at the same time less coherent.
Sweet, bready, caramel, a little cola-like, a little syrupy. A little flat, maybes from age, which enhances the booze content.
Dry pine-resin IPA, lingering bitterness, oily. Flavorwise it dissipates pretty cleanly.
Challenging, bitter, caramel, dry, pine resin? The finish is oily and stays bitter in the throat for a while, but I also didn’t hate it.
Still pretty hoppy but I feel like this is very close to my memory of this beer despite the fact that it’s probably been aged eight years longer than the most recent time I’ve had it. Light caramel, booze.
Malty, roasty strong stout with a rich-but-not-too-sweet chocolate flavor. It's a lot to balance but I think this is lovely.
Nicely paired with the pizza here, but admittedly I was absolutely starving so everything tasted great.
Watery and a little bit tart. I think "weak" and "not actually creamy" are the main things that came to mind, although the Queen Anne Beerhall is a nice, festive place to get a beer on a game night.
I should have taken notes, but I seem to recall this was a delightful, toffee-roast, lightly sweet dark lager, exactly what I'd want to get as a schwarzbier. Loved the remarkably foamy head too.
Azacca for 2023. Sweet, candied orange perfume opening; does it quickly on the tongue; high bitter aftertaste.
Light, bubbly, I don’t know if The Goat wrecked my palate but this did seem a lot more funky on the finish than I remember. It’s still really nice though.
Dry, lightly tart, funky saison. A little more tart than the most interesting Brett beers in memory. But this is pretty good.
Like a really good ginger beer, except this is actually a beer! Slightly sweet, lots of ginger, dry lime tartness. Fair Isle continues to impress.
A lot going on in this one. It's good, but I'm hard pressed to actually describe the progression of flavors here. Definitely starts pale-ish though.
A really interesting beer. Tropical/grapefruit aroma but it’s not a sweet or juicy beer. It is nearly immediately dry, with a good amount of cereal and absolutely no birthed. I really, really liked this.
Sweet, caramel candy-like with a touch of cinammon. Churro? Sure, I can see it.
Still great but wow is it smoky. I may be misremembering but it seems a lot smokier than last time.
Lots of caramel, some cherry notes from the wood, booze. This is kind of what I would have expected a barrel aged scotch ale to taste like (but we all know that what that beer is here is something different).
Amber, malty, with smooth hop flavors, but if this is an IPA, all the rough edges seem to have been smoothed out by the barrel. There is a lot of evident booze, though.
Doesn't really yell IPA. The gin is subtle; there's a slight white grape / brett-like dry funk and some vanilla from the wood. Reminds me of my memory of Pour les Oiseaux from Black Raven - really, really delicious.
Black Raven Rum Barrel-Aged Coco Jones Coconut Porter (unknown release)
Still sour, and wore out its welcome very quickly.
The least beer-like of the bunch, but it is drinkable. It has a kind of dilute sparkling wine crossed with light lager character about it; sweet-ish, fruit-ish, sparkly-ish.
Mixed opinion on this, as it very much does not feel like a Japanese lager, but it is an interesting beer. Sweet, murky, a little light, a little yeasty. I think there’s a little rice wine, 막걸리 in the flavor profile.
Brighter and clearer than the Two Hearted, more lemony and metallic in the backbone. It’s still very nice for an assertive IPA.
Really quite nice; maybe I’ve matured as a beer drinker. Dry, clean finish. Starts grapefruit-pine, a hint of cereal, pithy but not highly bit.
Just sour enough, clean fruit, very peachy. Finishes extremely cleanly.
Blonde ale first with a light berry flavor on top. Not tart at all.
Tastes like a liquid grapefruit rind, though not that bitter. Not my favorite style at all.
Just a really smooth coffee flavor first. Cold brew-like. You could probably convince me this wasn't a beer if you were really charismatic.
Classic American saison, just a little bit of wine-like funk and a dry finish.
Hits a lot of the same notes as the Unbearable Lightness, but a little more fruit forward. Cloudy all the way through. Not as crisp.
Light without being watery. Brackish, finishes clean. Nice balance between grassy and crisp.
Like a German Pilsner crossed with some heavy hopping - spicy, resinous, oily. Strong white pepper notes with a fragrance just on the edge of skunky. It's got a bright, likable flavor, but I had a literal headache by the end of the pint and I'm not sure it isn't because of the beer.
On nitro, really tastes like a whole lot of nothing. May have suffered from not being the first beer I tried tonight.
Unusually yeasty for a lager, with some peppery wit-like Belgian notes.
Caramel, dry, very tasty. Did I burn out my taste buds? No idea. But I liked this. Very successful brewery visit!
Classic barrel aged ale, thin texture, spicy from the rye. More conformist than the Manumission but also more easily enjoyable IMO.
Light, immediately maltier than a standard Mexican lager. Light butterscotch notes, not super-boozy but you can tell something's going on in that direction. Caramel.
Tastes like a peated whisky. Not sweet, somewhat thin in body, but if you like Scotch, this is Scotchy. I like Scotch. (edit: Laphroaig!)
Métier Manumission (2022)
Roast, a bit of dried fruit tartness and rum, but the overall sense is one that's less sweet than you'd expect. Complex and boozy.
Sweet cereal, lightly fruity; grassy bitterness that OSS on the edge of bracing but feels good. My taste buds may be affected after two other beers though.
A perfect match for the fried curds; grapefruit-citrus with a mellow, completely non-bitter finish.
Absolutely quintessential example of the style. Roast, caramel, light hops. Immediately filled with nostalgia and memories of fried foods.
Malty, sweet, high hops. Bubblegum and apricot overtones, finished with a lot of bitterness. But go Cubs!
Actually a very nice flavor here, a round cherry flavor that doesn’t lean into tartness or syrup. Clean, well-balanced between tart and sweet, and ends with a touch of cereal.
Super interesting, I think the primary flavor here is jasmine, but there’s some unidentifiable fruit overtone that’s in the lychee zone, maybe. Clean bitterness from the tea.
Dry and light, nutty but not sweet at all (except a hint from cereal). This is really nice.
Vanilla and chocolate. Lightly nutty. Sweet and smooth on nitro, maybe a tad too sweet given there’s no roast balancing it.
Fruity, estery opening, banana and maybe pineapple, light hints of coffee and sweet cereal. Ends cloudy.
Somewhat sweet and tacky. A little brackish, a little grassy, but would have liked this to be more crisp.
I was in a hurry, but I had to try a beer with this name. Wish I remembered more, but I liked it.
Light and sweet, very mellow on nitro. This could be the most orange creamsicle-like beer I've ever had, with a round citrus flavor that reminds me of the old Goose Island Orange Cream soda that I loved as a kid.
Sweet, with a very vegetal coffee bean flavor. Roast on the end.
Free sample. This was very good, a hazy with a clean, non-bitter finish. Pretty well-balanced.
Fruity, but not sour. Definitely a wheat ale with blueberry; pie-like. Bit of a citric dryness underneath. Maybe there’s lactose?
Mellow notes of watery coffee, creamy, lightly sweet but not overwhelming. The finish carries a bit of roast. Similar yeast profile to the Helles.
Grassy Helles, leads into a more interesting yeast profile - smoky, bitter.
Classic dry IPA flavor profile, pine, oily, alpha.
Somewhere between an American Hefe and a Belgian IPA. It’s very dry but also has a bunch of banana. White pepper and some rooty flavors, but also edges a bit on rubber/smoke.
Fruity, heavier on orange and passion than guava, and sweet in a way I didn’t love. The curse of milkshake beers if you don't balance the lactose sugar.
Quite tart, pithy… tastes like a ruby red grapefruit sour with some sweet overtones… I’d guess a milkshake sour. (Edit: brewer says milkshake, but dragon/passion fruit… still, I stand by this making me think of grapefruit)
Bready, caramel, hoppy, toasty. Like a sweet, alcoholic pretzel, maybe? Clean finish, but bitter. Unusual to have an American doppelbock, appreciate the effort.
Can especially taste the orange and pineapple; the sourness is more like a concentrated, tart juice than anything complex. That said, this is pretty tasty with tasty flavors,
There’s a little bit of a candy overtone to this but it is not at all sweet. It is hops, alcohol, grapefruit rind, light resin, ending in a bit of cereal funk. It’s pretty interesting, good actually.
Bitter, grassy, brackish. Pretty good, reminds me stylistically of an Italian pilsner, with almost none of the cereal sweetness or body I’d expect from the German style.
Just right on the edge of being skunky but I think it ends up on the right side. Fragrant, slightly floral, gets through that initial acerbic flavor into a kind of pungent sweet cereal. Going into it cold might not be as successful but it’s a good second beer.
Sweet, a little smoky, lots of cinnamon straight up with a bit of an interesting twist that I think is the licorice. Finished a little tacky but it tastes thicker than it actually is. Definitely a dessert beer.
Ghost Town Dead Ripe (unknown release)
Quite tart, bracing, melon is more on the nose than in the flavor although you can get it once you've cut through the sour. I'd have wanted to taste a little more melon but as a sour beer this is pretty darned good.
Pine/cereal, bright hops. A hint of bubblegum sweetness. Not nearly as potent as most hazy IPAs, this actually ends up being quite nice.
This one is more typically flavored for a gose, despite an unusually high ABV. A longering tartness and some funk underneath.
Very interesting. More fruity than sour (although it's definitely tart). The cucumber and lime and mint are all very clear here and leave a highly unusual, fresh, impression.
After the other dark beers here, this one is surprisingly sweet. Not syrupy, but there are fairly clear banana notes, a bit of fudge, maybe marshmallow.
Nice, round, hoppy, black IPA. Mix of chocolatey roast with some licorice/rubber overtones... but avoids becoming acrid.
An excellent coffee stout. Not sweet like many milk stouts, just creamy. The coffee flavor is complex, chocolatey, and you can just feel the bean here.
Very light, the kind of lightness that you might want to avoid after a strong flight, because you won't be able to taste anything.
Is it tripel-like? It's been so long I can't even tell. Relatively thick mouthfeel, cereal-honey, but with a dry, clean finish. Belgian yeast flavors lurk underneath and emerge in the aftertaste.
Lightly hoppy. Dark amber ale with some malt and a kind of gingery, spicy, candy quality. The heat builds up but I'm not sure I caught a lot of smoke.
Assertively grassy/bitter pils, a bit of a surprise after the somewhat safe Emil. But character is nice.
Safe but very drinkable. Hard to know what to characterize this as, since it seemed more like an American Hefe - yeasty but not particularly spiced.
Dry, almost vinous, bitter, but really well-balanced. An interesting beer to go with a very interesting meal.
Funky-hoppy-Belgian-spicy saison, and it’s pretty assertive in all categories. There’s sweet overtone that resolves into a bracing metallic flavor. This is good, but definitely a challenging beer.
I had just a taste .Not bad, per se, but a little insipid on the lime and the basil manages to lend a dishwater quality. Didn’t quite work for me.
Creamy, malty, frothy stout. Haven’t had one like this in a while. Big roasty backbone and just a touch sour. Pretty good.
Malty beer with rounded hops, caramel, clear mellow, floral tea flavors and definite bergamot. Interesting, challenging, but you know I’m a sucker for tea beers. Super friendly proprietor at the brewery storefront too!
Pretty light flavors for an IPA and on the juicy side, but there’s a perfumey character to the lemon that mixes with the hop oils to finish in an oily/bitter flavor that made me have to take this slow.
This is surprisingly similar to the À L’Ouest, but no trace of white pepper and (obviously) a bit more caramel. Which adds something, for sure.
A mellow pale wheat, moderate hops, just a bit tart, faint Belgian flavors (white pepper?). Reminds me of the Zytha from yesterday a bit.
A surprisingly dry pale, some of that alpha hop that at higher concentrations could get rubbery or acidic but is fine here.
A chocolatey, sweet stout, aptly named. Reminiscent of a milk stout but doesn’t have that lactose tackiness at the end, instead a touch of hops.
Cloudy, citrus and medicinal notes. The menu listed this as a “lager with grains of paradise” which as far as I can tell is wholly inaccurate. Refreshing on a warm day in Nice but hardly crisp. The label says made with chickpeas?
A robustly flavored lager, lightly sweet, rich cereal, grassy, brackish finish. Very tasty.
Starts extremely light, and you’d be fooled into thinking this was going to go like a water macro light but it resolves into a nice, grassy, brackish, crisp finish.
Thin but roasty, got some prickly hop character. Caramel, burnt sugar. Might have been too much by itself but after the two other beers it’s almost a relief.
Definitely not a sour, and tastes more like a hazy IPA than any kind of blonde. Possibly a wrong pour?
Mellow stonefruit hazy… a little bit of oily buildup that you have to pause to dissipate but overall it’s decent.
Extraordiarily drinkable... a dry fruity haze with a pleasant woody, botanical gin flavor that builds up over time but never gets boozy. Really loved this.
Light, refreshing, somewhere between a pretzel-like toasty flavor and sweet-ish cereal. Another high-quality lager from Chuckanut.
Quite tasty. A light fruity ale that's lime forward with some berry. On top there's a hint of sweet pastry that gives an impression of pie.
A vinous, grapey wild saison with a tannic, dry, lightly hop-bitter finish. Nice, tangy, funky. As the flavor settles a bit of smoky, peppery Belgian yeast character pops through.
Light, watery, sweet. Reminds me of an American light beer, which is probably not great. Insipid is the word that comes to mind.
So smooth, a bit of cherry, lots of barrel.
Has an unfortunate dishwater smell but once you get past that this is a nice, bright fruity sour, not salty or puckery. Tastes like lychees and wheat and maybe some kind of berry.
Disturbingly pale in color but tastes believably brown, if on the fruitier/hopper side. A little bit of funk and roast.
Dry, piney, a little bit dank, a little cereal funk, makes me think of a west coast pale crossed with an English pale. Pretty tasty.
Up front a little watery, a little sour. High, grassy bitterness, with a strong alcohol presence. A challenging beer, but not sure I want a challenge in a rice lager?
Very roasty, sweet, medium mouthfeel. The bitterness builds up pretty fast but there’s a lot to like here. It is in no way smooth though.
Kind of the platonic ideal of what I would like a double IPA to be. Forward hops, stonefruit, alpha bitterness, but it dissipates very fast and leaves you with a clean finish.
Buttery, light, and I’m assured that it tastes like lime even without the lime slice that was on my glass.
Very hoppy, lots of alpha bitterness, grassy, buttery diacetyls. Leaves the mouth feeling very dry. It's a whole lot.
Thin, with a fruitier/caramel flavor but a bit watery.
Clean, pine-resin IPA although it is quite oily and bitter on the finish.
Pine citrus, clear but bitter, maybe a little sweet in its oily intensity.
Classic citrus-hazy profile, very mellow follow-through. Not at all oily or unpleasant.
Combo breaker. Murky, a little rooty. Otherwise, it's another piney citrus beer, but definitely not anything like your average hazy.
A streak of solid ratings. Never going to say no to a new Fremont stout that I've never seen before. Light textured stout with a lot of roast. Coffee. Creamy finish. Now that I read the description, though, can't say I really tasted any of that.
Light piney pale ale with a dry, bitter backbone. Faint resin aftertaste but largely clean.
The nitro soapiness actually works in this beer's favor, which has a flavor closer to a dry American pilsner than most Kolsches. Grassy. Bitter.
A little more on the clove-end of the spice scale than I prefer, but pretty good.
A little of the peach from the Julio Haze, grapefruit, a little oilier and bitter on the finish. The overall sensation of these two beers is sweet and fruity. Still pretty good.
Juicy, lightly sweet, fizzy, and… peachy? Peach leading into
hops. Unusual and tasty.
Very hoppy for the style, tastes more like a west coast pale. Not what I wanted. Then again, what was I expecting from a Costco beer?
Definitely tart but not puckeringly so; clean, tannic, passion and pineapple, fruity.
Manages to be bright and earthy at the same time, has that blackberry murk up front cut by fizzy lemon notes.
Mellow caramel, lightly fruity, tannic dryness. Reminds me of a caramel apple, without being syrupy.
Robust, mildly sweet and smooth. Hints of coffee and cacao. Beertender said this was the first time in a while this wasn’t whiskey-barreled, and I’m liking it.
Brackish texture, clean, crisp flavor, a finish that has both surprising body and even a slightly toasted flavor.
Was excited to try this on nitro. I remember thinking the Hiwa was quite roasty but this was nice, light dark chocolate notes. But my first sip had a big blob of mucousy slime that was wildly unpleasant?? Out of fairness not rating it.
Weirdly bodiless? Tastes like roast but there’s no real malt followup. Just kind of dissipates.
A lot going on in this beer. Cinnamon, vanilla, and lactose stick out; reminds me of a big sweet Mexican chocolate stout like the Abraxas? Not sure the other ingredients computed for me (but admittedly, I have no idea what breadfruit tastes like).
Very sour, actually, and much more of a hop juice character than expected. Tastes more like a soured tropical IPA. A bit of a uric aftertaste.
Light, sweet, floral actually. Ends with a buttery cereal note. Really quite delicious.
Piney hazy IPA with a surprisingly light flavor. Best beer of the bunch.
Big, juicy IPA. Less alpha but higher on the hop oiliness than the Hop Lei.
Seems like a very classic wit flavor, maybe a little watery. Sweet, cereal.
Fairly ideal black lager, a bit on the roastier side, but also with a strong cream-coffee sweetness.
Pretty sweet, light, but not watery in the way that beers like this can get. Would maybe have wished for a little character to poke out past the sweetness. First Lukr pour I've consciously had, can't say I noticed anything different about it.
Tropical/pine hazy. The bitterness is a little more on the dank, herbal side but fades away quickly.
Opening flavor is pure strawberry, followed by blackberry and cherry. Juicy but only medium tart. Definitely fits the description of a "smoothie sour."
You can see how this is a more extreme Omakase, but I'm afraid it messes with what I thought was a really nice balance. This is still somehow not bitter, but the intense hop perfume and alcohol are a bit much to take.
This is nice. Lemon-pine with a musty (maybe coriander-tinged?) cereal funk. Maybe a little perfumey?
Ugh, did not really like this. Extremely reminiscent of shave ice syrup, and I never did like li hing so you could say buyer did not beware.
The reason I came. Bready, almost pretzel-like, paired with a believable taro-like earthy sweetness. Nice finish.
Malty light Belgian with just a bit of overt tartness from the hibiscus, I admit this could have been a disaster but is actually really nice.
Maybe like the 6th but maybe less pointed in flavor? Otherwise, all previous comments apply.
Similar to the Aumoe. Less roast, and more of a bready hefeweizen estery flavor on top that gives it a decidedly fruity cast. Still pretty hoppy.
Sweet, maybe watery, citrus lime and a bit more bitter on the end than I expected.
Feels more like a stout first, hops second. Roasty, creamy, like a Dragonstooth with some round hops to finish. Hops-wise, tastes light after the Eee Pah.
Really tasty; peach-like fruit, pine, hovers on the edge of herbal without going over. Clean finish. Tastes like the best kind of double in flavor intensity without the strength.
Mild, tropical hazy, lightly sweet and POG-like. Not bitter at all with a clean finish. I liked this a lot.
After the Sir Isaac this tasted like a moderately-but-not-too-sweet Almond Joy-esque candy bar. After the Hoppin' Honey this somehow didn't taste very alcoholic despite being stronger. Weird day, but I really loved this one.
Tastes like a sweeter Bourbon County, which is maybe a bit much? But you definitely get that raisin/fig molasses caramel on top. Not sure I really got Graham Cracker in here (other than, well, sweet).
Smells strong. Tastes strong. Sweet and boozy, reminds me of the Helldorado, I think? Pretty raw.
Super bright, clean sour. I’d say the primary flavor is dry cherry with raspberry being least detectable (very much appreciate this). Fizzy and not too sweet, hint of cereal underneath.
Buttery-sweet citrus IPA. Not perfumey or bitter but the aftertaste is a bit saccharine.
Subdued caramel/vanilla dark lager, just a touch of dryness to keep it real but nowhere near some of the souring I’ve seen in other Bellevue barrel aged beers. Would have liked it better not on nitro, I think, but this was good.
Black Raven La Mort Rouge (2023)
Delightful. Glad after a few disappointments that at least this one seems to have stayed the same as my memory. Caramel notes along with a ton of red wine flavor.
Quite tart, a tiny bit salty on the lips. The interesting part of this is more in the fragrance, which is complex and citrus, than the flavor... which is probably appropriate given that this is Buddha's Hand. Rooty sourness leading to clean lemon notes and finishing with cloudy cereal.
Nice initial flavor but while it's tart, it’s also a bit watery and metallic.
Thin, lightly sweet, uric finish… it’s overall a pleasant flavor but the thinness of the body is a bit overwhelmed by the finish.
Okay, this is legitimately weird. I thought this was going to be a stout at first and when it poured bright violet I was surprised. Thick, almost sludgy, the smell is intense peanut butter. First sip is very berry jam, which is a weird transition, and then it goes peanut butter again. I've never really had a beer like this before, but it actually did satisfy my desire for a stout.
New Glarus Black Currant (2022)
It certainly tastes like black currant, which is nice and unusual, but like most of these New Glarus fruit beers, is way more juice than beer. I usually have a hard time drinking intensely fruity berry juices, and this had more or less the same effect on me.
Really a tasty lager. Starts very Bohemian but finishes with a bit of hay and cereal, brackish finish. Nicely balanced. Not sweet like a Helles, but has a good body.
Fruit candy-forward flavor, reminds me of a honey cough drop. Medium tart, wheat funk, soda-like. Pretty good.
Same vintage as last time but there was a sour tinge to this that built up over time, kid of like that infected-barrel quality that Big Block beers tend to have. By the end of the glass I was not enjoying it anymore.
A pale festbier. Malty, crisp apple, a little bitter, grassy. Maybe a little sweeter than I love her but pretty good.
Savage The Big Dark (unknown release)
Looks like I had this on nitro last time. This was CO2 this time and I think maybe I’m missing the touch of sweetness nitro might have added (though I’m not getting the soapy bit). The tartness takes over somewhat, even though it’s not that pronounced. Still interesting though.
Hoppy saison with a hint of pepper, finishes with a mellow cereal flavor that is probably from the grains of paradise. Lightly bitter aftertaste.
Quite sweet, but tempered by the coffee in a way that winds up being pretty appealing. Some of the hop pungency pokes through at the end.
Reading my previous reviews, this time seems to match up most with the first time I had this.
A nostalgically hoppy amber. In the old days I would have hated this, and it's still a bit over the top but I enjoyed it.
Not sweet at all, this is a cloudy wheat beer with dry berry notes. Pretty good.
Medium-tart, dry guava flavor. If it’s not super-complex, at least it’s not super-simple. Very solid fruit sour. Wasn’t sure whether to expect coffee based on the name, but it’s not.
A tasty if young-tasting barrel stout, toffee-caramel, sweet. Nice to have as an option for a nice dinner.
Really nice without being light. Grassy, caramel, apple,some vegetal bitterness on top. They say this is lagered for 90 days, and I’m not sure what that does, but this is tasty.
Really nice, mild on the pumpkin spice, but most of the flavor is a rounded one from pumpkin flesh.
Hoppy, funky, sour. Quite dry. Finishes clean. I liked it but didn't have too much of it.
Unusual flavor, high toffee sweetness leading into floral hop flavors and a toasty biscuit finish. It maintains a light mouthfeel throughout and finished clean, although there’s a strong, bitter aftertaste. I think I do like it.
I noted the almost-burnt roastiness of the Media Blackout previously and this certainly seems related. Thin, slightly tart, high, rounded bitterness. Caramel, notes of pecan.
First impression is that the tangerine is dry and essence-y. This isn’t a juicy radler, and makes it a less-refreshing experience. That said, the flavors are pretty good here.
I remember this being pretty good? Maybe? I remember at least thinking that Chuckanut's a better brewery than Northwest.
Drinking away our job security blues. Good beer, layoffs can bite me.
Thick, malty, somewhat sweet. A big change of pace in this flight that maybe would benefit from a little space.
An extrapolation of the Tony. Very solid, clean flavors. Tiny touch of bubblegum at the front.
Light, bready/biscuity flavors, but not especially malty. Nice, dry, fizzy finish obscures a bit of funk.
Lightly sweet underneath. Grassy. Bitter on top. I liked this a lot.
Very similar to the coffee, slightly sweeter, light but not overdone coconut. I keep going back and forth about what I like better.
Medium-thick, vanilla, wood. Nutty with slightly sweet coffee that turns a bit uric at the end. Nice.
Definitely didn’t taste like a Mexican lager. Very hoppy, vegetal, a little soapy.
Bracingly bitter, on the metallic side but compellingly enjoyable. Slightly grapey.
Just a taster but this was nice. Chocolate, thinnish, roast. Touch of spice. Will have to try more later.
Not sure why I didn’t like this last time, but on draft this is delicious. Light, just sweet enough, tasted a ton like a bowl of Peanut Butter Crunch with milk. It would be easy to drink too much of this.
White pepper, yeasty bitterness. Bracing, I’d call it. Tasty.
Classic, if young-tasting, barrel aged stout. Still quite sweet but less so than the mocha. Definitely thicker.
Thinnish, sugared coffee, strong alcohol. Nice aftertaste, but the uncomplicated flavor makes this less great.
Quite tart, it's dominated, almost to a pungent degree, by the flavor of lemon juice. Just a hint of lactose sugar on the finish, but it doesn't do too much to diversify the flavor. Tingles long after the sip. Would definitely have liked more "cake" here.
The same cloudy funk as the Muir Woods, but the hop presence is stronger and slightly more acrid. Malty - graham cracker/toffee sweetness on the finish.
Pine, lemon, a cloudy cereal funk. Barely bitter and very clean - liked this a lot!
Bittersweet chocolate, hint of sweetness, light, hoppy finish. Pretty good.
Absolutely tasted nothing like gochugaru, absolutely tasted nothing like any kimchi I’ve ever had. It’s probably not bad but it literally failed at its one job.
Decent, light-tasting lager. Sweet barley flavor but not as watery-syrupy as, say, a Terra. Still, pretty soda-like.
Fruity, citrus, dank, perhaps a little too herbaceous. They play up the weed in the name and it certainly does bring it to mind.
Dry, quite tart, light Brett funk is primary in the flavor, followed by raisin and wood. Finishes remarkably clean.
Exactly what it professes to be, smooth coffee opening, cereal sweetness but not anything on top of that, and an assertive bitterness on the end that meshes well with the coffee.
Going back to the base flavor just reinforced the lactic tackiness in the finish. I wonder if it's fair to call it verging on spoiled milk?
The most intriguing flavor was the biggest letdown. The initial taste was really off, almost vegetal, although it normalized to something more cinnamon-prominent after a couple sips.
All of these beers have a sour lactic finish, which I didn't love, but the coffee variant was the best one, probably because the bitter roast offset it.
Tannic, thin, makes me think of a nut liqueur like an amaretto or something. It’s good, but I think if there were a little more body to this thing it would be remarkable.
Light, very roasty, coffee. Not sweet at all. Bitterness lingers.
Quite tart, puckery, with a significant amout of funk. Second one that approached blue cheesy flavors. Dry finish.
Dry cherry, caramel, wood. Not tart at all.
Urban Family Stellar Mass (2022)
Super-dark head and lacing. This was a remarkably redolent of cacao, pungent actually. Sweet and liqueur-like. Reminded me of the Berserker, a beer I haven't had in a very long time.
It's easy to take this one for granted, but I'm glad I tried it. Just super, super good.
Simplistic, sweet. Not bad, but the finish seemed a bit harsh. Other folks at the table really disliked this one this year though.
Super clean. Blueberry. Quite tart, low funk, clean. Lots of clean beers at this particular instance of Big Wood.
Very caramel apple. It's quite sweet, but very surprisingly, appropriately sweet. Very much recalls apple brandy.
Põhjala Cowboy Breakfast (2022)
Slightly fruity, sweet stout. Seems to have frighteningly little reason to be here. There's definitely no discernible chili.
Kind of like a sour, carbonated red wine? Didn't seem beer-like at all, although it wasn't bad.
Not much barrel, lots of coffee. Very good, but comparing against a standard stout.
A stronger initial hit of booze. Lingering chili spiciness.
Delirium Black Barrel Aged (2022)
Light prune and caramel, finishes with a candy sweetness. Super-clean.
AleSmith Bourbon Barrel-Aged Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Speedway Stout (unknown release)
Just a taste. Lots of coffee, vegetal, a spicy finish. Very weirdly made me think of daikon pickle, which is not as negative a note as it sounds.
Somewhere between blueberry and raspberry, notably floral, no funk. Medium tart, very clean finish.
Probably my second-favorite beer of the day. Smooth, not as sweet as the PNC, still a cacao-forward flavor but with a strong presence of peated whisky that became clearer as the glass warmed up.
Dream come true to get a new release of this, one of the first epic beers I ever tried. Did not disappoint. Smooth chocolate, incredibly smooth finish, medium sweet.
Pours golden. Very nice, sour and dry, a bit salty on the lips but with a nice authentic guava flavor.
I didn't take notes on this one, unfortunately. I have a vague recollection that I didn't taste any mint at all, which would have been a disappointment for something staking its claim on the Frango name.
Just lightly roasted, not sweet, not thick. The right amount of peanut. I thought this was delicious.
Maybe it was in opposition to the Hanami but this was very much on the edge of syrupy.
Dry, champagne-like. Dries out on the tongue which is probably from the tea. Delicious.
Round, malty, redolent of unspecified spice. Bitter finish. Tastes like a fruit beer without the fruit.
Pretty strongly bitter, and I hate to say “in a rubbery way” because it’s actually really quite good. Light lemon, some cloudy cereal funk, but all very dry in a way that leads really naturally into the bitterness.
Robust but creamy, mocha notes, high roast, malty as all get out. I enjoyed it!
Don't have a great recollection of this, but my lingering impression was that this was in the sweet-pithy category.
Pretty decent chocolate milk stout. Sweet, but not too sweet. Thinnish mouthfeel. Cola-like? The milkiness lingers as a tackiness in the throat, as does something of a roast bitterness.
This doesn't seem stylistically accurate. Maybe my taste buds are off but this comes across like a slightly toastier version of the pumpkin ale, and the sweetness doesn't really work for me.
Basically a pumpkin beer? Spice forward, hints of sweetness, lightly hoppy, clean, pretty bitter on the aftertaste.
Banana, clove, but also tart, finishes distinctly metallic but clean.
Looks like they changed the name. First taste seems great - a deeply hoppy, woody flavor that is offset by some cereal funk. It's nice, but on the fruit front there's a lingering citrus oiliness that outlasts the flavor and leaves the mouth dry, just a tad off-putting.
Holds up in character through the nitro, chocolatey, roasty, mellow.
Each new release of this beer seems a little less whiskey and a little more Scotch ale. Fairly thin, but mellow. Barrel is mostly wood and background. A fine beer for my birthday.
Almost nitro-flat but contributes to a very smooth opening. Finishes with a somewhat rounded hop (or rye?) bite at the end that reduced my enjoyment a smidge.
Seemed extremely overhopped for a blonde. I see previous notes like this, maybe it's always been this way?
Whereas I thought the Aloha Death was thin and fake-tasting, this was just the right amount of the right flavors. Otherwise, it's a light-ish stout-ish beer like the other Irish Death variants, and just as enjoyable.
Very tasty, fresh, Deschutes-like IPA. Not too piney.
Sweet, bitter, definitely a bock, but almost maibock-like in strength and sweetness. Almost skirts the edge of syrupy-sweet but doesn't get there, thankfully. Pretty enjoyable.
Stillwater Insetto (2021)
Lightly tart, champagne-grape notes with sweet cereal. Dry and clean, refreshing, very tasty.
Pretty far away from what I expected in a wit. Musty and vegetal, thin and a bit tart. Reminds me more than a little bit of a ginger or ginseng tea. Did not clock cranberry in this.
Forward-sweet, fragrant and hoppy. Slightly herbaceous. Dries pretty fast into a typically brackish Italian Pilsner finish but manages to stay sweet all the way through to the finish. Quite refreshing.
A decent if unremarkable malty amber. Bit of caramel, muted hops, not much of what I would call a rye bite. It certainly accompanied the food.
I quite liked this. Not sure I got more than a hint of pineapple, the overall impression is of a bitter orange, a nice pucker, but dry and clean. I've never had the cocktail and I gather grapefruit is involved? That's believable. But it tasted more orange to me.
Bright, fizzy pale ale, seemed unusually prickly/spicy, which was a nice surprise. I was well into a hearty meal by this point so I'm not entirely sure I can trust my flavor notes, but I enjoyed it a lot.
Basically my platonic idea of a Scotch Ale, yeasty, nutty, goes down smooth without any particular sweetness or bitterness. Reminds me of imprinting on this style at Black Raven or Bellevue Brewing. Or maybe it's just this pizza place, which is great.
Everybody's Head Stash Fresh Hop IPA (unknown release)
Really delicious, I think. Not resinous or bitter at all, the primary flavor is fragrant lemon-pine hops, juicy, but clean.
Clean and nice, the initial flavor is herbaceous, like a lightly-sweet lemongrass herbal tea, but followed very quickly upon by a dry pineapple fruitiness and a mellowing coconut. More soda-like than beer, although it is dry. Only mid-tart. I'd say this beer is exactly as advertised.
Aged now for seven years, lots of caramel, cacao, and hints of aged balsamic grape, finishing with a nice, clean, tannic dryness. Love to open an old bottle and find that it's still superb.
Very light, like a cream porter. Pleasant coffee overtones, and smooth.
White pepper, light, reminds me of a wit more than a Bavarian hefe.
Clean but with slightly more pithy bitterness than the hazy. The rest of the flavor seems just a bit on the watery side.
Light, pleasant pine/lemon hazy IPA. It's spritzer-like, clean and not bitter at all.
You can definitely tell the family resemblance in this. Bready, a bit spicy, but clean, bright, almost metallic. Still, this was the most normie beer of the flight.
Standard Dang (2022)
Hazy dry with a prickly carbonation that heats up the back of throat almost like ginger.
A dry hoppy saison, actually not that different from the rice lager but with less funk and a little more bite.
Brackish and dry like you might expect from an Italian Pilsner, but with a lemon pine hop sheen on top. Veers a little acrid but not bad.
Crucible The Todd (2022)
Thick, caramel, intensely sweet but with a chew that matches. Lightly tart on the finish with plum/apple. Did not detect peat at all.
Fort George Fresh IPA (2022)
Luminosa hops, apparently. Lighter tasting than I expected, but very nice for sure.
Bracingly bitter, dry, brackish, and yet impressively clean. Hops are peppery, not fruity.
Hazy, oily, like concentrated hip essence. Borders on spicy. It’s definitely extreme without feeling over the top but it’s not exactly refreshing. One to explore if you just want to feel one with the hops.
Hit much nicer today, but I was fresh. Very smooth, light spice, murky and pumpkiny. Plus it’s nice being back at the Pine Box.
Light, lightly tangy, got that watery corn syrup flavor but otherwise crisp. I don't know how this compares to Bellevue's own Vacuna but wouldn't be surprised if it's very similar.
Opens pretty strongly fruity, tangerine-like, sweet, before transitioning to a high-alpha bitterness. The perfume from the opening lingers, so does the bitterness.
Pours blonde, opens a little musty, a little fruity, but resolves to cereal sweetness rather quickly. Brackish finish. Can't tell if there's a lime overtone to this? I just ate pho.
Sweet and port-like, strong in flavor all-around and pretty much what you might expect based on the description. You can taste the barleywine underneath but the barrel is pretty dominant here. Save this one for dessert.
Light, sweet milk stout with nutmeg-dominant pumpkin spice added. It's got a relatively thin mouthfeel but this still tastes a little bit on the cloying, candy-like side.
Super-interesting. The hops up front are dominant, a weirdly thick mouthfeel with lemon, bitterness, almost tart, before dissipating into a classic sweetish, cereal, almost buttery German pilsner flavor profile.
Cask-poured, complex with citrus and a somewhat marked transition to herbal, vegetal bitterness.
Starts lemon pine and gets deeply pungent very quickly. Murky, resinous and finishes with almost a numbing tingle on the tongue, and yet this is much more compelling than this type of beer would normally be for me. Reminds me of that old Stone Belgian IPA with its pepperiness and yeasty bitterness.
This is... a bit much. Maybe it's because it was at the tail end of a lot of beers, but this was over the top malty, over the top hoppy. One could say this is by design for barleywines, but I've had many that were a lot more enjoyable than this.
Not as good as I remember. Pumpkin spice and cream dominate and the base beer is a little lost, but it's pleasant enough.
A little weak, a little sour, this is a non-assertive roast. Reminds me a lot of what I don't love about nitro stouts without actually being on nitro.
Not as successful as the Log Boom as this one has a sweetness that kind of goes on too long.
Definitely the Log Boom and definitely a sweet, almost candy-like but realistic POG flavor that frankly overwhelms the finish. Not sure it ever resolves into a single flavor, which is the biggest problem.
High and sweet hop opening fades quickly. This is a piney, light pale ale, with a finish that hints at a dry champagne. Not bad.
Mostly just a taste, to compare with the tangelo. Without the fruit, this just tastes watery.
So light... Compared this with the regular Sammamish and this is definitely fruitier, although still a very kind of dilute experience.
Light but dry, transitions directly into a dark, cloudy, roasted malt flavor. Definitely a lager, but not sweet at all. Brewed by Bellevue Brewing.
Clean, lightly floral, hints of corn. Light, or watery? I think in this case it might be the former.
Brewed by Bellevue Brewing under the house label here. Lots of caramel, grassy, rounded hops, medium bitter finish. Strong. The caramel lingers in a sweet aftertaste. Would be interesting to compare this directly with Bellevue's Scotch ale.
Really, really good. Clean, dry mouthfeel with bright strawberry-like flavors, hints of florality, and a tart-to-clean finish. Had to buy a bottle of the Hanami afterwards, which looks related (but sencha based).
I don’t love the style but this is pretty good in that context. Cacao, light roast, hops poking out in the right balance. Similar bitterness buildup as the Aloha. Finishes clean.
A really nice combination! Light tropical/grapefruit hazy flavors with a bit of complex dryness from the hibiscus. Very clean finish.
Rogue Dead ‘n’ Dead (unknown release)
Good, but smooth it is not. Imagine an Oktoberfest märzen mixed with straight whiskey.
Similar to the Cult Classic on the surface, a little more simplistic, almost watery compared to expectations against the “lighter” style.
Sweetish lemon pine pale, light with a clean, drying finish that recalls a Pilsner. No cloying flavors. I really liked this.
Ultra brackish, almost metallic, but otherwise the flavor is very clean, lightly grassy, not as sweet as a Helles.
A really high quality IPA - lemon-pine, lingering bitterness and fragrance without being over the top. Strong without feeling unbalanced, although there is just a hint of perfume-like artificiality around the lemon flavor.
Perfect temperature, just cooler than lukewarm, barely fizzy, herbaceous hops and strong bitterness but in great balance.
Nutty, hints of cocoa, thematically not that different from the afraid of the dark but honestly I can’t get behind the nitro (even though it’s better than usual)
Dry and light dark lager, more amber though less sweet than a Vienna, barely fruity, bready.
Lemon cereal IPA, dry and bitter finish, but lager-like and really refreshing.
Light plum, caramel, tastes strong and also festive. Somewhat vegetal finish.
Opens as a mellow tripel that is slightly amped up on the cloves and then gets uncharacteristically hoppy. Has a similar finish to the Julius.
Orange, vanilla, hops, cloudy cereal finish. Initial impression is sweet but it’s well-balanced after the flavor transitions to hops. Aftertaste is somewhat bitter. Solid.
Clear, bubbly, banana-forward Belgian ale. Has a lager-like brackish bitterness that offsets the initial brightness and makes the overall experience feel more complex and balanced.
Watery, diluted corn syrup impression from this beer. Definitely a big step down from the Oktoberfest.
I don’t know what was up with the last time, but this is very good again. Still hits every flavor I want from an Oktoberfest-Marzen.
I found any crispness here to be absolutely overwhelmed by the oiliness of the hop juice. Borderline skunky on the nose, although that can happen quickly on a day as sunny as today. I could see how this could be somebody’s thing, but it isn’t my thing.
As brackish a beer as I've ever had. Flavorful, but not light, and not crisp!
Like a light version of the Empress... but either my palate was blown out or this just ended up being insipid and watery in direct comparison.
Cinnamon, bread, light hints of caramel apple (perhaps this is the only hint of bourbon I got? But it was faint). Pleasant if not mind-blowing.
Bready and light, with a toasty finish. I think this was the favorite of the flight.
Lightly tart, fruity, maybe fig? Closes into a bit of a cloudy cereal/chocolate funk. Word of note: none of the barrel aged beers I had today really tasted especially barrelly.
A densely flavorful Hazy IPA that sits right on the edge of being too dank but doesn’t quite cross over. Citrus-pineapple, and something that reminds me a bit of some coconut IPAs I vaguely remember.
Decent enough is the best description I can give here. The amount of coconut is right and it’s on top of a medium-bodied porter that is not too dark and not too sweet. There’s a little bit of sourness over time that isn’t ideal.
So maybe because it was super-chilled, but this was a lot more mellow than it seems my first try was. Still intensely green, the matcha gives a sweet grass kind of smoothness to the opening, and the rest is basically a somewhat bitter bit light IPA.
Thick, sweet, caramel; honestly, if I weren't in the right mood this might have crossed the edge into syrupy but I think it is on the right side of the law here. Smooth, burnt sugar finish. I really liked it.
So it says key lime, but don't think pie. This is more like a lime creamsicle with an overtone of... nutmeg? Maybe? Still, it was unusual, and therefore nice.
Tastes like the filing of an unidentifiable berry pie, a little bit of brown sugar, maybe, light and not too sour. Definitely falls into the "almost not a beer" category.
Pretty smooth for a barleywine. Somewhat of a wheat ale character, faintly tart, not notably hoppy except maybe in the aftertaste. Nice!
Nice, creamy, cereal sweet, but with a funky, fruity wildness that just peeks through.
Black Raven La Mort Garryana (2019)
Caramel, whiskey, notably chocolate. Smooth on its face but the finish is really dominated by a strong, clear, whiskey flavor. Compared directly against the Splinters it fares poorly but it's pretty good.
Musty watermelon candy, quite sour. Do not taste one iota of mint here, which is a shame, because it might have brightened the flavor.
More straight caramel sweetness than the Mort. Strong notes of the barrel but less straight whiskey.
Clean, lemon-pine IPA with a buttery sweet overtone. The flavor is a bit oily and builds up a bit over time. Has an edge.
Crucible Putin Out aged in Port Whiskey Barrels (unknown release)
I wish I'd taken more notes here, but I didn't. I think it was my second favorite of the flight though, after the Rule #5.
Light coffee and cream. On nitro but feels exceptionally flat even in that context. A faint bit tart, but otherwise the flavor's okay.
Fine, but suffers in comparison to the Rule #5. Doesn't help that it was kind of room temperature. Light body, light cereal and a bit of a bubblegum sweetness.
Very flat, with a flavor like murky tropical citrus juice... and there's a rubber-ish quality to the bitterness that is off-putting.
Sharply sour pineapple with an unexpected clear vanilla note on top. The flavors aren't inappropriate, but I really don't think this worked. Didn't finish the taster.
Cloudy, strong cereal flavors; what I'd expect from an assertive but typical American lager but with a light florality on top to keep it elegant.
Yeasty, somewhat tart. I mean, I was in Galaxy's Edge so nothing was going to be too disappointing.
A roasty, lightly smoky porter, perhaps a bit more bitter than I would normally like but in the context of a fun day was pretty enjoyable. Definitely felt the ABV in this one.
My description from last time holds. Clove a bit stronger in the smell than flavor, very nice aftertaste. No lemon slices here!
It’s been a good while since I’ve had this beer and the fact I’ve already had a grandfather raven means it’s hard to judge this impartially, but this is still very nice. Caramel, lightly plummy, thin but assertive. I think this lives up to my memory.
Strong but mellow, roasty and lightly fruity. I think in the past I have been rating this with the great grandfather raven in mind which is not fair. Strong for sure.
Orange, coriander, starts out with a positive impression but over time a musty wheat funk starts asserting itself. Clean finish.
Opens with a tart but very believable mango flavor, like you might get from a shrub. Stays clean and lightly fizzy all the way through, maybe just a hint of salt on the lips but not very funky at all. Nice brewery space. Wasn't hungry at all but the food smelled good.
Really tasty... Clean guava, strawberry, maybe apple? The impression here is of a slightly puckery fruit punch. Very summery and nice, and unusual for guava notes to come out so fruity in a beer, but MAYBE THIS IS NOT EXACTLY BEER-LIKE?
Pepper, clove, coriander, banana, yes, this is a Belgian pale. Slightly sulfuric turn before it finishes.
Brackish and hoppy, mildly sweet. Good enough. A bit put out that this taproom told me I could bring a cat in a carrier to the patio (over the phone) and then reneged when I showed up. I had to correct for this negativity after the fact.
A nice Belgian pale, effervescent. This says spices added but honestly nothing sticks out too much beyond what you might get naturally from Belgian yeast, so maybe they had trouble replicating that flavor profile?
At this point I can't judge things impartiality, but while this wasn't as hoppy as the brown, it was definitely much hoppier than I'd expect a "dark lager" to be.
If this was roasty at all it was completely obscured by the hops. Probably will tell you all you need to know if I call this an india brown ale from now on.
Sweet, chocolate cake-like, but a thinner mouthfeel than most beers with this flavor profile. Still bitter ont he end, but th eone beer here that I can't classify as dry.
Light roasty porter with lots of coffee and hints of cacao. Hop fragrance pokes through just a little, and that clashed a bit with the mocha character.
Profoundly opaque, grapefruit/pineapple tropical flavors. Some sap-like dryness but finishes relatively clean.
A little oily. Not sure I like the initial flavor, which is danker, skunkier than expected, which combines with a brackish texture to not seem all that quaffable Right finish though.
Spicy, rooty, hoppy. Pungent. Finishes bitter with a notable amount of resin, although it doesn't linger.
Dry but clean, lighter pepper and clove character than the Hefe, toastier as well. I liked it.
Peppery, light banana, not too sweet. Dry finish. Solid Hefeweizen!
There's a bit of forward tartness but it doesn't carry through, maybe because it runs up against the same drying bitterness of the other beers here. That works in its favor, as the opening flavors gave me flashbacks to some recent definitely-gone-bad barrel aged beers, and this isn't that - it's pure barleywine, caramel, fairly pungent.
I think this was the most complex beer in the flight and it could have been a winner if I hadn't reached the limit of what I could reasonably enjoy today. Dry like the other beers, but a little smoky, a little grassy, slightly herbaceous. Not a ton of body but it's the one I keep thinking about afterward.
Much, much too sweet. It's not exactly a creamy beer but despite that there's a bit of cocoa quality to the sweetness, on top of an otherwise strong Baltic porter base.
Another lemon pine pale, although this goes curiously dry very quickly. Almost seems Brett, and there is definitely a very faint but hard to refute, funky, blue-cheese-like quality to the smell and aftertaste.
Like a simplistic accentuation of the previous lemon pine hops but kicked up a notch. Significantly more resin, although it does still culminate in a clean finish.
Extremely hazy, and really weird-tasting after the first two beers. Peppery, spicy, acrid. Butter and pine in the aftertaste, but more like an '80s scratch-n-sniff pine. Didn't work at all for me.
My favorite of the set, has the sweet mellow cereal of a German pils with a bit of the same lemon pine that characterized the Fancy Pants. A cleaner finish, marvelously balanced.
Bright, lemon pine, a touch of wine grape? Doesn't succumb to a perfume quality and a brackish finish brings the lager in and grounds the flavor.
Only had about an ounce of this, but it seemed really good. Light, more nutbrown than what I would think of for porter, lightly sweet but with enough roast to balance it in the finish. Seems like decent beer to take the weight off of one of these fluffy biscuits.
Tart, somewhat puckery. Somewhat herbaceous, makes me think of tea, decent amount of malt. The kind of sour that reminds you that there's still a beer in here. Leaves a salty sensation on the lips... Gose-like?
Very sweet, thick, definitely strong on both peanut butter and chocolate. Pretty sure this is a decent approximation of a Butterfinger bar as a beer.
Starts like a pilsner but there's an interesting musty fruit aspect to this - apple? Ends with a bit of bitterness. Really quite interesting, and good.
Pretty solid German pilsner; maybe a bit pungent, but lightly sweet and grassy.
Initial impression very good: roasty, thin mouthfeel, pleasant. Over time there's an acrid aspect to the bitterness that builds up and makes this less enjoyable.
I hate raspberry and this beer exhibits all the reasons I hate raspberry. That said, it’s far from the worst raspberry beer I’ve ever had.
This was my least likely choice but it is about as good as you can expect for a red IPA. Very clean, lightly pungent with resin but no overt maltiness to drag out the flavor. It’s still a red IPA in the end.
Smell is Belgian yeast, white pepper, clove, coriander. Just enough lemon to balance it out, this was a pleasant surprise being that it read the most dangerous pick.
Lemony, bitter, not much body but a bright beer that never veers into perfumey territory.
Not what I expected. Roasty, caramel, thin mouthfeel, lightly smoky? Actually tastes like a scotch ale. Very nice.
Very nice, lightly fruity (banana) mellow wheat. American style it seems.
Bitter, clean, lightly buttery, like a Czech Pilsner with added caramel.
Sweet without being syrupy, graham cracker and biscuity. Fruity?
Light fruit, bright, slightly buttery. Flavor is good but empty in the middle, almost vaporous. Somewhat acrid, uric finish.
Quite tart, very passion fruit. Finishes clean although with a bit of cereal funk to make it more interesting than one-note.
Fool me twice. Sour, vinegar-like, burnt sugar/caramel. Buffalo Trace barrels used, we preteneded the first time that it was a wine barrel and we could excuse the taste, or something went wrong, but now I have to assume this flavor is by design.
Just a good solid kolsch, even if it is a bit on the sweet, uncomplicated side. At this point I'll take uncomplicated.
Opens with a really rounded ruby red grapefruit flavor but very quickly gets super dank, to the point where I started thinking of armpits. That's not a good place to be when you're drinking a beer.
Opens with a lemony pine but gets unusually dry really fast, almost salty. Weirdly, after the grapefruit IPA this one tastes more like grapefruit.
Kind of a watery cola opening, pretty thin mouthfeel. Finishes pretty strong in both bitterness and an almost smoky roast.
A little simplistic, sweet. Water fruit. Detergent finish? A bit of that rubbery, acrid bitterness.
Sweet, smooth, a little uric. Leaves the tongue a little tingly. Bitter finish. Pretty standard, decent lager.
Pretty weak for a porter, this feels like a caramel-funk brown, some hop fruitiness poking through. Peanut butter flavor is pretty good but could have used a lot more roast to balance it.
Caramel amber lager. The server said this was in the vein of a Sam Adams, and it may start that way but finishes surprisingly hoppy and very bitter. Obviously I want something to be more assertive than a Sam Adams but this didn't do it in a way I particularly enjoyed.
Lime, clove, hops, funk. It's lightly tart. Something about the whole thing just doesn't come together; I didn't feel any enthusiasm about finishing this glass.
Thin mouthfeel, initially herbaceous, almost minty, but that resolves into a hoppy roundness very quickly. Moderately roasty, finishes bitter.
A lightly-sweet Helles, maybe almost watery, with a somewhat strong smoke flavor. Reminded me of a peaty Scotch in smoke character. It took me a few sips before I started to appreicate it but in the end I think this was the clear winner of the flight.
Coming to and going back to the hospital seemed as good a reason as any.
Chalky, a little too bitter. Saved it for last and I’m glad I did because it would have blown out my palate.
In no way does this blueberry taste real, but it tastes enjoyable. Continues to be compelling in an unexplainable way.
Very good blonde; opens with a round fruitiness, vaguely apple/strawberry? Very quickly transitions to a buttery cereal with more than a little funk. I liked this a lot.
Pretty much an exemplar of the kind of hazy IPA I like. Clearly primarily hoppy, light hints of fruit (citrus, pineapple) and a mellow cereal finish. Bitterness is subtle, but does build.
Moderately bitter, cereal lager with a hint of citrus. Keg blew so this was on the house. And I can get behind this trend of bars inside supermarkets.
… and an even straighter stout. It’s not as sweet as the Kali Ma, but it is on the sweet (cocoa? butter?) side. I had somewhat hoped for at least one beer today to be firmly in the humorless roasty category but looks like I didn’t choose well for that.
Hits the notes that Hubbard’s Cave missed. Sweet coffee with a light bodied stout, no weird, extraneous flavors. Still a bit on the sweet side and no roast to balance it, but positively normal after the past two outliers. Firmly in what I would consider breakfast stout territory.
Undrinkable! Intensely flavored, almost like dry cola syrup. Forward sweet, tacky, more unpleasant than the Hubbard’s Cave, which is saying something.
Lack of checking maltlog bit me here. Not good. Vegetal, weirdly smoky, super sweet. At least it’s not sour to boot, but more on that in a sec.
Thickish as you’d expect from Parabola. Strong mocha, fainter coconut… something of a stronger bitterness than expected to finish.
Slightly smoky, deep roast, medium thick mouthfeel that has a creamier and more caramel smoothness than you’d expect from the opening. Clearly very strong.
Wet - Grassy - Cereal - Sweet - Candied lime rind - dry - perfume
Dry roasted biscuit, yeasty bitterness, leaves throat fairly dry. Caramel.
Refreshing, tart, but clean sour raspberry. Only the tiniest hint of funk, this really doesn’t resemble a beer. Only knock is that off all the berry flavors, raspberry is my least favorite.
I got it again because I knew I didn't write anything down the first time! And then I forgot! I do remember thinking this was good.
Only had a sip, it was pleasant, a bit funky, but I didn’t have a chance to make a real impression.
Not at all what I was expecting in a Helles, this was cloudy and lemony, a bit dry and tacky on the finish. Somewhat insipid, sweet cereal finish.
Clean finish and crisp but there's an herbaceousness that seems out of place. Lightly sweet.
A Czech wtihout cereal. It's kind of dominated by the sweet buttery flavor that was also present in the German pils. Wish it was either more strident or more cereal.
The better balanced of these two pils, has lots of funky cereal, a bright sweetness and quite a lot of bitterness.
Not exactly a robust stout, but very pleasant. Thin-ish, creamy coffee with sweet-ish caramel notes. Has the same lingering sweetness as the other beers. Not syrupy.
Strong grapefruit-pine hop juice. Sweet sheen, but not very much body underneath to counteract it. My least favorite of the flight.
Definitely the same lineage as the wit; just as bright, lightly fruity, but instead of the Belgian flavors you have a strong cereal body. There's a bit of a noxious sweetness that I think is a characteristic of the yeast and has built up - after two tasters it's a bit strong.
Light, fruity, bright, clear banana notes with subtle clove and ginger on top. Very drinkable, super refreshing.
Pretty good; flavored like some other dry-hopped sours but on the more puckery side. Very dry, but with a profound, somewhat funky cereal body.
Whiskey forward. Light cream stout flavor, hints of cacao and coffee but also a base tartness that comes to be the primary characteristic of the beer. Definitely strong.
Fair Isle Bobbi (Batch no. 3)
Dry and fizzy, initial tartness mellows into a brett-funky, vinous flavor. The finish is almost uncannily clean. I would call this extremely tasty although maybe just adjacent to my ideal.
Extremely carbonated, faintly sweet, otherwise a mix of toasted malts, subtle acidity, and a background of cloudy duck. Sort of somewhere between an Irish red and an Oktoberfest.
Juicy orange/grapefruit citrus reminiscent of a hazy pale, but with a kind of buttery, brett-like funk over it. Finishes clean, just a touch uric. I imagine I wouldn't always be in the mood for this but today it was very nice.
Seems to bear out the earlier reviews, which is that in the can this is more assertive than on draft, though still very tasty. The sweetness kind of fades into a raw alcohol flavor by the bottom fo the can, but overall it hit the spot.
Also weirdly sweet. Like a watery chocolate milk stout, a bit tart/metallic on the finish.
Sweet with a hint of cinnamon, reminds me of a holiday stout except I totally wasn’t expecting it. Unfair minus, maybe, but it was a minus.
Really smooth, you can tell there was roast but the edge is definitely taken off. Nice rum flavor, don’t know if the wood comes from the rum or the cherry bark here.
Whatever I didn't like about this before I had the opposite reaction to it this time. It's bold and grassy, flavorful, bitter finish.
Good balance between chocolate milk and roast, thin mouthfeel, somewhat cola-like. Barely tart aftertaste, overall very nice.
A balanced malty/hoppy amber but on the sweeter side. Light roast. Seemed pretty generic.
My notes say "tastes more like a soda than a beer." Surprise! Found out after the fact that it was a hard seltzer. Sweet, fruity, not tart at all... like an Italian soda but slightly more watery.
Good coconut flavor, an almost bourbon-like caramel. Some strength of hop and roast that makes this a lot less smooth than most coconut beers and puts it maybe on the more idiosyncratic side than purely enjoyable. I did really like this last time so I wonder if this suffered in context.
Similar to the Oswald in flavor profile but with amped up juice and hop sweetness. Not nearly as well-balanced.
Piney IPA, a bright flavor with fruity grape/apple notes. Clean finish.
Slightly yeasty, clean, light hop notes and some sweet cereal. A really drinkable, refreshing blonde ale.
Murky, and yeasty, somewhat tacky in the throat. There's definitely a sweet coffee character, but it's more lost in the murk rather than elevating it.
Hoppy, smoky, but more ashy than woody. Somewhat sour on the finish, which ended up being a theme here today.
Started off nice, bright, pine-hop forward, just a hint of sweet cereal, it seemed well-balanced. Bubbly. There was a hard note of resin that grew over time into something more acrid, which knocked my enjoyment back down, but it was nice at first.
Savage The Big Dark (unknown release)
Smells of sweet chocolate, almost minty. The first taste is a bit of a shock, dry, a touch tart, and then resolves into a smooth, subdued dark chocolate. If there’s Bourbon it’s mostly showing up as sweetness. There’s a slight soapy quality from the nitro but otherwise a nice light stout.
Light, notes of coffee, a bit like an old Dick's Cream Stout but with the somewhat sour character of an English Taddy Porter. A bit of a punch at the end, not sure if it was hops or rye.
Strongly sour, dark, plummy, bit of molasses. Bubbly. More of a drinking vinegar character which made it a bit hard to keep drinking, and overpowering enough that I didn't get any of the "Black IPA" part of it. I didn't hate it, but also did not finish mine.
Fair Isle Isabelle (Batch no. 1)
This was a super interesting beer, and I was at the collaboration winery so it was a natural choice. This is syrah-dominant -- basically it's wine, but lightened by the beer and given a moderate effervescence. The overall effect is a red champagne, airy but still dry and tannic, hints of raspberry. Felt perfect for a Valentine's dinner.
Ecliptic Barrel-Aged Linzer Torte Oort Imperial Stout (Batch no. 5, 01.2022)
Nice flavor but somewhat watery, dry and nutty/sour on the finish. Hazelnut and lemon are the most noticeable flavors, if there is raspberry it's more in the smell than the flavor. I appreciate it's not syrupy, but it does seem slightly under-bodied.
Thick and sweet, hints of ginger and other cola spices but who even knows since it's so sweet it just overpowers any other flavor. Finishes syrupy and tacky in the throat. Just way too much.
Sour base like the other P-51s, a little smoky, although that's balanced out really well by the peanut butter and especially raspberry notes in the mix. It manages to taste dessert-like without being actually very sweet. It's not superb, but it's interesting and enjoyable enough.
Molasses, biscuit, a very assertive brett-like dryness that verges on the sour. Finishes clean and a little funky. I honestly don't know what a Burton ale is supposed to taste like, but if this it, then "Brett saison" is a pretty close match. Just a little too much on the sour side to purely enjoy.
Orange/grapefruit and pith, bitter finish, drinks very dry. The alcohol flavor pokes through very strongly in this one, especially later in the glass.
More in the vein of a wheat IPA, dry and citrus, with a lighter ABV and flavor profile. Basically, not at all an American Hefe. Very drinkable, needed with the super salty takeout it accompanied.
Lightly hoppy pale with an unpleasantly perfumey orange zest flavor. This is a recurring problem for this brewery when the word “orange” is involved. Not sure how different this is from the old Blood Orange IPA but my notes then were similar.
Not sure what makes this winter. Thick in appearance, like a mango nectar. A profound citrus IPA, orange/grapefruit and maybe a hint of passion fruit. Very bitter and woody to finish, though not as much as the Jolly Roger.
Bready, caramel, quite hoppy with an intensely bitter buildup on the finish. A little too much of that to love, although it has an appealing foundation. Lightly carbonated.
Propolis Salal (2020)
Shockingly bad - intensely sour with a musty berry flavor but around the edges, a strong off flavor that I eventually pegged as super-earthy mushrooms, like black truffles or porcinis. The kind of beer that makes you feel queasy almost immediately.
Medium tart cider, although this is juicy rather than dry, so the lemonade comes right through. Vanilla is strong at first but the second half of this cider is dominated by the florality of the chai. Unusual, yes, though not sure the flavor really came together for me.
Tart, apricot-like, going into a lightly bitter, pretty funky Brett character. Finishes buttery and mellow, very much the prototypical ideal for a sour for me.
This was really weird and surprisingly compelling?? Easily the best Thai curry-inspired beer I’ve had, and I’ve had more than you’d expect .
So cloudy it stains the side of the glass. Extremely sweet, banana at the forefront with lighter flavors of peanut butter and toffee following. Ends syrupy and could have used a bit of roasty backbone, anything, to balance.
Much fruitier than the Laughing Monk, almost grape-like. Lots of hop resin, very lightly caramel. Bitter.
Laughing Monk Barrel Aged Imperial Coffee N' Cream (unknown release)
Vanilla, whiskey. Dry, noticeably hoppy followthrough with a hint of coffee. Advertised as a blonde but definitely a barleywine.
Stone Xocoveza Charred (2016)
A nice find at the unusually well-stocked grocery near the Airbnb. Very nice! I think my recollection of a sweet, creamy stout that was kind of one-note is here balanced really well with quite a roasty and dry finish. Not overly boozy, although you can tell it's there.
Maybe this is because it was the end of my flight, but this was a very pleasant surprise. Remarkably clean and easy drinking while still being fairly tart. Effervescent, grapey, dry in a kind of brut champagne way but finishes super-clean. Well balanced with a bit of hop florality.
Sweet, medium thick, quite a lot of whiskey character. The sweetness comes from the whiskey rather than any kind of inherent or syrupy flavoring and there is a medium bitterness that follows on from a combination of roast and light hops. It's been a while but this seems more in the mold of a Big Bad Baptist or a Lagunitas Willettized than, say, a Parabola.
Smells sweet. Buttery, toffee, coffee, although at its center it is not sweet at all, and in fact a bit dry. Roasty finish. Really nice.
Light and caramel, but backed by a strong grassy bitterness. A little bit roasty. Anyway, I appreciated the assertiveness of this beer, took it up to enjoyment.
Georgetown Bob's Brown Ale (2021)
Bready, lightly sweet, caramel, just a little dry sourness at the bottom of the flavor which kind of enhances that “Cheesecake Factory dark loaf of bread” character.
Light, with a recognizable but not overwhelming barrel/whiskey flavor. I realize I was six drinks in and my taste buds were probably shot, but this is the one that probably most suited the goblet (and pairing with lunch, which was a quite serviceable philly cheesesteak equivalent).
Elliot Bay Spontaneous Syrah (2018)
Medium tart, unrecognizable fruit (berry?) but really lets the Syrah come through. Only had a taster’s worth.
Tart, clean, pretty good but absolutely tasted nothing like lychee.
I’m surprised I’m giving this such a low rating but it just seems over the top after the Georgetown. Not integrated in its strength yet.
Georgetown Bourbon Barrel-Aged 18LB Imperial Porter (unknown release)
Light, creamy porter with fruity liquor overtones - cherry, caramel, slightly vegetal. The lightness really helps here.
Creamy opening, almost smoky, dries out to a bit of a metallic sourness that I didn’t find very pleasurable.
Brackish opening, lightly grassy and bitter but finishes with a lightly sweet, buttery cereal finish. Kind of like an Italian/German hybrid.
Too thick, too young, too sweet, and here's my first rule of cinnamon (or cassia) beers, it doesn't matter what else you put into it, it just tastes like cinnamon. This might as well be a second-rate Mexican cake stout. And for being based on a legendary beer, I just wanted to taste some coconut.
Interesting contrast with the Schwarzbier. Starts milder and sweeter, chocolate and alcohol. Less lactic, bitterer finish. Decent but the lesser of the beers.
Actually this was great. A bit of cola-like brightness to start, almost fruity, but the perfect amount of milky-smooth creaminess carries the flavor through to a slightly roasty finish. Really enjoyable.
Pine hops, bracing, pithy bitterness. It doesn't linger, though. A pretty fine example of the style.
Clean, cereal blonde with a lightly bitter finish. Very nice. I think the brewery is right; same owner and the server told me these beers were brewed in Alaska.
Good but not sure if it's an actual decline in quality or the Rum Coco Jones was just that good, but it suffers in direct comparison. Seemed thinner than I remember, a little more fruity and less balanced. Definitely got that Bourbon though.
Not a ton of rum in the flavor (although you can smell it), but this is pretty much as enjoyable as the base beer. Hard to say exactly, though, since I haven't had Coco Jones in a while. Lightly sweet, smooth, coconut. Nothing poking out around the edges.
Quite firmly in the IPL category, but I think I may be tasting the hops more because a lager isn't going to stand up so well after a strong barrel-aged stout.
Dry, smooth without being thick. A bit more surprisingly bitter at the end than I expected but otherwise very good. I should have written notes down on the day.
Fruity, almost orangey, with a kiss of acid right before it mellows into a funky sweet cereal. Seems better than the last time I had this (in fact, it appears completely different), but I still think it could have been a little more assertive.
Light, citrus, tropical, very hazy. Juicy but not bitter, finishes clean.
The wax top on this bottle was crazy hard, the cap tore before the wax did! Erupted ferociously upon opening. Profoundly dark, roasted. You get a lot of malt but the beer is also fairly sour, making it somewhat unpleasant to drink. Not sure if it this was by design or something went wrong in the bottle. My least favorite beer of the night.
This was good, and the mouthfeel was right - not too thick, but flavorwise probably a bit too sweet. You'd have to like marzipan a lot, I think. Didn't taste the salt - primarily a cacao-coconut into marzipan kind of thing going on here - and for me, not much wood.
Bale Breaker Lionheart (2020)
My favorite beer of the night, although you'd have to be into the idea of something unusual. A mellow apple flavor crossed with a cloudy cereal funk, with a lot of barrel/wood to smooth it out really nicely at the end.
Brew Dog Paradox Port Dundas (2010)
Was afraid this was going to be too far gone at 11 years in the bottle, but this was actually quite good! Medium stout, seemed mellowed out. Caramel, wood, vanilla. Mostly flat, which was unsurprising, but I did wish it had more fizz. Very clear Scotch overtones with just as much peat as you're looking for (I got it, others didn't).
Good as always, but wasn't going to live up to the pure enjoyability of the pumpkin beer.
I know last time I had this out of the bottle I mentioned Belgian notes, this time I can't say I really tasted them. A fruity, pumpkin-apple character that makes me think of pie and mulling spices as well as shortbread. Really good, super drinkable.
Intensely bright and hoppy flavors on top of a chocolatey roast malt. Finishes quite bitter. Something tells me someone who’s into this style would dig it; for me it’s a bit too hoppy.
Lightly sweet, bright raspberry flavors, not tart at all, tempered a bit by a dry funk that immediately follows. Doesn’t finish tacky, exactly, but it’s not clean either.
Postdoc Barrel-Aged Demon Star Imperial Stout (unknown release)
I gave this a decent before but I think we can safely say this was probably because it was nitro. This was superb, not syrupy, dry, cocoa, liquor.
Propolis Gooseberry (2021)
Really super pleasant; very mildly sour, a nice brett dryness. Slightly buttery and vinous follow-through and super-clean in the finish. Probably the best Propolis beer I've had.
Lightly funky, coffee, cola-like brown. Some hint of mint - second beer to have it today, maybe it's a characteristic of the house yeast?
Fruity opening, malty sweet. Cereal finish but a little light and lacking in backbone, I think.
A little harsh, dry, touch of resin. Vegetal. Really nice aftertaste, though.
Fruity, juicy, just on the edge of minty. Mellow finish.
Has continued to age in new and appealing ways. Quite mellow, with bourbon on top, burnt-caramel sweetness following through to raisin/date and what remains of the hops, dissipating in to a clean finish. Tastes like a warm home on a winter's day.
Pleasant enough, orange-lemon, medium-hazy IPA. Smells sweet and has a slightly pithy sheen but finishes with very littel bitterness. My only complaint is that it is a little samey through the course of a pint; I got a little bored by it.
Thin, strongly whiskey, flattish. Very sweet, but not thick. Not gonna lie, this is delicious but I don’t think I can take this more than two ounces at a time.
Very different looking and tasting than last time. Pores clean, opens malty, followed by grassy bitterness, finishes clean. Very strong Oktoberfest.
Thick, sweet, syrupy. Banana and peanut butter come to the front, with a jammy character that sticks in the throat. The worst part about this beer was that when the can was empty of liquid it was still heavy with some kind of pasty residue inside. Yuck.
This was... off-putting. Not because of the mushroom, which was weird at worst, but I think more because of the weaksauce nature of the beer, which was not black at all and tasted watery and like musty caramel. Bit of smoke and umami, and a little sweet, I just never got comfortable with this.
Starts with citrus and pith; once the bitterness clears there’s a really nice, mellow, cereal lemon-pine finish that reminds me more of Deschutes Fresh Squeezed than Hazy IPAs. Just a tiny bit more bitter than I love but otherwise very tasty!
Creamy, lightly fruity. Has a bit of a cereal milk quality to it, both in terms of sweetness and milkiness.
A light sweetness, just enough toasted grain, offset by grassy bitterness. Pretty strong Oktoberfest beer.
Tasted a bit off, like rooty, watery coffee. I haven't quite yet experienced a beer that successfully made me think "stout" at session ABVs, much like low-calorie colas this sits firmly in the uncanny valley.
Pilsner-like, but with a maltier, bitter bite. Just on the edge of skunky, but where it landed it's not bad.
A really clean, nice, rounded orange flavor. Blood orange? But also reminded me of mandarin. What it really brought to mind was the classic Goose Island Orange Cream sodas from the '90s.
Strong and roasty, this is what you look for when you think Russian Imperial Stout. And war stories about porn bugs is what you look for when you have a gathering of old browser devs.
Probably accurate for cola, but there's a corn syrup quality to this that is too sickly sweet for a beer. Flavor is reminiscent of cola with a noticeable ginger heat, and a strong tang. Feels like it should be more dilute or fizzier. Sticks in the throat.
Really nice, actually, probably the best beer I've had from this brewery. Medium-dry pumpkin ale, malty, light in flavor and spice profile. Didn't seem especially Belgian, although there was a light fruitiness that might have been banana, and buttery overtones that really lent an impression of pie. Reminds me of my idea of Pumking, maybe not quite as well-designed, but not the worst thing to draw comparisons to.
Dry opening, pine and lemon zest. Clean on the tongue. Hints of candy/bubblegum sweetness but it's mostly an ethereal aftereffect, one that is distracting enough to detract a bit from the experience, though. Still, very tasty.
Not sweet, which is nice, works well with the spice profile. Issue here is that the finish is weirdly vegetal/woody, kind of like a chicory coffee, and bitter. Better after I got used to it but overall the tallboy can was a little too tall.
Will say: this is accurate. A strong, puree-like raspberry-ish flavor -- not gonna lie, couldn't tell you what makes a boysenberry a boysenberry -- but overall this was a lot heavy, thick, syrupy. Sweet enough to give me a headache. Not the best in a series that hasn't really wowed me.
Not terrible, but really not a hop flavor profile I enjoyed. Herbal and acrid, with a sweet character, this was somehow light and dank at the same time. The bitterness lingered a long time.
Scent of apple juice, flavor is a bit sweet, wet hay, nice finish. A little more malty and less cereal than I think I was looking for, but maybe I'm just really out of practice with these fest biers.
At once sweet wheat and citrus, there's a little more tartness and bitterness to this beer than makes me love it, feels a bit like a gimmick.
Grassy and bitter, which is nice, but not as clean as I’d like. What threw me off was a pretty oily, hoppy finish, along the lines of what I'd expect more in an IPL (although this wasn't as strong).
Grassy, bitter, slightly brackish, a touch sweet; would have made a great drinking Helles by itself. The smoke is woody, somewhat bittering, maybe not 100% integrated into the flavor. I liked it but it was a thinker.
Very sweet, accurate to the name. Punches you in the face with vanilla, big buttery flavor, and a cloudy, yeasty golden ale underneath, but it's all out of balance. Not to mention it's very strong, ~9% ABV, and that sneaks up on you.
Nice caramel opening, clean, but overly hoppy - starts a touch dank and process to acrid bitterness, before fading back out to caramel.
Pretty much exactly what you'd expect from this flavor. A treat more than an experience.
A decent if puckery-tart mango opening, a fruity orange juice ending, and in between a flavor that is not unlike what I imagine drinking Scrubbing Bubbles brand toilet cleaner would taste like.
Lots of pith, orange citrus and high alpha bitterness that remains strong through the finish. Sticks in the throat.
Intense, sweet, definitely cherries. Could deifnitely stand to mellow out with some aging.
Quite sweet, mellow, very pleasant. Very close to a juice.
At first I was horrified by this, but it mellowed out over time. Definitely mushroomy, buttery-then-earthy, some burnt caramel sweetness. Otherwise intense in roast and over-syrupy in a way I kind of expect from this Stillwater/Mikkeller/Evil Twin bunch. It's a strange mix of flavors and never settled into a comfortable place for me.
Pretty good, actually. A notable but appealing bitterness counters, lager-like, a piney hazy hop opening that is definitely not sweet and, in fact, almost on the savory side.
A little intense but also maybe as enjoyable as this style will get for me. Fruit-forward, pineapple? Drying pine and a clean, slightly bitter finish.
Somehow this isn't as satisfying today. Tastes a little insipid, though the aftertaste is kind of a nice cereal flavor. I think this is better than the Smithwick's though.
Lightly sweet, cola like. Could be fizzier, maybe? Aftertaste is a bit cloying.
A pretty in-your-face resin bomb. I think some would like it but it's the least likely style to ever convert me.
I thought this was tasty but there was something odd about the flavor that I never quite came to terms with. Wish I could remember more.
Comparing this to the Zephyros from the day before, this was somewhat less appealing though it is, I think, meant to have a similar flavor profile. The sourness is sharper, more unrelenting, and I don't think I got any interesting hop flavors. Maybe the elderflower in the Zephyros is what made the difference? Or maybe this was just not as well-conceived.
Seems to be right at the perfect stage of aging. Fruitier, a little fizzier, just a touch more bitterness than the XXI. More toffee, more bourbon. Can definitely tell there is booze here, still.
Almost to the edge of too smoothed out, but still delicious. Light date flavors, caramel, just a hint of bitterness before dissipating to nothingness. Whatever edges were there are gone. This isn't the oldest anniversary ale I have, makes me wonder how the XIX is.
Smells strongly of strawberry puree, just deliciously fruity. The flavor is just a bit more tart than I was expecting, but still bright. This was delicious, and definitely lives up to Barrelworks' name.
"Musty," "sour," not sure those words from earlier logs are applicable here, but this was kind of watery and unremarkable.
Definitely a strong one. Strong notes of cherry and wood, and the big bitter roasty backbone you'd expect from a Yeti. Liked it a lot.
Propolis Zephyros (2019)
Opens with some sweet florality but transitions to a moderate sourness pretty quickly. Not identifiably fruity, but you can definitely taste the hoppy overtones. Really tasty.
This was the most disgusting beer I've had in a while. It smells nice, lightly ginger, lemony, kind of like a Long Island iced tea. The flavor is acerbic and woody with a lot of oily ginger but no fruit or acid at all. Rooty-not-fruity. If I wanted a beer to taste like Chinese herbal medicine, I wouldn't have grown up Asian.
I don't know if this went bad but this was actually quite sour, and not in an "oh, that's brett" kind of way. I'm not especially against sour IPAs but that nagging feeling that this wasn't the intended flavor profile was something I couldn't quite let go to enjoy the beer for what it was.
Smells and opens with a super-realistic Hawaiian Punch character but then kind of overdoes the sweetness; combined with the strong hops it ends up tasting rooty and artificial. Honestly, made me feel a little ill.
Juicy, and quite definitely primarily pineapple juice. IPA is kind of like the secondary personality here, though it shows up by providing a bit of dry bitterness at the end.
Very light, cola-like, maybe my palate was off balance but I could detect no roast whatsoever. Lightly fruity but not sweet. Felt like this needed a bit more "milkiness" to feel like a schwarzbier.
Slightly watery, wet prune/hay flavor. Sweet but ends clean, probably because it’s so dilute.
Light, lightly fruity with caramel, somewhat strong bitterness. Barrel is kind of a light overtone rather than a heavy weight.
Carakale Black Camel Spider (2017)
Bold and thick, the first thing you notice about this beer is that the cardamom is front and center. Lightly sweet, molassessy date flavors and coffee round it out, pretty much exactly as advertised. It's not quite as well-integrated as a top-class beer but you have to give it points for going bold with the flavors and succeeding.
Doesn't taste much like an IPA, much less a hazy one; this is lightly fruity but mostly bready, starts light and sweet but has a little bit of a yeasty, bitter backbone. Finishes clean but there's a little bit of funk to it. It doesn't smell great though, a bit pungent in a way the flavor doesn't back up.
Is it a blonde ale? No. Is it a refreshingly light raspberry beer? Yes.
Really can’t taste peaches*. Hazy, slightly acrid up front but ends up lightly sweet, understated and mellow. *Maybe a bit "fuzzy" at the end, maybe those are the peaches poking through?
Definitely based on the Bavarian mold, the main flavors are banana and then kind of a musty plum-like sourness but overall the flavor is more watery than I would like. Maybe a faint hint of clove. Less sour, less watery, we'd probably have a good middle of the road example of the style.
Somewhat sweeter than expected, smooth-drinking cereal red. Neither hoppy nor strongly toasted, this doesn't run in the typical locally-brewed "Irish Red" direction. I really enjoyed it though.
Dark, tart, prune-like. There's a bit of chocolate finish but otherwise this was dry, a little murky, a little unpleasant.
This is not a juicy beer, but there is definitely a noticeable amount of yuzu flavor in the balance here. Bright without feeling perfumey, I think it hits a good balance. Then again, I really like yuzu. I was a bit late recording this so there's less detail than I'd like, but I'll definitely try this again (and I think they're making a yuzu IPA now?).
The bottle keeps insisting this is a Czech pilsner, but it really doesn't drink like one. Grassy, yes, but has that sweet wet-hay flavor typical of English lagers. Not a fan.
This was extremely delicious, looks like a hazy IPA but drinks refreshing, fruity, mild and smooth. Strawberry, jammy, not tart. Not gonna lie, this made me rethink how a fruit beer should taste, which is a high compliment.
Caramel, piney hops, on the edge of dank. Somewhat peppery before caramel comes back to the front. A pretty typical hoppy barleywine, but not sure it stands out in a way that screams "commemoration."
Light, caramel, nutty, just a hint of fruit (ghost of buttery nectarine) right at the end.
Clearly jalapeno, all of that bitter, acerbic character, but not spicy at all. Probably the mildest chili beer I've ever had, but doesn't skimp on the flavor. Really liked this.
So, light is the general trend here, but in a pleasing way. Caramel, slightly toasted flavor, a drying finish. Very smooth.
Kolsch-like, lightly fruity, very clean. Between this and Bellevue's similar-tasting malt liquor, I feel like this style has impressed me more than its reputation would suggest.
I was really looking forward to this but it was over the top. Strong bourbon, stone fruit, prune. Harsh.
A tasty coffee stout, smooth on nitro, lightly sweet and missing the typical negative aspects of the nitro delivery.
Hazy and very much tastes like a hazy IPA; forward grapefruit flavors. Mellow finish, maybe the wheat's contribution?
Just a hint of lime on top of a nice lager. Just a touch uric, but not nearly as assertive as the Bikini Blonde. Pretty drinkable.
Pretty restrained for Skookum, which still means it's hella robust. It does manage not to be completely over the top. Medium-thick, roasty, decently sweet without being syrupy, caramel bourbon notes.
Might be my last time here, so I started with a nostalgia play. Light, sweet, creamy, chocolately. Wasn't even ruined by the nitro. Good memories.
Slightly tangy opening gave me flashbacks to the bad crowler from Public Coast, but this ended up being really light and refreshing.
Breakside Sunripened (unknown release)
Not sure if the flavor changed with age but this was light, lightly fruity, definitely strong nectarine flavors but for me the chamomile was almost overwhelming. Doesn't match at all with previous logs so this was either the beer changing in the bottle or my taste buds were killed by the gone-bad crowler I previously had.
Almost a year old crowler, my fault. I just didn't feel good openeing 32 ounces of beer without anyone to share with. This had almost certainly gone bad, it was sour and thin.
This was really delicious; a strong, forward, almost metallic bitterness that creates a stiff backbone against which the rest of the flavors (caramel, hop) sparkle. A lot of the flavors I recognize from cask bitters in the UK but more focused; less pungent; worked in its favor.
Garden Path The Garden Paths Led To Flowered (unknown release)
Not sure which release this is; the website only goes up to fifth edition right now (but those are bottles). Definitely on the dry, funky, horsey side, but in a pleasant, understated way. Definitely some estery Belgian flavors involed. Worked really well with what I can only call a sophisticated meal.
Smells smoothly sweet but highly alcoholic. Pours with a thick, dark brown head. A profoundly roasty stout, true to the Yeti name, but smoothed out with buttery coconut and lactose. Slightly smoky. Gives you a bit of that burnt sugar headache but never quite crosses the line into too sweet.
I've liked this beer before but I wasn't feeling this at all today. Tasted a bit bubblegummy and overly hoppy, more like an IPL.
Nice flavors but just a bit over the top sour to be truly enjoyable. Clean and fizzy, bit salty on the lips, maybe a hint of apricot but otherwise ambiguous. Finish is slightly buttery but quite outbalanced by the lingering tartness.
I had my doubts but I actually quite enjoyed this. The lemon is just bitter enough, just tart enough, to offset a clearly sweet vanilla/lactose finish. Out of balance this could have been horrible but instead is about as good a gimmick beer (in this case, highly accurate to the name) tends to get.
Keg blew on this one. Seemed a little overly thick and still a bit over the top but I'm never going to complain about getting one of these for a dollar.
Bit of an oily beginning, a sweet bubblegum sheen that wasn't my favorite. Brackish finish but otherwise fairly clean - the end was the best, with a grassy, mellow grain flavor.
Grape-like. Medium thick, but not resinous at all. Doesn't hit you in the face like an "imperial," this is very drinkable.
Least favorite of the bunch. Mildly tart with hints of cocoa, but mostly just kind of blandly "creamy." Like most golden stouts, sits in kind of an uncanny valley.
Really have to squint to tell its strong, faintly fruity, but more like a fizzy liqueur but ends with a sweet corn syrup type of smoothness.
Not tart, vanilla sheen like a creamsicle. Lightly tart at the end. Maybe a little too sweet.
Dry throughout, cereal finish, doesn't taste like an IPA at all. Is there a hint of coffee here?
Lightly sweet, lightly funky cream ale, exactly what it says it is. Nice cereal finish, drying in the throat. At first I thought it was watery but I think I had to adjust.
Harsh, but simple. Mellows out a bit over time.
Straightforward caramel whisky amber - nothing wrong with that.
Dry, slightly peppery saison, grape funk, brett dryness.
Juicy, fruity IPA with a creamy, sweet finish. Touch of cherry? Something fruity in there.
Tastes like a citrus IPA but opens a bit dry. Very bright. Ends bitter. Clean and drinkable.
Grape right up front on the lips. Brett-like funk, definite on the horse blanket side. Buttery notes all the way through.
Harsher than the previous two beers, bare alcohol notes followed by a lightly fruity tanginess from the brandy.
Very much cocoa all the way through. Lightly creamy, ends with cereal and just a very light amount of tartness. Slightly vegetal.
Whiskey opening leads smoothly into a light, unsweet scotch ale, malty and caramel. Finishes lightly buttery. Best of the entire evening came first.
It’s hot here (ok, not Seattle hot) and a sweet but not syrupy light stout hits the spot nicely. Finishes creamy but clean. Uncomplicated but pleasing.
Firestone Walker / Sante Adairius Big Mood (unknown release)
Somehow this seems more cider-like though there are apparently no apples involved. Much more tart than the D'Vine, with a sourness that lingers on the lips.
Firestone Walker D'Vine Visions (unknown release)
Tart, clean apple, lightly sparkling. Finishes straight through sour with some bracing bitterness.
Firestone Walker Cocoanut Parabola Imperial Stout (unknown release)
Harsh, almost tequila like, coconut is obscured. Fiery. A little vegetal.
Still tasted young but super interesting, cinnamon notes (from the wood if the descriptions are to be believed!), smoothly sweet and caramel.
Top notch Helles. Starts just a touch watery but finishes fizzy, lightly sweet, grassy, cereal. Super drinkable, classic without being boring.
I know the description is golden ale, but this tastes like an oily IPA, with a ton of intense hop flavors all at once: pine, pineapple, citrus, resin. It’s fine but all resolves into acrid bitterness, which doesn’t add up to a refreshing bottle.
Citrus/apricot IPA, lots of pith and hop bitterness. Should please hop heads but it wasn’t really for me. Gets more acrid with each sip.
Smells dank. Buttery, mild, kind of straddles the line between a lightly hoppy amber ale and a Vienna lager. Sits a little soapy in the back of the throat.
Sierra Nevada Trip in the Woods: Tequila Barrel-Aged Otra Vez (unknown release)
A tart, puckering lime flavor with a hint of vanilla and wood on top. I ended up buying a crowler of this to go so watch for a better review later.
Sierra Nevada Trip in the Woods: Barrel-Aged Ovila Abbey Ale (unknown release)
Fruity, round plum flavor is dominant, rounded out with caramel bourbon. Definitely sweet, and I think you'd want to be in a sherry/port mood if you were going to drink this. Great fit if you were, though.
Starts roasty but develops into a weirdly fruity sweetness. It's almost pineapple, in that I do get pina colada flavors. I normally like that! But it doesn't meld very well with the porter. Did not enjoy.
Not a liquor barrel, but seems more like an amber that's been mellowed out in wood for a while. Smooth, caramel oak notes with a bit of a metallic, dry backbone.
Sierra Nevada Barrel-Aged Torpedo Extra IPA (unknown release)
Sweet bourbon with a bit of caramel; otherwise, this is a classic SoCal hoppy IPA with a bit of sap-like resin sourness on the finish.
Really nice, buttery, lightly toasted cereal. This was a much more enjoyable all-around experience than I remember the regular pale ale from bottles.
A massively pithy IPA. I know this isn't the double, but it made me think double IPA. Bitter, resin, not so juicy. So I'm not sure if "haze" was meant to evoke hazy IPA, but this wasn't it.
A caramel amber, notes of apple again, a more roasted aftertaste.
Similar base to the moondust, with a tanger, more robust grain flavor. Apple-like fruit notes.
Light, smooth, corn flavor? Don't know if this is an adjunct, but it has that quality. Clean finish with a slightly uric quality that tempers the sweetness.
Interesting... more of a pure hop flavor, maybe a hint of orange essential oil but otherwise not fruity at all. I appreciated that there was a turn away from the fruity trend and that this was different.
Similar to the Oregon I Am but drier, with more of a bitter grapefruit pith quality.
Hazy, tropical, dry pine, clean finish. Really nice!
I'll be honest, I don't really love raspberry, and this is very, very raspberry. However, the other flavors in this give the beer a nice raspberry bar kind of pastry flavor, so I can live with that. The tartness is sharp but fades to a clean finish quickly. So not bad, not bad at all.
Kind of a nothingburger after the POG. Generically dry bubbly saison with no real offensive, but also no interesting flavors.
Dry rather than juicy, this is kind of like sucking on a grapefruit for too long. In particular I think the passionfruit overwhelms here. Nice bit of cereal finish for the first few sips before it gets drowned out.
The house beer here, so I had to get it. An herbal, medicinal pale. Bitter and not super enjoyable. I should have gotten the Bosk Helles instead!
Very nice, berry lemonade overtone but rooted in a dry, uric, bitter quality that doesn't sound great but really makes this beer stand out as a much more interesting than your average fruit beer. Finishes super-clean.
Slightly resinous hop smell, bitterness up front. Really nice blueberry fruitiness leads into a kind of caramel amber / hop perfume finish. Finishes clean. Just a tiny bit disappointed the beer is not blue.
Looks more muddy than black. A hoppy, medicinal stout. Finishes with nice roast but bitter, all the murky flavors lingering in the mouth.
About as good a Hazy IPA as I’ve had. Dry grapefruit, juicy followthrough, clean, cereal finish.
Grassy, vegetal opening. Tart on the back end but finishes clean with a bit of bitterness and hints of butter caramel.
Grand Teton Black Cauldron Imperial Stout (unknown release)
Sweet, thick, a bit of caramel throughout. Somewhat flat pour.
Yeasty and acrid, but with a really strong bubblegum flavor which was gross.
Lighter, sweet, I think absolutely too sweet? Bit of fruit, and tingly.
Musty, cereal/corn sweet, finish turns dry and maybe a bit savory.
Dry, mildly tart, orange saison. More understated than I usually remember getting from Black Raven, but it’s been a while. Pretty good for a sunny day.
I guess they changed the name? Kind of a subdued flavor, mildly sweet, like a cream ale with a little more of an amber's malt backbone. Definitely overshadowed by the other two beers today.
A little too fruity, tiny bit too tangy. Sticks in the throat. There's a bit of drying ginger herbality to finish but it's not enough to cut through the sheer body of this cider.
Firestone Walker Mezca-Limón (2021)
The herbality of the orange bitters was a bad fit here, I think. I found it off-putting.
Quite sweet, lightly bubbly, finishes cleanly, drying out over the sip.
Smoothish dark but really nakedly bourbon-forward. Punches you in the face.
A big, thick, roasty and malt-sweet stout. It’s been awhile but reminiscent of Dragonstooth maybe? I like it but it’s a little too out of balance to be great.
Not bad but disappointing after the wheat. More sweet, more resin, more cloying, more dank.
Lightly sweet, fragrant with a fresh, lemon-pine hop flavor, a bit dank on the nose. Tingly finish.
I can't remember much about this other than I really liked it. And at least I remember it more than the other beer I had in this flight, which I can't even begin to identify.
Smells dank. Up front oily bitterness, sweet, herbaceous. Quickly translates to a mild, slightly buttery follow-through. Bitterness collects in the back of the throat but otherwise clean.
Postdoc Barrel Admixture (2020)
Bracingly tart, yellow, apricot. Drying finish that is remarkably clean compared to the opening. Seems like a completely different formulation from the 2018 in looks and flavor profile.
Hints of dark chocolate cookie, very smooth on nitro with a finish that is both biscuity and a little bitter. No off flavors from the nitro though it does make it seem sweeter than it is. Pleasant aftertaste goes back to the cookie.
Structures Junior (Batch 6 - Blue Label)
Ultra dry grapefruit / hop resin hazy IPA. Light flavor with a hint of cereal but the main finish is an increasing, drying bitterness. Good, but just a bit too much of that to be refreshing
A little insipid at first with a flavor that kicks almost all the way to "banana water," but this beer does have a very nice, mildly sweet, cereal aftertaste, I'll give it that. Nice for sunny weather but probably won't hold up in my memory.
Holy Mountain The White Lodge (unknown release)
Not sure what was different between this and the last one I logged - it or me. I really enjoyed this glass, and the previous description I don't recognize at all. Opens light, cereal-sweet, just a hint of coriander and citrus. Refreshing and clean. "Smoke?" Wtf.
This was... mediocre for the series, but okay overall. There've been a lot of peanut butter stouts lately, and this one was more sweet, less balanced, and a little bit sour too. Definitely strong, though, which is quite typical of this line. I think this was maybe my least favorite of the Reserves so far.
Extremely mild, opens like a watery bitter with vaguely peachy and slight buttery/caramel flavors. Finishes with a bit of yeasty funk, slightly tacky in the throat.
Opens with the faintly syrupy sweetness of a typical Mexican lager but there’s an unexpected amount of yeasty funk in the follow-through. Reminds me a bit of that Hi-Fi Vienna lager, though not so extreme. It does finish clean but I wonder where it left my taste buds…
Lightly sweet, toasty amber. Mild follow through, but there’sa not of prickly hops on the end. Sweet aftertaste, like a Helles.
Hazy only in the most technical sense, this beer was almost entirely clear. Strong fruit, primarily mango, almost to the point of distraction. Decent enough. Paired well with an excellent barbeque rib sandwich.
Bready, somewhat dry, but still with a fairly significant hop forward character. A nice beer to mark my post-quarantine return to the brewery, and I got to see Ryan too, which was lovely! I don't know if it improved the flavor, but it might have. It's been far too long.
This beer uses Yakima Valley hops but the flavor profile is clearly closer to Belgium. Don't know if it's the yeast (likely) or something added in the ferment, but the end result is similar to some Belgian IPAs I've had in the past where there's a kind of acrid, smoky, burnt rubber quality to the flavor. Decidedly unpleasant.
Smooth-drinking, slightly sweet golden ale. Lots of cereal, fizzy, delicious.
This bottle fizzed out on opening so that I think I only got six real ounces and had to get a new change of clothes to boot. That said, this is pretty decent, if not exactly what I expected. Really hoppy up front, CDA-like, but settles into a pleasant coffee flavor with a buttery undertone. Somewhat tart character to the finish but it doesn't linger.
Foggy Noggin Duck's Ass (2020)
Really delicious, actually. A sharp hop bitterness tingles up front, followed by a dry toasty grain flavor that drives straight to a super-clean finish. Not sweet, and despite the description, not fruity - grass and resin in a very English-hop way. This beer is biscuity, but in the American sense, a just-on-the-edge-of burnt buttermilk biscuit quality.
Prickly/spicy, faintly Belgian but with a dry yeasty tartness that I associate more with American wheat ales. I think I tasted hints of anise in there too?
A woody, sour saison with a hint of coriander and overt hop fragrance up-front. Finishes dry, tannic, with sweet cereal underneath. Complex and tasty, and I always enjoy a sour that just revels in the character of yeast rather than fruit.
Thick, sweet, and nutty, with an intense, jammy strawberry followthrough. This is the closest thing I've had to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in a beer, and honestly, usually I'm turned off by beers this over the top, but I actually found myself enjoying this. I do find that even in the thickest of beers that peanut can cut through that a bit, while still being extremely decadent.
A sweetish, fragrant pilsner, very flavorful as you'd expect from Structures. Fragrant of ferment and apple juice. The finish is almost a bit cloying, but this was still very easy to drink.
Decently tart, with a bit of funk. Clear stone fruit and orange fruit flavors, with hints of ginger and anise. Not hard to imagine a Long Island iced tea here. And it's definitely quite strong, this little can just about did me in.
Dry and spicy, smooth without being thick. The bourbon is there as a hint, caramel and vanilla and toffee and wood, but the overall aspect of the beer is balanced and not too sweet. Love it!
I mostly remember this being weird and tart.
Weird, but it'll do. Starts smooth, with candy-bar like coconut smoothness. The cinnamon is just barely in the background as a hint, but over time there's a harsh bitterness that builds up that seems like it might be coming from the spice. Overall, I'm not convinced there's any reason to mess with the old coconut variant.
A weird beast. The peach up front is pleasant, and the mint is actually not so weird - its brightness cuts cleanly through what is otherwise a pretty dank IPA. However, the herbs lend a lot of bitterness to the beer and the mint builds up to a point that is almost unnatural.
A hazy pale, grapefruit and wood smoke beer. And that's pretty much all you need to know. Yuck.
Smells bright and spiced, like a Coca-Cola. The taste is very rooty, like wet ginger or Chinese medicine, and pretty not-sweet for a "dessert porter." Really, this was just weird.
Had to have one last taste to get notes down. Beer is obviously very flat right now... An IPL of the type that seems lager in name only, this has a sweet-dry hop flavor that is fairly dank and herbal up front but fades into flavors of pine and grape pretty quickly.
Piney, fruity IPA, clean with just a hint of sweetness up front and then a fizzy, dry, but Bale Breaker-typical bright followthrough. Just a hint of cereal, which was the right amount. Really tasty.
Steam Donkey is 3/3 so far. A bright tripel with a Helles-like brightness, clear cereal and bright banana esters. No overt spices. Pretty luxurious mouthfeel, really fits the idea of liquid sunshine. It packs a kick though, the strength of the alcohol sneaks up on you.
Unexpectedly dry, this is maybe the least dessert-like coconut dark beer I've ever had. Thin character, very roasty transitions from toasted coconut to roast bitterness very quickly, with only a bit of alcohol vapor in between. Reminds me a bit of the old Dick's Cream Stout. The aftertaste manages to be sweet. It tastes adult, but maybe not purely enjoyable.
Medium-thick, sweet, a bit raw in its barrel sweetness but not at all syrupy. I think with age this would be truly great; for now, it kicks you in the head a bit but manages to stay fairly smooth. Very strong; I could only drink about 3/4 of this 10 oz pour before I started worrying about needing a nap.
The keg blew halfway into filling this growler so it's already fairly flat.
Medium bodied, creamy and roasty with a bit of sesame umami character. Bitterness sticks but the beer is very nice.
More fascinating than truly delicious, this is still pretty tasty. Floral lavender meets up early with strong bitterness that is half perfume, half white pepper. Notes of orange/grape. High levels of fizz on the tongue, finishes with an undertone of cereal sweetness
Grassy, high-bitter pils but with an underlying helles-like sweetness. I guess that's the German style? It seems more bitter than my memory but Czech-appropriate. Been a while. Brackish finish on the tongue.
First taste seemed watery but the flavor definitely builds over a pint. Lots of caramel, roasted malt bitterness. Hops assert themselves in the finish but otherwise this is pretty mellow.
Up-front currant, dry and fizzy. Finishes clean with a lightly cereal finish, just a hint of funk at the end. Tart but not sour and the server insists on the categorization as a fruit beer, not a sour (but I've definitely had "sours" that were less tart than this!)
Light in body for an imperial but not for a Guinness. Good molasses gingerbread flavor, smoothly spiced. My memory recalls the old Sam Adams holiday stout. However the Bourbon is almost sickly sweet and feels tacked-on and without complexity. Low expectations, met.
Not skunky like last time but a bit over-funked. Sits somewhat tacky and sour in the throat which is a shame because there are nice kolsch flavors on top.
I’m sure it was a note toward authenticity, but I’d gotten used to goses sans coriander, and it was in abundance here. The combination with the hibiscus led to a tomato-water-like acidic character that I found disquieting.
Like the Gold Digger, this one seems significantly less bitter than the last time I logged it. Don't know what changed, but I like it. Creamy, mellow coffee porter, slight hop bite.
Sweet cereal, slightly tangy, right amount of grassiness. I read my earlier review and I don't know if my tastes have changed or the beer did, it didn't seem notably bitter this time. Quite pleasant in fact.
I taste: raisins, vanilla, slight smoke. I knew with a description this insane, I wouldn't taste everything, but I only tasted the worst possible options. About what I expect from Omnipollo, really.
Bit of toffee and vague nut flavor, reminded me faintly of a butterfinger. Not bad but a little bit timid, and the beer got flat very quickly as well. My memory of King Size from the same brewery was more positive; I'd like to compare these head to head at some point.
If the intent here was to have a beer that tasted exactly like a mimosa, then this was a success. Now to be honest, I haven't had a mimosa in quite a while, so this may have been more sour, more funky, who knows. My complaint is, though it was delicious, it didn't really taste much like a beer. The can was convenient though.
Very pleasant double IPA, lightly fruity, with a round citrus flavor and pleasing hop fragrance. Avoids any hint of syrup or resin, which would have killed it for me.
Not nearly as successful as the peanut butter yeti. I want to say this was at once too sweet and too roasty, but I don't want you to think it was anywhere near as bad as the previous maple beer I logged. This was actually decent despite the imbalance of the flavors. The biggest problem is the size of the can - 19+ ounces is just... a lot of this beer to take.
Goes about as wrong as I can imagine something that is a maple vanilla stout could be. It's at once too sweet and also too roasty, and there's nothing balancing at all about it. It's also not clearly in the dessert category, which could almost make it excusable. I very much did not enjoy this.
It is still very good, and probably smoother than before (but I have no clear memory to compare it to). Still, though, it's less coherent than other Parabolas have been and it finishes somewhat bitter after an interesting vinous opening. Maybe the tannins from the wine are creating a bit of disharmony with the hops. Still, small complaints!
Third blueberry beer in a row, wtf was I thinking? This one pours cloudy and violet-pink, almost exactly the look of a Costco berry smoothie. The flavor is believably blueberry, although I don't think the strength of the triple IPA hops do it any favors. In the end though the pure thickness of the beer ruined any enjoyment I might have felt; it just felt wrong going into my body.
This is only the second in a chain of blueberry beers. With Breakside and 10 Barrel involved, this could have gone either way, and this lies in the decidedly mediocre range. Malty, lactic porter with light blueberry notes, medium sweet. Finishes tacky.
This was very unpleasant, enough that my brain is refusing to call up any details about it.
Light, smooth stout. Vanilla is primary, finish is a bit caramel brownie with hints of nut butter. You definitely want to be in the mood for sweet but it's not at all syrupy or overbearing. Finishes clean but the aftertaste feels like it should be tacky, you know?
The primary flavor here is pineapple - very prominent. Slight tartness, maybe from the cherry. The rest of the beer follows the traditional hazy IPA model although it does seem danker than usual. I wish the brightness of the opening kept going.
Good robust coffee, a touch hoppier than usual for the style, but that’s normal here.
Not bad, lightly sour with a generic citrus flavor. Not getting distinct quinine or lactose notes other than a kind of weird minerality to the finish. It was a little off, but it was really the boringness that leaves me not wanting more.
Super-smooth black lager with a kind of buttery caramel undertone - not sweet, but velvety, I guess. Didn't have the kind of lactic tackiness that I remember from other dark lagers in my experience. Very tasty.
Matchless Bar (2020)
Sweet, thick, but not overwhelming or syrupy. Just enough roastiness to balance out the flavor. The opening is chocolate and there's recognizable hazelnut but the whisky is the thing that isn't obvious at first, except for the vaporous quality of the finish. That strength really sneaks up on you though, I was wrecked by the end of the can.
Reuben's Three Ryes Men (2020)
Medium-light stout/brown ale base, with clean but sharp rye whiskey notes reminding you this is an event beer. I don't think the flavor ever really melded harmoniously for me, which kind of keeps this from being in the top tier; maybe the beer didn't have the body to stand up to the barreling.
Deeply unpleasant, like when you accidentally buy the unsweetened blueberry juice at the supermarket. There's a tiny bit of a wine cooler note at the end but otherwise there is nothing beer-like about this at all. Do you have a UTI, or want to remember those good times? Maybe, and only then, this might be the beer for you.
Quite tasty, smooth porter with just a hint of smoke in the background.
Just a super solid porter. Roasty, medium bodied, nice, slightly acidic but smooth-finishing coffee on top.
Canned October 2018. This beer smells amazing, smooth pina colada and maybe a hint of cola, but the flavor is quite dense, intensely roasty and umami in a way that ends up being off-putting very quickly. The pineapple and coconut counteract it fairly effectively but the beer still finishes very tacky in the throat.
Quite tart but clean, totally unsurprising from Cascade. Cute, small can that takes some of the bite off of their normal pricing structure. Floral and slightly tropical in flavor.
Normally I find Yeti overbearing, and there've been a lot of good peanut butter stouts, but friends, this one might be the best one yet. Definitely not on the sweet side, this is a roast dark peanut butter beer with just the right intensity of flavor. It's hella strong but doesn't taste that way. Loved it.
I mean, it's the same beer. Hit the spot better this time, I guess.
I don't know if the can makes it worse or if I'm more discerning in captivity, but I found the fakey strawberry jam flavor to be significantly off-putting. The rest of the beer is kind of an insipidly sweet stout, okay enough but sticky in the throat, and the jam puts it over the top into serious "meh" territory.
Rich dark chocolate flavor and an unsweet, pleasant coffee character. Almost savory, but not weird. Finish is lactic-dry, almost tacky, which builds up over time, but the overall stout is actually very nice.
Opaque, hazy-juicy tropical flavor somewhere between pineapple and passionfruit. There's a bit of pot/herbal undertone to the flavor that gives it just a hint of acrid skunkiness and reduces the overall enjoyability of this beer.
I was remiss in logging this so I don't remember anymore. I do think it was tasty, remember it being light and shandy-like with a nice lime flavor.
Gulden Draak Imperial Stout (2018)
Brown rather than black. Roasted, rooty/wet hay flavor, decent amounts of caramel. A Euro/UK take on a stout rather than what you'd find Stateside, I think. Pretty solid.
Starts pleasant, a sweet cereal hazy IPA with a sweet limeade flavor. Over time the limeade starts overwhelming the whole experience and starts fighting with the hop resin. It never gets annoying but it does certainly feel less pleasant to drink by the end of the glass.
Bready quad, lightly sweet but with a strong toasted flavor/bitterness always present. To my mind, although I haven't had the others in a while, not at all like the caramel-heavy, thicker quads put out by the European Trappist breweries. Makes me want to revisit them, though.
A sweet-ish, pleasant pilsner, laced with a bitter, brett-like complexity on top. Drinking a whole pint makes me think this was deceptively stronger than expected as well. I liked this one a whole lot.
Light, bright, sweet cereal, and a clear hop bitterness hinting at resin. A nice kind of pineapple juice fruitiness keeps it colorful. An easy-drinking IPA.
I gotta say, for something that is supposedly 17.5% ABV this was drinkable as hell.
Bracingly tart, bit of salt on the lips, nice cherry flavor. Finished slightly sweet and very clean.
Tastes exactly like a Butterfinger. At least for this flavor combination, more successful than a lot of other attempts (and I appreciate a candy bar that isn't yet another Almond Joy / Mounds thing).
Pretty much an IPL. A malt-forward lager with some upfront resin drying out the flavor. Tacky on the tongue; nice hop flavors that seem to balance the malt rather well. Not sure I like this trend toward 11.2 oz cans though.
Intensely sweet, like a sweet apple wine or brandy, with a concentrated caramel flavor throughout. It's a nice flavor, but there's just a little too much of everything throughout - it was hard to drink more than a small sip at a time. Hopefully with age maybe this could become a lot more mellow. All that said, it was still way better than the Kentucky Fog.
Maybe I was starved, but I thought this worked really well. Transparent, effervescent and just slightly fruity/tangy, with a sweet and smooth cereal overtone. Pretty much exactly what I was looking for in a Kolsch.
This was the least successful of the three variants, surprisingly. The vanilla kind of overwhelmed the roast to the point where the whole thing just felt sickly sweet (without being syrupy). That kind of thing where the beer felt more like chocolate milk. I guess the added flavors in the variants served to balance out the base beer's imbalance.
"Sweet cherry" is usually a red flag but this one did it pretty well. Definitely on the sweet side but not syrupy, dominant flavor is cocoa with a hint of fruit. Couldn't make out coconut at all, which is usually not a place that beers fall down. The horchata was better, but this was still quite good.
Strongly roasty, medium sweet, pleasant -- and slightly buttery -- finish. I can't say how much it screams horchata to me but it certainly tastes good. I've never heard of Hi-Wire but they've done a series of these 10W-40 stouts, so expect more logging in the future.
A classic Evil Twin flavor, which means... eh. Hoppy and pungent, extremely roasty. Not what I really like in a stout, but there was no false advertising here.
I very much prefer this on CO2 but obviously still excellent
This was really good - enough roast to counteract a well-balanced sweetness, usually maple beers are overwhelmingly sweet or syrupy. Not too boozy.
Chili is non-present, and not really bourbony, but this is a very good beer. Not too sweet, nicely dry, good coconut and very smooth. I don't remember how the base Cultivating Mass was, but I'm a fan of this one and would like to try some of the other variants.
This is barely disguised bourbon; I guess without the strongly sweet flavors in the Maple Mackinac Fudge this one is more naked. It does have a light pleasant roasted coffee flavor and a bit of fizz but make no mistake, this one is all about the booze.
Dry and hoppy but also nicely balanced with a kind of similarly dry hibiscus/pomegranate character. I appreciated the unusual florality and tang of this beer, and the can art is just incredible.
So I love Earl Grey and was super excited for this, but I’m really not feeling it here. The base beer overwhelms the subtlety of the teas and they end up turning into a weirdly herbal, perfumey and bitter aftertaste.
Penn Cove Ebey’s Special Bitter (unknown release)
Reminds me a lot of the beers I had in London, roasty, just a little more dank (smell & flavor!) than I usually like. Assertively dry and bitter. Would love to try this on cask pour.
Normally this would be way too sweet for me but at least this beer came in advertising exactly what it was. This tastes like maple fudge, high, sweet, pretty darn alcoholic. Not thick, which comes from its KBS heritage and which I think helps in this case. Nice dessert beer.
This is very nice, and I appreciate it came in a small bottle. Caramel, vanilla, hint of raisin and slightly tart from the port. Very smooth. Just a bit tacky in the throat, which is the only thing holding it from perfection, but maybe with age it'll get better.
Much drier than I expected, which is really great. Like an Granny Smith or other tart apple pie... Nice to have another unsweet cider here. Only complaint is a kind of faint, soapy aftertaste.
The original is best here, I guess! Just dry enough to balance out the juice of the apple; only lightly tart so that nothing lingers unpleasantly.
A believable watermelon juice flavor, not fake watermelon candy, which is nice. That said it kind of flattens out an already sweet cider to end up with something rather one-note.
Weird, but I liked it. Lemon is more of an essence; doesn’t add sourness but clearly identifiable. Dill is strongly present in scent and flavor, and it combines a bit with the sweetness to give an unusual but appealing flavor.
Interesting clove / plum flavor. Hint of smoke? Plum is quite clear and pleasant. I know this is supposed to be honey forward, but I did find myself wishing it were less sweet. A little flat.
Weak-ish blackberry flavor. Sage is unidentifiable if it’s there; somewhat sweeter than seems appropriate given the weakness of the other flavors.
Comparatively intense fruit flavor in this one; tart apricot. Sweet and sour, hint of something spicy on the lips? Not exactly fizzy, but it tingles nicely in a way the other flavors do not.
Tons of sediment, almost unpleasant-looking, but flavor wise this is pretty good. Juicy, mango is clearly at the front of the flavor. No tartness or bitterness, and the overall feeling here is plesasantly sweet. Light finish.
The basic flavors are good, but it's maybe a little too simple-sweet. These same flavors with some more complexity would be pretty killer, though.
The first swig of this is super weird, the fenugreek gives it a bitter, Chinese herbal medicine like quality. There's a really nice brown ale behind it and as your palate gets adjusted it ends up being quite pleasant. However, "it burned my taste buds until it was fine" is not really a ringing endorsement for a beer.
Thick, syrupy, Almond Joy-type coconut stout, although it smells sweeter than it tastes, thankfully. Caramel and not much overt hazelnut; maybe in the overall smooth finish. Just a hint of smoke/roast but not as over the top as the usual Evil Twin stout story.
Reallly tasty, orange-citrus fruitiness and some juicy hop flavor. Just a touch of resin but otherwise not bitter at all.
Reuben's BBIS (2020)
Starts smooth and very tasty for a new vintage of BBIS, surprisingly so, but kind of loses its lustre through the course of a glass. The alcohol is very pokey and is quite dominant over time. Might need some aging.
Still delicious, and maybe a touch smoother on draft.
Fragrant, and fruity, almost juicy, without any of the offensive edges of a more profound IPA. Very crowd-pleasing. In bigger news, this place has very good loco moco, maybe a new local favorite.
Light wood-smoke, not overwhelming, with a caramel/malty Vienna lager character about it. I'd love to compare it to other Aecht Schlenkerla rauchbiers but it's been a very long while since I've tried one.
Cereal/malty, just a hint of esters, brackish finish, not too boozy (which can be a danger with Maibocks). This was pretty much what I was looking for.
Held up well in the recapped bottle, even after four days.
The Cherry was just on the edge of cough syrup but was nicely countered with some dark chocolate bitterness. It’s still fairly sweet so probably best delivered in a desert context and in small quantities.
Cola-like, lightly-sweet, nutmeg-forward. Sticks a little in the throat, but overall not a bad pumpkin ale at all. Also: super cheap.
Delicious, as usual. I wish I'd taken more notes at the time, though.
Toffee, malt, hints of raisin. Sticks in the throat a bit, but overall quite tasty.
Crux Pert Near Fresh Hop IPA (2020)
More cereal funk than I expected. Lightly bitter, background pine. Slightly brackish on the tongue, but finishes clean.
Delicious, caramel, sweet, lightly fruity. I liked this a lot better than what I remember of the Brew 3000, but the difference may be because it was on draft.
Chocolate milk sweet, fairly strong. Pretty one note, except the can art, which was distressing enough that it probably affected my enjoyment.
Way too sweet, notes of cherry and wood. Syrupy. I couldn't finish it.
A very weird beer, medium-sour with a biscuity-mellow finish that tastes a bit rooty or medicinal. I couldn't tell if that was the base sour or if it had to do with the nitro finish. Pretty good, though!
This beer is almost savory, roasted, a little too thick in the Evil Twin fashion. I thought I tasted barrel but it's not in the description. Not bad, but didn't love it.
I think this beer might have been skunked, or it certainly skirted the edge. I think there was a pretty good, flavorful Kolsch here, once.
A light, piney IPA with a kind of acrid sweetness, like marshmallow layered on top of bitter grass. Kind of a retro east coast IPA flavor from the days before haze took over. Finishes clean, but the bitterness kind of lingers behind the scenes.
Has the aspect of a sour, sparkly merlot more than a beer - grape, tannins, caramel, prune, wood. Refreshing, it was not.
Better than my memory of it (eight years old!) but I've gotta tell you, the pickings at Suncadia are very, very slim.
Much lighter in body than expected but with a Pilsner-like bitterness. Chocolate and coconut add a light sweetness but this is a nice change - it tastes like a beer rather than a dessert.
A well balanced blonde, lightly fruity with assertive Pilsner notes to counter. Uric and noticeably bitter. I liked it.
Slightly tart stout. Maple/burnt sugar, vanilla, slightly fruity with hints of blackberry. Much lighter than you’d expect from the description.
Tasty at first, citrus IPA on the slightly sweet, clear, juicy side. By the end of the tall it though I was just tasting booze and I just chose to stop drinking it. Which is never a great sign.
Fruity, estery Belgian pale, slightly tart, strongly reminiscent of apricot. Finishes with caramel and wine/grape notes. Definitely wears its high ABV on its sleeve, but quite pleasant.
Mild coriander-flavored saison, with a fair amount of bitterness that sneaks up on you after a while. The server said this was modeled after Boulevard's Tank 7.
Mellow, slightly vinous Belgian; not spicy, or tart but with the plum / prune hints you sometimes get in Belgian darks. No real funk, very pleasant.
Puckeringly tart, clear red wine notes in the fragrance. Not identifiably cherry-like in my mind, the sourness kind of overwhelms everything else. Not bad but a bit of a chore to get through the whole bottle.
Sits somewhere between rounded strawberry and lemon-pine. Bright, clear flavor with maybe just a little too much alcohol poking through. Finishes clean if slightly bitter, but always seems to be almost at the edge of crossing over into something less pleasant.
There's a syrupy quality to this beer that seems pleasant at first but becomes highly disturbing. Take the malt from a normal Vienna lager and dial it up past 11 until you're at 18 or so and you might be in the ballpark.
An unusual flavor, dark roasted sesame with a bit of funk. Like the other beers here there's a bit of sourness on the end and a somewhat oily texture, but it finishes clean. Not bad.
The best of the flight. Sour cherry / grapefruit flavor but not bracingly tart. Cloudy funk on the finish; a pleasant cereal that builds up without any sweet overtones.
Like the Rye Pale, this is quite dry. Not resinous at all and the hops are not as assertive as you'd expect from a DIPA, but there is a rooty bitterness and just a hint of skunk. Bit of an oily sheen.
Pastry fragrance. Dry, mellow, spicy. A bitter, slightly sour finish. I like the aftertaste, which had an unusual "curl" to it, can't really describe it better.
Mellow, caramel, a touch of barrel or smoke. Finishes yeast-bitter and grassy. A little too bitter for me to love but it’s not boring.
Very fresh, piney, hoppy but balanced, but just a touch overwhelming on the alcohol flavor.
Generic, light, lager with hints of apple and a sweet but clean finish. Good for a ballgame though.
Chili and peanut are the primary flavors here. Disappointed by the complete absence of Sichuan pepper as far as I can tell, but otherwise it's not too far off from the Mexican chocolate stout flavor profile. Let it warm up a little before drinking. Shows every bit of its 11% ABV.
Crystal clear, with rich cereal flavor, but quite bitter. A brackish, hard-water quality to the mouthfeel doesn't help a whole lot.
A little too sweet, more than I remember from last time, a thin, insipid kind of sweetness. Thoroughly underwhelmed.
A super-resinous hop-bomb of a hazy IPA, the kind of beer I intensely dislike, but the coconut really mellows everything out. I couldn't tell if it ever became a harmonious experience or if my brain kept switching between "yuck" and "yum" but I guess it averaged out to decent.
The oddness of this beer paired very well with a sublime bowl of Hakata ramen at Betsutenjin.
Reuben's Blimey That's Bitter Triple IPA (unknown release)
This... wasn't bitter at all? It tasted awesome. I don't know if my taste buds were burnt after two strong beers, but this just tasted light, sweet, and unexpectedly refreshing.
Pretty good, hazy grapefruit-citrus. Spicy rye on top and a somewhat bitter finish. I liked it, but it wasn't as good as the beer that came before it or the one that came after.
Pours clear, tastes of mellow caramel and bourbon. Lightly sweet and finishes clean, not a hint of bitterness. Very yummy.
Always good. Not top tier, but quite tasty. On the roasty side, with a slight build up of ash, maybe. Noticeable but not overbearing whiskey flavors. One to nurse for a while but worth the whole glass.
Sweet and vegetal, about where you start asking the question: “how hazy is too hazy?” At least it’s not bitter.
Starts the same as the summer IPA but gets resinous fast.
Light and cake-like, with agreeable raspberry flavors (I usually hate raspberry!). Cordial-like. Easy and mellow.
Much more chocolate than orange, but maybe I got canceled out by the blood orange Millie, still super balanced in sweet vs roast
Sweet, on the verge of syrupy, pine resin IPA with a strong hit of alcohol. Not bitter but that’s not quite enough to make me like it.
Creamy, sweet (but not too sweet) stout. Strong milk chocolate all the way through. Slight weirdness on the finish, chalky and burnt.
Mellow tripel with some cherry-apricot notes, maybe from the barrel. Whiskey sheen on top.
Smooth. Burnt bitterness. I think this one is now clearly on the side of over-aged - it's definitely missing a lot of the complexity and there's nothing to buffer the finish.
Molasses, smooth florality from the lavender. Just on the edge of a fruitiness. If Botan Rice Candy were a beer this would be it.
Smooth, unsurprising lager flavors. Sweetness from honey and alcohol combine nicely.
Creamy, slightly sweet, dry, just on the border of over-roasted. Maybe just a hint of coffee but there’s no way that “tiramisu” is the primary flavor effect for me.
Best of the bunch, just slightly better than the Reuben's. But I mean, this is a barrel aged dark beer, so it had an unfair advantage.
Reuben's Bloody Crikey! IPA (2019)
This is... not much like the regular Crikey! at all. Super hazy, thick and juicy. Smells super dank but the flavor is much more balanced - I think the resin is there but it's just balanced out enough by the tang and citrus. Liked this one a lot.
Slightly better than the Bruery, but not by much. Strong vanilla, strong clove, A little too sweet. Not great.
Fake cherry syrup and chocolate flavor. Sticks in the back of your throat. I've been pretty disappointed with this whole series so far, and from a brewery that's usually quite strong.
I really thought I liked the Ol' Greg, but this one took the same basic flavor profile and knocked it out of the park. More subtle up front and brighter all around.
Pours almost-opaque chartreuse, like cleaning a paintbrush. Flavor is quite intensely matcha - grassy and almost creamy-sweet. The IPA part is there too - intensely hoppy and floral. That bitterness builds up, leaves the tongue feeling quite dry, and gets quite hard to take.
More immediately enjoyable than the Hazelnut Vanilla Latte variant. There's a rich chocolate scent and flavor that really meets the expectations of the name.
Cascade Blueberry (2016)
Quite tart, dominating blueberry flavor. I've enjoyed the berry flavors from Cascade maybe less than their other sours, but it was still pretty good.
Thin and cola-like, down to the flavor, which is effervescent and tangier than I expected. Hints of nutmeg or cinnamon and maybe cardamom. At no point during this glass did I come close to thinking "baklava."
Light, sweet, another beer that really evokes the memory of Captain Crunch Peanut Butter Crunch cereal milk. That's a flavor you'll never hear me complain about, sooooo....
Clean and fruity, medium tart. In no way would I ever describe this as an IPA. The finish maybe lightly fragrant of hops, and maybe the hint of sweetness is lactose sugar, but there's no cloudiness or dankness as I'd expect from a "Shake IPA." Really unexpected, and quite good.
Pine and sweet cereal, an IPA flavor profile I like. However, there’s a bit of rubber-tree bitterness that intrudes more and more over time.
Reuben's Three Ryes Men (2019)
Caramel-butterscotch and whiskey, fairly smooth. Some fire to keep it interesting. This is a very fine strong barrel aged beer.
Found at Whole Foods today! Smooth, sweet chocolate; light apple flavors and sweet brandy. Caramel. Definitely on the sweet side but not overwhelming.
Milkshake-thick stout, intensely sweet, very much like an Abraxas with some real whiskey flavors added. The habanero lends significantly more heat, and it lingers, warmly. This beer is a lot, but in glad I tried it.
Wanted to try a house beer. Coffee, vanilla, thick, only lightly sweet, but with a heck of a lot of roast bitterness that builds and builds and makes it hard to enjoy more than a taste of this beer.
A little refresher during intermission at HARRY POTTER AND THE TERFED CHILD PART ONE. Quite bitter.
Really tasty hazy IPA - completely mellow, no hint of resin. Pleasant apricot-citrus fruitiness, good texture, clean. Much better than the disappointing restaurant I had it at.
Definitely more yeasty than the Boon, but the flavor comes through as not much more complex. A tart, slightly medicinal cherry with a noticeable yeasty, dry bitterness.
Ruse Love & Lore Pinot Barrel-Aged Golden Sour with Cherries (unknown release)
It’s fine. More like a wine cooler or cider; uncomplex, fruity, clean. Juice-like.
Super complex after the Boon. Flavor is almost tomatoey or persimmon. Finishes with an appealing and unusual buttery quality.
Boon Schaarbeekse Oude Kriek (2018)
Smells like bubble gum and it’s hard to get past the candy-like flavor. Flavor profile is more cranberry juice cocktail than beer and certainly not as complex as I’d expect for a kriek.
Stoup Raspy Angel Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout (unknown release)
Light, subtle barrel notes. Dry character, with Stoup’s customary on-the-edge-of-burnt flavor is nicely tempered by the wood. Barely sour, with a slight uric finish.
Musty, funky, with a yeasty soreness and medium high bitterness.
Very hoppy, dry red with some caramel. Unpleasant.
CINNAMON, CHILI, Drawing of a skull and crossbones - that's all I have in my notes for this one.
Burial The Extinction of Useless Light Rum Barrel-Aged Sour Quad (unknown release)
Caramel, fruit, rum, quite tart.
Brett, dry, hoppy, clean. Not fruity at all, lightly tart. Vinous.
Simplistically sweet, a standard barrel-aged stout. Milk chocolate / toffee are the primary flavors.
Coriander and nectarine; blackcurrant. Very, very, very nice flavor.
Dirty Couch BBCM (unknown release)
Unlike last time, I really tasted the pineapple this time. I almost wonder if the last beer was mislabeled. Hints of canned pineapple, maraschino cherries. If anything this evokes a Christmas ham.
Nothing exceptional, at least in this company. But tasty. Light, balanced.
Cantillon Kriek 100% Lambic (unknown release)
Slightly funky. Juicy. More candy-like than expected, especially given other lambics I've had from this brewery.
Dugges Coffee Vanilla Deluxe Whiskey Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout (unknown release)
Super smooth, sweet coffee. Highly alcoholic. There's a vegetal, rooty smell and flavor that is a little bit harsh. Ginseng? Tequila? Alex said chicory and I believe it. Once you get past that it's pretty darn tasty.
Hair of the Dog Bourbon Matt (2019)
Smoky! Wood smoke. Too sweet and smoky for me. What's bizarre is that it has no resemblance at all to the beer described in the 2015 log.
Appreciate greatly that it's not sweet. Lightly roasty, on the verge of being sour but not quite (hinting at a classic English porter).
Reuben's BBIS Cognac Barrel (2019)
Very cognac, alcohol strength and roast is subdued, making this better than the regular '19 BBIS.
The Rare Barrel Across the Sea (unknown release)
Coriander, sharply but not lingeringly tart, almost like pickle juice.
Sweet, smooth, dessert-like, like a chocolate coffee cordial.
You know when you go to Panera and get that hazelnut drip coffee? This is like the beer version of that. A little thicker, maybe, but the basic flavor matches and seems to work much better as a beer than as a coffee.
The bottle says "white stout" but there's nothing stout like about this. It tastes like an intensely raspberry wine cooler, juicy rather than tart, and since I dislike raspberry, oh well.
A very Belgian spice saison, only slightly funky and the guava is even less apparent, just like a faint kiss of fruitiness. It's okay but it's very hard to tell what sets this apart.
I had just a sip or two of this but it was nice.
Last year, we blended the Midnight Orange and Vanilla together to produce something that was more balanced than either base beer. This year, Goose Island did it for us! The orange is subtle, and the main sensation is chocolate, sweet coffee, and just a hint of fruit. As with most new releases in this line, the beer tastes very young and hard to finish.
A red, malty with some spice cake notes, but the flavor is pretty overwhelmingly alcoholic, I thought. Hard to enjoy.
Gross. Very sweet barleywine with a ton of wood smoke. The amount of sweetness makes it sickly, like apple juice that's turned and then been set on fire. And this is coming from someone who loves Lagavulin. I couldn't finish this.
Sweet and light, with just a hint of estery fruit. Actually enjoyed this quite a bit today, and for once they didn't chill it to the point where it formed ice crystals.
Adroit Theory Blvck Celebration Imperial Porter (Ghost 773)
Quite good. The ingredients on this beer were interesting and usually strong flavors, but none of them came through especially clearly. Not in a bad way, though! I'll chalk it up to good balance.
Light, sweet, buttery coconut and chocolatey stout. Feels a little insubstantial, but it was certainly tasty at face value.
Very not-tart for a Gose; sweet and pie-like with a light lime flavor. I'd say that here the strong emphasis is on the sense of "pie" rather than the other components.
Opens chocolate and roast, but very quickly ends up with creeping hop florality and a strong sense of licorice. The combination makes for a rising acrid bitterness that gets worse over time, by the end I just gave up.
Light, creamy porter with strong smooth caramel, the body itself is not sweet but rather sits at the edge of sourness. There's a slight hint of rubbing alcohol / sake in the booze flavor and that's not exactly delicious. It's way better than the Bale Breaker though.
Piney and fresh but with an abundance of pithy bitterness thqt borders on the acrid.
Smooth, sweet, thick. Primary flavor is molasses, brown sugar. Hints of spice though I would not say licorice is overt.
Cascade Pistil Whipped (2018)
Mellow then sharply sour then mellow again. Stone fruit, hints of cinnamon, floral tea.
Completely flat, letting the full brunt of the flavor. Creamy chocolate, light plum, a little salty on the finish to balance.
A creamy, mellow milk stout. Not quite as impressive as the IPA but a very solid stout.
One of the best juicy IPAs I've ever had, fruity, mellow, not bitter at all.
Extremely sweet on nitro, like an alcoholic chocolate shake. Maple is slightly less prominent in this presentation, and the sweetness is a bit intense. Not as good as bottled by a fair bit.
A very weird hybrid that sits exactly between a grapefruit/pineapple hazy pale and a sweet pale lager. A lot of cognitive dissonance but in the end I have to say it was good. Not sure it’s a flavor that needed to exist, but it was good.
Dirty Couch BBCM (unknown release)
Light cherry and vaguely medicinal flavors on top of a dry, funky, clean finishing sour. Not sure that Pineapple specifically rings through. Tastes good but felt a chore at times to finish.
Very thin body, strong on caramel, rye whisky, bit of hop dankness at the end. Slightly dry on the finish; pumpkin, baked apple, caramel.
Graham cracker, not what I think of with this style. Pretty boring.
Nice brown sugar biscuit flavors, but somewhat thin and dry and ultimately dominated by a strong, clear, acrid bitterness.
Georgetown Velvet Larry (2019)
Grapey, woody, lots of pith. Leaves the mouth feeling very dry. Unpleasant, musty, lingering aftertaste.
A *very* hoppy brown. Lots of roast, bitter coffee, graham and then round, bitter hops. Basically a paler CDA. Bitterness lingers for a while.
Intensely bitter, metallic, buttery to start. It’s assertive but distinctive, unexpected but hard to dislike. For me at least. Cereal and grassy hop bitterness close, though the finish is clean.
Fits the previous descriptions. Chocolate, pumpkin spice, lingering burnt bitterness.
Strong Belgian spice up front, pleasant grapey (but not explicitly grapefruit to my mind) fruit flavor follows. I just didn’t love the spice flavors here.
Description says uncomplicated and it is, however it just tastes like uncomplicated pine hop perfume. Oily and bitter.
Drank most of it before I remembered to take a picture. Fresh, citrus, pine, intensely flavored. Pithy, prickly finish.
Round and bright fruit flavor, mostly orange-like citrus. Crystal clear, nice to have a straight IPA for once. Not bitter, very refreshing. Great beer.
A yeasty wit with a balanced but strong holiday spice character. Smooth, buttery, kind of like drinking a ginger snap cookie.
An unusual mix of flavors here, like a helles lager crossed with a Belgian pale. Lots of estery banana flavors and even a hint of spice. Pale gold in color. Finishes with a cloudy yeastiness. This isn't what I would call a typical fest bier but it was pretty fascinating.
Rounded lightly hoppy amber with a malty cereal backbone. It's been a long time since I had one but the first thing that came to mind was an amped up Sam Adams. It was fine, but kind of non-descript and in a style that is not a favorite.
Oatmeal sweetness, roast coffee, thin body, fairly ideal porter. No idea if this is actually made with oats.
I don't feel like this has always been this bad. Reminds me of the old palate-killing Vienna lager from Hi-Fi. Funky-nutty and not much else.
Ripe papaya, pith, slightly oily, resin. Not as cleanly enjoyable as the Azacca. Ironically this feels like Optimism's Azacca from yesterday.
Light papaya, citrus. A little oily and pungent at the start but overall it is light and sunny and fits the description.
Optimism Fresh Hop Comet (2019)
Lighter and fitter than the Azacca. Orange-pine, buttery notes. Light to medium bitterness on the finish, tastes sunny.
Optimism Fresh Hop Azacca (2019)
Slight hints of coconut, papaya, dry and almost roasted. I was almost reminded of coffee. Finish is oily and very bitter.
Buttery, rounded, roasted malt flavor. Somewhat light in flavor, but very drinkable.
Grapefruit, extremely dry, bitter, woody. It almost tastes smoky, like a leaf fire.
Light pine, bright, bitter on top. A little bit of yeasty curl on the backbone. Very good fresh hop ale.
Extremely sour, like prune juice vinegar. If that doesn't sound sexy to you, well, then you know how I felt.
Starts with a watery cereal/yeast flavor but moves into a strong, almost distractingly pungent buttery overtone. It's not unpleasant, exactly, but it doesn't make a lot of sense.
Piney, bitter hop flavor, a little oily/perfumey. Finishes with a little sweet touch of diacetyls. Lingers bitter in the throat.
A little flat, vanilla, bubblegum, faint chai spice, caramel
Lots of rum, caramel, a kiss of licorice at the end.
Estery Belgian pale with a dry Brett finish. Light banana, grape, hint of white pepper and clove. Avoids overt hoppy or bitter flavors for the most part, just a kiss at the end. Finishes clean.
Taxman Evasion (unknown release)
Much better than expected, though it is quite sweet, but it's balanced by a strong burnt sugar finish that suddenly drops in sweetness. Very maple; the underlying flavor is dark and fruity. Liked this a lot.
Very good; slightly sweet, smooth coconut; creamy Merlin flavor.
Weird, but somehow less offensive than the Belching Beaver from earlier today. Smells very much like Pledge, but drinks more subdued; slightly sweet, cloudy. The only real problem is the aftertaste, which has an herbal bitterness that isn't super pleasant.
Smells strongly of canned peaches, very curly. But flavor is good; sharply tart but moderated by vanilla and cinnamon. It does a good job of evoking peach pie.
Medium-strong tart, clean nectarine-grape flavor. Very little funk, compare to yesterday's Mandarine.
A sweetish lager collides with lime candy flavor and is completely overwhelmed by it. Distractingly weird and not enjoyable.
Quite tart, fizzy, like a S. Pellegrino Arianciata Rossa with a funky finish, dry Brett bitterness, some horse blanket, but rather clean.
Super perfumey, not bitter but high and dry and sweet. The piney hop oil coats the tongue and lingers.
Thick and extraordinarily burnt/bitter for a stout. The barkeep said he thought it was mellow but it was basically the polar opposite of that. The photo doesn't really do the color of the head justice - it was a deep chocolate brown.
Smooth Irish whiskey notes but with a bit of a funky, tart "infected barrel" kind of overtone, mixing with some hop dankness to kind of muddy the flavor a bit. Probably intentional, and it wasn't bad by any means, but it gave me some Big Block flashbacks and I didn't love it.
Skookum Solitary Confinement Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout (unknown release)
Couldn’t take it. Too sweet, too syrupy, a bit of that burnt toffee over it all. Might just be the contrast with the other beers but I just didn’t enjoy it today.
Super resinous and pithy for a pale, with a sweet syrupy hop sheen. Quite bitter on top. The finish is nice, though, sweet cereal and a bit of cloudy funk.
Appley tart beer with medium funk but bright flavors. Clean finish.
Buttery, slightly estery, moving into a grassy, cucumbery finish. Very clean and refreshing.
Straightforward tart like to start, moving to buttery diacetyl notes and an herbal bitterness. Chili adds a faint but gradually building heat to the aftertaste.
Roast, slightly sour Porter with strong burnt toffee and chocolate notes. Finishes fairly boozy.
Breakside Sunripened (unknown release)
It's not a sour, it's a fruited golden ale, strong nectarine flavor, very strong wood character, little bit of funk from the wine. Brandy-like. Chamomile is a mellow, herbal hint. It's super yummy.
A buttery summer blonde. The flavor is intense for the style, the fragrance almost pungent, the kind of character one might find intolerable in an IPA, but somehow it skirts the edge of unpleasantness here and just kind of adds to the sunny flavor. I liked this a lot and would have gotten a growler if the Sunripened hadn't come along.
Very much in the vein of the Pickle Gose although this was decidedly less cucumber and more pickled chilies (think Mama Lil's, maybe?). It's got the same sourness level but is decidedly spicy. I liked this just as much, if not more. I KNOW I KNOW.
This was surprisingly good, I thought. I can't exactly say delicious, but I'd drink more of it. The smell is very much cucumber more than dill pickle, but you can get a hint of the pickling spices as you drink, leaving this clearly in the savory camp. Medium sour, slightly more refreshing than you'd imagine pickle juice. YES I'M WEIRD.
A real raspberry cordial kind of flavor but intensely -- disgustingly, even -- sweet. It doesn't help that I don't like raspberries, but I really don't think that was the problem here. Couldn't drink any more than a couple sips.
Thick Baltic porter, milky, a fair bit sweeter than expected but pleasant. It's decidedly medium-good, we've definitely had a lot better in this category.
A slightly watery but OK beer. Coffee flavor is light but believable, and the amber is more of an Irish type red, but the nitro really makes the flavor a little insipid.
Watery and rooty, which isn’t helped by nitro. A big disappointment after the Holy Mountain earlier today.
Bright, unexpected pineapple notes up front. Finishes with a buttery cereal that becomes a bit of a funky bitterness on the back end
Tart blackberry opening moved to a cloudy sweetness. Finish is a bit weird, a bit rubbery?
Hazy, guava/grapefruit hazy pale. Somewhat raw hop bitterness. Not nearly as refined as the IPA the others were having.
Unexpectedly tart, sour hop flavors. Finishes with cereal and a high Brett dry bitterness. Went very will with the (also funky, also dry) smoked Gouda. Really quite good!
Weakly sour, with a raspberry-Tang flavor that sits between artificial and real fruit flavors. Not bad but feels more like a juice box than a beer. No hint of salt at all.
Light dark lager, bit of coffee but dwarfed by the Black House. Light finish, not roasty or acidic at all.
Sweet grassy lager, helles-like but cloudier in both appearance and flavor. Refreshing and tasty!
Very light opening, funky yeast bitterness, horse blanket flavors, bit of clove leading to cereal finish. Aftertaste is a little uric, with hints of smoke.
Just barely skunky at the beginning before settling into a sweet, very light lager flavor, right on the edge of watery. I'd compare it to a Miller Lite. Not bad for what it was.
Honestly, this felt like a big disappointment after the other two - especially right after the Molé Merkin. In comparison, there was a bit of a vegetal weirdness to the flavor here. It evened out after the palate adjusted, and it's hard to argue the easy appeal of sweet, but it definitely colored my experience.
Firestone Walker Molé Merkin (2018)
This was super yummy! Not overwhelmingly sweet, but just smoothly dessert-like. A bit of heat on the backend.
So many winners from Firestone. This one was exactly as advertised, a sweet bourbon Manhattan flavor; cocktail-like until it veers back to beer territory right at the end. Boozy without being punchy or strong. Smooth, refined, and delicious.
Bitter, boozy, and more generically “tropical” than specifically pineapple.
Very coffee; chocolates, roasty, not very sweet. Tastes strongly alcoholic, which is a negative.
Does not taste like a double IPA. Green apple flavors, lightly sweet. Finishes with a weightless candy-like lightness. Strikingly different.
Mellow hazy IPA with a lightly pithy finish. Little bit grapefruit, little bit apple.
Orange cream soda fragrance and initial flavor, ends like a mellow pale, little hoppy. Dry finish. Very pleasant.
This beer has been sitting around for quite a while but ended up still tasting fairly good. One of those concentrated hop juice flavor IPAs but somewhat milder, maybe due to aging. I wouldn't drink a lot of it but it was fine.
The flavor was nice at first, creamy with vanilla and an actual... grainy cloudiness that actually evoked graham crackers for once. But the overall texture was thinner than expected and there was a dry bad-porter sourness that cut the flavor short. A beer that screamed for a little more oomph.
In larger quantity this was definitely more pithy, more resinous. The coconut and vanilla start off very obvious and then kind of fade into the background as the hops build up. Slightly buttery notes. I liked sipping this one more than I liked drinking it.
Refreshingly tart lime sour with some caramel sweetness. The unusually strong herbal fresh mint flavor in this stood out and made this memorable IMO. It was a bit separate from the rest of the flavor but I loved it. Others maybe didn't so much.
I've never had a beer that had a more orange juice-like flavor than this one. Exactly as fruity and tart as juice right up front. This transitions into more of a yeasty, estery finish, and the vanilla comes in here as well. Pulls off the creamsicle flavor pretty well, although in a more "naturally flavored" way than I'm used to.
Okay, this was the first milkshake IPA I've had that made me think of a milkshake. Sweet lactose, like almost Orange Julius levels to my mind, and a less sweet peach juice flavor finish into a dry, super hazy IPA. Each flavor stage was less sweet than the previous one. Weird, but interesting.
Postdoc Barrel Admixture (2018)
A tasty sour, minimally funky, with an unidentifiable sourness that I can only call "brown" -- a kind of molassessy cola-like sourness that feels bright all the way through and finishes totally clean.
Slightly hoppy, very roasty. As dark as a porter; I wouldn't really recognize this as an alt. "Burnt chocolate pretzel porter."
This was a weirdly off gose - not really salty at all and the funk and bright, straight lime juice fruit don't really combine well.
Slightly sweet, cereal lager with some vaguely fruity notes - enough so that I could almost imagine a little berry in there since they'd switched this glass with the Rose. I liked this very much.
Did not love. Quite flat from the cask, some cloudy hop dankness, and ... well, I normally hate raspberries and this did nothing to change my mind. So.
Interesting, and I think in an intriguing way rather than bad. Starts bright and lager-like before turning suddenly vinous and dry. Like a brut lager, if you can imagine that? But there is definitely a weird seam when the flavor transitions, and that could use some work.
Deschutes Rum Wowzenbock (2015)
Thick and syrupy with a strong scent of brown sugar. Rich esters and a moderately sour finish. A bit much to take, honestly.
Quite good; an IPA with a clear, round exotic fruit flavor. Just slightly resinous near the end.
Tasted like a German hefe - slightly spicy, strong banana esters. Strawberry? Not so much. No bright fruit flavors, just a kind of dry fruit sourness lingering behind the rest of the flavors. If they used as much strawberry as they claim, they need to find a better approach to getting that flavor into the beer.
Either this was wine-barreled or Big Block's barrels are infected. Given I've just tried their plain scotch ale and with my memory of both the plain RIS and barrel-aged Scotch Ale, the barrel-aged beers come out extremely sour and funky, just a bit more than Bellevue's similar-tasting results. Fine if you imagine wine, terrible if you imagine bourbon.
Sweet, light and hazy. The lime flavor is clear all the way through but unfortunately recalls lime scratch & sniff stickers from the '80s, not the best.
I find that I like guava best when it's got kind of a clear hard candy flavor profile and this beer has that. Starts with fruit and immediate tartness, moves to a strangely light-tasting phase and finishes tart again with sweet cereal emerging at the end. Clean and tasty.
Still great, buttery, smooth, rich. Bourbon has become very-well integrated. Might have been a little too strong for lunchtime, but I'll never turn this down if it's available.
Not very pilsnery, imo. Somewhere between a helles lager and a kolsch, in terms of sweetness and some of the same yeasty fruit that was evidence in the Hefe. Also somewhat tacky rather than clean in the finish. Still very decent.
Pleasant, fruity beer. Apricot, cloudy, estery. Fairly sweet. Finishes very tacky in the throat but flavorful and perfect for a sunny wedding!
A light pale with a tangy lime brightness on top. Light hops and very clean. Surprisingly, the second very good Elysian beer I've had in a row. I'd gotten used to thinking of them as having gotten a bit uninspired.
Very mellow for an IPA, with a lightly sweet, very pleasant and not at all boring flavor. Surprising and tasty!
This was really quite good. Slightly fruity with a nice bit of a toasted malt flavor. I should have taken better notes but I got a growler of this so I'll be able to share more later.
A nearly opaque hazy; looks and smells like POG with an emphasis on guava. Description says mango but I didn't really taste that. Dry finish.
Deschutes Black Mirror (2019)
A dark belgian, caramel and figs. Quite boozy but with a very enjoyable flavor; it's more of a straight alcohol character rather than the bourbon in the description, which was ... not really detectable to me. With some aging this should be superb.
Very clean, soda-like sour, with none of the funk that was evident in the porter. Pleasant berry flavor. It was a good contrast and a good way to finish this session.
I'm actually not 100% convinced this was a different beer than the Bbl-aged porter from the other day (the boards called this two different things). It was just as sour if not more, and there seemed to be noticeable funk that may not have been there last time. It being on nitro is definitely a change and may explain the different flavors coming through. For now I'm going to keep this under the alternate name.
Cloudy American hefe with a clean round blueberry-esque flavor. Very pleasant.
Smoothed out a bit with age. Almost gritty on first sip after the sours, but it got better. Thick and sweet, with a long, mild vanilla following the initial alcohol hit all the way to the finish. Sticks around a little in the throat afterwards.
Much, much better than the Museum Dose. Tamarind is clear on the start and in the aftertaste, dry and tart. The late middle is tea-like and mellow, probably from a combination of the lapsang and the cocoa (but the latter is not really distinguishable). Still weird, but actually enjoyable.
Smells woody/birchy, with maybe a hint of smokiness. The flavor is... really weird. Fruity sourness and the sarsaparilla and birch clash in a way that creates odd illusions of mint and herbal medicine on the tongue. If you squint this is interesting. If you don't it's just almost nasty.
Like all of Bellevue's other barrel-aged beers, this is almost winey. More than a little tart and dry, leading into a medium-thick but smooth porter. Finish is slightly sweet but mellow, and the barrel comes in with some caramel on the finish. Tastes stronger than listed.
This was again really good. There was a bit of appley fruit on top that that mixed well with the cloudy cereal to hint at pie. I don't remember that from last time. Much better after the brown.
Very hoppy. A bit rooty in flavor, which translates to a kind of astringent, burnt sugar overtone, followed by flowery hops. This was Lagunitas-like in its unpleasantness. Would not get again.
A bit like apple cider that's turning, like the inexorable tides of fate, into vinegar.
Next to the E9... this was very similar. A little less cloudy coriander flavor, a little rounder, possibly a touch of orange? But this is just details, overall it was very, very like the other beer.
Cloudy, pale, touch of white pepper, savory coriander notes. Not too heavy on the spice, this is a light, refreshing wit.
I was looking forward to this, remembering how good Fuzz was! This was very light-looking for a porter. Murky coffee flavor and a weak, not very defined beer character. Unimpressed.
A light, sweet lager-like beer with more than a little fruit on top, slightly tangy and ... I think pretty clearly a peach flavor? It was definitely the better beer of the two.
Decent hazy Pale. Little bit on the drier side - the fruit is "dark."
Opens like a helles but immediately moves into a champagne-like funk, yeasty and tangy. Bubbliness lingers for quite a while. Finishes very light and with cereal, almost a bit weak compared to the journey, but overall - unusual and tasty!
Sweet, very much like a rosé, but with a citrus-ness that makes the flavor unusual. Still, not very interesting overall.
Medium tart, clean dark berry flavors. Tasty but very simple after the heavy stouts.
Probably only in a flight like this would this beer seem light and uncomplicated, but it did that and nicely. Caramel with sweet, light helles notes. I think I could tell it was slightly on the stronger side but after a series of 9+ ABV beers who can even tell?
Definitely the strongest of the bunch. Strong booze, thick, complex stouty flavors and a general overtone of cherry and wood. That said, this didn't punch me in the face, it was overall still very nice and managed to be the least sweet of the bunch.
Breakside Grandpappy (2019)
Compared to the Parabola, this is lighter, cleaner, more clearly and brightly bourbon. Clean finish. Maple is very subtle and blends into the caramel of the bourbon, which may be why... I think this is finally a maple stout that I really can say I unequivocally loved.
So, I realized recently I haven't liked any maple stouts, and this one edges toward the same faults, but - it's just barely not too sweet, and underneath it's still Parabola, dark and complex and a bit dry, balancing it out. That said, the maple still floats a little separately, and while it's still great, it's maybe my least favorite Parabola so far.
It sounded like it would be more dessert-like than the Flat White, but I think it's actually less - probably because it wasn't on nitro. Thick and sweet, chocolate and coconut, but finishes quite bitter. Mildly tacky in the back of the throat.
Medium-sour, funky and piney. Very much like other hopped sours I've had - beery rather than fruity, pleasantly bracing, touch of salt on the finish.
Resinous, lightly dank. Has a "macro IPA" taste that I think I've outgrown.
The label says German-style but this has a very American Hefeweizen flavor profile. Cloudy, yeasty, slightly estery. Smoothed out significantly by caramelly toasted coconut flavors that kick in very quickly. This is very well-balanced and I'm glad to see a coconut beer done well that's not dark.
A light, almost watery light lager flavor with hints of fruity mango - kind of an essential oil overtone rather than anything you'd call juicy. It's a very light flavor all told.
Lightly fruity, cloudy, yeasty flavor. I don't really know what starfruit tastes like, but this was tropical, subtle, and very pleasant. Nice finish on the night.
Folden yellow. Hoppy sheen on top of a mild coffee base. Slightly sweet, hint of vanilla. Weirdly strong bitter finish that you wouldn't expect from a nitro stout.
Tastes like the imperial coconut base, thick and coconut, maybe a tinge sweeter with a milky but only slightly coffee flavor. Not sure how they nitro'd this but it doesn't have that weird dishwatery character, instead it's just smooth, creamy and still a little bubbly.
Very sour, to the point where the basic fruit is unidentifiable other than being vaguely tropical. Possibly guava, possibly passion, a dry, clean finish.
Completely clear, unexpected for the described style. Tastes like a light, grassy pilsner that's been dry hopped generously with tropical, spicy hops. The latter is the dominant flavor, I think. I was hoping for something cloudier, and less bright.
Love wine barreled stouts, and this is ... big winner. I foolishly didn't take notes and this was a couple weeks ago, but I have another bottle so I'll write more then.
Much better than the pFriem. Standard hazy with grapefruit-orange fruit flavors. Mild finish. Not nearly as oily as the hazy beers from last Friday's tasting.
Hoppy, bitter pale, pine and pith. Coffee is very faint and barely smoothes out the flavor. Pretty exposed alcohol. I couldn't finish it.
Much milder than I expected. Slightly dry aspect, somewhat cloudy/yeasty. Smooth cereal but also a little ... weak-feeling?
Puts the syrup in syrupy, oh lord. At this point I'm not sure I have liked any of these maple breakfast stouts; the coffee is just inspidily sweet, but the maple seems tacked-on and thin, not natural. By the end of my glass I was having a real hard time. (FWIW, I really didn't enjoy CBS, either)
Actually quite similar to the Hoof Hearted to the point where I had to take a double taste. The differences were in a slightly oilier character and a more exposed alcohol flavor. Otherwise, pretty much the same.
A fruity, orange-grapefruit hazy beer. Some oily rind bitterness, and an intensity of fruit flavor that makes me think IPA more than pale, but it doesn't finish bitter, which is nice.
A round, fruity flavor that calls to mind orange peel. Malty and fruity rather than the hops I remember from earlier iterations of this beer.
Fragrance of green apple. Quite sour, puckeringly tart, a bit like a punch of cider vinegar, Not much cereal present, but it's so, so clean.
Very funky, only lightly sour. It tasted... brown. It was fine.
This beer has now been ten years in the bottle, and it definitely seems like that was too long. This is like the skeletal remains of a great beer - it's there in outline but all of the character has smoothed out to the point where it's just a vaguely empty chalkiness and a pure alcohol flavor. Real uncanny valley stuff.
Coriander's the strongest and most immediate flavor in this beer, which is usually a big negative for me, but it worked really well in this beer. It flowed into a dry, yeasty turn into a strong cereal backbone. I think that bit of savory character made this beer.
Pink-orange and opaque; flavor is somewhere between a ruby red grapefruit and raspberry. Quite bitter and the underlying hop flavor seems to be very thick as well. I don't think I'd order this again.
Smells very strongly of umami mushroom, like porcini. It tastes more balanced but there's definitely a broth-like quality somewhere in the background. Touch of burnt caramel. Works, but it does start to feel weird over time.
The Bruery Rueuze (2015)
Way too tart to enjoy. Lots of qualities you'd like in a gueuze, medium funk, apricot-stonefruit, clear look and flavor and a bit of salt left on the lips. But the sourness was unrelenting and got worse over time. I was more pucker than sip by the end.
I have a strong suspicion they poured me the wrong beer. This was very bitter, almost burnt. Good base chocolate-roast stout flavor but hard to enjoy greatly.
I guess El Gaucho has a brewery now? It may have been the sun, but this beer tasted slightly skunked. On the hoppy side for a Kolsch, too. It was okay, and I was really here for the food anyway.
Chocolatey roast opens this black saison; an underlying, faint pruney/plummy tartness sits underneath, accompanied by pleasant spice notes. Very good!
Sweet, buttery coconut and vanilla smoothness mask a very piney, resinous IPA. Pleasant to taste but can't mask the underlying hops for long. I don't think I could do a full glass of this.
Cloudy, slightly fruity, but with otherwise mellow Kolsch-like flavors. Not exactly crisp, but pretty darned tasty.
A little different than I expected; opening is smooth, sweet chocolate, a notable alcohol flavor (not whiskey; just... strong), and a more bitter than expected finish. It's as if the aging erased a lot of the middle complexity of this beer leaving a strong beginning and end but no progression between. I mean, it was still excellent.
Liefmans Kriek-Brut (2015)
Medium-tart sour base but with a sweet cherry overtone. Not very funky. Cherry is a bit sweeter than I'm used to for this style of beer, so it feels more like a New Glarus-type beer than a regular Kriek. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Smells very brightly of guava. Tastes not so much like beer as maybe a dry pog soda or cooler. It would probably be easy to drink a lot of this without knowing. "Much better than you'd expect from Widmer."
Delicious dry citrus sour. Bit of a hop sheen on top. Quite tart, leaves a touch of salt on the lips.
Dry IPA, a bit on the brut side, but with assertive resin notes.
Banana; cereal; refreshing but maybe slightly on the drier side. Quite pleasant.
Buttery honey golden ale, light and fizzy. Slight astringency and a touch of a ginsengy medicinal herbaceous flavor make this slightly unusual but I thought it was appealing.
One of the "juiciest" juicy IPAs I think I've ever had. Believably orange, more Sunny D or Orangina than regular OJ. Hops lend some dryness and touch of resin but the finish is mellow and not bitter in the least. Slightly fizzy. Good gravy the sun was hot though.
The Bruery Bakery: Coconut Macaroon (unknown release)
The aftertaste kills this... A bit like fake pound cake. To be fair I had significantly better stouts today - eight of them.
Alesong Señor Rhino Barrel-Aged Milk Stout (unknown release)
Main flavor is chocolate and molasses and vanilla is subtle but gives a candy like overtone. Chili is very subtle but adds some back end heat
Sweetest of the four but very balanced and smooth. A lot of the goodness of the coconut b-bomb but less boozy.
Intense compared to the others but still smooth. More malt more toffee rummy liquor brown sugar
Firestone Walker Parabajava (2015)
Sooo smooth. Toasty, light coffee, caramel.? Clean not to sweet finish
Like a Mounds. Quite sweet, bordering on fake, but sits very well on the light, cola-like porter base. Actually works because of its lack of heaviness.
Berry is more of a hint, up front. Dry, clean sour, mild florality of pine and not a whole lot of gin that I could detect. Very, very nice!
Starts out like a hoppy+malty amber, backbone is strongly caramel and mellow. There's definitely a florality here, but it kind of fades into the hops. More present is the toasty smoothness of tea on top.
I remember really liking the Fall Apple Ale that is this beer's base, but I've gotta say, this beer is a punch of brandy in the face. Underneath that there's a dry floral hoppiness and beyond that it's very hard to get anything else clearly. A lot to take.
This was super-good, you guys. A sweetish light corn / cereal lager base but the flavor fades into a mellow, sweet, very light whiskey finish. A great combination that... is a little hard to figure out, but just works really well for me. I could drink a whole lot of this beer.
This is basically a raspberry drinking vinegar. A lot much to take.
A floral, hoppy sheen on a very light, grassy lager. Walks the line on being almost watery but has enough going on to remain enjoyable.
Way too sweet, and simplistically so; if this is pancake syrup, it's Mrs. Butterworth. There's a decent sweet coffee underneath it, and if you take a bigger gulp it almost counteracts the sweetness. Almost.
A dry cherry sour that manages to be dry without getting funky at all, but also isn't sweet or too fruity -- or boring. Clean, medium-tart and tasty.
Bale Breaker The Ossifier Stout (unknown release)
Quite hoppy, if you told me this was a CDA I would have believed you. Dry, roast with mellow, slightly chalky chocolate. I really didn't taste the Jameson at all but the White Chocolate could very well have burnt my taste buds.
The Bruery White Chocolate (2019)
This is for sure primarily a strong wheatwine. Hop-fruit, slightly tangy, with a ton of liquor on top. Not really sure I got chocolate or vanilla here, but it was surprisingly smooth given how much... everything... it was. Glass was certainly too big.
Grassy pilsner with a fairly aggressive hop profile. High and dry bitter finish. Think of Firestone Walker's Pivo but turned to 11.
Super-smoothed out by nitro, all that remains is a kind of roasted chocolate dryness. Pretty much what a nitro stout should be.
Very syrupy. Astringent, heavy on ginger notes. A hint of sweet umami means this ends up tasting oddly not unlike the filing of a Shanghai pork dumpling. At the very least, it was disturbing. It didn't taste like this the other day?
Fruity, apple-y, berry-ish, in fact a lot like a cider, but cleaner and without funk. I'm not exactly sure how this technically counts as a beer, but it's pretty damned tasty.
Very grapefruit-citrus forward hazy IPA. Pretty smooth, but maybe a little too smooth; there's really nothing to counteract the bland-ish fruitiness. Pretty okay, but nothing too special.
Prickly and clean; a pilsner with just a bit of hoppy pungency on top. Net effect is a bit floral.
Quite tart and citrusy. I think lychee and pear come through more as a clean flavor to the fruit than they do as themselves. Uncomplicated, but very clean.
Odd Breed Extra Thai Rack (07/10/2018)
Smells 100% like floral perfume, off-putting at first. Flavor is light, like a rice lager but with lightly tart fruit and lemongrass florality. Over several sips the fruit came through stronger, and this ended up really quite pleasurable.
The opposite beer - pungent and sour, hints of dark vinegar and more than a little whiskey to top it off.
Dirty Couch Battledanser (Batch 2)
Quite delicious. Light tartness, slightly herbal, slightly smoky, which I imagine comes from the oolong tea. Not sure how much cognac I got in between the other flavors, but this was very, very nice.
I've forgotten the details of this beer after the more interesting beers that followed, but I do remember it quite a good hazy IPA.
Very light and surprising hints of Belgian yeast right at the front of this beer, although it's followed by a kind of murky, watery sweetness. Strictly mediocre, and not that far off of a Bud Light kind of flavor.
Smells of fizzy, bright peaches although the fruit is not really prominent in the flavor. I wouldn't say this tasted like an IPA at all - maybe at most kind of a Kolsch with peach. I've got a vague feeling that it's possible this beer was misidentified as well.
Really quite a good stout, light, creamy coffee-noted, with just a hint of effervescent cola-like flavors right as the beer starts going down the throat. One of the better beers I've ever had here.
Opened with a spew of slow foam that kept going for minutes. Definitely the most sour-sour of the lot with a very funky, caramel, oud-bruin-like base and some bitter bite on top from the hops. Complex and intriguing, but more importantly just tastes good.
Next to all the sour flavors, this came out almost bracingly acrid. Settled down over time but I definitely didn't enjoy this near as much as usual.
Noticeably more sour than the Star Party, with just a touch of funk and a lot of dry lime. A bit of buttery sweetness evens it out. Salty on the lips afterwards. Good flavors.
Lemon and lavender are the "stars" here; it tastes a bit like someone made a squash with lavender lemonade, noticeably tart, floral, but then finishes like a beer though not especially brut). You could be fooled into thinking this was a Berliner Weisse.
Light (on the edge of watery but not quite there), citrus-pine session IPA, fizzy, with a sweet cereal finish.
Funky-yeasted caramel lager with the cloudy opacity to match. Pretty much what I expect from the style when it's not a Sam Adams.
Mellow sweet wheat, grapefruit-apricot finish that rings clear and dry as a bell. Not bitter at all. A huge improvement from the 2.0 release.
Fruity and estery like an Belgian amber with a brown sugary backbone. It was okay, but I didn't love it.
Another really impressive Strange Fellows beer. Dry sour pine-hop flavor, slightly grapey. The middle transition is just a tiny bit watery, but transitions nicely to a similar sweet what finish to the Jongleur. Yum!
Creamy dry roasty stout. The light carbonation on the drafts here really smooths out the flavor. Not too sweet, mellow dark chocolate notes.
Slightly flat, sweet but rooty and herbal. Less cereal than a typical marzen, more like a yeast-forward amber ale. Fairly flat, to boot.
This was a remarkably good beer, despite having a lot of characteristics I normally don't super-enjoy. Coriander, just a hint of ginger, a citrusy-yeasty dryness and finishing with sweet wheat. Everything in just the right balance to make this feel great.
Gave off a skunky smell while pouring, but it wasn't evident in the taste. Belgian pale with light spice notes, white pepper, but with a dry, grapey, vinous tartness.
Pure hop resin, extremely front-loaded bitterness. A bit like burnt rubber. Did not finish this beer, probably not making a good personal elegy for the brewery.
Not sure this tasted at all Kolschey to me. Instead, it just seemed like a sweet IPA which added a weird, additional sweetness (lactic?) onto the finish instead of the typical balancing things a normal IPA does.
Sweetish, wheat-funky. I didn't taste the coconut at first but it became more and more obvious over time, especially after trying other beers. Never quite melded into a harmonic whole, but still pretty decent.
This beer seems almost too light at first, which in a more boring beer would feel watery. However, the remaining flavors are grassy, fresh, and slightly fruity, making more of an impression than expected.
This beer did not at all taste like a stout, and it never quite stopped being weird. I don't remember the details too well, but I do remember liking it in spite of all that.
Halfway between a pale and a Vienna lager. Fruity, malty and cereal.
A potato IPA! You know I had to try this. Not sure I tasted anything that said potato, but the resultant beer was insanely clean, with just the right amount of piney-fruity hops. Best IPA I've had at this brewery in a long time.
Propolis Beltane (2019)
A dry, tart saison with a very clean finish, understated but present funk, and a moderate, vinous fruitiness. Very, very nice.
Starts with a guava-passion fruit opening, some wheat funk, and then a kind of acrid bitter finish that was off-putting at first. After a few sips I think that part of my tongue got burned out and then the rest of the glass was actually quite pleasant. Wish that first part hadn't happened, though.
First-class representation of the Brut style - dry, white wine grape opening, crisp hoppiness. Finishes quite clean. Excellent all around.
I don't like raspberry very much in general, but I think the dry tartness of the fruit made the best match for the lactic sweetness of the base beer, resulting in the best beer of the batch.
After the mango, this was almost annoyingly sweet. Realistic peach pokes through the sugar but otherwise the first few sips were not great. After I got used to it it was better, but still outclassed by the other two flavors.
Mildly tart mango flavor to start, followed by a rather sweet and hoppy IPA. The fruit does seem a little tacked on here, and the rest too sweet. But I like mango, and this was okay if you take it for a novelty beer.
On draft again, this was definitely much better than in a can.
Next to the Holy Mountain, this was super-clean and clear-tasting. Light black coffee notes with just a touch of cola/fruit to start. Transparent finish.
Good medium-bodied stout, a bit oily and "dirty" tasting. Mental image is of a few coffee grounds making it into the glass. The dirty seems reflected in the thick lattice pattern left by the head.
Very light, smooth from nitro, but a pleasant, light flavor. Like other nitro cream ales (think Hale's) but with a touch more caramel.
Extraordinarily sweet, cutting any sense of hoppiness or dankness from this beer. After that fades you're left with a strong alcohol finish. Only took a couple sips to develop a buzz with this. Didn't much get a strong sense of bourbon. Closest beer to this I've had is the Dogfish 120 Minute IPA, but this one seems to lack the IPA-ness of that one.
A roasty-burnt cream stout type of beer. I liked it just fine, but it really hearkened back to my early beer days and I think my enjoyment may have been more nostalgia than love.
A citrus-grapefruit hazy beer, with a very mild, nice opening flavor. Almost watery in its follow-through - no tart or hoppy bite. Finishes with buttery diacetyl notes that ... are kind of weird in this style. A little off in multiple ways.
Started off nice as usual but seemed to go skunky fast in the sunlight of the patio.
Deschutes Planète Rouge (unknown release)
Very nice at first, plummy/pruney with a sharp but brief sourness and fading into quite a funky finish. The funk built up in bitterness through the glass, though; I'd say two-thirds of the goblet was great and the last bit ... took a while.
God, this party is awkward. Decent enough Sam Adams-type caramel lager. More hop presence and a bit of a metallic presence make it more interesting than a supermarket macro, but I don't love it.
Pours very dark brown; porter-like. Very roasty but also with a round, prickly hop presence. I know I said "smooth" last time but that doesn't seem accurate anymore.
Significantly worse from a can. A lot more of a tacky feeling in the throat afterwards that I don't remember from Thirsty Hop.
Roasty light porter with coconut; not sweet but the coconut is toasty and mellow. Liked this a lot.
Possibly one of the best hazy IPAs I've ever had. Clean citrus/grapefruit/pine flavors with a clean, mellow, completely non-bitter finish.
Unnaturally clear, like water with yellow food coloring. Tastes like corn syrup soda.
Smells of sweet coconut, but the actual beer is not sweet at all. If anything, it's a touch smoky, with some roast. Definite coconut which barely balances the roast rather than sweetening it. Decent, but not among my favorite coconut beers. (At least it's not hoppy!)
Another barrel-aged beer from Bellevue that doesn't fit the usual mold. This had the extreme smoothness you'd expect from an oatmeal stout, continuing into a sweetness. Finishes with an almost wine-like tannic barrel character. Cabernet comes to mind. Strongly alcoholic.
A medium-bodied, smoky porter with a bit of sourness. Lots of roast and coffee, and a buildingly bitter finish.
Very sweet, boozy, young tasting. But in a charming way, if that makes any sense? It's not thick, it's got a bit of rye bite. A little too raw to truly love, but it was fun. Maybe in a couple years it could even be great (but it seems like it would still be a little too sweet).
Cider-like, with a bright, gingery opening. Gets dry pretty quickly, but not very sour, in a way that is pretty pomegranatey. I liked the ginger, not so much the finish.
Crooked Stave Colorado Wild Sage Mountain Saison (unknown release)
An excellent saison with complex herbal notes but which doesn't scream strongly in any particular herbal direction. Sage wasn't what came to mind when I tasted this. The lemongrass, a little more. Light and very drinkable.
A deep, frothy, fruity stout, plums or dates in abundance. It's been a while since I had a beer that tasted like this, and I'm having a hard time remembering which one it reminds me of. Maybe one of the old Ovila barrel-aged dark quads?
Fantastic sour! Smells like fresh, ripe, real strawberries, which is a rare enough thing. Flavor is not sweet, but rather a complex, dry sour with not too much bite. A very nice beer.
There was some confusion about this beer (the text description said whiskey, the label graphic said rum). We kind of felt this tasted like rum, with molassessy and uncomplicated liquor with a very smooth, balanced roast stout underneath. Better than I remember the other Hoppin' Frog heavies being.
Strong bourbon flavors, with plum-date overtones. Stout is a little overwhelmed, but not quite as much as it was with the Alter.
This was gross. Not at all what I'd expect from a Baltic Porter, this poured dark amber. Flavor was rooty and herbal. Roast coffee on top. None of the smooth lactic quality I'd expect from a Baltic.
Clean, grassy bitterness with the slightly sweet notes of a German Pils. Something wine-like about the brightness of this beer. I did like it quite a bit.
A solid dark lager, medium bodied and roasty with a creamy finish. Reminded me of German darks.
Tastes like a watermelon Jolly Rancher, with faint overtones of wood smoke and vanilla. If that sound weird to you, well, it was. But somehow I also kind of enjoyed it.
Really weird. Tastes like hoppy dishwater at first, high and dry and with a weird lemon dinginess. After a while you realize that the astringency is being accentuated by vanilla, and then it feels more like a novelty than unpleasant.
Dry, light, brown-porter. Slightly watery, but also creamy with quite a bit of roast. Slightly sour in an English porter kind of way.
Caramel bourbon in your face here. The underlying stout is entirely overwhelmed by the barrel here; honestly it could have been anything. That's probably not great.
Very candy-like, almond joy type beer. Of this style, this isn't the best by a long shot. It's a bit too sweet, it's got a slightly artificial quality about the coconut. But it certainly wasn't bad.
I had a sip and had to look up what was in this, which I guess is orange. It actually tastes shockingly fake, like potpourri and anise and really feels syrupy. This on top of a thick, overly sweet stout. If the Goose Island Midnight Orange had gone very wrong, this would be it.
Let's be honest, this wasn't going to make an impression at all after the other two.
Alaskan Perserverance Ale (25th Anniversary)
Very smoothed out, with a kind of caramel honey sweetness on top. Fairly prominent wood smoke flavor. Would have been interesting to compare with a young bottle. Very tasty, though!
Deschutes Black Butte³ (2018)
Whiskey forward, inky black porter with quite a lot of bitter roast. The bitterness builds up strongly over time.
Eaugh, maybe it's just its place in the sequence, but this was jarring, sweet, and rubbing alcohol-y. I couldn't finish it.
Tropical-citrus "juicy" hop flavors of the type that are common in Hazy IPAs, however this one was so mild in all of the other aspects of hoppiness (bitterness, resin, sharpness) that it crossed over into highly unusual territory. A "juicy light blonde" is maybe the closest I can come to describing it.
Medium-tart sour ale with a bright, rounded berry flavor. Very light on the funk. I really, really liked this.
Roasty, toasty stout on nitro, bit of a warm, sesame-like overtone. Kind of like a Dragonstooth on nitro. Quite tasty.
Decent enough piney hop pale, but the beer was filled with sediment which was kind of off-putting today.
An enjoyable witbier. I haven't had a Hitachino Nest recently to compare it to, but I don't think this one grabbed me as much.
Very much in the vein of the Wild Ride Nut Crusher - closer to Peanut Butter Crunch than a Reese's. Slightly below that other beer in overall coherence of flavor, I think, but still super-drinkable. And at least this wasn't nitro.
Good, solid, scotch ale that tastes like a scotch ale. I mean, I guess that doesn't sound particularly compelling? But I like solid scotch ales. Also I'm sad since this might be the last Naked City beer I ever get to drink.
Cloudy brown ale with a savory flavor not unlike saltine crackers or pretzel. Not a common kind of beer, and one which I really like.
Tastes like a tropical chew candy. Round, unidentifiable, somewhat artificial, but also tasty. Quite sweet though.
Boulevard Plaid Habit (unknown release)
Cloudy, butterscotch-y ale with quite a lot of whiskey character. Very well balanced, all told. Super-tasty.
Very nice, although you could have told me this was a chili IPA and I would have believed you.
Malty, strong amber with a prickle of hops on top. Well balanced.
My memory is not good here, but I recall this being a blah, generic IPA.
Definitely a Belgian IPA, has those faint peppery spice notes underneath the expected hops. It's an odd style that somehow always makes me think of rubber tires. Not as good as what I think of as my paragon of the style, Stone's Belgique.
Lots of bourbon sweetness up front, with a bit of prickle from cinnamon but not overt flavor. Not too much to say that I didn't say last time.
Very similar to the Old Schoolhouse, actually. I wouldn't say there's anything especially tropical about this. Finishes less metallic and a bit more... cocoa-like, I guess? Malty, not sweet.
Quite dark for a brown ale; I'd call this a porter. Fairly thick, creamy with a lot of roasted coffee notes in the flavor. Finishes a bit metallic, but enjoyably so.
A light, pleasant dark lager with a bit of chocolate, a bit of roast, and a bit of coffee. Creamy and clean.
At first glance this is really good; a piney, hoppy IPA with a funky/cereal finish. After a while the resin builds up in pungency and it gets a little less great, but it's still a strong offering from Fremont.
Modern Times Barrel-Aged Devil's Teeth with Hazelnut, Vanilla and Coffee (unknown release)
Whiskey, sweet, a little but of nutty coffee, but avoids being too heavy or syrupy. Not at the very pinnacle of this style, but maybe close to it. Yes I realize this picture makes the burger look enormous, it wasn't really that big.
Nicely round oak and caramel to open. More than a little piney hop but clean and balanced pretty well. Tastes less boozy than you'd expect at 11%+ ABV.
Only had a sip of this, but my impression is that the oaky-sweet caramel works well to cut what would have otherwise been a bit of a musty, dry cider.
Belgian saison that trends more toward the Belgian pale end of the flavor spectrum. Subtle white pepper and clove with a kind of juicy effervescence. Not sour, not funky.
A smooth, creamy nitro milk stout with an immediate hit of strong chili spice. It evens out the bland-sweetness you normally get form nitro. No hint of unpleasant soapiness. Pretty good, though that spice sticks with you.
At first this is a medium-resin hoppy IPA with a bit of toasty, spicy cereal flavor. Very pleasant. However, the bitterness builds up rapidly and by the end of a 12 oz schooner I was finding it almost undrinkable. So a real mixed bag.
A bubbly pale ale with piney fragrant hops, a little bit guava, a little bit grape. Pretty clean and fairly delightful. Not sure I'd always be in the mood for this, but it hit the spot tonight.
Smooth and inoffensive. On the bright side, it didn't have the poky hoppiness that most of the dark beers here have; on the other hand, it wasn't particularly memorable.
Russian River Supplication (012518)
Funky cherry flavor; mild sourness followed by a bit of caramel and salt on the lips. More yeast bitterness than I expected, probably since this is still relatively young. Anyway, this didn’t fare as well as previous tastings of more aged vintages.
Thin, dark stout with mellow, buttery coconut. Not too sweet, not too roasty, kind of a bittersweet chocolate character. Goes down very smooth, with just a hint of metallic bitterness at the very end (maybe from the can?). A very pleasant surprise.
Dank, dank resin and not a few skunky vegetal overtones. One of the very few beers I just couldn't bring myself to finish.
The Rare Barrel Hidden Forces (unknown release)
A clean, funkless sour with more than a little bit of hop flavor. The tartness is puckering but not overwhelming. Someone said that it resembled white kimchi juice a little, and that’s hard to let go of because it’s not wholly inaccurate. But I did like this otherwise.
A very dark amber with a lightly roasted, deep caramel flavor. Finishes with a tiny bit of hop fruitiness. Pleasant and light, but not especially memorable.
Possibly the spiciest beer I’ve ver had. Slightly skunky on the smell and flavor, but mostly strong pepper rind bitterness and heat. Seems like there’s plenty of hops but they take a back seat to the Carolina Reaper. Heat isn’t unbearable but it is strong and lingers. Can’t see myself drinking a lot of this, but it wouldn’t be crazy, either.
This bottle was over three years old at this point. Smooth, almost vaporous, with a very complex wild sourness left over. Not very accessible, but I liked it very much.
Seved super-cold as they do here at Prime, so that there were actual ice crystals in the beer. Worked surprisingly well with this beer, bringing out the mellow chocolate notes.
Noticeably smoothed out after a year of aging, this was more of a creamy-sweet-but-not-at-all-cloying coconut candy beer. If you’re going to do a coconut beer, there is a way to do it dark, and a way to do it sweet. This is the apotheosis of the latter.
An odd beer of two experiences. Smells bright and exactly like ginger ale, but drinks a bit musty-sour, with some diacetyl buttery flavors. It’s easy to get used to the flavor, but that dissonance with the fragrance never really resolves.
Watery and bland. A bit of an interesting edge on this, a toasty, grains of paradise-like exotic flavor, but it's not enough to rescue the beer.
The Blood Runs Cold was described as an East Coast IPA but this was the real hazy beer. Good but generic in its juiciness.
Canned-juice character. Reminiscent of the Raspberry Crush, almost still tasted like raspberries. Not my favorite.
Best of the flight. A clean citrus flavor mixed with fragrant hop-forward character. Finishes bitter but cleanly.
A little sad that they didn’t have this on nitro anymore, but this was remarkable nonetheless. Boozy, bourbony, sweet and delicious. Tiny bit raw around the edges from being young.
Berliner weisse-like sharp, sour opening. Clean finish. This was far too late in the lunch to remember clearly.
Chalky, inky, umami flavor. Slightly tart finish, a bit like Worcestershire sauce, which matches my previous experience with Ola Dubh. Woody but not actually very peaty.
Cherry-bourbon notes, very fizzy. Caramel, clean, sweet, but not syrupy. Delicious.
This beer is the closest to a chocolate milkshake I’ve ever had. Nutty, boozy, but smoothed out significantly by nitro, leaving a light sweetness.
“This is a porter, not a stout.” Refreshingly uncomplicated, but also not profound.
Good stout. Vegetal tequila notes dominate.
Ex Novo CocoGoNuts Barrel-Aged Stout with Coconut, Vanilla and Sea Salt (unknown release)
Like a coconut candy bar in mood, but actually not too sweet. An “Almond Joy” in a beer. Undeniably boozy.
Firestone Walker Dark & Stormy (unknown release)
Smells strongly of rum. Mellows out quickly, with lime and ginger subtly mixing to create a harmonious, possibly healing concoction. Yum!
Holy Mountain Midnight Still with Turkish Coffee and Cardamom (unknown release)
Pours thick and profoundly dark, with a dark tan head. Amazing, smooth, very thick stout. Dark plummy finish. A “refined berserker,” it dissipates cleanly to finish. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.
BJ's Grand Cru (XIX)
Biscuity Belgian ale, light yeast character. Pretty noticeable alcohol flavor. A few years ago I had one of these that I thought was undrinkable, but this was different; perfectly pleasant if a bit strong, but not especially remarkable.
Jammy blueberry sour, with a little more of a musty finish than I like.
Hilariously, when I ordered a Festivus they brought out another Splinters, and honestly I was too far gone to realize it, other than thinking they'd really improved the Festivus. When they corrected their mistake, yeah. Pretty perfumey.
Also tastes young. Blending this with the Midnight Orange makes an orange cream stout that is probably better than either component beer. This is interesting because I first got to know Goose Island through their excellent orange cream sodas in the ‘90s.
Strong orange. Almost perfumey, but just avoids that mortal sin by a hair. Tastes very young.
This was in no way a Scotch ale. It was much more like an Oud Bruin, sour, maybe a hint of caramel. Definitely weird for what I was expecting, and I wasn’t alone in this opinion.
Unexpectedly dominant guava juice flavor in this hazy IPA. Could be that my palate was a bit burnt by the KBS, but this worked really well.
Roast coffee, not too sweet, light but present bourbon. Did not seem nearly as punchy as 12% ABV would predict. Pleasantly surprised by how understated this felt after the strong sweetness of CBS.
Described as a stout with banana, strawberry, chocolate and vanilla, and it basically meets all of the above. Sweet and desserty, syrupy but not cloying, it tastes exactly like a fudge banana split. I don't love super sweet beers, but this was surprisingly enjoyable.
Lightly roasty porter with some faint coffee notes and a round lactic smoothness. Pretty tasty, although the finish is a little sour/tacky on the back of the throat.
Resinous hop opening, pretty dry, although some sweet cereal comes in near the end to mellow things out. Fizzy enough that it stands out.
Fairly bitter, somewhat rooty. Served at typically warmer cask temperature with also-typical flatness; lots of hop oil collecting on top. Yeah, nah, not so much.
Medium roast, coffee-centric. Smooth from the nitro but characterful enough. Again, the barrel character was almost nonexistent. This wasn't going to win any contest against the Splinters, but it was a nice, lighter followup.
Smooth, buttery caramel and strong bourbon. Goes down disturbingly easily. This seems like two years in a row where the Splinters take has been very good.
This was good. I only rated at the time, didn't write notes, so I can't say more than that, except that I remember thinking this was as expected for Firestone Walker.
Sweet but light nitro stout. Bit of a cereal milk quality. Very pleasant, if not distinctive.
A forward, sharp tartness, some followup chocolate, and a whole lot of authentic blackcurrant flavor. This was very good. I don't quite remember what the original Tart tasted like, but I have the strong feeling that this was better.
This was really good, although all told it was more red wine than beer. The stout was pretty hard to detect through all of the dry grape and brett funk. Rounded, only slightly bitter, with a lingering grapey fizz. This split opinion, but I liked it.
A bit raw in its hit of whiskey but otherwise a pretty good barrel-aged scotch ale. If it's reminiscent of anything it's Goose Island's Cooper Project Scotch.
A hazy, fruity IPA but with a sweet, slightly buttery cereal finish that really mellows out this beer. Still pretty bitter but I think it was my favorite of the night.
Very bitter, hoppy dark lager. This year's version is a lager for the first time in a long time, and I'm not sure I like it.
Dry, pleasant IPA with a bit of resin tang right at front. Nothing screams "fresh hop" about this beer, but it is tasty.
A mild, tropical IPA that has is smoothed out by the unusual step of added vanilla. The vanilla doesn't necessarily taste very fancy, but it still works, I think.
Medium sweet medium thick chocolatey stout, slight cherry, more hop dankness than I’d like.
Tart, intensely peachy, pie spice. Interesting overtone of wood smoke.
Surprisingly good despite a clover character I don’t usually enjoy. A little rooty, a little nutty, toffee/caramel. Like a candy brittle.
I... don't remember anything about this, sorry. It's been too long. I rated it then, so I trust that, but also there was no way this was going to win out vs the banana coconut Dragon's Milk for a full pour.
I thought this was fantastic, maybe my favorite of the Reserve series so far. You'd think this would be too sweet, but the banana is a very nice, rich, banana cream pie kind of flavor and the coconut smooths it and melds it nicely with the base stout. So yummy!
Mild banana, funky malt, Brett driness. Cherry is very light and gives more of a wine+pastry impression. Not revelatory, but complex enough to be intriguing, and pleasant besides.
Slightly sweet cream coffee Porter. Mild roast, light caramel, the slight sour mineral finish actually helps this one nicely
Slightly spiced Belgian pale like, banana bread. Some of that same mineral dry finish
Yeah, this was a super good coconut chocolate stout. Not nearly as over-sweet as Skookum's strong stouts tend to be, this was perfectly balanced. Seems they've bottled this as well!
Started out nice, roasty, thick, creamy, but not sweet. Built up in that bitter, burnt Stone way though. This variant did highlight its hop content. Seems to be a thing with their stouts.
Mellow, caramel barleywine with a good underpinning of whiskey. There's some vegetal, cider-like tartness, from the pumpkin? that just balances everything out nicely. This is a bit more simplistic than some other standouts in this category (Rumking anyone?) but it was very, very tasty.
A more standard IPA with some rindy bitterness. Not as good as the fresh hop.
Everything I've tried at BBC with the word "orange" in the name has had a weird, perfumey fake orange flavor about it. This ... was pretty much in the same vein. Better than the other ones; the rest of the IPA minimizes the perfume effect, but I didn't love it.
Starts with a hit of fragrant hops but transitions weirdly into like a cherry dessert bar. Oats and sweet cherry and a hint of cinnamon. It's a nice flavor but it really feels like two separate drinks smashed together.
I don't have the non-fresh hop version to compare this with, but this seems more bitter and less fruity than I remember. Touch of dry resin. After some food this did taste smoother though.
Breakside Err to Excess (2018)
I mean, this tasted like exactly what you'd expect. Take the standard bourbon barrel aged salted caramel stout, which is already excellent, and add hazelnut into the mix. Nuttiness is mild, and the caramel is mellow and sweet.
Good flavor, dry, fragrant. Doesn't necessarily taste like the strong fruit of a typical hazy ale, and definitely a little more bitter than I like.
Round bright raspberry flavor followed by a very mellow almost candy finish. Just a touch of wood. Clean and delicious.
Nice sour but with caramel darkness making it a bit unusual. Almost gritty?
Extremely bitter and a lot more resin than I expect in a fresh hop IPA. I guess there's more than one way of doing this and this is the way I don't like.
Bracingly tart, but clean; emphasis on dank pineapple flavors with some sweet wheat funk right at the end.
Goose Island Bourbon County Barleywine Ale (unknown release)
Surprise offering at Boardwalk. Very smooth, caramel, slightly fruity. Got boozier as the glass went on and by the end I was pretty wrecked. Felt it all night too.
Quite a bit more bitter than I expected. This place makes good beer, but they do like the bitter.
This was really, really good. Not bitter at all, dry, grapey flavor very like a brut IPA but with a much more intense fragrance. Different from most wet hop beers I've tried, and really fantastic.
Bellevue Fresh Hop Ale (2018)
Very pleasant, mild, fragrant fresh hop IPA. About exactly what you'd expect from a prime example of this genre.
The orange in this beer is just slightly over the edge into perfumey, though not nearly to the extent that similar beers from Bellevue Brewing go. Otherwise there's a very orange soda quality to the flavor. Finishes like a good kolsch/cream ale, but oy, that opening.
"Wow, this tastes so fresh, and complex, and... green. What is that flavor? It's right on the tip of my *burp* Oh. Cucumber. It's totally cucumber."
Is this a diabeetus joke? Bad taste aside, this is not nearly as sweet as you'd expect given the description, though it is fairly sweet. Balanced pretty well with a bit of dark chocolate bitterness. Medium-thick. I didn't love it, but it was still decent.
Thick texture, somewhat thin flavor, but sickly sweet. Smells odd, though not quite pizza in my mind. I don't know how different this is from before, but this time it was just really gross.
Smells nice, like a complex saison. That first sip, though, it's like an herb salad that kind of overpowers every other flavor that might be involved. Just a little too weird to get over.
This was really delicious, a sour hazy IPA! Combination I've never seen before. Grapefruit opening, a dry sour close, dissipating into an immaculate, clean finish. Loved it.
Light pumpkin spice, caramel amber. Thin body but quite pleasant.
Unusually hazy/yeasty for an Oktoberfest. Flavors are decent, but muddy. Suffers greatly in direct comparison to the Black Raven from last night.
Smooth, creamy, sweet Porter on nitro. Finishes noticeably hoppy and bitter. Incongruous.
High alpha hop bomb. Nice flavors and not too pungent but it hits you in the face and not very pleasantly.
Chocolate roast Amber with a significant hop presence. Finish goes from Irish red style caramel to quite bitter in a hurry.
Clean, straight sour. Passion and orange are obvious, guava not so much. Cereal finish, Berliner Weisse-like
Not too sweet, lots of spirit flavor. This seems much, much stronger than this beer used to be, and the numbers seem to back it up (server said this was 11+%!).
Sweet helles funk. Sharp hop bitterness and plenty of resin. The smell gets more strongly funky over time.
Pineapple spritzer mixed with cream ale. I'll take it.
Probably the least good brut IPA I've had yet. Why? I can't remember, but noting for the future.
I thought this was the brut on the menu and it turns out it was a hazy. So I wasn't really looking for this style; that said, it was perfectly fine.
A pleasant surprise, sweet-ish, honey cereal opening, just enough vanilla to balance out. Smooth, milky finish. This is pretty much like drinking cereal milk as a beer.
Worked with the meal, but this isn't much more characterful than a Budweiser. Thinnish, slightly sweet, some uric flavors.
Round, cleanly tart and fruity up front. Definitely reminiscent of "dragonfruit flavor" rather than dragonfruit itself. Some berry. Light, pale ale finish. It's tasty and drinkable, but I think the character is more like a radler than a beer beer, you know?
Best beer of the flight, but still topping out at a "Decent." Mellow, thin stout. Bit of roast, a sesame-ish unguent character on the tongue. Not too sweet. Smooth and drinkable.
Sweetish grapefruit IPA. Not super-remarkable, but pretty pleasant.
Fruity but not tart. Peach is subtle; main flavors here are coriander-clove Belgian spice. I don't normally gravitate to that flavor profile, but this was quite decent.
Unusually cloudy for a Pils. Mild forward bitterness, coriander-ish funk. Finish is a bit cereal, a bit bitter.
Missed logging this at the time and it's way in the past. I do remember liking this very much and that the fig was quite striking.
Least sour Berliner Weisse I've ever had. All wheat funk, no sour, light grape. It's actually really quite good.
Somewhere between a CDA and a Belgian dubbel. Hoppy and fruity with plenty of caramel.
Brut but with a funky curl. Maybe a little too juicy? Grapey, bitter, bubbly, resin.
Slightly fruity in front. Malty/uric finish, medium smooth.
Dark, roasty but creamy. Would have pegged as a porter but it has a bit of lactic finish. Slightly reminiscent of sesame candy.
Medium tart, musty flavor. Hint of bit cucumber. Okay sour but not something that stands out.
You know, it's pretty fine for a CDA. I'm just reminded that I don't really enjoy the style.
Flat and pithy, with a distinct kind of chemical, Lemon Pledge flavor.
Grassy and bitter, with pretty high alpha and an unpleasant, raw cabbage-like edge to the flavor. Did not scream fresh to me at all.
Clean, slightly sweet Brut IPA, less funky and bitter than previous ones and more of a clean pilsner character. Super refreshing.
This was about as good as you could expect of a non-barrel aged stout; creamy, sweet, slightly boozy and roasty. I still don't know what I had back in Chicago, but it could have been this. Who knows?
Main flavor here is hazelnut, creamy and nutty. It really manages to overcome the sweet umami heaviness that usually characterizes this family of beers. Only real complaint here is that the chili was pretty much a non-entity here. I didn't taste it at all.
Watery lager. Doesn't taste premium at all. Might beat a Coors Light, but not much more than that.
Green Jalapeño flesh, dry and bitter. Slight cereal and fruit to finish, but primarily chili. Not spicy, just a hint of building warmth.
Flavor is somewhere between a hazy and a brut. Grapefruit, and grape; fairly bitter finish. I mean, this was perfectly fine? But compared to the previous two bruts I've tried, this was definitely the weakest.
Slightly funky, slightly tart peach to open, mellows into a light lager very quickly. An unusual combination of flavors, but pretty good. And anytime you get peach that doesn't taste like canning syrup, you have to count that as a win.
Fruity but not fake. Like a strawberry pie. Not tart, just a round, bright flavor.
Firestone Walker Pacific Gravity Bourbon Barrel-Aged Weizenbock (unknown release)
Just hints of spice, primarily caramel. Super mellow, less booze, more barrel.
Pure resin. I'm sure a lot of folks I know would love this beer, but me not so much.
Very similar to the pale, but with a fair bit more high bitterness at the end.
A mellow pale with a medium resin-on-the-tongue hop presence. Really drinkable and fairly tasty.
Really sweet, candy lemon flavor. Like a Lemonhead, I think. All hop character is basically overcome by the sweetness. I really didn't like this, but the folks with sweet tooths seemed to take to it better.
High alpha, very hoppy IPA. Didn't finish the glass, but I think more due to its strength than dislike of the flavor.
Caramel, slightly fruity (in a round, cola-esque way), still very drinkable.
Very rich, butter and cornflakes, yeast Tang and grass. Takes a little away from crispness, but it is tasty.
Superb pale, piney, touch of Mandarin orange and buttery diacetyls. Super mellow finish.
Loving this new style. Sharper than the Bellevue version but just as good, if not better. Vinous and bracingly bitter.
Slightly clearer than a hazy IPA but with similar characteristics. Slightly dry opening, a clear resin character throughout. Sweet cereal finish mellows it out. Very well-balanced.
A very interesting blonde, kind of a murky, rooty opening but with very nice honey / buttery notes featuring prominently. Reminds me of my mom's ginseng tea. Clean, thin body with a light cereal finish. Would be interesting to compare to Double D but that wasn't an option. Yum!
See notes on Slackwater, because this beer was very similar. This one had a bit more alpha, somewhat less resin, making this a little more one-note in flavor (bitter, sweet). Very similar finish. Good, but I did like Slackwater better.
I liked this -- a lot -- last time but it didn't work so well today. Maybe because it was last in the flight after stronger beers, which is unlucky. Light, almost watery, nice coffee notes, slightly musty.
The server assured me this wouldn't be sour like the other P-51s. The server was wrong. I mean, it wasn't as bad as I remember, slightly sour, slightly burnt. Otherwise decent smores flavors on top, but still not great.
Round hops, lots of caramel and a fair bit of toasted malt. Constant background of bitterness, but a nice, wintery kind of amber.
Goose Island Brasserie Noir (2018)
Smells like a fruity red, tastes like a fruity red. Well, with stout caramel on top, which makes it taste a lot like prunes. Tacky sourness lingers in the throat. Maybe this'll get better with age, but ... meh for now.
Sweetish drip coffee but with an unpleasant vegetal flavor right up front. Not so convenient.
This was really tasty. Reminds me a little of some Brett IPAs I've had, though this doesn't seem to have Brett. Slightly grapey, fruity but very dry. It's got the crispness of a nice champagne but definitely some hop fragrance and bitterness as well. If this is the new trend, I'm looking forward to it.
This was... kind of nasty. Smells good, but you're hit by a really funky, sweaty-something flavor to open. It goes fairly quickly to a sour, decent peach flavor, but the very next sip starts 100% funky all over again. Unlike many sours, this doesn't get better the more you drink.
The Herbfarm's menu says this is a pale ale, not a lager, although the flavor sits in the middle. Hoppy IPL-like, resin and sweet cereal.
Caramel coffee with light hop/yeast character. Comes off as fairly sweet-tasting. Not super in love with this, although I've definitely had worse in this style.
Absolutely disgusting. Sickly sweet, smoke is like a tire fire, acrid and bitter.
Really interesting. Bracingly tart on open, with a hop-bitter-sourness (not at all salty). Finishes clean, and all fresh grape. Each sip was a flinch followed by pleasure. Basically unlike any other sour I've had.
Grapefruit-passion juicy IPA. Slightly more dry/bitter than others I've had, although like the best examples ends with the promise of bitterness rather than actual alpha.
As is usual with this beer, it was a bit much. Bit of caramel-soy and thick-sweet. What makes this beer solid though is its smooth, nutty, toffee finish.
Excellent lager; buttery cereal, slightly sweet, with a notably and unusally toasted-grain body. Very tasty.
A straight, crisp lager in the American style but with plenty of flavor. Grassy, clean bitterness. Very refreshing.
Slightly rooty sweetness, slightly herbal bitterness, but otherwise clean lager with some fruit notes. Really nice.
Tastes like a very dry Belgian pale; yeasty with esters that are stopped short by non-sweetness. It's a chewy-yet-light sort of beer. Not exactly refreshing, but pretty tasty.
This didn't taste like a beer at all. Unusual in that this was way more like a Moscato d'Asti or other sweet sparkling dessert wine more than other doesn't-taste-like-a-beer-beers. Sometimes I score highly even if a thing doesn't taste beer-like but I'm not feeling so generous today.
A juicy pale; grapefruity-opaque beer with just a touch less fruit and much less thick than the Skookums and Wally's of the world. Slightly dry, slightly bitter. I didn't love it, but I didn't dislike it either.
Crisp, clean saison with an effervescent, slightly tart, white winey curl on top, in the vein of a Saison Brett or what I remember the Pour les Oiseaux being. Excellent pick for this style.
Didn't taste at all like my last review. Acrid, alpha bitterness over everything else, kind of like sucking on an alcoholic tire.
A light doppelbock; not too spicy but with a dry yeast profile. Thinner than most and less characterful than other examples of this style, but loads more interesting than a standard Moretti.
Very bitter, alpha pale. This could easily be classified as an IPA by other, less over-the-top breweries, but for Three Floyds this seems about right. Fragrant and oily.
The most normal of the beers. Somewhat thinner than most breakfast stouts, tasting like a cream coffee porter. Slightly sweet and more than average roast.
I wish I'd taken better notes. I do remember this being very tasty, and a little unusual; possibly wit-like? I'll have to try again to be sure.
Not gonna lie, the beer was good but this pizza was the real star. This was the house beer, a sweetish blonde with a touch of fruitiness on top, very easy to drink.
Lots of head but still a touch flat. Good Märzen flavor, slightly sweet on the back end, but solid. This bar has really good burgers, by the way.
They called this an "Egyptian style" - not very beer like, more like a plummy ginger tonic. Cask-like flatness and a lightly maltt finish. Pleasant but bland.
Like a less yeasty version of the Moretti Grand Cru. A maibock to that one's weizenbock, is the best comparative way to put it.
Slight fragrance of candied citrus peel. Mellow, sweet cereal lager. Way more interesting than a regular Moretti.
This imposing 750mL bottle was less than €4. Estery like a weizenbock, slight raisin, very slightly spiced. I enjoyed this a lot.
Decently drinkable. For something "non filtrada" this was remarkably clear. Tasted somewhere between an American wheat and a lager.
In America we'd call this an IPL. Fairly hoppy. Surprise -- didn't love it.
Well, they're not lying. This is sour, and it tastes like cucumber and lemongrass. It's only mildly sour, but since the other flavors are not sweet at all, it'll pucker you a little bit. It at least will not make you think of savory Vietnamese food. It's not bad at all.
Gigantic Most Premium Russian Imperial Stout (unknown release)
A profound stout. Starts thick and malty, a combination that very often turns to overwhelming sweetness (see: Skookum). This one, though, turns a bit bitter, almost savory. A very nice way to finish. Yum!
The Bruery Girl Grey (2018)
Don't smell or taste bergamot, which is most disappointing. Honey-like sweetness, some bready, tripel-like Belgian body. Pleasant but forgettable. And not Earl Grey! For that, try Breakside.
Thick, milshakey stout. Not an overwhelming finish, but still dessert-like, with a creamy marshmallow flavor. Directly in this flight, I liked the Holy Mountain a lot better than this.
A creamy, roasty porter, medium-bodied. Smooth finish. Hints at an English-like yeasty tartness but doesn't actually go there. Still, it's comparable to a Samuel Smith... a quintessential oatmeal stout.
This beer seriously tastes like someone took half a glass of dry white wine and blended it with have a glass of pithy IPA. Starts wine, finishes beer, and never really feels like the two halves combined into a single drink.
I like the joke in the name, but I don't much like this beer. It's a pithy, boozy IPA like you'd expect from Stone, but the peach (it doesn't really read as peach) gives this kind of a straight-through insipid sweetness that takes this to a new level of displeasure.
It's not exactly a beer. It's like a pomegranate juice cocktail, maybe some apple or peach. Just a hint of cereal to remind you is a beer. Sometimes this is a ding on the rating. Today I'm feeling kind.
Medicinal bitterness, like a licorice candy. Interesting, not bad, though not exactly purely enjoyable to drink.
Don't taste Pineapple at all. Pithy/grassy bitterness but otherwise mild.
Just a splash, picking crowlers. Smooth, lightly sweet, definitely not as intense as most tripels. Will have to have more to tell more.
Just a splash, picking crowlers. Not especially cranberry, just a medium fruit/tart porter. Need more to get a good feel.
So weird, this smells of sweet vanilla, hits you with a ton of sharp acid, and then end with a bit of almond cookie, smooth and sweet. The vanilla is a touch perfumey. Ok, but weird.
Maybe my least favorite Hazy IPA yet. Typical opening grapefruit flavors, but very quickly goes very bitter and pithy.
Very hoppy porter, round spicy underneath the burnt caramel Porter flavor. Unpleasant
Same creamsicle flavors as the previous beer, but on a sweet Belgian base
Sweet, creamsicle like with clean round orange notes. A tiny bit fake tasting
Easy-drinking dark ale; a good roastiness giving way to notes of dark chocolate. Thin body.
Strong example of a German pilsner, clean hop bitterness, cereal, some uric tang on the finish.
A very dry saison with lots of Belgian spice, particularly clove. Not the most harmonious blend.
I had wanted Reuben's Hazy IPA, but they were out. This was advertised as juicy, but it was more of a standard Northwest IPA flavor. Excellent IPA, though, clear and fragrant, fruit and pine. Clean cereal finish, no oily bitterness. Unsurprisingly good, given the brewery.
Robust. Medium thick. Profound bittersweet chocolate flavor.
Delicious - light wood-smoke, caramel, dissipating into an incredibly clean finish.
This had turned, I think. Smelled like a scotch ale, but tasted like sour celery.
Black Raven La Mort Rouge (2018)
Much less wine than I remember; this tasted more like a straight up dubbel or quad. Lots of caramel, some boozy notes. I did like it better the old way.
Hoppy and juicy; I'd call this more of a wheat IPA than the name implies.
Fairly tart, yeasty saison. Unidentifiably fruity with some phantom spice notes. Dry, clean finish. I didn't love it, but Firestone Walker set the bar really high for this weekend.
Firestone Walker Feral One (unknown release)
Just as good as I remember, light,tart, vinous, clean. Doesn't stick around in the throat, and I appreciate that it wasn't an ABV bomb too. Cause on a day like this... Anyway, see my previous entry for this.
Firestone Walker Bretta Rosé (unknown release)
Such tart. Many raspberry.
Seriously, though, this was so sour that I think it gave me a headache. I'm reading my previous description of this beer and it doesn't even sound like it's from the same universe.
Firestone Walker Helldorado (2017)
This is the first time I've had this beer on draft, and it seems... different. In the bottle it's got very honey-like, mellow buttery notes. This was a little more like straighter butterscotch flavors on top of a strong, good barleywine. It was still very good but it wasn't sublime. Out of the bottle it was sublime.
I mean, this is a very good beer but after two Parabolas it's going to lose. Sorry not sorry. Lighter, a little sharper. Definitely less intense in every direction.
Firestone Walker Parabajava (2015)
Yeah, this was delicious. Still thick and intense, but with the wonderful complexity of Parabola smoothed out by coffee. Absolutely delicious, and you could almost say this goes down easy after the Scotch!
I mean, this is just a whole heck of a lot. This is smoky, peaty, and also a lot less sweet than what gets transmitted to the regular Parabola from its barrels. It tastes like Scotch, basically, and that character is dominant. Parabola is here, thick and rich, but smoke is king. Something to chew on more than adore, this needs to be sipped in small increments.
New Holland Dragon's Milk Reserve: Cherry Chocolate (unknown release)
Thick, sweet, fake cherry. Cloying finish, like cough syrup. I mean, yuck.
Dessert-like, not syrupy but still a little too sweet for me to love. This is a hard balance to hit, I think. It's the cinnamon trap! At least it didn't taste like potpourri, and it was way better than the Dragon's Milk.
Belgian pale with a very light yeast flavor, very refreshing. Medium-dry. Good cereal finish. Another great beer from Holy Mountain.
A middling quad with a little more clove than I loved. But not bad.
Puzzles! Easy to drink and tasty. It's a Mexican lager, not much else to say.
The worst thing about this is the name. Flavor-wise, this is quite tasty, a caramel brown with some hop bite and a clean finish.
Orange potpourri. And on top of a tripel! What were they thinking???
They keep making these POG beers, and very few of them taste anything like POG. This continues the trend. The fruit flavors are oily and bitter, and the whole thing ends in a foamy, pithy mess.
Another opaque, juicy, NE-style beer from Skookum. This one I liked the most of those I've tried, though -- maybe it's the mellow finish from being a less strong beer, but the pale citrus, hops and cereal seemed to be perfectly in balance here. Nice buttery transition into the finish too.
Absolutely delicious. Very dry brett bitterness, a vinous, fruity grape middle and clean cereal to finish. This was like a better, much cleaner Pour les Oiseaux, which was a beer I used to love very much.
A hoppy, malty, amber barleywine. I mean, it was beer, and it wasn't bad, but it also wasn't exactly the most memorable thing. And it was priced like it should be memorable.
The utter flatness of the beer is strange at first, but it passes by quickly. Very solid stout, and omg, this tastes like a Manhattan. Sweet and lightly woody, fruit and caramel. This'll knock you out quick, but you'll have a great time while it happens.
This was a lot better than it sounded, but it wasn't great. A lot of resin in this IPA, smoothed out quite a bit with what does seem very much like marshmallow. The sweetness is both weird and appealing, and I can't tell which side wins.
Thick but not as sweet as I think I've come to expect from Speedway. A lovely, roasty coffee stout.
Malty but somehow pretty dry and a touch boozy. I mean, it wasn't bad... This tasted like a grown-up beer, but it wasn't as purely enjoyable as some of Chuckanut's other beers.
Boulevard Rye On Rye (2018)
Smooth, caramel, surprisingly mellow. Whiskey notes and a bit of a bite on the finish. Really very tasty.
This is concentrated hop juice, pine and dank greenery. Despite that the finish is very light, not bitter at all. Not boozy - this was very strong-flavored, but not because of the alcohol. I was very pleasantly surprised.
Juicy as you'd expect, but this tasted more like juice than beer. A bit of malt but otherwise a bit like grapefruit juice with a touch of roundness from pomegranate. I thought it was worse for the wear.
It takes a lot to make me think I should've ordered the Blue Moon. The aftertaste is actually pretty pleasant (if metallic), but everything leading up to it is kind of gross. Uric and flat, watery and mildewy.
The bottle label of this beer implies this is the base of Perennial's other big stouts, and it shows. Almost candy sweet, thick; somehow not crazy overdone but still something that can only be had in small doses. Lots of vanilla.
Toasty, buttery coconut. Immediately sweet but balanced very quickly with a good (but not overdone) amount of roast. If I had to compare it would be like Maui's Imperial Coconut. Very, very tasty.
Very fragrant, tasty hops. Solidly bitter on the end, high-alpha without being too pithy. Might as well have been an IPA though, can't detect anything that screams lager here.
Dry and yeast-bitter, somewhat flat. That said, this had a very interesting, green-wood flavor to it, and I think overall it was good. I wish it had been more easily drunk.
Somehow less resin than the Talk Story but without the interesting grain flavor. Definitely Hop centric but not bad.
Sweet-roast, creamy and mellow. Really easy to drink although there's something a bit... hollow about the finish? Thin enough that I'd call this a porter.
A noted step down from the regular pilsner; this isn't bad, per se, but the pineapple-juice quality of the fruit erodes the crispness just enough to subvert the flavor. Not fake or weird, just a touch out of balance.
A new brewery, charmingly inserted into the old Maui Brewing space in Lahaina. This is a light, tasty German/American pilsner with a hit of tropical fruit on the front of the flavor. Really strong offering.
Decided to try the new Maui brewery's offering. Some pungent resin to open, very IPA-like, but proceeds to a toasty, exotic grain flavor... Grains of paradise come to mind? Bitter and complex.
Lightly tart, peachy, with lots of sweet wheat cereal to finish. Fragrant and refreshing. The server mentioned a bourbon barrel, but I didn't really taste that. A really delicious beer from The Bruery.
I don't know what exactly makes this a "German IPA" but the server didn't either. It was a really solid IPA though. I mean, I guess it was maltier than commonly found, but not super-unusually so.
Perfectly pleasant but not particularly memorable. Fruity, tart saison.
I had ordered a Mac Nut Brown, but they were out and I got this instead. This was something I'd had before, but still a decent beer; caramel, nutty, mild. The new brewery / restaurant is beautiful!
Lightly tart, good sweet wheaty cereal. Lots of pear and not much bergamot, I think, but really tasty!
At first I thought this was the best one, although with some more distance between the beers the tequila is a little wooly here. Wooly in a good way for sure! But some moods might prefer the straightforwardness of the Scotch version.
Directly after the brandy version this was a bit dry and a lot bitter, but with more separation this really grew on me. I think this may have been the best one in the end.
Fruity, sweet and very smooth. Really, really tasty. It may not have ended up at the top of the flight, but there's no way to really fault this beer.
A strong banana lager. That's basically my takeaway here. Untappd called this a maibock, which does seem appropriate. Beeradvocate says German Pilsner, which... well, this would be a bad one. Another generic beer from the Costco Advent Calendar box.
Golden and clear, this tasted like... a really smooth, peanut butter milk stout. I gotta say, this really messed with my head, but also it was delicious!
A light pale ale with plenty of biscuit and strong hints of grassy, floral, citrus. Basically, this was exactly the beer it claimed to be.
Excellent, mild, creamy milk stout with very light coffee and pronounced coconut flavors. Mildly sweet, not too thick. None of the metallic aftertaste that Belching Beaver's other stouts can have. This was delicious.
Very sour, puckeringly so. Tons of peach, with a kind of coconut aftertaste, which may have been an interaction with the floral flavors, but nothing tasted floral outright. A little too sour for me to love.
Light, fragrant, fruity-hoppy pale ale. Next to the Solid Gold it is a bit thin, but it's still pretty good.
Opaque, juicy, grapefruit-passion New England-style pale. Not bitter at all.
Unrelentingly sour, with the most intense peach flavor. A lot to deal with.
Hale's Woodinville Whiskey Barrel-Aged 'Shed Stout (unknown release)
Sour enough that I think this bottle has turned. If it hasn't, it's unpleasant.
Just an excellent lager, rich cereal flavor, slightly sweet, slightly buttery. Delicious.
Pruney, smooth, caramel Belgian dark. Prune is not always my favorite flavor in a beer, but the overall effect here is very, very nice.
Sour. I didn't much like the original Brunch Weasel, but I'm absolutely sure I like this one less.
Unexpectedly delicious. I was afraid the peppercorn would mean this was a lots-of-spice saison, but it was mellow, lightly estery, with nice toasted barley flavors. Peppercorn is distinct, perfectly balanced. Light, exotic and warming at the same time. Yum!
Quite tart, very fruity. Slight salt in the aftertaste. Pretty good but also like a lot of other beers out there.
Dry berry flavor counters the hoppy, base IPA. It's a good balance. But nothing will overcome my natural distaste for boysenberries.
Holy cat this was against expectations. There's quite a lot of hoppy character built into this, like a strong CDA with a little more roast and thickness. Somehow still good (I don't usually enjoy this style) but definitely a surprise.
A smooth, thick stout with the most disturbingly accurate strawberry ice cream flavor I've ever encountered in a beer. All three of the Neapolitan components are definitely here, but this is somehow coherently a beer too. I'm glad it's not colored accurately, though!
Interesting beer - Yetis have always been a little overwhelming for me, but on nitro it was very much toned down (as was the beer itself, I suppose, at only 5% ABV). Not being a sweet beer helped a lot, resisting the sickly-sweet nitro effect, leaving a kind of very smooth, woody chocolate flavor.
A concentrated hop juice IPA, plenty of resin and a lot of pine. Relatively smooth finish for such an intense beer, which puts it a step above most hop bombs. Thanks to Nate for bringing this!
A little less overtly enjoyable than I remember; maybe because the growler wasn't fresh? It was still good though.
A great palate cleanser after the stout. Better than I remember, clearly hoppy but also sweet and cereal, finishing cleanly and without overt bitterness.
Pours dark and thick, super umami and tacky-sour. The comment was made that this tastes like Vegemite. The residue in the throat lasts much longer than is reasonably necessary. At any rate, it wasn't pleasant.
Light coconut, dark chocolate roast, tending toward the bitter rather than sweet. Thin body. Just ever-so-slightly sour on the finish. I know it doesn't sound like it, but I did think this was yummy.
Slightly smoky porter, with the dominant flavor being a roastiness that is on the edge of being too bitter. Finishes mild and clean, which rescues this thing and actually puts it on the side of light.
Fruity, caramel, metallic, bready, poky alcohol. Thesaurus me, bro.
An unusual but delicious saison. Spicy from the rye, with a slight, vinous tartness, white pepper, and a rich cereal finish. Yummmmm!
I would swear this had coconut in it but I know it doesn't. Best coconut beer that contains no coconut ever, I say. I feel like I never got this impression before, but everything else was consistent with previous tastings.
Thin body and on the bitter side. Somewhat cloudy in appearance and flavor. A decent lager that isn't boring, but maybe isn't the most refined either.
Possibly my favorite in a flight that was uniformly excellent. Light wood smoke opens, with a not-at-all-sour, subtly-chocolate porter finish. Chuckanut definitely seems to be expert at getting clean finishes in all of their beers, and this is one of the cleanest. Bought a squealer for work.
Notwithstanding "Chuckanut Schwarzbier" being the most suggestive phrase I've read in a while, this is a light, dark lager with forward coffee notes and a mellow, lactic finish. No tackiness from that, just cream (ugh, that sounds dirty again). A fantastic schwarzbier.
Chuckanut Doppelbock (2018)
Doppel the bock in this flight! Nearly identical to the 2017, as one might expect, although it does have a sharper edge to it.
Chuckanut Doppelbock (2017)
Molasses / gingerbread dark yeast flavors, light, cola like body and a luscious, smooth finish. Nothing pokes out in any way. It's not as profound or as fruity as something like an Aventinus, but it's definitely delicous.
Much cleaner flavor profile than the Honey lager, with no wet hay character and a rich cereal body. Light, very clean finish. Matched my snapper sandwich perfectly - the food here was excellent too!
This was mostly a cider, flavor wise. It's dry and slightly funkier than most ciders, probably from the quince, but with a very pleasant flavor. Beer comes through ever so faintly at the end, with some sweet cereal. Interesting!
Lightly fruity pale, with tropical-passionfruit hop flavors. Perfectly drinkable.
A very dessert-like beer, of a type that usually annoys me. Here it mostly works. Pecan pie, caramel sweetness, no roast or bitterness to speak of early on. Ends with a rooty, yeast funk, which is the main ding.
Light wet hay sweetness, finishes with honey, caramel, cereal. Enough tang to add character but not enough to be cloying. Pretty enjoyable after a long, long drive.
Rich wood smoke combined with a light, sweet wheat beer with more than a little unusual florality (as in flower, not hop). The overall effect is both pungent and light, like a chrysanthemum tea. I really found this compelling.
Interesting hop profile, very clean and clear (as opposed to the hot trend towards hazy IPAs). Hints of apple and guava in the flavor. Bitterness built up a little by the end of the glass.
Disgusting, I thought. Very sweet lemonade and cold coffee. That combo wouldn't work for me, even before bringing beer into the equation.
If the peasant king was like a Squirt, this was like an Orangina. Bitter citron. Definitely a double IPA in terms of intensity. Pretty good, though!
Flavor is in the same ballpark as the Peasant King, although less intense in every way.
Very New England. Thick, juicy, opaque, like a beer version of a Squirt.
Fresh tasting and intense, pithy. Undoubtedly this is a legendary beer, but it's not my ideal IPA.
Tea I didn't really get at all from this, but a very tasty wee heavy in all respects.
Delicious and super-drinkable, slightly fruity-hop with slightly buttery, smooth, cereal finish.
Smells sweet and candy-like, but counteracted nicely by a dark-bread, slightly bitter opening. Follow through isn't there - I'd have liked more bready body. But this wasn't bad.
Nutty-funky and slightly rooty, like a less weird version of their Vienna lager and its successors. Nice caramel but the funk lingers tackily in the throat.
It's like they took the slightly tangy yeast of an American hefe and mixed it into a sweet helles lager. Not estery or spicy, and the dry hops come across as a kind of round, lightly grape-y flavor. Very refreshing light, but bright and tasty.
Breakside Cultivating Mass (unknown release)
Smelled like any number of blunt whiskey stouts, but this was a hugely pleasant surprise. Clear whiskey notes that immediately smooth out into a clean, vanilla-caramel finish. No tackiness, sourness, or even moderate roast. Delicious!
Valmiermuiža Tumšais Dūmalus (Valmiermuiža Dark Smoked Lager) (unknown release)
A standout, a light dark lager with light, rich wood smoke melting into a smooth caramel finish. Ghost of a peaty scotch in the finish. Really, really tasty.
Tastes a lot like an English or Scottish lager, grassy, wet-hay. Light finish. Pretty good but not especially remarkable.
Very tart, slightly salty on the lips. Clearly recognizable as strawberry.
All the things I don't like in IPAs, together at last in one beer.
Smelled unpromising, like any number of spiced holiday stouts, but this is how you integrate spice into beer. Just enough cinnamon, ginger, whatever, to deliver the impression but the main attraction is a solid, smooth, light porter.
Coconut blends in with the nitro blandness a little too well, and the rest is just... burnt-tasting. It takes a lot for me to dis a coconut beer, and this one's got a lot.
Nice, white-wine kind of fruity funk in this saison. Just hints of spice, maybe a bit too much yeast bitterness.
Very, very hazelnutty. Only issue with this beer is that the base brown ale is very thin, would have liked more creaminess to add some backbone to the pleasant nut flavor. My memory of the Rogue puts it a couple notches above this.
Okay, I liked this? Sweet-ish, light Mexican lager. But I absolutely got no hint of habanero, which, if you're gonna list it on the can, you really need to back up. Right?
Smells like eggnog. Tastes like an eggnog candle. Next.
A funky, dry apricot sour, buttery with recognizable fruit. I can't tell if the up-front bitterness is from the funk or from a stronger-than-usual hop presence - my palate was a bit muddy. Loved the first half of the glass but near the end the funk got to be a bit much.
Tastes like gingerbread. Slightly spicy, definitely smooth. I don't exactly remember what Sam Adams' similar beer tasted like, but I think I enjoyed this about as much, which was plenty.
Thick-ish stout, effervescent. Cola-like opening, chocolate and smooth.
Georgetown Bourbon Barrel-Aged 18LB Imperial Porter (unknown release)
Straight, sweet bourbon finish on a thick, strong porter. Not refined, although tasty enough. Bit of cherry wood.
I get the trick now; this doesn't actually taste like a stout other than it is devoid of the more fragrant notes you'd expect from a golden beer. Very smooth, and more chocolate than roast (as you'd predict). More sparkly than most nitro beers. I liked this.
Fragrant, light, effervescent IPA. Good, but honestly, like a hundred others.
Okay, after waiting an hour for food it's time to complain. This beer was free, though. Unremarkable but perfectly good light-caramel brown ale. Tasted less strong than its ABV.
Old keg on special for $2 a pint, at which point, you don't complain. Quite a decent Oktoberfest, previous review still stands.
Not as juicy as the actual beers I had in the Northeast, but a similar grapefruit / tropical opening. Finish is decidedly cereal, and quite a tasty experience overall.
Smells deliciously of coconut, no doubt the dominant flavor. This is an unabashedly sweet beer, very dessert-like. Light coffee slightly counteracts it, but it's still very intense. This is a hair less balanced than the basically-perfect coconut B-Bomb, but it's definitely delicious.
Smoother than the Doctor, although there is a subtle bitterness that gets stronger over time. Likewise the chili flavor, which is subtler than in other beers, but was quite warm and lingery by the end.
Delicious, smooth stout with a fragrance of... sesame? That toasted, unique nutty flavor made this a delight to drink. Yummmm.
Semi-flat from an intercontinental trip in a... plastic soda "growler?" Still, very decent flavors, a light citrus-pine-hop opening and a pilsner-like bitter finish. You can definitely see the lager side here, which is more than many IPLs can claim.
Sweet citrus IPA. On the edge of too fake, although there was something candy-like and appealing about the flavor. Lemonheads. This beer tasted like Lemonheads.
An excellent coffee porter, nutty and just on the edge of savory. Appreciated that this wasn't on the sweet side. Smooth and balanced.
I thought the smell was a bit odd. Flavor is more chocolate than cinnamon, medium-thick, fairly smooth and milky. A bit more dry sourness than I was expecting, and a nice roasted / subtly smoky finish. Aftertaste is tacky, unfortunately -- from the lactose?
Surprisingly flavorful, with a slight sake-like tang on top of a rich lager flavor. I have a whole can of this stuff at home so I'll be giving it a deeper look soon.
Definitely smells like cocoa. Flavor is much too sour, like they took a peach lemonade and mixed it with a chocolate stout without everything coming together coherently. Undrinkable, really.
Insipidly sweet. Not offensive, but nitro isn't doing this beer any favors. It's like watery cereal milk.
There's probably a decent pale ale here underneath but the whole thing is overwhelmed by an oil slick quality to the dry hoppping. Finishes bitter, unpleasant not because of its level but because of its resemblance to spraying perfume directly on my tongue.
Backwoods The Stumbler (unknown release)
Woody, strong stout, Slightly sour and boozy, the latter quality not coming through more as pure alcohol than whiskey. Otherwise it was drinkable, but nothing's going to distinguish this beer in a strong field.
Kind of sits somwhere between a bitter and a scotch ale. Tons of caramel is the dominant flavor. I can't quite remember but my impression of the finish was a lightly dank hoppiness. Not something I'm likely to come back to.
A very good IPA, bright orange notes, lightly buttery cereal middle and a finish that is recognizably bitter but feels perfectly balanced in context. My only wish is that it hadn't come with floating ice crystals from an overchilled mug.
Okay, this won the flight, if only because the cherry and caramel of the whiskey melded into and overcame the finish that wrecked the other two beers. Not a subtle or complicated barrel aged beer, but quite enjoyable.
Similar burnt plastic sweet finish as the coconut. Peanut butter is just a hint and might as well have been nonexistent for all it was overwhelmed by the finish.
The smell of coconut is quite strong, and the flavor that opens it is buttery and pleasant. The finish was more off-putting, an oddly sweet, burnt plastic kind of thing. Given my previous review, seems like this was a step down.
Very smooth, thick, dark stout. Light taste of wood and caramel, no overt liquor. The most impressive aspect of this beer was just how smooth it was.
Light, smooth, nitro stout. The cherry is bright, almost like what you'd get in a cherry cola, but without feeling tacked-on. It basically tastes exactly as advertised.
Roasted, dark; I wouldn't say the peanut butter is an overt flavor but it's there. It comes across more in the impression of jam if you squint after a sip. So: porter first, PB second. It's still really tasty.
Has a lot of the grapefruit+pine flavor of other NE IPAs from this trip, although this was much less cloudy. I've gotten acclimated and now I can't tell what is or isn't specifically a NE IPA... Help! Too much resin in this beer though.
Another fragrant pine-grapefruit IPA, although this one has a resin pungency that keeps building over the course of the pint. By the end it was pretty unpleasant.
Light banana, white pepper, and a lot of yeasty bitterness. That last is strong enough to be unpleasant, with a slightly acrid quality about it. It was... okay. I had hoped for more from the first American Trappist brewery.
Not nearly as opaque as some of the other NEIPAs I've had recently, although the flavor profile matches up. Grapefruit / Citrus / Hop Juice; moderately sweet body. This had maybe a little more hop resin pungency than other beers, but finished very smoothly.
Amberish beer with light caramel notes; understated hops and fruit. Very drinkable, without competing with a very eclectic set of flavors in the food here.
A really interesting beer. First of all, what else am I going to drink at the Tea Party Museum? But this was made with Lapsang Souchong, and it's really not subtle. Lots of smoke and earthiness; the porter underneath was on the thin and brown side, letting the tea shine through. I liked it!
I mean, it kind of tasted like a Miller Lite? I'm sure the ingredients were top quality, and it certainly tasted clean, but in the end it's also a thinnish, sweetish, light-tasting American lager. On the other hand, this can't help but get points since I'm drinking this with Shake Shack. You win this round, Big Elm.
Mellow, cereal-butter blonde beer. Very pleasant. Only had a couple sips before I realized they gave me the wrong flight.
A disaster, I thought, though to be fair, if you really liked licorice, you'd probably like this. It was very strong on the licorice. The stout underneath may have been good, it seemed like it could have been, but all I could taste was clear, building, black licorice. Ugh.
My favorite of the night; this didn't taste watered down like I'm used to with shandies, and it didn't even taste overtly lemonadey - it tasted like a good wheat beer with just enough overtone of fruit.
A solid pale ale, not too hoppy and with enough malt to make this a balanced pour. On the other hand, nothing really jumped out to me as exceptional.
It wasn't explicitly stated, but I'm going to guess this is one of them new-fangled "New England IPAs." Bitter and hoppy in front, with a grapefruit character. Finished fairly smooth. A little harsher than the really good Fremont offering from a couple weeks ago.
Had even less of this than the Golden. It was nice. Smooth, warm vanilla, not too roasty.
Came across better, apparently, than last time. I think it's because this time it wasn't very flat; instead, a medium-tart berry flavor pleasantly sweetens out to a cereal finish. Interestingly, this did come across as cranberry again, rather than blackberry.
Funky, not-tart saison. Decent amount of horse blanket, although the finish is crisply clean. I wasn't actually in the mood for a sais, but had to get in one last try after I heard the brewery closed.
Unpleasantly sour, like a dry export stout but with a more lasting, tacky finish. The real crime, however, is that this doesn't even pretend to taste like cookies. Or even chocolate.
It was good? I remember that, but can't remember anything else. Waited too long to log it.
This was not going to compare well with everything else from tonight, let's be realistic.
Look, this was good. And I don't have a prayer of remembering anything about it. I think I said something about this being the much younger sibling of the 3 Fonteinen. I'm assuming I meant without all the weird funk.
3 Fonteinen Oude Gueuze (Blend No. 8 - Season 16/17)
This was ... this was really weird, guys. And yet strangely compelling. I do not think I've ever tasted a funkier beer in my life. Apricot. Butter. Copper urinal? But somehow I kept on sipping.
Russian River Consecration (091715)
Profoundly complex after a couple years of aging. The essence of currants, and a whole lotta wood, pronounced but not overwhelming tartness. This is shoe leather and antique furniture and crystal stemware. A monocle may be involved.
Okay, now this one was too sweet. I guess they couldn't keep it up forever.
Uhhhh, more like it. Lots of mellow nuttiness here - no joking around with the hazelnut. The savory nature of the nut cuts through the syrup of the stout very nicely. As for cinnamon, it's much more subdued than in the coffee version; in fact, I didn't taste it at all at first. But it's definitely there. Yummmmm.
Cycle Rare DOS Double Barrel: Bourbon Barrel Then Cinnamon Bourbon Barrel-aged Coffee Imperial Stout
The primary flavor in this beer is cinnamon, followed by a kind of smoky roastiness that ... was probably coffee? But it's not overt. Mixed with bourbon barrel, of course. Inky-black and thick. I liked it a lot, but there was just enough pokiness to keep it out of the highest tier.
Very sweet, but somehow... not annoying? There is a caramel, almost apple pie (I didn't realize this was pecan until afterwards, it certainly didn't seem nutty) flavor that carries through to the finish. I don't know how this didn't end up cloying, but it didn't.
Listen, I wasn't looking forward to this and it blew my expectations out of the water. A superbly balanced, light IPA, with Bale Breaker's typically fragrant approach to hopping. The mango is not sweet or syrupy at all, just somehow a bright, fruity, realistic, essence-of-mango. I mean, drop the mic. This worked.
I had a less-witty description for this and I forgot that too. Let's just say this Costco box is not filling me with "the holiday cheer," okay?
I had a really witty description for this ready and sometime in the past two weeks I totally forgot it, sorry.
Still a superb beer. Not profound, I think its lightness prevents that, but so, so smoooooth.
Slightly more bitter than the other one, and less juicy. Less great overall.
Hazy, opaque, grapefruit. Not too sour, not too bitter. Juicy!
Grapey fruit flavors; otherwise, this is a Czech pilsner, grassy, bitter and bright.
Light, smooth, toffee and bourbon. Rooty finish, vaugely like licorice.
Boozy opening. Finishes like sweet chocolate candy.
Logsdon Krieke Vier (unknown release)
Cherry-caramel, not too sour. Tannic. Really nice, clean finish. Salt on the lips.
Sour, funky, clean caramel.
Not sour. Very nice, fruity. Strawberry is distinct and believable.
Nectarine? The flavor dissipates to finish. So smooth. Great.
Alvinne / Naparbier Gentleman Sour Oak-Aged Oud Bruin (unknown release)
This is a Flanders brown for sure. Caramel, lightly sour.
Hair of the Dog Jim (2017)
Part sweet, caramel, light touch. Lays off the sweetness after a bit. Similar flavor notes to Stickee Monkee.
Caramel, light raisin, not too sweet.
Very woody. Dry but not sour. Light whiskey.
The Ale Apothecary J.W. Lees Barrel-Aged Loganberry La Tache (unknown release)
Very sour, raspberry. Foamy but not fizzy. Medium funk, sharp forward, sour wheat finish.
Clear wine notes, like a cabernet sauvignon. Caramel. Clean finish.
Vanilla + Potpourri. It tastes a ton like a mulled cider without the fruit flavor. Sweet, and definitely much less body than the regular scotch ale. But it's so perfumey that it's hard to like.
Very light, with that kind of cereal milk creaminess you'd expect from this style. The honey gives it a nice, rich sheen. One of the better beers I've had from this brewery.
Despite having plenty of concentrated hop juice, this worked really well. The additional flavors (mint, mango, chili) come through as a brightness and a non-alpha bitterness that round out and balance the flavors very well. No detectable spice, though.
A very nice German pilsner, a definite step up from the previous two beers.
Day 4. This had a really strange flavor at the front, that didn't connect to the main flavor of the beer, which was like a light Belgian pale base. The extra flavor was ... sweet hay?
Day 3 of the Advent calendar. Some really nice foreflavors; a gingerbread/banana bread hybrid. Finishes pretty dry; it certainly felt like it should have been a little sweeter.
Day 2. Pours a rich amber. Caramel festbier, lightly sweet. Not much toastiness or cereal. Pretty boring Festbier.
Day 1 of the Advent calendar! A golden lager with wet hay sweetness leading to a firm bitterness which balanced the opening nicely. Not crisp at all.
Very solid, first time on draft. Slightly sour, dry, smooth. Exactly what you'd expect from an English stout.
Smooth bourbon stout, not too syrupy or thick. Plenty of maple sweetness, although it does feel a bit slippery, extraneous to the flavor rather than a smooth transition. Not sticky, but it lingers. Maybe with age it will meld more.
Very light, pleasant blonde ale. Easy to drink. The mango flavor is light but definitely there, enough to twang the tongue but not enough to feel out of place.
Just a taste of this, but enough to know I didn't like it. Citrus. Fennel. Rubber.
Lots of lime, sweet cereal finish. The lime flavor is somewhat cloying, almost like candy. Kind of an oily finish.
A very weird, bright, hop perfume meets an orange essential oil slick. Less like a Kolsch (not much cereal, not much yeast) and more like a dry hopping experiment gone wrong.
Really unhappy smell, like rubber tubing. If you get past that it’s more or less a Blue Moon underneath.
Somewhat flat, starts hoppy and bitter, lightly tangy yeast and finishes with a buttery cereal mellowness.
At once richly malty, like a holiday-spiced dark banana bread, and also very yeasty-dry. This beer feels like it wants to be sweet but doesn't quite get there. Finishes tacky. I liked the flavors but it stuck in the throat.
Clean, light saison that sits definitely on the fruity, vinous end of the scale (as opposed to spicy or sour). Not too funky, although there is a whiff of horse blanket around the edges if you're really paying attention. A very tasty saison.
Just slightly off but enough to take it into the uncanny valley (gold). Sweet helles, medium bitterness. But the sweetness lasts a little too long and a bit too sticky.
Smooth, light-bodied but mellow, a solid, slightly nutty coffee flavor. Decent roast. Ever so slight lactic sweetness on the finish.
Had a bigger taste of this. There really isn't any detectable smoke in the flavor of this beer. It has a light touch, more like a soft German chocolate cake; lots of caramel sweetness and some smooth cocoa on top. It's not super-compelling, but it's decently tasty.
A chalky-roasty stout, but made even drier with the wine. So dry. Flavors were there, and I wanted to like it, but it was hard to really enjoy the whole glass. The concept would probably have worked better with a slightly sweeter stout.
Better than I remember from past releases. Still not much of the barrel spirit present, if at all, but a fine roast stout with coffee notes, enough to counteract the nitro blandness and produce some solid flavor.
A strong release, I think. Very much bourbon, with a solid, malty, caramel Scotch ale base. Did not think this was thin at all. Back to an awesome rating, and drunk fresh at that!
This tasted so strongly, pungently of dried peaches. Which is not a flavor I've ever had in a straight IPA? They say this is a new recipe. They should probably go back.
Very tart and juice-like; very strong mango flavor. Clean, fizzy finish. Not very beer-like! But I enjoyed it.
Yuck. Thin beer, cola-like smell, taste is kind of insipid-sweet with a very cinnamon perfume quality. This is more like a cinnamon soda than anything else. Did not like.
Should have tasted better than it did given the description. Thin, yeasty stout, with a smell and flavor that borders on mushroomy.
Tastes Belgian. Clove, white pepper. Rooty hops at the end but this has more in common with the hefe than the pale.
Fragrant pale. Rooty flavor, rooty, bitter finish. Bit of sourness, that yeast again, though it doesn't dominate.
Pepper clove banana hefe. Same sourness as the pils but you expect yeast in a hefe.
Good opening, not really cream, strange yeasty sourness.
Fizzy and yeasty. Somewhere between a fragrant American pale and an estery Belgian pale. I mean, it's hard to complain when you're eating THE BEST STEAK EVER - SERIOUSLY.
Sweet, smooth, lots of caramel. Nitro blandness countered strongly with alcohol, hops and some bitterness.
Light, buttery-honey sweet and cereal. Slight tang and a kiss of bitterness on the way to a clean finish. Yum!
I mean, it's still good. But I tasted a lot on the soy sauce side today.
Similar flavor to Pumking, custard and pastry. Maybe slightly more fruit and a darker, more caramel flavor. Slightly bitter finish.
Fragrant, pleasantly sweet, buttery. Very light bitterness and finishes with an appealing, aftertaste.
Super, super sour. Almost a savory pineapple. Dries out your mouth almost instantly, although that moment a minute after your sip where all the saliva suddenly comes back is... pretty neat.
Quite good, but directly after Inferos the body seems a shade hollow in comparison.
Fragrant and super-flavorful. Decent amount of cereal body. For something with the words "imperial" and "rye" in the name, this was actually refreshingly light and smooth. Then again, I thought the same thing about Fortem and then was totally disappointed the second time. WE'LL SEE.
Mounds? Mounds. Rather less sophisticated than I would have expected from this brewery, but... Mounds.
Very tasty. Vienna lager? Or like a good helles lager with more caramel. Quite light.
This was so good, you guys. Like cold-press young apple cider mixed with a sweet cereal beer. I COULD DRINK FOREVER.
Lots and lots of blackberry. Tastes almost more juice than beer, but definitely less IPA than you'd expect.
Yasssss... Super-smooth dark chocolate cake opening. Creamy texture, biscuity sweetness. Habanero's hard to taste at first, just a bit of fruity tingle on the front of the tongue, but builds up into a pleasant warmth after a couple ounces. Pretty darned tasty.
Rounded orange flavor, like a Satsuma Mandarin, leading into a very front-of-tongue bitter hop-resin flavor. Finishes clean. It was ok.
Smooth, light, creamy porter. Still quite good. But omg, the real story is Blade Runner 2049. So good.
So I had this after a sweeter lager last time, and I'll have to note this is actually sweeter than I took it to be last time, and less bitter. Still very pleasant to drink. This was served too cold, definite ice crystals.
Maple scotch ale? Color me intrigued! Bad sign when the bottle pours like there's cottage cheese in the bottom. Like, we're talking a ton of sediment. Flavor's okay, caramel but very dry. Chunks disturbing though.
Biscuity, mellow, lots of caramel. Hops on the grassy side and significant, but not unpleasant. Another really good beer from Chuckanut, who apparently can do no wrong?
I mean... Does it even have to be good with this name? But it was. Oh, yes it was.
Yeah, this tastes fresh all right, but also very bitter for a pale. Piney rather than fruity. Alcohol pokes through in a way I didn't quite like.
Ummm. Almost exactly like drinking a watermelon jolly rancher. It was okay, but startlingly artificial-tasting.
Light, roasty dark beer with a bit of a lactic finish. Honestly, I have no idea what makes this different than the schwarzbier. May have to try them side by side someday, but it's probably not worth it.
The Bruery Bottleworks XII (2013)
Medium tart but with a very dry quality and a ton of funk, almost cheesy, on the back end. A while lot of raspberry and some cake like cereal sweetness. Somewhat of a chore to drink.
A double IPA? No way! This is super flavorful, with a ton of hop flavor, but also very smooth and slightly sweet; it finishes really mildly. This shared a lot of positive qualities with Stillwater Extra Dry, another sake-based beer, although this went in a different direction. Just as enjoyable and dangerously drinkable.
Interesting to get a raspberry beer that is decidedly not sour, but still has that mild, funk-salt finish on the lips.
An amber IPA, very fragrant, sweet and resinous. For me, this wasn't a good start, folks. But this beer really pulled it out in the end, with a smooth, sweet cereal finish with no bitterness at all. Very pleasant finish. If you're going to make a gateway beer to Lagunitas-style hop bombs, this is probably it.
Thick, syrupy, candy-like, like a liquid Ferrero-Rocher candy. Chocolate, nut-butter, a lot of sweetness. This wouldn't ever hit my top tier as a beer, but as a dessert, it's quite lovely.
Really strange. Like, this is definitely an IPA, with lots of fragrance and hops, but with a very tropical turn into coconut and pineapple. Manages to stay light instead of nectary. I liked this, weird as it was.
Light, fruity, hop-fragrant IPA opening but kind of dissipates into a light, almost watery, lager-like finish. Still, a pleasant Friday lunch beer.
Pours rich, and thick, and this is BOURBON! above all, but what makes this beer work is that despite the BOURBON! and the clear, rich coconut flavor, this manages not to be cloyingly sweet, or even sweet as a first impression. That's a really delicate thing to accomplish. This was a really, really good beer, you guys.
Lots of hops, lots of caramel. Previous review still holds.
The Small Lebowski is in it to win it! Oh, the beer? It's tastes like a moderately hopped Vienna lager? Lots of caramel, a bit of wet hay. I'd probably take it over a Sam Adams.
Jake brought in a beer! I really liked this. Pretty strong hop presence in the opening, with pungent pineapple notes, hints of grapefruit. Finishes with a malty cereal smoothness. It's been a while since I expored Full Sail's lineup, might be time again.
Definitely better than the Field to Ferment. Similar opening, slightly more round and grapey, but with a much smoother finish. Good malt and a bit of buttery funk.
Super fragrant, pungent hop-fruity opening. Finish is higher alpha than I wanted, so I couldn't love this. But luckily, this wasn't the only beer I had.
First fresh hop beer of the season! Super fresh-tasting. You guys, this was so, so bitter. But I actually think I liked it, in spite of. Because, you know, fresh. Also Reuben's. I write good.
Much less sweet than expected; a savory banana cake of a beer, super smooth finish. Just a bit of yeasty tang sticks in the throat. Very nice from this brewery, as usual.
Sweet banana bread and a lot of yeasty tang to cut through the sweetness at the end.
This was still good, but almost a bit too rich after two very good beers. And since it had a pretty similar profile to the Matchless, this one gets knocked down a peg.
I'd call this a stout more than a porter, based solely on thickness, but who cares? It was delicious. Creamy, roasty dark ale, with light hints of sweet, bitter, coffee, and umami. Nothing pokes out; everything is super well-balanced.
So, Pumking is great, but if you were looking for something to cut the sweet, pie custard quality of that beer, this is probably exactly what the doctor ordered. A fairly roasty coffee flavor counteracts a very Pumking opening and makes for a different ending. Drama, not comedy, if you're in that mood!
If you're gonna have a Rainier, I'd suggest not chasing bad tequila with it.
Light, sweet wheat flavor with banana and a very clean taste. Tangy on the backend. They put a lemon slice in the glass here, which is a tradition that needs to die.
Val-Dieu Cuvée Spéciale 800 Ans (unknown release)
A lightly spicy Belgian saison with more than a little sour funk. Fruity, with a light, clean finish.
Smooth, caramel, light flavored scotch ale with a pleasant but very bourbon-forward flavor.
What would be a light, banana-clove-white-pepper Belgian pale ale is shot in the face with a huge hit of wet-wood-smoke flavor. It's a little bit (lot bit) like drinking a doused smoke bomb.
Complex, lightly sour weisse. Funky, aged-cheese character plays with the mind but doesn't really detract from the flavor in the end. Only wished for slightly more carbonation.
Intense, syrup-thick and sweet, like a reductuon. Every other feature of this beer is very smooth out. A profound experience, even though it's too concentrated to easily enjoy.
Thin stout, roasty, lots of whiskey character. Very enjoyable.
Thin, not as malty as other Oktoberfests I've had lately, nor Brian's Silver City which I tried side-by-side. I don't think it's as good as that beer but it's still pretty okay.
Decent oatmeal stout with some pretty believable blackberry flavors. It wasn't something I'll remember forever, but it was a pleasant enough glass.
Seemed a lot more fruity-sour than I remembered, and I don't know if that's real or if I've gotten more sophisticated. Either way I hate everything.
Same great Pumking flavor, but this is enhanced by the rum to give kind of an apple-cider-syrup hit of both fruit and sweet. I liked this a lot, although there is a significantly strong bitterness in the finish.
Smell and opening flavor are a really nice green apple fruitiness; almost candy-like. Some sweet cereal in the meantime, but very shortly, hops and funk combine for a pretty musty finish. I found myself really wanting this to be brighter.
Starts with a high roast opening and then smooths out with a sweet, cloudy honey-funk flavor. I actually thought it was too sweet, too mellow; it removed any kind of edge on the finish and I think this beer needed that.
This was a lot more grapefruit and alpha than I remember for this beer. Very meh this time around.
Actually a pretty balanced IPA and less unusual than the other beers here. That said, this is definitely an alpha hop bomb and not my type of IPA.
Way more juicy than I expected, tropical fruit, dank, rooty notes, and light hop resin. Interesting, but frankly not what I was looking for when I ordered a rye beer.
Not the smoothest nitro beer, with some still-hunt carbonation, but this is a good thing. Light body but enough roast to poke through the nitro sourness and balance things out nicely.
Strong banana , light clove... Very traditional hefe flavors although this is on the sweeter side for sure. Slightly watery.
A sweet, edge-of-bubblegum grassy hop sheen dominates all of the beers here, but most noticeably in this cask pour. Round, white grape flavor to start. Somewhat soapy.
The Bruery Mash & Coconut (2017)
Yup, this is pretty much what I'd want given a beer with this name. Forward flavor of dark chocolate, with buttery, toasted coconut. Dry, lightly-roasted finish. Tastes exactly like a dark chocolate haystack or truffle. I can't say I picked up a lot of whiskey flavor though.
The background here is an indistinct acidic fruit flavor, like a bitter tomato, maybe. Still, the main beer is a pleasantly medium-sour beer with a slightly salty aftertaste. I would have liked a little more distinct tomatillo-ness.
Well, this was pretty much as awesome as you'd expect. Definitely smoothed down, although so were the holiday spices. Still, a very well-integrated, delicious glass.
Sometimes you pick the least bad beer. But what is up with the color? That can't be natural.
Rich, helles flavor, cereal and light sweetness. An excellent lager.
Sweet and dessert-like opening, smooth caramel. Thinner in feel than you'd think given that description, and I thought the saltiness came across as unpleasantly briny. The salt makes the turn from sweet to roasty less appealing.
Unreasonably strong for what it is; a pleasant mix of smooth coconut cookie and some dry hop resin. The result is smooth and definitely cocounutty, although a lingering, dry bitterness and the feeling that it's getting you drunk faster than it's worth are demerits.
Hoppy dry red. Mild toasted barley flavor but the hop sheen is definitely the major flavor here. Goes down very light.
Dominus Ghaul's Red Legion Ale (A Commemorative Destiny 2 Red Ale) (unknown release)
I taste it! I taste the Light!
A rich, thick umami-sweet stout, what you'd expect from Midnight Sun. Starts sweet but dries out very quickly, leaving a molassesy, burnt bitter finish. A bit of a cherry syrup quality throughout.
Starts a bit like a typical dunkel lager, but very quickly goes weirdly metallic/medicinal, somewhere between ginseng and ginger. Not awful, but It was definitely a bit off-putting.
Lightly sour. Thin and very dry, unusually not-juicy for a raspberry beer. But I hate raspberry, and I really liked this.
Chuckanut Fest Bier (unknown release)
A really tasty beer, definitely more of a richly-flavored Helles lager than a marzen. Pours clear and gold.
Smells nice and fruity. Sweetish alpha bitterness on the edges but a solid, unsweet flavor, a hint of tropical fruit and lightly pungent resin.
I speak the language now! Richly malty amber lager, good mix of funk and malt sweetness. Definitely not crisp.
Definitely a close relative of the Kristallweiss, so the differences are interesting. First, it's definitely stronger in alcohol. It's also somewhat murkier in flavor - more funk, not as bright. It is, however, still very nice. I don't know why you'd pick this over the other, though, unless you're trying to build up the courage to put on that Drindl.
Bright, unsweet, banana-spice biscuit flavor, I don't always like banana-spice, but when I do, it's this beer.
A light, dry lime bitterness at the start which fades into a thinnish, clean, cereal blonde ale finish. Slightly salty.
Almanac Lavender Honey Brett Saison (unknown release)
Oddly, this tastes more like a pina colada sour (strongly pineapple; coconut impression could believably be a result of honey & diacetyls). Little to no funk. Less floral than I'd have expected. Still, this was interesting and quite tasty.
The Bruery Share This: OC (2017)
Wonderfully balanced creamy chocolate stout. Just enough vanilla to smoothen and sweeten the stout to a remarkably clean finish. No notable rough edges. Only thing kind of missing in action is the orange flavor, but I didn't really care. I kept waiting for this to get worse, but it didn't.
Prominent taste is of orange zest and bright hop notes, with a bit of pungent resin before resolving into a clean, non-bitter finish. Really nice.
Thin, sweet biscuit malt lager with a bit of uric tang and then a long, grassy finish. Very slightly lemony.
Like dark, molassesy zucchini bread, more bready than sweet. V. slightly on the thin side but a really good, smooth, flavor. Tastes like autumn.
Medium sour but clears to a sweet shortcake finish. Pie cherry, effervescent, drinking vinegar-like flavor.
Not as good as Widmer's take on the same subject, but still ok. A lightly sweet, creamy porter with a roastier-than-expected finish. Lots of caramel in the flavor but wispy or nonexistent amounts of nut and coconut flavor. No cherry at all.
Medium-tart pale sour with a complex, apples and cheese funk. Light, and finishes clean, this is a very sophisticated (and pricy!) pour.
I just had a sip of this. Pleasant, smooth saison (vanilla?) with medium tartness at the finish. Definitely enough funk to give this a bit of a cheesy overtone. A. Would horse blanket again.
I don't know if there was a lot of "Mexican" in this, but everything else is exactly as advertised. Lots of smooth chocolate and peanut butter, with the lightly lactic finish typical of this line of beers. Maybe a little less metallic than the bottled versions, and possibly slightly less thick?
BIRTHDAYS FOR THE BIRTHDAY GOD. Nice beer, thinnish stout with a malty, caramel flavor. Clean finish. Didn't get much in the way of Belgian here, and I've had some Belgian stouts. But if you want a not-too-heavy dark beer, this will probably hit the spot.
Pale, thick-headed beer. Lots of banana and clove, with a strongly alcoholic flavor poking through on the back end that makes this seem stronger than its six-something percent. A bit like a weizenbock without the wheat. Decent, but probably a little too much clove for me to love.
Bubblegum and grapefruit IPA. Fragrant and light, but after some of the remarkable IPAs of the past few days this one is pretty unmemorable.
Has an herbal, thyme-mixed-with-hops flavor that is an unusual opening. It's not a bad thing, but it does mask the wasabi quite a bit. The wasabi itself come through as an barely detectable spiciness that pokes through at the end, and more in a numbing tingle of the tongue that persists after the flavor.
Definitely doesn't taste as strong as advertised, and also doesn't have any characteristic Wit spice flavors. Instead, this tastes more like a sweet, creamy... I don't know, "milk blonde?" There isn't much grassiness from the tea, but more of a smooth matcha-latte Kit Kat effect. Tasty, if simplistic.
Not bad, but bound to suffer after the excellent Holy Water. Light bubblegum and lemon-citron. High alpha finish. More of a typical, resinous IPA than its predecessor.
A surprise brewer's night at Boardwalk! Clean citrus pine flavor, with an almost savory, cereal flavor balancing out the finish. Barely toasted? Really tasty.
Bubblegum and alpha. This is a much different flavor profile than I expect from a Firestone Walker IPA, so at first I thought it just tasted weird. Then I realized it was just my expectations.
Firestone Walker SLOambic (unknown release)
A very dry berry sour, one of the least juicy I've tried. The berry flavor is very realistic, but muddied by a kind of tomatoey murkiness. Finish leaves a salty feeling on the lips and a few smacks of the mouth. It's... more good than it is enjoyable, I guess?
Super, super dank. Smells and tastes pungent and herbal, almost contrabandy. The lactose sugar is... like a chalky sweetness that tries to cover up but doesn't defeat the dankness of the opening.
A delicious IPA, round citrus and pine without being too sweet, super mellow finish. No bitterness at all. Not a surprise, from these two breweries. More like this, please.
Tastes exactly like the style would imply - a light toasted-barley amber, maybe on the Irish Red side, with a ton of hops. Medium-high bitterness, lots of fragrance, not super-fruity. Finish is less bitter than you'd expect, but this is still on the strong side. Would probably pair well with strong barbeque, but on its own was a bit much.
Okay, first of all, this smells a little unappetizing, like dish soap. But... it tastes pretty good! A mellow, buttery honey flavor offsets the herbal, surprisingly strong bitterness of the basil very nicely. Flavor borders just a bit on that soapiness but doesn't quite cross over. Science succeeds!
Similar flavors to the Owen, but obviously not sour. The dry, wood-resin finish is the same, and there isn't much juiciness or malt to distract from the hops. Finish isn't bitter at all. A very nice extraction of hop essence if that's what you're after, although the lack of fruit makes it different other IPAs I've had recently.
A hopped sour; the sourness is not overt but is a dry, woody back-of-the-throat tanginess with some bitter Brett funk. All of that is right at the end. Hints of muscat grape or green apple? Clean and champagne-effervescent. I really, really liked this.
Just had a splash of this. Plummy, stonefruit tartness with a bit of spiciness on top. I picked the Owen above this, but making a note to try this when I have the chance.
A very interesting beer. An amber with a dank, rooty flavor, but not a dankness from hops. More like one of the herbal ancient beers you'd get from a Dogfish Head. No acid, but finishes with a clear, unusual, fruit flavor. I can't imagine this would be for most people; I liked it. Side note: I had hives afterwards, hopefully it wasn't this.
Just had a taste, before buying a growler, so there'll be a followup. Definitely has a strong basil flavor.
Definitely lives up to the name. A mildly sweet, caramelly-chocolate beer with a buttery coconut finish smoothing everything out. Just a hint of cherry underneath it all. It's not syrupy, which is why it succeeds.
Roasty, coffee stout. Perhaps on the bitter side, but it beats the sweetness that I was afraid of. I had a few sips of this because the server switched our beers, but I did like it.
As lagers go, much more interesting than the Aslan. Bright, uric lager flavor that ends with a buttery, toasted cornflake flavor. Very nice.
Yeasty Belgian with strong coriander and white pepper notes. More complex than the Aslan but not that far beyond.
Surprisingly fruity flavor, like apricot added to a standard American lager. Very pleasant.
Still quite spicy. Still very good. Don't drink this at the beginning of a flight.
Juicy, clear stone fruit, only mildly sour. More on the juice than funk side, light cereal sweetness to close. Faint salt on the lips afterward.
Just a taste. Very lightly carbonated, almost cake-like. Light bubblegum and buttery notes. Very mild finish.
Pleasant dark lager. Roast barley at the forefront, finishes slightly buttery and moderately bitter.
Aged in tequila barrels? Or just tequila added? The bartender didn't clarify, but either way this was really tasty. A pilsner on the cereal side with a buttery finish, laced with a nice sheen of tequila to add some bright complexity. I really liked this.
Like slightly dry blackberry juice / punch. Very pleasant to drink, with just a hint of funk and malt to remind you this is a beer. Tastes deceptively nonalcoholic, though this is over 10%! Easily one of the better beers I've had here.
Goose Island / Hertog Jan Grand Prestige (unknown release)
A strongly caramel / date barleywine, very sweet and boozy, although it finishes more with a smooth, sugary malt than with any harshness. Very much a dessert beer. Medium-thick.
Wet hay sweetness, slightly cloying. Have not been impressed with this brewery so far.
Smells of clean tropical fruit; I don't know if I'd say Dragon Fruit but it's less dank than your typical passion-pineapple mix. Flavor is bright and fruity, very mild resin and good effervescence. Finish is clean and not bitter. Very, very tasty!
It gets a little ding because it's Nitro, and I think that takes away from the flavor balance. Sweet and light with mild coffee notes. This is still awfully pleasant to drink. It had the advantage of tempering the stronger notes of the other beers in the flight too.
Tart, very tart. Gummy in the back of the throat. Faint melon that grew stronger over time, especially after a sip of the Black House. My memory of this out of the bottle was fonder, but this was still decent.
Yup, still more hoppy than anything else. Like a light IPA more than even a typical IPL flavor.
Jibes with what I wrote last time, although perhaps not as strongly pronounced in any direction.
Mildly hoppy caramel amber. Very northwest profile. Nice, but somewhat nondescript.
Caramel, nutty, only slightly funky. Pretty much what I look for in this style. Looking forward to more from this brewery.
Hopefully an aberration, but this batch is really very sour, and unpleasant to drink.
Light tropical fruitiness on top of a mildly caramel, light-tasting lager. It didn't scream lychee but it wasn't too hard to squint and see it. On this day, and paired with a typically tasty meal at the Redhook Pub, a really nice choice that I'm glad to have tried.
So this loses some points just for being misadvertised. This does not taste at all like a Czech pilsner - it's got a lot of bright, dry hopped northwest hop flavors and the cereal is subdued. Moderate to strong bitterness. Decent for what it is, but I wanted something else.
A quite-tart, but super-balanced, round fruitiness, somewhere between grape and apple. Not too funky, but still complex. It didn't quite taste like other sour beers, but it was definitely sour, and very, very tasty.
Clown Shoes / Shmaltz Shoebelation (unknown release)
Very well balanced, somewhat understated, barrel-aged barley wine. Not too boozy, pleasantly caramel-toffee, mildly sweet. Definitely not as hoppy as I'm used to getting from Shmaltz. Delicious.
Ugh, totally not my thing. Very yeasty amber; barely any "Belgian" flavor profile despite the label, but a dry, almost sour flavor and a harsh bitterness. Rare Unibroue total miss.
Memories of this beer have fled, but I do remember it was pleasant. Having lunch with Sukie made it much better.
This was really good; I was expecting your usual, somewhat blunt first try barrel aged beer, but this was actually really well balanced, and on the subtle side. Not too boozy, sweet, or umami.
The lemon tastes weirdly tacked-on, like lemon drop perfume. The beer flavor underneath pokes through in the end and is relatively pleasant, but the progression between the flavors doesn't feel natural.
Dogfish Head Oak-Aged Vanilla World Wide Stout (unknown release)
Good, but barely disguised booze. Thick, pungent, sweet, and gets into your head very, very quickly.
The Reserve series continues to outshadow the regular Dragon's Milk. This one is pretty much exactly as advertised, with chocolate, clear marshmallow notes and sweet-but-somehow-not-too-sweet flavor through the duration. Yum!
Black Market Gose Ale with Cucumber (unknown release)
Cucumber is quite pronounced in this Gose, which was a nice touch. A lot of the rindy bitterness makes a nice counter to the medium-tart Gose. Slight salt and a whole lot of sediment.
House IPA at Japonessa in Bellevue. Lightly malty IPA with lots of tropical fruit hop notes. Quite pleasant.
Malty, not-so-hoppy, slightly yeasty pale beer. Very pleasant, if not so complex. This restaurant is pretty nice and modern, for sure, and the food is good. Kind of similar in feel and menu to Bellevue Brewing.
Hard to argue with the surroundings; beautiful lake in the middle of the wilderness. Odd to see this particular beer on tap here. Pretty much the same as before, a fruity, light IPA.
Funkier than the Sucker Punch. Visibly this is cloudy where the other beer was clear. Starts juicy, stone-fruit, and finishes tart, a little fruit-vinegary, with some wheat funk. Definitely more complex but maybe a draw on enjoyability - very nice.
A tart, dry, super-clean lemon lime. No funk to speak of. Definitely a puckerer.
Sunny citrus pale, with a bit of buttery diacetyls on top. This particular combination reminded me of beers from Optimism in Seattle, although less bitter. Mineral finish.
Light caramel coffee Brown. Dry, somewhat mineral finish, sticks in the throat, which was slightly disappointing.
Less funk, more flavor, a dry, zesty kumquat flavor that manages to be bright without being juicy. Most successful of the flight.
Mildly floral, slightly dry kiwi notes. Bit of funk on the finish.
Almost as watery as the Mexican Lager, but in a style you don't want to be watery. Murky yeast flavors, not bright or fruity as you expect in a wit.
Nice flavors, but undeniably watery. Slight cereal funk, slight corn sweetness, slight everything.
Avery Nuttiest Professor Barrel-Aged Imperial Peanut Stout (unknown release)
Syrupy thick, like other strong Avery stouts. Strong peanut flavor - not peanut buttery, but more like straight peanut. Some described it as "gritty." I liked the peanut. The rest of the stout was maybe a bit much.
Sweetish lager, pungent of wet hay. Makes me think of English beer more than it does German. Was okay.
Banana - clove - white pepper saison. Yeasty bitterness on the finish. Not bad, but not the style of saison I like.
I don't actually much like raspberry, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised I didn't love this beer. But the real problem was that this was pretty much straight sweet, and on top of a malty Belgian spice profile. No acid that I could really latch onto.
Lambickx Private Domain (2011 - 2013)
Much less sour than I was expecting, but this clearly a complex, funky beer. Open is not particularly fruity - the opening impression is actually almost watery, or at least spirit -
but with clearly complex, funky, cheesy notes. There's a nice rebound to light tartness to finish. A fascinating beer.
Sweet, malty, cereal, caramel ale. Nitro just reinforces how smooth and light this beer is. My only wish is to have gotten a more assertive salt profile.
Boulevard Scotch On Scotch (2017)
Really good. I wish I'd taken better notes at the time. At least I know there's another bottle in the fridge.
Dryish, mineral pilsner. Sheen of northwest hop at the opening, although it doesn't dominate the overall flavor.
Pretty darned hoppy, and in a northwest, tropical fruit / pine sense. Nothing about this feels German to me, even if I knew what style they were going for.
Super-citrus, opaque, refreshing IPA. Slightly tropical. Thick, but somehow still light. Finish is not bitter.
Super-light in flavor, maybe the lightest beer I've ever tasted. No weird corn-sweetness or anything that makes me feel they went cheap, but it seems like a very watery version of a good beer. The lime is nice, but the beer part is understandably overwhelmed.
Thick, sweet coffee flavor with a very smooth coconut flavor that is mellow and sweet rather than toasted or nutty. It's more coconut milk than coconut. Faint hint of lime at the end. It's a little too straightfowardly sweet to love, but it's definitely high-quality.
Brown, Balsamic-esque sour (like Duchesse de Bourgogne?) - a couple years' aging has really smoothed out the ancillary flavors here. Slightly fizzy, clean finish. Very nice.
Smells really nice; a bit like stewed peaches. Flavor is less overt, although still peachy, a little buttery. Medium-tart but not puckering, clean finish. Only faintly salty.
Thin on flavor, with an equally thin ribbon of sweetness. I'm not sure it was exactly watery, but it was definitely less full in flavor than I like, and with so many exemplary Helles lagers around, this was firmly in the also-rans.
Good amount of puckery, tart funk. The fruit flavor is... again, not exactly obviously watermelon, although I could certainly imagine it (more than I ever could with regular Hell or High Watermelon). Some buttery notes in the finish poke through after the tartness subsides.
Very, very sweet. Maybe too sweet? Hard to tell with some of the other beers, but this seemed a bit blunt. Slight cherry wood, sweet bourbon. Otherwise mellow.
Slightly funky blonde saison with Belgian spice. Fruit flavor is round and believably strawberry (without tasting fake, thank goodness!). It wasn't as well-balanced as the Stoup, but it was a nice beer, second best in the flight.
Very solid hefe, lots of banana and light clove spice. A very balanced flavor; I don't know that I would have noticed this normally but coupled with some very unbalanced beers this seemed glowingly good.
Super-fake orange creamsicle flavor tacked onto a light golden ale. Smells like candy. At first I was hoping it would actually taste like orange instead of nondescript citrus notes, but this is certainly too far in the other direction.
A super-mellow, caramel amber. Looks and tastes slightly on the darker, brown ale side of the spectrum, but the overall effect is a little too smooth, making it non-descript. Pleasant, maybe not so memorable.
It's really kind of unforgiveable that with a setup like this I could not really taste anything umami about this beer. It certainly didn't have any of the unctuous brothy / fishy notes you'd expect from bonito. Instead, it's an okay IPA with distinct Belgian notes, on the sweet side. Huge minus points for the bait and switch.
Smells rooty, but flavor is very pleasant and mellow. Honey notes, slightly buttery. Nothing poky on either the fruit or yeast spectrum, but this is not a "lite" beer, either.
Interestingly savory smell. Wood smoke is front and center, although it is not as overpowering as some beers. Body is slightly sweet, slightly umami, and the Carolina reaper is understated but clear. Heat builds up but never to uncomfortable levels. Very well balanced flavors.
Roasted, light coffee notes. Finishes with a lactic smoothness / curl. Experience makes me bucket this in with Baltic porters or other black lagers in a general crowd.
Stillwater Insetto (unknown release)
Dry, clear fruity sourness; starts fruity and ends quite tart. Not huge amounts of funk. Finish feels salty and gose-like although I'm not sure any actual salt was involved. Pretty good!
Notes of mandarin orange and thick pine resin. Feels like it should end bitter but I think the actual bitterness is much lower than that. Still, this is a heavyset IPA - probably should have been labeled a double. Bright flavors though.
Roast porter with cream and coffee notes, topped with a jammy blackberry flavor that is super-clear in the fragrance but comes in as a background flavor on top before settling into the aftertaste. Might have been a clearer flavor if it hadn't been so strongly carbonated.
Cider is very light and lightly sweet, like slightly watery apple juice with some added hop florality. Tasty, but ephemeral.
Sweet, smooth ale, very honey-like, with a mild wheat funk and vague American hefe-like yeastiness. At first I thought this was a little insipid tasting but it became quite enjoyable over the course of the glass.
Definitely the style of IPL I do not enjoy, this was decidedly in the hops camp with high alpha bitterness and a kind of undefined tropical guava flavor (but definitely not the real-guava of Back Pedal earlier in the week). Slightly metallic.
First splash of this seemed very sweet, but subsequent sips not so much. Tropical citrus IPA, very milky in clarity. Not too bitter, but definitely has some resin in its backbone.
Buttery helles lager notes with a sunny, citrus hop character on top. Very refreshing.
Much nicer than my memory of regular Oatis, although I admit it's been a while. Some raw notes of whiskey, but overall a balanced barrel character, smoothing out some of the rougher edges of the stout.
Aged a year, this has mellowed a lot, especially in the roasted notes. Medium barrel character, dry nuttiness from the hazelnut. Very tasty.
Sweetish helles, with a buttery follow through. Maybe not the subtlest of beers, but super easy to drink; very much of a quality as the other Ninkasi lager series releases.
I mean, it's a shandy, but it was the house beer so I tried it. It's pretty sweet, with just a hint of rhubarb tartness and something else that tasted a bit like ginger but probably wasn't. Not enough depth to really like for me.
Smells quite strongly of coconut, with a light, dessert like chocolate-coconut flavor. Finish is very weak and doesn't balance the sweet opening at all; would have liked a darker roast on the porter. Drinkable, but on the mediocre end of the coconut porter spectrum for me.
Very tart, medium funk. Definitely not juicy, like the other beers in the flight. Hop perfume comes in at the end. Also tried this in a blend with the Guava Slap, which was very successful.
First taste was super-nice and right up my alley: sweet, perfumey, almost a hint of vanilla from the chamomile. Subsequent sips wore a little, although the flavors remained bright and unusual. Touch of smoke, typical of tea-based beers (even though this is herbal). Essential-oily finish.
Tastes like guava! I mean, I've had plenty of guava beers, and a lot that described vague guava in the hop character, but this is the first that really tasted like bona fide guava juice. Still definitely a beer, though. Fragrant, dry, but finishes with a clean wheat sweetness. Nice!
This year's Black Butte anniversary used cocoa and cinnamon as the main flavor notes, which was a great idea. On the sweet side but of all the anniversary Black Buttes I've tried this was the best tasted young, by far. Not too poky on the new flavors, but enough to offset the strong alcohol and flavor. Really appreciated not having any sour or fruity undertones this year, too.
The fruit has taken over this beer with age, with a dry tartness that is interesting but doesn't serve the beer as well when the Porter components have smoothed out. Suffers next to the XXIX.
Sweet wheat funk, plenty of lime. Moderate tequila notes but not boozy. Finish isn't as smooth as other tequila-lime sours I've had (this seems to be an "in" combination). Can't argue with the name, though, it's a winner. Salt might actually have been lost, though, since it didn't really come through.
Plummy, sour funk. Brown sugar and light clove notes. Reminds me of something that's trying to get to a Flanders sour but kind of peters out into an off fruit flavor rather than something truly complex. Disappointing - hope the Planete Bruin bottle I got does this better.
Fresh Deschutes hop flavor with a slightly tart passion fruit juice flavor. Dry resin appears in the middle. Light, almost weak finish.
Great, balanced blueberry cider. Medium tart, semi dry, very clean flavors.
So. First thing is this doesn't taste like Pineapple, so let's get that out of the way. Past that, this is a super easy-drinking pale with vague tropical fruit flavors and a light finish. Quite nice.
Sweet banana, honey, faint smoke. Coriander and pepper subtly in the background. Surprisingly yeast-bitter on the finish.
Pithy IPA but with a hefty hop flavor to match. Pine, cereal and yeast. Lingering bitterness.
First thing to note is that the oyster is nigh undetectable. Nor is the beer briny in character at all. So that's a bit of a miss. But! For a Gose, this is delicious and light, with a bit of lemon zest, slight salt. Would make a good liquor to base a mignonette to accompany an oyster, at least.
Fragrant, fresh-tasting, piney IPA, not bitter or pithy at all.
I think I liked this more than the regular Dragon's Milk by a fair margin. Not super bourbony, but otherwise the rest is as advertised, with light but clear spice and molasses flavors melding nicely with the base stout. Delicious.
A really nice concoction; first taking an inky quad with round plum notes and good barrel character, and mixing it with kind of the best ginger beer flavor. Basically "plum" up my alley. I wish I'd saved more of the bottle for myself.
A delicious milk stout, not too sweet, not cloying at all. Creamy and easy-drinking. Maybe one of the best straight milk stouts I've had.
Very smooth bready doppelbock, light banana but otherwise super-mellow. The rest of the flavor is wood-smoke, very strong. I liked it but others had issues with the intensity of the smoke.
A sweet cream ale, with hints of cereal milk and flaked coconut. Very easy-drinking, although I like a toastier flavor in coconut beers. So this wasn't love at first taste, although it was decent.
Inky, black stout, but very tasty - about as good as you can get with a straight Imperial Stout. It's been a while, but I think this is comparable to Dogfish's World Wide Stout.
This release is getting aged enough to be pretty good. Wine notes come out pretty clearly. Still very roasty and strong.
Unpleasantly salty-sour head, be warned (because there's a lot of it!), but once you get to the actual beer, it's quite good. Very tart, slightly salty. Clean finish.
Not especially tripel-like. Belgian qualities come through with some estery banana flavors and a yeasty "curl" that is fairly bitter. Alcohol is muted for its strength.
Nope. Very pithy and bitter. There are slight tropical notes but not more than other generically "tropical" IPAs. It certainly didn't make me think of POG, which is a flavor I love. This bait & switch counted bonus negative points.
Smooth and cake-like flavor; like a caramel brownie. Salt is subtle if there at all, and the coffee seems to have been subdued into nothingness.
Lime forward cask beer, middle flavor of ginger; aftertaste is buttery cereal. A little gimmicky, but I don't hate it.
Very strong honey and bourbon flavors in this, strongly sweet like Jack Daniel's or Wild Turkey honey liqueur. There's also a fruity sourness that muddies up the finish. From the pomegranate molasses? Not super stoked about this beer.
Light raspberry flavor with a mildly funky sourness. Not outstanding in any direction, but pleasant and fruity.
Grapefruity IPA, high alpha finish. Familial similarity to the Smith & Weizen, but with a lot more pith and less sweetness.
Basically the beer equivalent of a Squirt. Sweetish, orange-grapefruit soda with some alcohol poking through. Thick texture almost makes me think of pulp.
pFriem Pêche (2017)
Sweet, buttery peach over a medium-tart, but not puckering, sour ale. Sweetish, but clean, finish.
Aggressively hopped pilsner; not quite as alpha as the Hopfenweisse which made me miss it at first but it came out over time. Bitter leading to bitter, with a bit of fruity hop in between.
Bubblegum on the scent; flavor is a very weird mix of estery, yeasty German weisse with high alpha bubblegum and grassy hop. I just couldn't make these flavors work together in my mind.
Just had a taste of this, but liked what I had. On the vinous side.
This tastes nothing like any other California Common I've had. It's primarily a fruit-hoppy beer with an amber hue and flavor. Not an IPA, but maybe a malt-bomb hoppy pale. It tasted a bit like a little sibling of Brown Shugga.
Yams and chilies in this beer; neither comes through very distinctly but add up to a mellow, medium-bodied, sweetish porter with a bit of a smoky lick on top.
Slight honey graham opening. Pleasant, biscuity flavor, but finishes quite bitter, and together with the somewhat flat texture added up to a "meh."
Very lightly banana with very few other Belgian characteristics... Some top bitterness and cereal funk. A really nice beer.
Fragrance and flavor prominently features fresh, green bitter pepper - jalapeno or Thai chili, not sure which. Not getting so much of the other Thai flavors that were described, though the fruity IPA underneath is very pleasant and not too alpha. An excellent chili beer.
I guess there may be such a thing as too long in the cellar; this poured a profound black and had all the sweet umami of a Berserker, but with less creaminess and completely flat. I was able to appreciate the smooth complexity, but it wasn't exactly joyful to drink.
Nope. This was not a good look. Everything is recognizable in component parts - the passionfruit is very realistic and the smoky-side wit could have been a good base, but the flavors don't work together at all.
Roasty-bitter-side imperial stout. Sits in the umami side of the spectrum rather than sweet, although the bourbon is fairly present. It won't give the big names a run for their money, but it's solid.
Very strong, although the alcohol is masked behind a syrupy sweet, stout. You could probably have poured this over pancakes and had a very good time, but drinking this straight was... difficult.
Very much cranberry juice at its heart, super fruity with a gradually drying finish. Some lingering sweet juice prevents this from finishing totally clean, but it's quite tasty, if not super-complex.
Excellent sour, vinous white grape fruit and sour, assertively round. Fades away very cleanly. Delightful beer, and a step up from the cranberry which was already very good.
Natural to compare this to the Hope. It's less tart, less fruity, less mellow. Hop juice is the dominant flavor, and there's a yeasty bitterness at the top of the flavor that offsets the slight tartness.
Slightly tart, white grape like fruit. Finishes with some very faint Belgian notes of white pepper and banana. Pleasant enough.
Building on similar flavors of the Biru Sencha, though this one is overlaid with some considerable yeast funk. First sniff is a little off-putting, but the end effect isn't bad. Lingering aftertaste is slightly smoky.
Slightly sweet Helles-like beer with a slightly fruity curl at the end. Green tea comes in a grassy, faintly smoky way that fits right in with the lager flavor. Really nice.
Dry opening, but with a very pleasant, cereal Kolsch follow through. There is a mild dry hop sheen on the very surface of the beer that gives it a more complex flavor, but it is overall, a light, summery beer.
On the sour-side, medium-light stout, with a smooth flavor that is neither too vanilla or too coffee. Quite tasty.
Fizzy, fruit-forward IPA, appley. Completely lacking any bitterness. Super-drinkable, probably wouldn't appeal to IPA afficionados, but it hit for a light, refreshing hop beer.
Decidedly weak compared to the KDS, but that's hardly fair. On the plummy side.
Bright wine grape opening. Slightly tart. Middle is fruity with some Belgian spice - white pepper and faint clove.
Sweetish for a pilsner, bready. Alcohol flavor pokes through.
Much lighter in flavor than the Sunrise in all respects. Less tangy, much less bitter. More cereal comes out because of that. An easy, refreshing glass, and although it was less distinctive than the Fort George, I enjoyed it more.
Forward-tart, a halfway between orange and grapefruit citrus flavor. Middle is light and sunny, but the finish is decidedly pithy. Very effervescent and bright.
Very clean, very tart, very very mango. Not sweet or syrupy at all, but you could also be fooled into thinking this wasn't a beer. I love mangoes, so it's a no brainer that I enjoyed this.
Smells a bit like a doctor pepper, although the flavor is definitely balanced toward the cinnamon rather than the raisin. The Commodore seems to be much less roasted in flavor than the Victory at Sea, so overall this is a much more pleasant experience to drink. Not bad at all.
Strangely sour for a kolsch, and in a funky way. This was a lot like drinking a loaf of sourdough bread. Very dry finish. This wasn't bad at all, but it was odd. And definitely not a refreshing beer.
A rich, creamy, dark milk stout with a fruity character that may or may not have been illusion. It was... jammy? Like a PB&J truffle without the PB. I really liked this.
Not quite as gross as I thought the Blue Danube was, but definitely still on the dry, weirdly funky side. Not exactly what I want in a lager.
An excellent, smooth bourbon stout. Light chocolate notes and mild bourbon - I'm sure this was strongly alcoholic, but it didn't taste it. Finish is slightly on the over-bitter side,
I asked for the lightest IPA they had, and got this. Fresh-tasting and light, not bitter or resinous at all but with a fragrant hoppy flavor. Summery for sure.
I'm a sucker for these clean German pilsners. This is almost as good as I remember the Furstenberg being a couple weeks ago. Slightly fruity, slightly sweet, grassy pilsner finish. Very clean. Great patio beer.
Very smooth, fruity brandy opening fading into a kind of chocolate-umami dryness. Finish kind of fizzles out more than I would have wanted, although it's hard to argue this isn't still a really good beer.
Cream-stout sweet, thin-bodied Stout with slightly sour dryness. Flavor is very smooth; this beer goes down quite easily.
Poured super-foamy, although surprisingly weak in carbonation given that. Light caramel ale, mildly sweet, with an almost candy-like mango-jam fruit flavor on top. The flavor was pleasant enough, easy to drink, but the tacked-on feeling of the mango prevented me from loving it.
The brewery looks a little sad these days on the beer front. :( Of the comparatively tiny number of house taps, this one was pretty decent. Light carbonation, roasty-spicy porter. Sour in the British style. Almost nitro-smooth.
A caramel-amber, medium-hoppy pale ale. Not in my wheelhouse, but okay enough on a hot day. Weird pairing with Italian food, though - should have just gotten a Peroni.
Orange and light coriander, primarily wit-like, although crystal clear and amber in hue. Cereal mid-body with a bit of spicy bitterness from the grains of paradise? Finishes surprisingly abruptly on a dry, citrus note. Clean finish.
Very orange, slightly tart, with bourbon not coming through as woody but more as a smooth vanilla/honey/caramel presence. Tickles my memory of the Orange Blossom Pilsner from Florida. Doesn't have the depth that you'd typically get from a bourbon beer, but a pleasant, mild, bright flavor.
More shot taste buds. Like water root tea that's gone just a little bad.
Can't taste the coconut. Kind of an insipidly sweet porter.
Very grape forward, like a sparkling white wine with a little more fun, a little more tart. Not especially beer-like.
Pretty much like a light hefe mixed with pineapple juice - a less-sweet-than-usual radler is a good description. Opens with some mellow cereal notes, maybe a little banana, but ends with a dry pineapple flavor that gets a little too tacky in the back of the mouth (much like actual pineapple juice). Maybe in the sun this would be more appealing.
Smooth cream ale, with some corn-like sweetness, mellow honey, and a bit of buttery diacetyl flavor. Finishes super smooth on nitro; the mild chemically nitro tang works for me in the context of the rest of the beer. Sooo easy to drink.
Exactly what you'd expect... Caramel/toffee sweetness, mellow flavor, slightly hop spiciness, clearly quite alcoholic. Definitely solid.
Weird smell, like a funky, musty Plum. Fruit-forward, strangely bitter, burnt flavor. Not great.
Really solid Stout. Roasty coffee and mild-not-sweet finish. Medium thin body. Most drinkable beer of the flight.
A pale, tropical IPA that would otherwise be on the pithy side but is smoothed out with clear, mellow, buttery coconut. It's really weird, but I love coconut and this is fascinating.
More saison than pils, grape-yeasty, prickly carbonation with a white pepper finish. Maybe a little warmer than I prefer. Just couldn't make myself excited about this.
I think this bottle was old, so this might not be fair. Lots of sediment. Slightly sour, yeasty cream ale. Not a bad flavor but the amount of stuff floating in it was hard to ignore.
Pretty much exactly what I want in a German Pilsner, with crisp, grassy bitterness, some buttery cereal and just a hint of uric funk. Super-effervescent - you can see it in the photo. I loved this.
Less burnt than I remember from last time, although still just as weak on the peanut butter. This makes a pretty okay smooth imperial porter, although it still felt a little strong on the alcohol and gets a demerit for disappointment on the peanut butter front.
Didn't get a lot of nut or rum in this, although it did have the kind of wet hay "nutty" yeast flavor of an English brown ale. Thinnish, slight notes of date. It was okay, but I was expecting a lot more based on the description.
Lots more caramel than I expected. Vienna lager-like with some fruitiness and more than a little skunky-funky action going on. Nice fit for the sunny weather, though!
Definitely tart, but on top of a relatively thin, kind of cream stout-type base. Previous tart stouts I've had have been on a more robust base so this felt kind of strange. Just a taster.
Opens with almost a skunked flavor followed by a ton of blue-cheese funk. Bracing, vinous tart finish and a lingering bitterness. Super unusual but really compelling.
Dry, tart-but-fruity beer, with a flavor very reminiscent of champagne but with some wheat funk underneath it all. Clean finish. Another really good beer from Mollusk!
Super sour, definitely a bright Muscat grape flavor. Bit of salt that sits on the tongue appealingly. But this has the same issue as regular grape juice has for me, a lingering tackiness and sweetness in the throat.
There's a good lager in here somewhere, and the lime is a good idea, but there's a candy-cereal quality to the lime that is a little unpleasant. Hollow sweetness, like Splenda.
What I remember of the Sculpin taste, but seemed a lot more alpha bitter on the finish. Fragrance is also very pungent of resin. No need to get this over one of the standard Sculpins.
Flavorful, very fruity/yeasty for a German lager, I think. Very good, though.
This was a Malt & Vine tenth anniversary beer; clean fragrant wheat opening, with the wheat funk coming across as sweet, vaguely fruity and with a phantom smokiness. Not sure what the infusion was but there was a dry, slightly bitter fragrant citrus quality there... Buddha's Hand? Pommelo? Really tasty.
Smelled like ketchup with chocolate. Tasted... a little like ketchup. Chocolate less so, probably the vanilla/woody flavor from the rooibos. Finish didn't come clean, instead curling around cloyingly.
Passionfruit and resin but surprisingly non-bitter. The resin comes through more as a dense hop juice flavor. Lots of alcohol, which shows itself over time. Very much hoppier than I usually like but somehow still enjoyable.
Pours very dark. Lots of astringent chocolate and a lot of roast. A lot like a CDA in that there's a fruity hop spiciness that kind of fights the normal dark ale flavors, but with additional spices added. Some dried-fig/molasses and a ginsengy root flavor.
Mollusk Brett Lab No. 9 (January 2017)
A really appealing sour; medium but clear tang, some wheat sweetness, but counterpointed by the dry, somewhat bitter funk of the brett. The sweetness lingers a bit in the throat which is the only thing that keeps it from being perfectly clean. But very enjoyable!
Didn't realize this was sour at first, so this was a surprise. Cloudy, wit opening, but never gets sweet, instead there's a somewhat strange dry sourness with an accompanying musty, vegetal flavor. Didn't love it.
Firestone Walker Feral One (unknown release)
Another really strong sour beer from Firestone Walker; fruity, stone fruity sour with a medium-strong tartness and a super-clean finish.
Thick, sweet and boozy. Not as purely enjoyable as I've remembered from the past, but the competition was decidedly strong.
Less overwhelming than Parabola and more nicely balanced for today, I thought. Good barrel overtones, definite whiskey/toffee notes, but in a more medium-bodied porter. Definite roast-smoky character further distinguishes it as its own beer.
Major flavor is roasted, sweet coffee, with some dark spiced bread flavors. Thinnish body with prominent alcohol flavors. It wasn't clear from the menu that this was dark, or a doppelbock, and I found myself wishing I'd ordered something else.
Roasty, burnt caramel sweetness. Condensed milk finish. Slightly tacky in the throat.
Kicks you in the face with chili, chocolate, cinnamon. Overtly sweet. Not subtle at all, which is fine in small doses, but hard to imagine a full glass of this.
Slightly odd opening, like cough syrup, but resolves quickly into a pleasantly tart, cherry flavor. Slight salt on the lips.
Piney IPA with a medium, pithy finish. Decent IPA, just a tad more bitter than I really like.
What I'd expect from this brewery - bright, fresh hop flavors but also refreshing and super-drinkable. Light bubblegum and pine, with a fruity/wood resin finish totally without pith or bitterness.
Light, effervescent, cereal beer with some mellow sweetness from the rice and some bright florality. Really nice.
I taste more hop fragrance and pine than I do amber lager here; a bit of caramel but not a lot of overt cereal. Pretty tasty, though.
Sweet-ish, roast coffee dominates here; it's almost like a carbonated coffee more than a beer. A little intense, but I recognize the flavors are good and pretty much in balance despite the strength.
Not like a gin & tonic at all, other than there being some lime present, but actually pretty good. Salty gose finish almost brings a margarita to mind, but there's very little booze character present to nail the idea - either gin or tequila.
Oddly I just retro-logged the Oola version of this last night. Somewhat dry stout with some chocolate notes. Lots of whiskey presence, a slightly spicy flavor. It was good, but not a top tier barrel-aged beer.
Lots of bubblegum and pine hop sheen; on the sweet side. Dry wood resin mixed with maybe some lager funk, clean finish. Not bitter. Pretty darn good result of an unlikely collaboration; maybe a rarity now that Redhook has broken the commercial brewing contract.
Firestone Walker Krieky Bones (No. 003)
Smells quite tart, flavor is puckering but somewhat less sour than I expected. Very clean, bright cherry flavor, dry, savory-ish lip smacking finish. Another keeper from Firestone Walker.
Surprisingly robust - roasted, creamy, some Irish-like sourness. Finish is fairly clean, and there's some burnt-sugar sweetness as well. Pretty good!
Nitro sour, kind of weirdly sweet and sour at the same time. Roast bitterness creeps up at the end.
Coriander-white pepper saison, slightly fruity-tart. What you'd expect from Logsdon. There's some kind of lingering spice heat on the finish... not Szechuan peppercorn as far as I can tell, but I can't yet identify what the Far East is exactly.
Chocolatey brown ale, lightly flavored. Sweet cocoa and a bit of nutty funk. Not particularly hazelnutty in its taste. Finishes clean.
Caramel sweet, slightly buttery, slightly fruity - orange peach. Notable floral bergamot notes, and a bit of woody smoke lingering. From roasted tea?
Yup. Still delicious, and on draft now, even, thanks to distribution.
Super-unusual, very nice find. Smooth, of course, from the nitro, with lots of chocolate on the forefront. Underneath is a touch of plummy-cherry-datey fruitiness to give a bit of roundness to the flavor. Booze is masked super-well. Really tasty!
Caramel, coffee-like roastiness, and surprisingly hoppy. Very nice at first, although the bitterness built up strongly over time.
Starts a lot like the Pinkus from the other day, but the finish is more confidently German; white pepper/clove though not as unpleasant in strength as the Belgians can take it. Beats the Pinkus but maybe not enough to put it in the next tier.
Sweet smell but flavor is very well balanced. Buttery, caramelly toasted coconut, some chocolate, light roast.
Very light stout, made lighter from nitro. Slightly nutty, touch of sourness. Pretty decent and very inoffensive.
Roasty, chocolatey stout, slight soy sauce / Anaheim chili overtones. Spice builds up slowly. Caramel aftertaste.
Roast coffee, nutty, somewhat savory. Not.bitter, smooth, slightly uric finish.
Lots of banana and hint of clove, with a cloudy, yeasty tang. Kind of like a hybrid between a Bavarian and an American hefe in flavor. The taste kind of peters out mushily at the end, which prevents this from truly excelling. Altogether less impressive than the Munster Alt.
Much more robust than most black lagers, very roasty -- not burnt, but to the point of spiciness. In fact, I'd label this as a Baltic Porter more than your typical Euro dark lager. Some lactic tackiness, a twinge of tang. Bitter over time, but still a very good, chewy beer.
Jibes with my memory of the Combo Breaker, but a little less grapefruit, and some smoother notes, from the honey? I only had a few sips, so I don't have a very developed sense of the taste.
Solid, gingerbready German dark beer. I used to like this style a lot more in the past, but I tend to prefer crisper flavors now. Still, this was a pretty strong example.
A really pleasant surprise. I loved this beer! Opens quite caramel, bit of wet hay, very much like an Alt, and seems like it's going to stay that way, but turns towards a floral, super-clean, pilsner-like finish.
Yes, this was very nice. Medium-bodied strong stout, not too roasty, not too umami. Good overtone of grape. Very drinkable. I guess this wasn't actually wine-barreled, but made with the wine, and then aged on oak. Yum!
Really musty wheat funk on the nose, followed by a dry, sharp sourness. Resolves into buttery, sweetish peach notes to finish. I think I liked the plum better, but mostly because peach always feels slightly tacked on to beers (in the ones I've had so far).
I don't usually like weizenbocks that much, but this was quite good.
Fresh, piney, hop flavors. Bit of forward resin, but the finish is not bitter at all and very clean. I guess for a long time I've wondered what makes an imperial pale different from a regular IPA, and, well... I still don't have an answer, but this beer seems to be an example.
Very dark, almost stout-like. Smooth and strong; flavor has some of the toffee-caramel you'd expect from a Wee Heavy. Although the flavor transitions aren't quite as silky smooth as the very best in class, it's still quite delicious.
Very tasty, smooth cider with complex floral and fruit notes while still remaining super-easy to drink. I really liked the flavor of this!
I'm less prejudiced against the whole "barely a beer" crowd these days, although this is still - it's not tart or funky enough to be a sour, it's not even dry enough to be a cider. It's very much a fruit confection of a beer. But... it's really tasty, like a cross between a Martinelli's and a really, really light wheat beer.
A light, sweet, not too tart blueberry opening with sweet honey wheat notes. Juice-like with some cereal. Hides its strong (10+%) alcohol really, dangerously well. Glad it comes in a schooner, and for a great cause! ♀
Slightly sour. Banana, clove, and white pepper. A safe saison with very little funk.
Surprisingly similar to the IPA in flavor; less hoppy, obviously, but otherwise the same flavor profile.
Tastes like an East Coast IPA? Floral hop bitterness with an equal dose of brown sugar sweetness.
Biscuit-like. Brown sugar cookie. Light body, not noticeably hoppy, with a buttery finish.
Fruity, hop barleywine; pair that with the aforementioned yeast flavors and a bit too on-the-nose alcohol. Least favorite of the flight, although it was perfectly adequate.
Very pleasant and light, as I remember, although the yeastiness from the other beers was still here. Gave it some of that wet hay English ale quality.
Very clear lavender florality, with a kind of bran-muffin finish. Nice pastry kind of flavor, although the same kind of sour, uric yeast quality as the Pink Boots is in evidence here, and a little less successfully. Still, about as good.
Opening dry, clean sourness, which I would expect from hibiscus. Finish is plainly cereal, some buttery notes. There's a uric quality to the yeast here that pervaded the flight; here it lent good lager-like funk.
I didn't write anything last time; it's an amber Belgian ale, lots of clove, some brown sugar flavor. Touch of fruity hop. Kind of meh. Food that came with it was excellent, though.
Typical lactic, thin-body Euro dark lager notes, although this is a little heavier on the roast / coffee side of the spectrum. Very pleasant, and if I were eating a more robust meal I'd have gone for the full glass. Appreciated the taste, though.
I mean, you're gonna get a solid beach beer every time with this. Didn't taste metallic this time either, although it was from a can.
Bready, banana like Belgian but with strong overtone of spicy hops. Drinkable, and pretty good flavor components, but honestly it was one of those more quality than enjoyment type beers for me.
Raisin-date bread, a little balanced towards clove. Muddled and a little insipid in flavor. Quad-like, no real tartness. Wasn't really a big fan.
Thick, bourbony, and very sweet. Milkshakey? A little raw to be a favorite, but a treat, and a rare beer from far away. Thanks, Chandler!
This 9-year old beer, bottled in 2008, was almost completely flat. Lots of peat and faded smoke from the Scotch come through in the smell; the flavor as I recall was slightly sour in the dry fashion of British / Irish stouts. Maybe a tad cucumbery? But very, very smooth. I liked the overall effect, but it would have been better with a little bubble.
An IPA which is pretty much your standard northwest hop-fest. Opening is pleasant and seems well balanced with pine and fruit, but lots of alpha on the finish turns me off a bit.
Strong but not tacked-on vanilla leading to a sweet chocolate-cake finish. Roast bitterness remains throughout, sitting on the edge of unpleasant. Overall impression is of a sweet, smooth, but not complex beer. Pretty one-note.
Strong, almost canned-juice peach scent coming from this beer. Opening taste is quite sour, and the flavor goes weird very quickly, with a weird tacky butter transition to a sweetish, pastry-like finish. The tackiness lasts through a long aftertaste period. Would probably have been better without the peach flavor?
Hazy, golden beer. Surprisingly fruity, with orange citrus and wine grape-like notes, and a significant sheen of clove on top. Very assertive, which could have been an issue on any other day but with my St. Patrick's Day leftovers was pretty successful.
A nice, smooth, mildly complex stout with some dry Irish sourness and good coffee flavor. Medium body. The oak smoothens this beer out very well, but I couldn't detect any whiskey presence at all (unfortunately). A good pairing with my corned beef leftovers!
Fruit-forward IPA with a medium resinous body. Finish isn't too bitter, though; so while this is still not exactly my style of IPA it's recognizably good.
A lot like the Hive Five from Pike, as far as I remember. Maybe somewhat less hop character present. The key here is some yeast and a really smooth, honey-buttery finish that makes this super-pleasant to drink. I liked this a lot!
Super fragrant, tropical, flowery-fruity "beer" that tastes a lot like a cleaner pog with some hops on top. There's barely any bitterness on the end which gives an overall impression of juice. The flavors are very appealing and tropical in a way that is not your typical hop-tropical flavor, so this was a nice treat.
Smooth, caramel, brown ale but maybe a bit bland of a base, with some decent, light coffee flavor on top. Touch of wet hay. What came to mind was a coffee Newcastle Brown Ale. Quite drinkable, but not super-memorable.
Cloudy, grapefruit-tropical IPA. Some resin on the front but the finish was very clean. I didn't keep more detailed notes, sorry - other than I remember the server said something about there not being a malt backbone and me somewhat disagreeing.
I can't remember a whole lot about this, sorry, other than it tasted distinctly of hibiscus and I distinctly didn't like it.
Smells like a beet salad - vinegary, earthy, very, very recognizable as beet. Flavor is somewhat less beety, but quite tart. Beet again on the aftertaste. This beer at once gets easier and harder to take as you drink more. I think this may be #3? #2? on my list of beet beers. I can't believe I just typed that.
Pretty delicious; doesn't taste nearly as strong as the Imperial moniker would hint at and with the pretty much perfect balance of hop and malt flavors that you'd expect from Firestone Walker. This might be my favorite IPA of theirs yet.
Plum, booze, toffee. Very, very smooth, which is a nice surprise for an anniversary ale this young. Otherwise, has a great deal in common with the most recent years of this series.
Tasted like a barely-tart pineapple-guava juice with a finish of sweet cereal milk. It was pleasant enough but it's a stretch calling this a gose, and it's a stretch calling this a beer. IMHO.
Less complex than the City of the Dead, but manages to be super well balanced and sweet without overdoing it. Light roast, medium thick, subtle coconut and mocha notes. Really very tasty - this brewery definitely knows how to do stouts right.
With raspberry puree. Very drinkable, on the sweet cereal side, not super-memorable.
Firestone Walker Bretta Weisse (unknown release)
Bracingly tart, complex sour ale. Clean, "aged tasting" finish. Really, really delicious. I didn't notice a sweetness in the finish as the previous log entries state, but it may just have been in comparison to the noticeably sweet finish of the Saint Archer Gose.
Medium-tart with a dry-ish berry flavor offset by sweet wheat cereal notes. There's a bit of a musty, corianderish prelude to the sweet finish, and a decent hint of salt as well. Quite good, although it did definitely pale in comparison to the Firestone.
The Bruery Frederick H. Berliner Weisse (unknown release)
Puckeringly tart sour. Tasty, as expected from this brewery, but not world-changing. I did easily finish the whole thing though.
They insisted this was unfiltered, although it was crystal clear. They had both varieties so I'll have to try them side by side at some point, if I can. Rich, cereal-uric pilsner flavor, no sweetness, and a bracingly bitter finish. May be the top Czech pilsner I've had so far.
A slightly-sweet German pilsner, with characteristic uric tang. Unusually, there's a kind of grapey, fruity sheen on the finish, which is different, but in what I thought was a good way.
Pretty much the same as my notes from last time. Still unusual to have such a light, clear beer in these categories (both bourbon-barreled and English strong). Sweet, pleasant, and yet very liquor-like.
Very, very much like the Bronx Uptown, a roasty medium-thin porter-ish beer with slightly lighter coffee notes and a bit of an English-like sour aspect. Alcohol flavors poke through kind of noticeably.
A roasty medium-thin porter-ish beer with strong notes of coffee and a bit of an English sourness. Some of that might be tackiness from the lactose sugar. Alcohol is noticeably present although this might be an artifact of the other beers in this flight.
Bready ale with mild caramel flavors and a lot of banana esters. Body is somewhere in the middle of dry and sweet; the taste is good but maybe on the thin side to be truly refreshing. This is described as a Belgian brown but to me it tasted more Germanic, like a dunkelweizen.
Really nice, sweet wit, with a hint of citrus and ginger giving this a kind of ethnically ambiguous, exotic flavor. Oddly, I thought it seemed coriandery, although the website seems to imply it wasn't used. From the yeast? And I usually don't like coriander-heavy wits, so maybe it was something else after al.
Just a sip. Intensely sweet, whiskey-date flavors open this beer, giving it more of a barreled quad or old ale character than a typical stout profile.
Just a sip! I can't really do alcohol right now, but.
Very smoky, with a malt sweetness that brings to mind an amber rauchbier lager; there is sourness that follows but the combination of all three flavors means the sour finish isn't clean. Like the Liquid Double Fudge, the finish is tacky and sticks in the throat. The first pub series limited bottle that's disappointed me (but it was also the cheapest, thankfully).
Smells very chocolatey. The flavor, though, is kind of umami-thick with a sourness that wasn't very appealing. The chocolate gets kind of lost in that. I think the right description is "tacky." Other folks liked it, though.
Very light IPA with a flavor that verges on candy-like - though the lightness prevents that from being annoying. Instead it kind of goes down without creating a lasting impression other than that it could have been better balanced.
This wit leans clearly to the coriander / white pepper side of the flavor spectrum, which means I wouldn't choose it from scratch. That aside, it was perfectly drinkable.
Poured weirdly opaque, like a grapefruit juice. A really clean, refreshing sour, with just some forward bitterness and a citric sourness. In fact, grapefruit is a good word for this.
Fairly resinous IPA, seemed stronger in that regard than other varieties of Sculpin I've tried. More than that, though, this didn't seem to be very pineappley - but maybe because that's already a hop flavor. More vaguely tropical - passion, pineapple, than distinctly pineapple.
Pelican Mother of All Storms (2016)
Strong, caramel/toffee barley wine with good bourbon-wood flavors. It feels every bit of its alcohol content, and could definitely use some aging. Not too far away from a young Sucaba, which is not a bad thing.
I like both of the base beers, which are light and confection-like, and the combination doesn't disappoint. It might actually be better than the separate beers (although I do love the hazelnut brown nectar on its own). Still very light, and doesn't linger on the palate.
Laurelwood Rando IPA (#20)
Smells like a citrus IPA with some resin and an edge that almost smells on the verge of being skunked. However, the flavor is very good and much less pungent than the smell hinted at; light fruity hops and a totally unbitter, sweet cereal finish.
Smells wheaty, with strong notes of citrus and coriander, The flavor is like a Belgian blonde, with some spicy grain notes, banana esters and coriander, but much less sweet. Almost cracker-like. There's still citrus, but it's more backgrounded than in the smell by the dryness of the flavor. Lots of bitterness on the head.
There's something off about the sweetness of this beer. It's got a fake quality about it, like the quality you'd get from an artificial sweetner; tied with the kind of juice-box fruit flavor it's not a good look. This is maybe the only beer where I've vastly preferred the nitro version.
Stone Enjoy By Chocolate & Coffee IPA (02.14.17)
The chocolate is nonexistent and the coffee is subtle - you can tell it's there but it mostly just fades into and enhances the alpha bitterness. Over time it gets a little more earthy and generally less enjoyable, a sentiment shared by most of us sharing the bottle.
Similar to the RPM, although this was less pungent and slightly sweeter. Overall I enjoyed it about the same.
Piney IPA with a sweet malt character. Pungent resin is pleasantly offset by a smooth finish, but that pungency does get to be a bit much over time. Will have to compare someday side by side with the Hop Venom; this location tends to have both on tap fairly often.
A cloudy-tasting wheat, with some yeast tang. Wished it were brighter.
Standard malt-sweet, thick intense stout flavor typical of Speedway. The coffee here is decidedly complex, with wood, earthy and stonefruit flavors. Definitely strong. Tasty!
Smells of piney hops and Muscat grape juice. Puckeringly sour, intensely grapey in flavor, bordering on fake Japanese grape candy flavor. Still appealing, but somewhat out of balance. Less sourness would have helped.
Sweet, cherry-caramel-bourbon boozy flavors with a medium thin body. Well-balanced and finishes clean, but a bit one note to stand out in a crowded field of barreled strong ales.
As solid an example of foreign extra stout as I've encountered. Dry and prickly/roasty, with a sweet coffee finish. Clean
Fort George Matryoshka (unknown release)
Foamy thick stout with a medium-brown head. Clear bourbon on the nose and in the flavor, but balanced out by a malt-ball chewiness. Dry finish with a bit of tackiness left on the back of the throat, but a very solid, straightforward bourbon stout.
Firestone Walker Sour Opal (2015)
Assertively tart to open, with a funky, crisp, undefined-fruit (cherry x apricot?) sourness. The funk starts with a white wine fruitiness and finishes with a curl, but not quite into the goaty cheese territory of a Cantillon, etc.. In fact, it borders on refreshing, somehow. Some tannic / metallic dryness to finish.
Bracingly tart, lemon-lime sour. Doesn't have the slight headachey sharpness I've gotten from similar sours, but it does come on a bit strong. It kind of effectively masks most of any complexity that might have existed in the finish.
Bizarre! Smells distinctly of garlic. Flavor is much more subtle, with a lightly-roasted mellowness. The flavor is buttery and mildly garlicky, evolving smoothly, and leaving a hint of garlic spice on the top of the tongue. It's like liquid garlic bread, if you can imagine. So weird, but so good!
Fruity, sweet and cereal - tropical and buttery with a bit of a peppery finish. Almost candy-like, but not cloying. Tasty. They had a Bravo version as well, but I didn't get to try it.
Resinous amber with weirdly sweet, bitter overtones. Yuck, I dumped two-thirds of this bottle.
Dry medium-tart sour. I don't get a lot of salt, and (like the blackberry gose I've had here) the fruit flavor is not very fresh-fruit, more like a juice box. Also there was a disturbing tinge of baby diaper in the smell for me.
Blondilocks is a beer I really enjoy, and this keeps most of the qualities of that beer - a yeasty, sweet-cereal beer with plenty of body and moderate funk. Added on top of that is a mildly spicy, fruit dry hop opening, which is nice, and a somewhat flat cask character, which brings out some hop dankness and soapy notes, which I liked less.
Sweet coffee porter. Like the St. Anthony, a little insipid in flavor, but also doesn't fall victim to the common traps of a porter - it stays smooth, doesn't sour, and the coffee flavor is good.
Slightly tart, slightly funky saison. There's a metallic quality to the sourness. The flavor is light, and at first you might think it's a bit watery. I think it's just that the tartness is a little unassertive.
Yeasty ale, with a sweet-ish, wet hay kind of caramel flavor. Verges a bit on over-funkiness, but smoothed out by a a nice floral honey sweetness on top.
Bellevue's stout is a light, dry, almost salty stout, and that remains true here. Like the sibling vanilla scotch ale, the vanilla smells sweet, but taste-wise contributes more smoothness than sugar. The result is a beer that remains mostly dry, but quite smooth, with pleasant flavors. The only real minus is that sweet smell, which is out of balance with the flavor.
This is... pretty much exactly what it says it is. It's a light, sweet-malt lager, nothing complicated in the base profile. On top of that is a pretty accurate Meyer Lemon sheen that is more essential oil than juicy. Starts citrus, flips over a citrus peel bitterness into bright lager flavors.
Creamy, strongly coffee-flavored stout although this has lots in common with lighter cream stouts in flavor; slight sourness, almost smoky light roast. Saved by the thicker mouthfeel and light finish. A very nice beer.
Tart, round plum flavors (not molassesy at all, so we're talking fresh plums). Finish is notably wheaty and sweet, like breakfast cereal milk. Very pleasant.
Tasted very off, like wet, sugary hay. Checked the bottom of the can which listed a date more than three years ago. Noooooope.
My least favorite of the three, with a decidedly more bitter finish and a more naked alcohol flavor to boot.
Similar in basic qualities to the All Day, but with a bit more of a pungent, uric aspect. Or is it resin? Either way, this is danker and as a result less refreshing and pleasant. There's a bit of extra sweetness on top as well, which borders on too much.
This is a really tasty, light IPA - fresh, fragrant passion-pine hop flavors to start, solidly cereal finish balancing it out. No bitterness at all. Only negative is that if you squint, you can imagine this being slightly watery. But this is super, super drinkable.
Probably more of a comment on the pumpkin spice, but this was... basically the same spice profile to my palate. The difference is that this one is somewhat sweeter than the other.
Impression is not as strong as last time; here I'm noticing that the spice profile, while pleasant, is not especially pumpkin pie-like. If anything, there's a little cinnamon, maybe a touch of vanilla. Not as sweet as expected, which is nice -- but I'm tasting the metallic finish here more than I used to.
Excellent, mildly funky sour with an undefined yellow stonefruit-ish fruitiness. Clean and dry, and quite tart.
This is a very nice Imperial Stout, roasty but not bitter, thick but not pungent. There's a really interesting buttery smoothness to the top of the flavor that is very, very pleasant. I could drink a lot of this in a hurry, which is not something I can say about a lot of imperial stouts.
Founders Backwoods Bastard (2016)
Moderately sweet, caramel and toffee scotch ale with some strong Bourbon notes. This is not unlike Black Raven's Splinters, although the finish takes a turn towards an herbal / spice note... anise, maybe? A little odd, but quite tasty.
Smell is like a floral, piney IPA or pale ale, which is decidedly not what you want in a porter. This is followed closely by roast malt notes. Flavor is... basically what you'd expect based on that, although the roast side is more prominent. Not quite a Black IPA, but closer to that than what I'd call a porter.
A really solid coffee stout, without being sour or over-roasted. Creamy and robust.
Founders Lizard of Koz (2016)
At first sip, this tastes really nice. Sweet bourbon notes, some chocolate, and a really concentrated sweet blueberry flavor. Over time though, the whole combination gets really cloying, and the blueberry starts to taste more and more like candy flavoring, and it sticks to the tongue and lips. I couldn't finish the glass.
Smells like a locker room, which isn't promising, but the flavor is much nicer. A tart, buttery apricot start and a fizzy, funky finish. Medium-sweet throughout. Very nice.
The look of this beer is unpleasantly cloudy and dark brown, and a lot of the time this seems to be connected to rooty, medicinal flavors, and that was true here too. There's an interesting chocolaty black lager in here somewhere but it's got a lot of marks against it.
Chocolate and cinnamon in a light brown winter ale. Not over-the-top spicy or sweet, this is just a really pleasant confection of a beer. Light enough to get out of the way of a robust dish as well.
Somewhat sweet and high on the alcohol, like many barreled barley wines. Dark molasses and plum flavors. A good, strong, bourbony beer, but not very complex, and it's not hiding its alcohol content at all.
New Holland Dragon's Milk Bourbon Barrel Stout (unknown release)
Fairly thick, roasty flavor to start, with a middle body that is both unsubtle sweet alcohol flavor and a bit of lactic tackiness smoothening it out. Overall the impression is roast -> sweet -> milk-malt. Pretty good, but not in the top tier.
A strongly piney-floral opening, with some good hop flavor. Drifts pretty quickly into strong bitterness, though. Not super-easy to finish.
Moderately strong floral hops in this "classic" pilsner, which is unclassic enough for me to think this is more like an IPL, or a northwest Kolsch-type beer. Put aside the inaccuracy of the name, though, and the flavors are pleasant enough, especially the sweet cereal finish.
The kumquat gives this beer a hybrid grapefruit-apricot character, with a bit more rounded orange as well. Moderate-strong tartness with buttery funk notes to finish. A little too juicelike for me to really love this as a beer, but this was drinkable and tasty.
Actually much better than I thought it would be. A smooth chocolate stout flavor evolves into a medium-tart plum vinegar-like sourness. It's a lot less sour than something like a Tart of Darkness, but still decently so. However, the stout and sour flavors remain somewhat separate and don't really meld into a unified entity.
Translucent porter with a thinnish, somewhat watery body. Mildly roasted with some distinct licorice notes and a rooty flavor that might be from hops or something else but which gave a weird medicinal, Chinese-herb character to the beer.
A pretty standard witbier, lightly flavored with some prominent white pepper / coriander notes. I felt like this was missing some acid or fruit to make this more interesting.
This whole series has turned out to be rather pleasant. Mildly tart, recognizably fruity apricot flavors and an effervescent, sweet wheat finish. I still like the hibiscus best so far in this family, but this was quite tasty.
Notably sweet but still somehow well-balanced... like a dessert cinnamon coffee drink, but never gets too rich to enjoy. My memory tells me this is less complex but less overwhelming cousin to coffee cinnamon b-bomb, but we'll put that to the test soon enough.
This was really tasty - basically a cloudy Helles lager with some really clean, cereal flavors. Mellow finish.
Has the typical Helles sweetness but with a decent amount of smoke (they say this isn't made with smoked malt, but it's actually smokier than some that are). Medium bitterness on the end, but this isn't exactly crisp - the smoke and sweetness interact to create a slightly sticky finish - but it's quite tasty.
Not quite tart enough to be bracing, this tastes nicely of berry but isn't quite of the depth of flavor or as refined as other recent sours I've had. Finish is mildly sweet cereal, at least compared to the opening.
The flavors here are reminiscent of my less favorite tripels - candi sugar sweetness and a mix of grassy-hay and banana. However, the brett adds a lot to this beer, accentuating some buttery notes and adding some dry bitterness to the middle of the flavor. There's still a bit of bluntness to the flavor and some strong alcohol flavors that prevent it from being great, but it was decent enough.
Best way to age an excellent beer without temptation is to forget you ever bought it! More than a year plus over the past tasting, this was still very much as I remembered, based on the notes. Still very sweet, still very much kissed with liquor, but malty and smooth and somehow balanced over all that. Still a winner, and glad that I have one left to boot!
Russian River Supplication (082515)
Coming at this after having gotten to like sours, this was excellent. The bottle was acquired at the brewery in December 2015 and aged until now. Medium-tart, with really nice, complex cherry flavor and a buttery-cereal finish. Dry and smooth. Yum!
A yearly tradition, trying this beer when it's far too young. Strong, umami chocolate roast with fruity, round red wine notes around the edges. Needs quite a bit of smoothening, but you can see how this could get (much) better.
I liked this on CO2, but on cask this suffers quite a bit. A lot of the same pungency as the Hop Slice, but thankfully without the bubblegum. Still, I didn't enjoy it, and I didn't finish it.
Haven't had the CO2 version of this, but I did not enjoy this on cask at all. Flat, the bubblegum bits poke out strongly and the hop resin is very, very pungent. Like sweat. Bubblegum and sweat. These two flavors do not meld well together.
Apple-like notes, and some tannic dryness. Slightly buttery. A little bit spiky in unusual places, flavor-wise, but an interesting profile.
Seems like the same yeast base as the Mountains of the Moon, but with more plum and caramel notes on top. It smooths out the flavor, which is different but nice. I didn't detect any ginger or cinnamon at all, which is kind of like its one job?
More like a straight Belgian pale than funky farmhouse. Spicy-smoky banana-clove yeast notes, clean-ish finish. Memory tells me this is in the Dupont mode of saison.
They say they didn't use any actual peach in this, and the flavor is only vaguely suggestive. Sweet cereal finish. A little too bubblegum sweet but tasty. Slightly metallic finish.
Cascade Happy Holidates (unknown release)
This was the least favorite of the flight, but still excellent, which shows you what today was like. Sour quad, plum and date with strong notes of rum. Finishes dry. There is a tart undercurrent that is somewhat masked by the sweetness of the alcohol. Very interesting and definitely tasty, although more mood-specific than the others.
Cascade Noyaux (2014)
Really, really delicious! Dry, clean, very tasty fruit flavor, like white berry wine. Mild, juice-like tartness. A slightly bitter, nutty overtone (from the noyaux?) lends a nice sophistication. I think I still liked the Honey Ginger Lime more, but this was also great.
Cascade Elderberry (2015)
Unspecific berry flavor, very refined and smooth. Drier finish - not as vibrant as the Honey Ginger Lime, but still quite tasty.
Cascade Honey Ginger Lime (2015)
Complex, and absolutely delicious! Starts floral and sweet, almost like St. Germain - I'm guessing this is the wildflower honey? Opens tart, juicy through the body, with a sweet, wheat, cereal finish. My favorite from today's selections.
By this point the basic points of VaS are clear: A thick porter with a bitter, highly-roasted finish. This works differently with different flavors; here the peanut butter is a lot less evident than in other PB beers I've had, it's there more as a slightly smooth nuttiness. The rest is just bitterness.
Fresh, fruit-pine IPA with a decent amount of resin. That basically explains how much I enjoyed it.
A bit spicy sweet. Sweet smoke on top. May be trying too hard to be "holiday."
A clean kolsch, slightly cloudy in flavor. Hints of banana and sweet cereal.
Fairly smooth strong stout. After a flight of somewhat off beers this one hit the spot just fine. My favorite of the night by a fair margin.
Very smooth, lightly chocolatey beer with a somewhat savory, nutty roast finish. Medium thick body and finishes only slightly bitter. Rivals the best peanut or hazelnut stouts without being overtly nutty. For a first taste from this brewery, I'm impressed. This is very, very good.
A strong, nutty coffee flavor distinguishes this from the Long Hammer. You can tell there's an IPA underneath but it's more coffee-dominant than other coffee IPAs I've tried. It does still build up more alpha than I like over time, though.
Not enough coffee to taste like coffee, just enough to make this beer weirdly and unpleasantly sweet.
Fresh tasting, although the amount of resin and alpha put this firmly in the IPA camp.
Unpleasant baseball card bubblegum sheen on top of this one, ruined everything. People seem to call any old weird beer a "Common" these days, when I really just want something like an Anchor Steam.
Immediately tart; vaguely fruity, exactly what I'd expect from a hibiscus drink. Flavor is slightly cloudy and ends in a sweet wheat funk. I liked the "un-with" version of this beer, and with the added complexity of the hibiscus, this was very nice indeed.
A very burnt-sugar coffee flavor; toasted puffed rice cereal finish. It wasn't exactly smooth, but it was decent enough. I do find myself expecting more from Breakside, though.
Smells like potpourri. Tastes like potpourri, and maybe candle vanilla too. Quite a bit of chemical bitterness, like you'd expect from a pool of perfume. Did I like it?
First taste was hugely, mouth-curlingly sour. Subsequent sips were less extreme, and the various complex flavors came out better. Light tequila overtone, stronger red wine flavors, and a kind of unctuous, umami sour underneath it all.
Thick, quite sweet, and boozy. Cocoa, cinnamon, and (light) chilies were all in evidence. Not quite as good as the other (strong) Skookums we've had in the past (the cinnamon was a bit on the nose), but enjoyable enough.
Solid, dry coffee stout with a medium to body. Very nice coffee flavor. Creamy mouthfeel and clean finish - best of this particular flight by a long shot.
More in pilsner territory than Kolsch, crisp, clean flavor. A bit grassy and a lot bitter, somewhat more than I enjoy even in a pilsner. Wasn't especially in the mood for this.
Sweet, but weird, one note persistent sweet. It blends into the alcohol but more in a wine cooler kind of way. I never did like wine coolers. Kind of gross.
Hints of sweet pie, but curls into a more funky finish. I originally remembered this as very sweet from four years ago, but it's not nearly as sweet or smooth as the Pumking or other recently had pumpkin beers. I found myself wishing it were smoother.
2016 Big Wood Festival. Drier chocolate bourbon stout. Less bitter than the Scuttlebutt. Rating is a guess, believe me, I was far in by this point.
Hair of the Dog Bourbon Fred from the Wood (unknown release)
2016 Big Wood Festival. Tasty, unusual flavor. Vegetal character.
A very hop-forward, fresh-tasting amber. Citrus-pine, sweet-ish finish. Not too bitter. Went really well with brunch!
Reddish-pink and completely clear. Looks like a raspberry sour, but tastes... very stout-like after all. Not much roast, but a sweet, mellow, chocolatey flavor. Smooth finish. Very much lives up to the name.
Custard-like, super pie-like beer, good spice balance with a sweet cereal finish. One of the very best pumpkin ales I've had.
Roasty beer with a good flavor. I wish I had taken notes at the time because I remember very little about this other than that I liked it.
Typical Mexican lager with a good, solid flavor. Slightly sweet, slightly Uric.
Skookum Solitary Confinement Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout (unknown release)
A sweetish, thick stout with a lot of bourbon still in the barrel. Not particularly sophisticated, but the flavor is right.
Smells very sweet, like you'd expect, but the flavor is much less so. Good roast, good overtone of pecan pie / molasses flavor. Very drinkable.
Less spice evident, a lot more barrel. Strongish tequila overtones. Don't remember much else.
Did not detect a lot of wine barrel here. Plenty of spice coming out though. Other memories are hazy - it's been a long time.
The Rare Barrel Cosmic Dust (unknown release)
Can't remember this too clearly. Sorry. I did like it.
Firestone Walker Velvet Añejo Merkin (unknown release)
2016 Big Wood Festival. Tequila at the forefront, blunts the natural sweetness of the base beer with agave vegetal flavors. Finishes clean. Can't decide if this is better or worse than the regular Merkin, but it's certainly fascinating.
2016 Big Wood Festival. Very sour, vinegar-like. Chocolate, faint chili, tobacco - gritty finish, kind of like a Butterfinger (!). At first I was grossed out, then I really liked it, and then I was grossed out again.
Block 15 Figgy Pudding (2016)
2016 Big Wood Festival. Sweet, toffee/date bread flavor. Spice, maybe vanilla? Tasty, but very, very sweet.
2016 Big Wood Festival. Dry, somewhat bitter. Otherwise, very nice. I also have "truuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunk" written down in my notes but I have no idea what that could possibly mean??
2016 Big Wood Festival. Strong grapefruit-berry-sour flavor. cereal-funk finish. Clean and fruity sour.
Belching Beaver Barrel Aged Horchata Imperial Stout (unknown release)
2016 Big Wood Festival. Cinnamon, sweet, booze. Simplistic flavor which has very little in it to counteract the sweetness.
2016 Big Wood Festival. Young-tasting, strong bourbon flavors. Slightly sour.
At Bottleworks. Super, super smooth stout, chocolate-tinged, with good, complex barrel character and, well, a much mellower whiskey flavor than I would have expected from Jack Daniels. I think that's the age. A light aura of smoke as well.
My taste buds were somewhat ruined by the previous beer. This seemed like a perfectly serviceable Oktoberfest, maybe slightly more caramel than I'd prefer, but nothing I'd rush to. I don't think I've run into any "Imperial" Oktoberfest that I've thought beat out the normal variety yet.
Gale's Prize Old Ale (2005)
Jury's out on whether the bottle was bad, but even the good BA reviews describe a similar flavor. I hated it - thin, vinegary, raisin booze.
Deschutes Jubelale (2016)
Caramel, licorice, some rootiness in the flavor. I do like this carbonated on draft more than I like it on nitro.
A really interesting pine-hop-citrus-tart flavor, but strangely empty in terms of body - very little malt backbone to give it a refreshing, beery flavor, this was more like essential oils and a bit of water. It's a shame because this flavor profile would add a lot to a good beer.
This one was much harder to get into - the smell is very weird, almost turned. Definitely sour. Not a whole lot off from an Oud Bruin style beer, but there is definitely some additional funk here. The flavor as it warmed up became quite agreeable and by the end I think I quite enjoyed it overall.
Has the aspect of a caramel, nutty, slightly musty English brown ale, but with a slightly sweeter, funky character which really did bring to mind miso paste (not miso soup). It was certainly odd but I think I enjoyed it!
Base is a typical Euro black lager, medium thin in body, but with some strongly roasted coffee notes. There's also a bit of a strange spice bite that might be attributed to the squid ink (but I have absolutely no idea, not having had squid ink before). Unusual and pretty tasty.
Bracingly tart, almost like "pickle juice," according to the pourer. Neutral sour flavor, with a touch of sweet wheat on the finish. This was really enjoyable, although you had to take it in sips.
If this is a pilsner at heart, either the tartness of the blood orange or some dry hopping have masked it considerably. A tart-resinous flavor with just a hint of finishing cereal and funk. Crisp, this isn't, but in a different mood this could have been a lot more successful for me. OBVIOUSLY the can art is excellent.
Hey, they renamed it! Very pleasant initial flavor, a dark lager with some notes of chocolate and funk. On the dry side. Somehow got a lot harder to drink as it went on, though.
20 Corners Money Belt (2016)
The server insisted this was their wheat ale, but it tasted like an IPA and - surprise! - my check also had the IPA name listed. So I'm going with that. A hoppy, resinous ale, somewhere on the fruitier end of the scale. Lower on alpha but not really what I expect from the fresh hop description. Then again, I can't actually find any information online about this beer, so who knows what it was?
Musty, cloudy-tasting... The peach had a kind of canned-syrup quality to it, although it wasn't overbearing. The most serious problem was that this beer didn't really taste "fresh." Kind of a deal-breaker.
Caramel and funk are about right. An unusual amount of sweet, banana-like esters. Touch of coriander. More like a weizen than a märzen - not a fan.
More like a Vienna lager than what I'd consider a proper Oktoberfest - rich caramel, almost buttery, leading into a funky finish. Still, it works, and I rather enjoyed it.
This was... really weird, but also really interesting. The strawberry was definitely there in the smell, maybe almost fake strawberry-like. There was definitely a lactic finish to the beer, adding a bit of milky funk that was unexpected in what is otherwise a typical strong IPA. Jury's out, but overall this comes out a thumbs up.
Weird, and gross. The smell right off is not right, like caramelized anchovies. Fish sauce, maybe? This carries over into the taste, except added to floral, spicy hops. Not a good look. Not at all.
Waaaaay too much alpha, although not an unusual amount for a Stone beer. It's just that after the pleasant surprises of the previous two IPAs, this one took me back to a place where I remembered that I generally don't like the style.
Started this beer with the Cubs tied and a rain delay. It tasted okay. Finished with the Cubs as world champions. It tasted great! Pretty good lager in the Sam Adams mold. Full flavored.
Excellent lager with well-integrated fruity-hoppy notes - like a grapefruit pale ale combined with a pilsner. As refined as you'd expect from this pair of breweries. I think I like this better than the Pivo Pils.
Very decent Oktoberfest. Slightly perfumey; this may just be something of a common character for this brewery. Suffered a bit from the Cubs losing at the moment I was drinking it.
Slightly sweet, slightly soapy, but a really nice toasted coriander seed flavor that was not what I expected from the name.
Tasty pumpkin porter, some cinnamon notes that put it slightly in the candy-like territory of Hi-Fi's Amigo Warmer, but not quite as cloying. Medium spice, which is less than you'd expect from the combination of chilies in the name, but a pretty good balance.
Hoppy wheat wine. Honestly, this was probably good but suffered a lot by being next to universally superior beers. Just not very memorable and a flavor profile that's not my favorite.
Whiskey on the nose and in the aftertaste, with a strong caramel malt (but somewhat dry - not sweet) flavor. Very faint hints of lemon and licorice bring the "Sazerac" character, I guess, although it was very subtle.
Estery flavors; vague banana and wheat flavors, but also with some fruity hop overtones. Passionfruit and flowers. An unexpected mix of flavors, but very fresh-tasting and enjoyable. Also, boobs.
Vegetal pumpkin ale, with cinnamon and more than a little chili bite on top. Pretty good, although maybe the spice could have been toned down.
Starts with a smooth oatmeal stout character, but very quickly turns ashy. Over-roasted for sure - at least for the style. It wasn't exactly bad, but I wasn't enjoying it a whole lot.
Mellow pumpkin ale, definitely gourdy but not much in the way of pie spice here. Just a solid, semi-sweet fall beer. Very pleasant.
Surprisingly good. Medium sour, slightly funky with a mellow unsweetness that was very much like roasted parsnips, if you squinted. Mollusk is definitely hit or miss, but I think they hit on this one.
A murky stout, slightly savory, lots of roast. Not noticeably umami, at least not in balance with the other flavors -- more smoke than oyster. Not bad, but I've definitely had better oyster stouts.
Definitely suffers in comparison to the Worthy, although this was arguably objectively good. More alpha, less freshness in the opening flavors.
Delicious, fresh-tasting, juicy IPA. No noticeable bitterness to the finish.
Fairly spicy-hoppy brown, with some mellow nuttiness. This didn't get anywhere near the Rogue Hazelnut nectar in terms of resembling nut butter or nut candy, and the hops kind of interfered with my enjoyment, but a perfectly decent beer.
Uinta rep Erin convinced me to get this, and it was tasty! A pumpkiny ale with not much sweetness or spice, just a mellow squashy flavor and a really pleasant, cereal funky-but-not-too-much brett finish. Supposedly aged in bourbon barrels but this didn't really come through.
de Garde Pâle (unknown release)
An assertively tart, gose-like beer with a clean, subtle cereal finish. Don't know if there was added salt but I certainly wouldn't be surprised. Leaves the throat tingling a bit.
Malt and Vine is open again! First taste there was another winner from Boneyard - a really nice, fresh and tart blood orange opening mixing well with fragrant hops. Very clean, not-bitter-at-all finish. Very tasty!
Super-solid basic robust porter. Mild cocoa/nut flavor, medium-light on the roast. Helps that it paired with a delicious ribeye for two!
Slightly metallic, a little more sour than expected, but also had a nice chocolate-lactic smoothness that I liked. Reminiscent of the milk stouts from Belching Beaver. Didn't taste any cinnamon, really, though. Other folks hated this!
Smells hoppy, but the flavor was a super-interesting, mellow, lightly sweet flavor that really did bring the idea of rice to the forefront. Light hops finished this off. Very, very drinkable, and appealing because of its unusual character. Definitely want to get more of this.
The best of the three I've tried so far, and very different. Forward bitterness, but fades into some buttery diacetyl notes. Finish is a lot milder than the other two varieties. On the whole though, while it's better, it doesn't taste quite as fresh, and that keeps it from being excellent.
An odd beer. Clear maple / burnt sugar notes come on, almost too strong, but without any sweetness. The base brown ale is quite hoppy and floral, which combine with the maple to make for a dank, rooty flavor that tastes somewhere between ginseng and licorice. Easy to drink, but hard to love, and the ugly opaque brown color didn't help.
Chocolaty Baltic porter, medium bodied, with a thick, latticed head and a typical smooth, lactic finish. Very easy to drink. Slight buildup of roasted bitterness at the end.
Very nice initial impression, kind of like a light coffee take on a Velvet Merkin. Slightly thin body. After a while, the alcohol and bitter finish come out a little more, making this seem less refined. This went from a Yum to a Decent over the course of 12 ounces.
More enjoyable than the last time, although it still didn't match my memory of the Simcoe version. Finish is still a little too much alpha for me to really love.
Less sweet than expected. Pumpkiny, slightly vegetal, good caramel. Very little of anything on the spice profile, which is kind of what I prefer in pumpkin ales, although it meant I didn't get much Jamaican at all.
Kolsch/Lager-like blonde ale with a cloudy, mildly yeasty opening but a sweet cereal finish. Really enjoyable, not unlike the Denali Agave Gold ale that I enjoyed here last time. This one gets a growler too.
Wow, I don't know what was up with my palate, but this smelled and tasted like straight up rubbing alcohol to me. I liked it last time!
Definitely hoppier than I was looking for at the moment. Pretty good flavor, but not enough time to explore more as I was shopping for something specific.
This has been classified as an IPA, but I'd put it more in the saison category as far as the overall flavor goes. Opens with an almost-perfume-like lime essence. No overt cream in the flavor, although the finish is probably smoother for it. As it warmed up the flavors got a lot less fake-ish.
Light-bodied stout, very much in the vein of other Belching Beaver milk stouts. This had some pleasant, mild pie spice flavors. Mildly sweet. Perfectly drinkable.
Perfectly decent, coffee-ish brown ale. I wish I could tell you more, but I let this go too long before writing down my thoughts. Much better than the lamb meat pie I had with it.
Not enjoyable at all. Went straight from perfume to low alpha finish with no discernible body in between. The only thing about hiking it reminded me of was sweat. Or insect repellent.
Way too sweet, like a coconut creme cordial in a Russell Stover's box. Paired with the standard pungency of a Prairie stout, it was a lot to take. Too much. I didn't enjoy this at all.
Fragrant, round citrus opening, like a Mandarin orange or something, on par with other Fremont fresh hop offerings. However, the finish was a little too alpha for me and built up rather acridly over time. I need to seek out this year's Cowiche Canyon offerings.
Musty, yeasty ale, and the tartness of the blood orange didn't really help matters. Very little freshness of flavor to balance this out.
After the others, this one tasted distinctly whiskey-like (others didn't think so, though). The lemon was a bit jarring after three lime beers, but after a while this settled down nicely, I thought. Less sour than the others.
More intensely sour than the others, probably accentuated by the salt. Very puckering. Nice flavor though, although I didn't necessarily get a whole lot of tequila or barrel in the flavor.
Best one of the lot, I thought. Complex gose, quite tart, but with an almost coconutty smooth finish, maybe from the mint, maybe from the sugar notes on the rum. Really, really good.
Chandler brought in a tasting flight of four Westbrook sours, and this was the one that wasn't barrel aged. I liked drinking this a lot, although the flavor is more straight lime juice than it is beer. Malt and salt were just hints rather than actual flavor components. A nice palate-setter for the rest, though.
Oh man. This was much harder to drink than I remembered. Kind of like drinking a hickory campfire with a bit of lagery sweetness at the end that confused more than pleased.
Pretty nice. Clearly a woodsy IPA to start with, although all traces of bitterness seem to have been lost in the brett barrel. What's left is kind of a resin essence, some nice fragrance, a touch of high alcohol, and the brett. When cold it was more of a hint of barrel at the beginning, but as it warmed up the finish gained a lot of buttery complexity.
Smells of sweet chocolate, yes, but also pungent and yeasty in a way that reminds you of its Belgianness. Flavor is sweet, like smooth milk chocolate. Never really got around the rest of the flavor though. Others liked it a lot more than I did.
A dry cider with a complex, mellow apple flavor. Slight buttery / yeasty notes make for a clean, crisp finish. I really, really liked the overall taste of this cider - not too sweet, not too dry. Not tart at all.
Definitely taste the wine in this, giving a slightly tangy, grape/cranberry finish on the base of dry cider. This flight is a clear progression, and this one is in the middle.
Seattle Cider Perry Cider (2015)
Tasty, slightly sweet, very peary. I tend to like apple ciders better, due to general complexity, but this perry was quite nice.
This was a lot to take. A little too much raw whiskey and maybe too sweet. I know I liked this before. Maybe this suffered next to a bunch of less ostentatious beers.
Pleasant coffee stout, slightly sour, metallic. Very smoothed out by the nitro. Not nearly as good as their peanut butter milk stout, but perfectly decent.
My previous review for this beer was quite underwhelming. I liked it a lot this time, though. Crisp, cereal-strong amber lager with a tang that is a bit uric, a bit apple-y. Slightly funky but not too much.
Definitely an IPA. The menu just said "wheat ale" so I was fooled a little.
Quite good. I don't always like Sierra Nevada beers, but their rotating Oktoberfest collaboration series has been excellent so far.
Standard American lager flavors; a bit less watery. Somewhat metallic, although that might just be my imagination given the can was sitting right in front of me. The food here, though, was great.
From way back in the log. Can't remember anything, except thinking it lived up to memory.
From way back in the log. Can't remember anything.
Not really a beer. Thin, rooty, not much evidence of malt.
Ginger beer with a bit of vinegary tang added to it. Did not taste like beer. It was pretty okay-tasting, but definitely not in a beery way.
Super sour. I don't know if this went bad, or was by design, but this was not at all a doppelbock. Tasted somewhat like a Flanders Red, but honestly like a mistake. The beertenders were a bit flummoxed as well.
Weird, woody and rooty. Not at all summery from my taste. Mollusk does some weird stuff sometimes, and this one counts as weird.
Light, crisp Pilsner, a little on the sweet side. Typical flavors of German Pilsner.
Unusual and delicious, I thought. Slightly tangy, cloudy yeast flavors but with a sweet, smooth finish that may or may not be the agave, but reminiscent of some honey ales I've had (though without that distinct floral flavor). Super-drinkable. I bought a growler for a patio party immediately after trying this.
I liked this a lot better than I thought I would - a malty, slightly caramel ESB, not too hoppy. A nice change from your typical west coast take on the style. I only had a taster of this and wish I'd had more.
La Trappe Isid'or (unknown release)
A slightly champagne-funky, sweetish Belgian strong. Lots of brown sugar character. Somewhere between a dubbel and a tripel, I think, in terms of expectations. I might have expected a little more acid, but that might just have been neutralized by the Freigeists.
After the Southern Tier the first sip was mouth-puckeringly sour, but that mellowed out over time. There's a nice watermelony fragrance, which also comes out in the flavor after that first hit of sour. Medium-strong salt afterwards. It's bracing, but quite nice.
What you'd expect from Southern Tier, a clear, candy-like expression of salted caramel, maybe not as salty as I'd expect, but also accompanied by strong, alcoholic, and maybe an over-roasted (read: harsh) finish. Others said it was very smooth, maybe something was up with my palate today, but I've felt the same about other Blackwater stouts.
Lots of lager-like qualities here, but slightly off - a little too fruity, almost apple-like, and the malt character lacked... something. I guess that's to be expected?
Quite hoppy for the style, in a hop-extracty way that brings out more resin than is probably actually in the flavor. I'd call this a dry-hopped pale or even an IPA - either way, it's not what I look for when I see "summer ale."
Really odd, basically a Fat Tire mixed with a fresh tasting, dry-hopped IPA. It's an odd mix of crisp and malty. You can tell Firestone is involved; the hop flavors are strong and good. It's just... odd.
The fruit kolsches from this brewery always taste more like radler-esque blends than integrated beers, and this is no exception. Super-bubbly, like pineapple soda mixed with a kolsch, although the flavors here are very bright and refreshing. Very fresh, bright pineapple flavor. Lots of sweet cereal malt finish up.
Citrus-herby wit-like flavors, with an unusually sweet opening flavor. Dries quickly and ends clean. Couldn't quite identify the herbal flavors here, which were unspecified. I don't know how much I love the overall flavor arc, but this was pretty decent.
Much better than previous years - smooth, sweet finish, mellow with hints of coconut and butterscotch. Almost perfectly balanced, and not over-roasted or over-woody at all.
Quite hoppy, a fresh-tasting IPA with some extra spice on top from the rye. Tasted a lot more alcoholic than its < 5% ABV would predict, so it wasn't super-quaffable in my opinion. From the name I was hoping for something with a little more cereal to round out the flavor.
Didn't take notes at the time, but was very happy with this beer.
I'd have called this an IPL; it's got quite a lot of piney dry-hopped character that frankly overwhelms any pilsner qualities this may have started with. It was still pretty good, I thought. Just misnamed.
A funky, yeasty saison with a lot of prickly carbonation. I think I was hoping for something with a brighter flavor to perk up the cucumber (which is definitely here) and brighten the gin (which I didn't taste so much of).
Unexpectedly good hoppy ale from Lagunitas - this was much more a toasty-malty pale than what I would call an IPA (especially from this brewery). Clean, pith-less hop flavors made this refreshing and interestingly-flavored.
Malty pale, almost like a blonde ale, with a good flavor of habanero fruit and spice. A light-to-moderate heat, this was an easy one to drink, and less hoppy than I expected from this brewery. Tasty!
Silver City Chardonnay Barrel Luminous Libation Belgian-Style Tripel (unknown release)
Very nice tripel with white wine fruit and funk rounding things out very nicely. Smooth and complex at the same time. Slightly high on alcohol flavor over time, but that's the only (slightly) negative thing I can say about this beer.
Tart but not overbearing sour with a clear, ringing raspberry / cherry finish. Like a drinking vinegar, fruity with just enough carbonation to be pleasantly titillating. Very, very good.
Dry-ish saison with more than a little hop character in it. Little bit of a notable sweetness on the opening before it dries out. Kind of unmemorable.
Fruity hop-flavored ale, somewhere between a pale and an IPA, with a bit of a toasty character. Stylistically indistinct, but a perfectly decent beer.
Lots of pineapple on the nose. Fruity IPA, with a finish that starts like it's going to get bitter but is smoothed out considerably by a coconut-water flavor. At first I was looking for toasted coconut so I missed the subtler flavor at first. Overall, this was a pretty well-thought-out beer.
Starbucks is serving this with a citrus espresso foam on top, and it was... not so tasty. The base beer is dry and has a super-bitter pith finish. The foam didn't mesh with it at all. I may also be biased because I don't find beers with that profile to be "refreshing," either, but I think saying it didn't mesh is a pretty objective statement.
Definitely the blandest of the three dunkelweizens, this was a slightly watery beer with a lot of banana flavor. This was the only one with a noticeable clove character as well. Still, not bad for a supermarket brand.
A less complex dunkel, more of a banana bread character, still not sweet but a straight flavor to the finish, with no funk. Alcohol is a bit on the nose. Probably a good beer in isolation, but not nearly as good as the Weltenburger.
A lot less sweet than I thought it would be; starts bready, with a dry molasses character. Curls a bit at the end with a yeasty funk finish, a bit of bitterness. Final flavor is of a slightly sweet wheat cereal malt. Very tasty, less alcoholic and balanced German ale.
Dry, thinnish stout with a pretty good rye whiskey flavor. Not as over-wooded as other Deschutes beers, making this go down pretty easy, although over time it did taste progressively more sour and less smooth. Pretty darned good, though.
Sharply sour berry ale with a lot of funk on the nose. Not a gose, but finishes with a slight sensation of salt on the tongue; finishes clean, but the overall experience is not very refreshing.
Caramel ale with a slightly savory, roast, nutbrown-yeast flavor. Slightly uric / metallic finish. Everything is in balance in this ale, and I thought it was quite tasty.
I know they call this a pale, but there's a lot more blonde / lager grassy yeast funk in this beer than I would ever assign to a pale. The opening is a bit watery, bit of a fruity-hop character, but the finish is all grass funk. If you don't me, that means I liked it.
I don't know if it was the can and I know it's not supposed to do this, but this beer tasted so, so metallic. Smelled it too. Other than that a kind of roasted coffee brown ale, with some malt sweetness like one would expect in a Scotch ale, but no real smoke or additional complexity. Underwhelming.
Light caramel amber lager, starts off a lot like a Sam Adams but with more complexity of flavor on the carry through. Touch of uric tang and moderate bitterness to finish make this a pretty decent lager, I thought.
A more straight-bitter IPA with a pithy character. Body drier and more traditionally east coast IPA than the other three, but somehow against preference, I thought this was the most enjoyable beer in the flight. I think as an overall experience the flavor seemed the most natural in progression and intentional.
Fruit in this IPA felt a little less identifiable, maybe a touch sweeter (probably from caramel). Vaguely pineapple? Overall, a little less distinctive but maybe overall a smoother-flavored beer. Finish was somewhat prickly.
Similar to the Incarnation, but with the brightness muted somewhat by cask flatness and warmer temperatures. Some more oily bitterness and malt sweetness contribute to the effect. I get the feeling I would have liked this on regular CO2 a little more, and without the direct comparison.
Round, fruity IPA with passion fruit and other pine on the tongue. Fairly noticeable alcohol pokes through as it goes down, but fruity enough to balance it out.
Light-bodied pale that has a lot of rindy, grapefruity hop bitterness right on the tongue. Not really my cup of tea here.
Slight Belgian fruitiness that settles into a neutral yeasty blonde ale funk. Medium bitterness. Really nice on a hot day with Maryland crabs!
Typical light-bodied wit, with the prominent characteristic being a sweet wheat funk. Not overtly spicy or fruity. In fact, it might be a little too light on flavor, but it was very drinkable. It helped that it was accompanied by amazing food.
Belgianish saison with a hint of hops, some vinous funk, and a smoky herbal character that wasn't super-strong but definitely present. I do think the saison format works a lot better for these savory herbs than the usual IPA combinations I've had in the past.
Fresh-tasting IPA, much like I remember the #001 tasting, although in context, the dry-hopping seemed a little blatant and oily-feeling. Lemon-droppy hop character. Still pretty good but I couldn't help thinking I could have done better.
Crooked Stave Surette Wood Aged Farmhouse Ale (unknown release)
Sour, probably the tartest beer of the night. The sourness is a generic yeast sourness with a touch of hops.
Not really feeling the cucumber here (in contrast, the Victory Brett Dixon I had a taste of had a lot more cucumber flavor in it). This is really a fairly hop-forward beer with just a touch of sour backend and a lot more funk in the smell than in the flavor. I think this was a bit overwrought in the cask, personally.
A malty, thick stout with a more bready-sweet character than the Mean Old Tom. It was nice and chewy but it didn't have the clean directness of that other beer so it gets a slightly lower mark. Points for the name, though.
A clean, medium-light stout with a creamy coffee-chocolate flavor. Not too much on the roast. Had the pleasing character of a refined mocha, confident enough in the base flavors to not have to pile on fake sweetness.
Very juice-like. Mango spritzer with a touch of grapefruit juice and only a hint of yeast funk. Just the barest hint of a salty finish. A bit simplistic to really appreciate.
A dry-bodied saison. Peppercorn on the nose, although in practice that flavor tends to blend into a typical white pepper Belgian spice profile. Went well with the Peruvian cuisine paired with it, though - got out of the way but with enough character to make an impression.
Slightly watery pale lager, on the sweet side, but with a bit more uric tang than is typical for this type of beer.
Woodland Empire Cozy Up (2016)
So much carbonation, to the point of being a bit painful on the lips. Behind it is a sweetish lactic creaminess on a slightly sour stout. The experience was pretty masked by the carbonation though.
Buttery toasted coconut, thick bodied porter. Pretty much as enjoyable as I remember from back on Maui. Really glad to see a keg make it over to this side of the ocean.
Sweet, candied citrus peel opening comes on strong but fades quickly in to a drier midsection, saving it. Pithy bitter finish.
A stone IPA with a subtle sweet coffee undertone that makes its way upward through the finish. The two flavor phases are weirdly disconnected; both halves are nice on their own, though. A bit more bitter on then end than I would prefer, but this is Stone.
Tart fruit, juicy character. Unusual and gose-like, with all the tartness but none of the salty finish.
Euro lager with a typica base flavor but with that rooty, dank flavor added on that seems characteristic of other craft Scandinavian lagers I've had. Somehow getting this out of a can made it seem even stranger. Nice enough, though not nearly crisp.
Naked City The Big Lebrewski White Russian Imperial Stout (7th Anniversary)
What I wrote for the last release still holds true. Good flavors but sabotaged a bit by too much woody dryness.
I had two glasses of this and they tasted completely different. The second was from a freshly tapped keg so I'm going to assume it's more true to intent. Fresh, orange-citrus hop fragrance followed by a light fruity flavor; not super-peachy but enough to be recognizable. Mild finish and super-drinkable, especially with food.
Very solid gose with a non-fruity sourness, fairly tart, with a lightly-sweetish wheat funk and salty finish. Really nice flavors.
A crisp pilsner, on the bitter side, with a light cereal malt finish. It didn't taste significantly west coast hoppier than a normal pilsner. Tasty!
The high point of the flight. A crisp golden ale with very subtle cream coffee notes. Well balanced and tasty.
What would happen if you took an insipid Kolsch or wheat ale and amped up the alcohol to obviously extreme levels. A baby-tongued but brutish beer.
I imagine hopheads might love this. It's too much for me on every direction (alpha, sweetness, alcohol) but it tastes exactly like what I think when I hear "Triple IPA," so...
This beer is two things: it very much sits at the intersection of porter and IPA that defines the style, and it pretty much exemplifies my confusion as to why we need the style, in that it either seems like a messed-up Porter, or a messed-up IPA. Maybe because it's not assertive in either direction.
Just a taste, but it seemed better than last time. Still not a lot of coconut though.
I asked what kinds of nuts were in this beer, and the bartender said "all of them!" A thick, creamy, sweetish stout with a rich unidentifiable nut flavor. Really nice, but very strong. In fact, a lot of the beers here are surprisingly strong.
Mildly tart saison with a flavor primarily consisting of hop juice. Slight malty sweetness upfront. A bit simple in flavor.
Floral citrus star, sweet pithy bitter finish. Too bitter for me, although I liked how it started.
A creamy porter with light chocolate and coffee flavors. The flavor is very light, almost to the point of being watery, but holds together. A decent, summer-drinkable dark beer.
This was really weird, like drinking dry sourdough with a touch of brown sugar on top. The finish is more than a little salty. Cierra said this was like a Cheesecake Factory dark loaf in beer form, and I think that's spot on. This was worth drinking, but definitely odd.
Same beer in a Stovepipe can instead of a 12 oz. It was canned only two months apart from the other, but the flavor was definitely different, interestingly enough. This one was slightly more ashy in flavor, overroasted, but still very good. Just different.
I liked this a lot. A creamy mellow coffee porter with an extremely clean finish. The aftertaste was... I can't remember what I thought about it exactly, but it was... soothing?
Tasty and refreshing, but this is basically a sweetish grapefruit soda with only a hint of beer in evidence.
A very generic-tasting hoppy bitter. Maybe alone it would have been fine but it suffered next to the Gold Crush.
Opens with a mild tangerine tang, finishes with toasted barley. Very well-balanced, and one of the highlights of the night.
Very much like the Shift, but moderately more roasty. Interesting to see the family resemblance in this flight.
A mild coffee stout, smooth. I thought it was tasty, but not super-distinctive.
Mild, malty ale with brown sugar notes. Super-different from the other "bitter" in this flight. You'd never put them into the same style if you weren't told. Stylistically, I don't know where I'd fit this, actually.
They called this a passionfruit bitter. Tastes like a hoppy pale or a light IPA; very dry flavor with some pith. Of the two "bitters," I liked this one much less.
A lightly tangy saison with some nice vinous funk and good malt. Maybe my favorite beer of the night, and so appropriate!
A pleasant if unexciting pils. If it weren't on a flight with two noticeably better beers I'd have probably paid more attention to it.
I don't overall remember the flavor of this beer (forgot to log it at the time other than rating), but I do have a distinct impression that the coffee was a bit over-sweet.
I couldn't tell you much about this if I tried... It was just that far into the evening. I remember enjoying it, though, if not quite as much as the Seapine one.
Mildly sour, mildly salty gose with an appealing lime pucker. Another good beer from Wingman after an initial disappointing stretch.
A tasty saison of the fruity-funky variety. Lots of juicy strawberry flavors but not much if any mint at all. The flavors were very appealing, though.
Hearty stout with a mild roast chocolate flavor and a touch of spice on top. This was very nice.
Very light, mellow wheat ale with just a hint of yeast tang. Not exactly watery, but very, very light.
Fruity pale with very nice, mild hop flavors; finishes with a nice barley malt flavor, slightly toasted. A very decent summer ale!
A coffee-like brown with some whiskey notes. There's some good caramel overtones but a very dry flavor and a moderate bitterness kind of gives this an edge. Would be interesting to see how this ages.
This smells sour, and definitely tastes sour. Not sure how this could be classified a wit, other than having an obvious sweet wheat funk on the finish. It's more like a sour saison, with a solid if not overpowering sourness and mild coconut water-like flavors mellowing out the edge. Still, aside from the style weirdness this was pretty tasty.
This is basically a radler. Pleasant, but kind of generic. Fruit wise I thought ruby red grapefruit before I thought raspberry.
Interesting to have three dark beers in one flight. You can definitely tell the family resemblance here, although Terminator is more on the bitter side with a solid roast flavor. Good, but I'd say the least of the three.
Grapefruit-hoppy IPA. Moderately bitter. Not really my style but I think I liked it better than your average northwest IPA. Definitely related to the Hammerhead, though.
Thinnish Porter with a flavor that tends to toast instead of roast. Slightly savory, slightly nutty. It's different and nice.
Medium thick, sweet frothy Porter with a chocolate cake-like quality. Mint is more an impression than overt but gives a nice, bright sheen to the beer.
I'm not gonna lie, there's no way I remember anything about this beer.
Seemed pretty watery after the Modelo. Good to confirm that. Did I mention these beers are $8 here??
Your average macro lager but with a little more flavor than the rest. Caramel and a yeasty tang. Something something Twitch Party.
On the dark side for an old ale, with many similar characteristics to the Enegren. Still, this was a bit roastier, bitter, toffee-like, so it was a little harder to enjoy at the end of a night of drinking.
Only had a taste of this. Seemed like a decent, if generic, malty brown yeasty ale with a lot of esters. Not much spice.
A mild porter, slightly savory, with just a hint of smoke and a very light, caramel finish. No bitterness. Much lighter than I expected but very enjoyable. An easy-drinking full pint on this.
Paradox Skully Barrel No. 37 "We Jam & They Jelly" (unknown release)
A delicious sour. A very nice, fruity tartness that didn't have any distinctly cherry notes, more like a well-developed, integrated malt-tart harmony of flavor. Love this venue as well!
Fresh, hop flavors on top of a mildly wild golden saison. The first few sips were really refreshing and interesting, although the glass started tasting a bit more astringently metallic as it went on. A nice concept but a bit off on execution, I think.
Flavor wise, this is somewhere between a roasty Porter and an adjunct lager; lots of sweetness from the latter combined with nitro make for an almost candy-like sugar quality. The roasted bitterness comes in on top but the overall impression is sweet. Maybe the least successful blonde-stout type beer I've tried yet. Had to get that untappd founder's badge, tho.
A light-bodied pilsner, nice flavor, with a medium bitter pilsner finish. They said this was made by Bitburger, and though they said it was a different recipe it fits in very well with my memory of that beer. Very solid.
A light-bodied Kolsch with a fruity yeast tang, much lighter than most Kolsches I've had recently. The finish is completely without bitterness, which is nice, but at the same time maybe a little wimpy. Still, this was a very nice beer. I liked it.
I didn't get saison at all here, and the brewery's description is... basically not what this was. If anything, it was a hop-forward pale with light passion and grapefruit notes, and nearly indistinguishable from NW Pale or Session IPA in character. That said, the flavor was very good, and the finish was completely without bitterness, which was surprising.
Tried to be a bit like the Plough Monday but much less successful all around. Like the Three Magnets, this had a sour tinge that just screamed "bad coffee." The rest of the beer wasn't bad, but couldn't quite recover fully from that sourness.
Moderately sour with an umami, spice-rich, thick body reminiscent of Belgian stouts. Coffee is subdued, understandably given how strongly the other flavors come on. It got better with more sips, but that first taste was jarring and hard to get over.
Someone took a good, sweetish apple cider and got some light, creamy coffee into it. The flavors were good. They just didn't seem completely integrated.
First off, this came out much darker than I was expecting. This was basically a lightly hoppy amber ale. Didn't have any grassy funk like I enjoy in a steam beer / common ale to remind me that there are lager roots involved. Out of context this might have been fine, but I wanted something different.
Plough Monday Imperial Breakfast Porter (Batch #2)
Super light-looking for an Imperial Porter, this looked thin even for a Coke. Still, the flavor was very nice, creamy with a good mix of light coffee and malt. Reminded me of a good cream stout in flavor. Huge bottle, though -- not a light breakfast!
I didn't get sage at all, either in the smell or the flavor. That was probably to this beer's advantage. The character is of a mildly sour saison with some good, bitter funk from the wine barreling and the wild yeast. Compare with: Pour les Oiseaux; Seizoen Bretta.
Plum and toffee, thickish, cloudy ale. The flavors are good and complex if not super-refined. Pretty tasty!
Pretty amazing. Chandler's beer club got this custom-made for charity and we reap the benefits! Pours inky-black, with tons of toffee and umami. Apple brandy is clear, fruity and rich in liquor. Vanilla isn't prominent but lends a mellow sheen on top of everything else. Reminds me of a slightly more stouty and well-integrated Angel's Share Grand Cru.
Unlike the New Belgium, this beer felt intentionally designed in flavor from start to finish. A medium tart beer with sourness that doesn't veer too far in either a vinegary or fruity direction, with a balance of malt sweetness and funk to round out the complexity. This wasn't life-changing, but it was very solid. Not a bad first choice for this brewery.
Prairie Birthday Bomb! (unknown release)
I've liked Prairie's stouts before, so I was excited, but this was a decided pass for me. A not entirely pleasant mix of thick chocolate milk and over-roasted bitterness. Separately these wouldn't really break a beer but together I'm having a hard time finishing the glass. It's both too sweet and too burnt.
First taste is a strong hit of lychee, followed by an unusual, brief top of tongue tartness. That lychee quality fades really quickly into a generic fruitiness, and the sour all but dissipates into a kind of wheaty funk. The finish is tart again (but in the back of the throat), with some cereal.
Dry yeast tang to open with strong notes of toasted barley. Light grapefruit and rind bitterness close out as the tang fades. Good though a bit disjointed.
I'm not the biggest fan of these Double Bastard-based beers, but this one was really delicious. The maple is buttery and rich, mixing with the bourbon to give a kind of butter toffee flavor. There's still that very strong syrupy hop backbone that reminds you it's a Bastard, but here it's balanced very well by the other flavors. Huge surprise!
Tart lime and wine funk are the dominant flavors here, with a building finish of lime peel. This doesn't exactly scream pilsner, although there is some cereal in the aftertaste. Best comparison I can really make is to dry-hopped sours like Breakside's La Tormenta (which I really enjoyed!).
Starts off like your average pithy grapefruit IPA, too bitter for me. But the finish is what's truly odd, a kind of bacon bit-like smoked wood aftertaste that lingers unnervingly. It's not gross, exactly, but it's off-putting.
Somehow I'd never had this before. Decent amber lager, if nothing to write home about.
Lightly salty, lots of berry flavor. Medium tart. The flavors were... well, decent, although the glass was bigger than my enjoyment of it.
Smells of chocolate, and the flavor follows pretty much in turn. Creaminess from the oats, but the stout itself is over-roasted and too bitter in balance to make for a great beer.
Lightly flavored lager with an American pilsner character. The smoke is light but pokes through in a lingering aftertaste, reminding me of something like a Laphroaig. I know Francis couldn't taste any smoke, but I definitely got it, and solidly.
Stone Enjoy By Tangerine IPA (05.30.16)
Nice opening flavor, very much in the vein of better Enjoy By releases. Pretty soon though an overpowering bitterness, like raw tangerine peel, takes over. That pithiness accentuates the resin and high alcohol of the beer. It got hard to enjoy.
My main impression of these Sticke beers, at least on America, is that they mostly show off alcohol. This tasted strong, and here more than a few hops as well. Caramel, yes, but very dry. I wanted something a little sweeter and a lot more malty.
No real malt body here, this is a hop-centric amber all the way. I imagined a sheen of hop oil the entire way through this glass, and had a little headache by the end of it.
Follows the mold of the previous year's edition: an unexpectedly mellow, barrel aged stout, with light toffee and hints of liquor. The first few sips are really, really good. However, and maybe this is stuff settling to the bottom, there's an unpleasant wood bitterness that gets strong quickly, and by the end of the glass I was having a really hard time. Could be a bottle vs. draft thing?
Bold toffee/caramel and bourbon notes, a straightforward bourbon stout that manages to be somewhat raw without being too boozy. I'd say this is somewhere on the candy-like side, but it was enjoyable in that context.
Another very strong coffee Speedway. Like the others, a touch on the bitter side, but otherwise rich and smooth. I wish I could do a side-by-side with the Kona, because it's very similar and I'd love to examine the differences.
Epic Son of a Baptist Coffee Stout (#14 / Hotbox Tequila Barrel-Aged)
So... surprisingly, this was a non barrel-aged beer made with barrel-aged coffee beans, which was weird. I don't think the bourbon came through, but maybe it did in the sheer mellowness of the coffee flavor in this beer. I don't like nitro, but I still loved this beer, with its creamy finish.
Dank, rooty lager, opaque and nearly flat. A little sweet, but really? This was very far from what I want in a lager.
A very mild, lightly chocolate-tinged stout with a spicy finish. The spice is clearly chili, a bit of vegetal quality but with a mild, warm, slow buildup. Very nice, and much less assertive than other chili beers we've had recently.
Solid baltic porter, with a nice, milk-stout-like lactic sweetness to the finish. The coffee flavor was very good. I haven't thought about Green Flash in a while, but this is definitely helping put them back on my radar.
Strong campfire smoke flavor. Maybe a little too much? But it may have worked too. There's a pretty good lager in the back end.
A nutty old ale with an unusual toasted sesame-like character to the flavor. Pretty sure that was all from the yeast (the brewer was there and seemed puzzled), but it was a pleasant change, and definitely evoked a roaring fire on a cold night.
Heavy on the bourbon, clear toffee and caramel and alcohol on top of a solid brown. There's some kind of interaction between the hops and the wood here, though, making for a dry pucker and acrid bitterness on the finish. This should have been an easy winner and instead it bordered a bit on unpleasant.
Pleasant-enough citrus IPA. Moderately bitter hop finish. Bright character. Didn't buy a bottle after the sample.
A sample at Whole Foods. Surprisingly good, malty and yeasty like an unfiltered Kolsch with clear but not overwhelming cucumber flavors. Didn't taste overt brett, the funk was pleasantly normal. I guess the main thing is that I bought a bottle right after trying this.
A little funky, even in comparison to the funky Jasmine Wheat, which I suspect was a big negative on its own (my previous review). Here it was actually pretty pleasant, although still a bit unusual. Good barley taste.
Strange, candy-like perfume fragrance that is floral, but not explicitly identifiable as jasmine (I thought). Nice, neutral tasting sweet wheat-funk Hefe, with just a bit of candy / bubblegum on top with that florality in addition. I thought this was really pleasant.
Really nice barreled stout, on the dry, nutty side, with a good deal of woody roast character. Not in the world-class category, but very, very tasty.
Probably shouldn't have tried this after a chili beer, but I think I liked this. Great, bready body, like fresh toast. Good malt, slightly on the thin side, but well-balanced.
Interesting chili flavor, starts like jalapeno but moves oddly to the top of the palate instead of the tongue. Mellows out very nicely in the wheaty wheat funk finish. Other wit qualities come from the lime, but thankfully, no overt Belgian flavors which I think would have been a detriment. Heartburn city!
Hoppy, light-bodied pilsner with a fairly bitter finish. Good, lightly toasted cereal flavor.
Very on the nose, toffee-chocolate ale with a Southern Tier-like quality. More a light-bodied stout than a brown. A little too blunt for me to love, but enjoyable. Strong!
Low-carbonation; even if this wasn't cask it was similarly (not) bubbly. Very much tasted like an English cask-poured IPA, with a bitter, rooty, resinous hop flavor right on the tongue. Within that context, pretty good, but I've had a lot of Machine House I've liked better.
Originally thought this was the Hawaiian Speedway, so disappointed not to get coconut. A nice, solid coffee beer, but I don't know that this was among my favorite coffee beers or my favorite Speedways. Still, it's a Speedway, so it was very good. In the direction of Sump but not all the way there.
Resinous hops with a bitter yeasty finish. Mango is not super-recognizable, other than a vague tropical fruitiness that could just as well be passionfruit or pineapple. I was hoping for a little more quaffability and a lot more mango in this.
Felt a tiny bit over-roasted and sour after the Oakshire. Putting Fremont as the loser is an unusual experience for me.
Maybe it was time and getting over that ancient bottle experiement, but this was a lot better than I was expecting. Smooth and easy, and creamy and not too bold on the coffee.
Definitely a radler - very soda-like grapefruit sweetness, with a bit of a yeasty, funky beer mixed in (but very subdued). Light and summery, but not necessarily what I would reach for if I were in the mood for a summer beer.
Malty, semisweet Scotch ale with a touch of smoke. The strength shows as a fairly alcoholic in flavor over time, though it doesn't start that way. Still a good notch below traditional local Scotches like Black Raven and Bellevue.
Glutenberg Impérial Sotolon (2015)
Very nice, strongly flavored beer somewhere in between a Belgian strong and a barleywine. The flavors were slightly blunt and unusual in a way that is probably due to the gluten-free recipe. I... wish I'd written down the details of the flavor notes at the time, because I can't really remember them.
Really, really nice, like a baked apple cider. On the sweet side, and the malt from the beer comes in as a kind of streusel character. There's kind of the ghost of a complex funk underneath that makes it slightly unsettled, but otherwise, very strong.
Dry hopped to hell. Lots of resin, and I couldn't recognize anything of Steam Beer underneath it all.
Very similar in flavor profile to the Sea Witch, but with a smoother nitro finish. For a nitro beer, pretty good.
A solid imperial stout on the roastier side; kind of the logical end of the progression of beers in this flight. Sweet, but maybe a bit strongly alcoholic in flavor.
Good roast, slight whiff of smoke, lactic sweetness on the finish but overall a lot less sweet than most milk stouts. That's a positive, I thought. Pretty tasty!
A dry, thinnish porter with a really nice coffee flavor; in the Sump category, I think (although much less thick). A promising beer, will have to revisit this brewery again.
A weird beast; mostly a very pleasant semi-sweet cider, but there's a phantom second drink in the aftertaste here, a bit smokey and a bit roasty. It's actually a really interesting mix, and may even be better if you don't know what's going on.
A bit forward on the pumpkin spice, but otherwise a smooth, milky stout that drinks very easily. Totally different from the other beers in this tasting, though, so that first sip was a weird one.
Given how much I dislike Black Raven's regular pale ale, I was very pleasantly surprised. The mandarin orange flavor is nice and round, slightly tart. Light finish.
Somehow this time the finish seemed really bitter to me, in a way that built and built.
Deschutes Black Butte³ (unknown release)
A caramel dark porter with a slightly buttery, malty finish and strong but well-integrated whiskey notes. The finish is a bit overly woody in the way that Deschutes tends to favor; it built up a bit strongly over time.
Oddly flat opening, but a standard sour-roast strongly-vanilla vanilla stout. This was the one I was looking forward to the most but it didn't really deliver.
A hoppy brown ale with some roast. It claims to have been brewed with taro, although I have no clue how that manifested. Not super-memorable.
An amber brewed with cocoa nibs and cranberry. Much more of the former than the latter, which shows up as a hint of fruit on the end. Biscuit-like.
Fruity ISA, slightly dry, with the advertised POG-like flavors, although not super overt. Yeasty-dry, rather than juicy, although the finish is nicely cereal-sweet.
Really odd smell coming after the other sours, but fixed itself quickly. This beer is so, so cabernet, mixed with a strong, fruity but not so lingering sourness. The combination brings out the buttery, stonefruit notes of cabernet and makes it positively peachy. Really, really nice.
The most strongly sour of the three Averys, with a lingering, Balsamic-like richness. On top of this comes the sweet caramel of Bourbon, but in a way that seems a little at odds with the rest of the flavor. Clearly good, but the weakest of the bunch.
Avery Fortuna (unknown release)
Opens strongly with vegetal agave/tequila flavors, followed quickly upon by a strong citrus acidity. A noticeably salty, mellow, Gose-like finish. The effect is great, totally in the flavor-world of a margarita, but more profound at the same time. Best of the bunch.
Stone Enjoy By IPA (04.20.16)
Maybe the Jubel killed my palate, but the herbal overtones to this beer were distinctly reminiscent of Korean beef broth with chopped spring onions in it. Does that sound good to you? For a beer? I thought so.
Sweet, molassesy plum smell telegraphs quad, but the flavor was much less sweet and more than a little bitter. You could tell from the Jubelale in this, but with a large amount of funk on top. Really astringent woody dryness. Not much of a fan.
A mildly tart dark saison with some good stonefruit but also a lot of Belgian spice / clove, which was a minus for me. Otherwise a pretty good beer.
Bad sign when the bottle states "artificial flavors" right off the bat. A properly sweet, corn syrupy smell seems promising but the thin stout flavor and kind of chemically, scratch & sniff sticker sweetness are off-putting. This might be the first pecan-based beer that I didn't enjoy.
Very roasted, bitter stout; chili comes through with an almost dried, Mexican chili flavor with moderately strong spiciness. It's cut a bit by the bitterness, though, and not in a wholly pleasant way. Wish this was less on the roast, with maybe the same amount of chili.
Bubblegummy and perfumey. Sour. Grape-like fruit quality.
Smells like a scotch, tastes like a scotch, with a touch of sourness.
Smells slightly peppery. Super strong: 50% of the flavor is rubbing alcohol, and molassesy candi sugar and a bit of pepper as well. Too much.
Very sour, like unsweetened cranberry juice, and the carbonation was totally flat, so the flavor was intensified. Very slight malt finish.
The Bruery Tart of Darkness (2014)
Super tart, sustained from start to finish. Sour stays on the lips. Subtle chocolate slips through on the finish.
Logsdon Cerasus (unknown release)
Smells very nice, floral fruit. Clean, dry cherry flavor. Not syrupy, but not much malt presence either.
Slightly tart, very fruity, like a black cherry soda. High levels of funk in this beer, which ends with a malty character poking through the finish. Slightly syrupy.
Dry Irish Stout flavor. Roasty with some slight sourness. Lactic, smooth pumpkin quality. Pretty good!
Firestone Walker Bretta Weisse (unknown release)
Clean, tart, sharp opening. Some fruit, with a sweet, wheaty finish.
Deschutes Sour Quad (unknown release)
Sweet, candi sugar, some plum and a medium tart, malt-sweet sourness with a bitter funk in the background. Perfectly decent but not super-memorable.
Smells strongly of sour and candi sugar. Flavor is a lot less sour, and a bunch of really funky mold flavors. Faint apricot, but never a clean fruit character. I'd put this in a category with the Dissident and Freakcake in terms of level of funk, but it's not as good as either.
Surprisingly good, with a sharp pineapple flavor, tinged sour with habanero, moving into a sour, bitter finish with some malt smoothing out the character and reminding you that this is a beer. I was afraid this would be fruitier, or sweeter, both of which would have been minuses. As it is, it's a sour I can easily imagine finishing a bottle of, which says something.
Another delicious lager from Chuckanut. I guess this one was made for Tom Douglas? Sweet cereal malt, slightly buttery, very clean. Best of all, went great with the pizza.
Doesn't say anywhere on the label, but this had the peppery bite of a Belgian IPA. Some sour funk from the brett gives it a real farmhouse twang. I can't say it was in a super-enjoyable way - more murky. The label was beautiful, though.
Gross, musty sour lager flavor. I don't remember it being like this the last time. Maybe it was bad?
A wheaty, fruity wit with an unusual peach / apricot dominant flavor. Cloudy and pale orange in color. Clean finish. I really enjoyed the unique character of this beer.
Roasty, rich imperial stout with a thick brown head. I liked this straight version better than the whiskey barrel version from a couple weeks back.
Very different from the Demon Star, with a sweet, almost coconut aspect. Flattish from the cask.
Sour and flat, with very little recovery in the finish. Took a hit for St. Patrick's day.
Fremont Dark Heron IPA (2016)
Super-fragrant, clean tropical fruit opening, reminiscent of other excellent Fremont IPAs. This one stands out with stronger toasted barley flavors. Very clean finish, with any bitterness coming from the malt, I think. I should grab a couple more of these before they disappear.
Oatmeal sweet, mellow stout. Smoothed out considerably by nitro but without the chemical/soap flavor that usually hits me with such beers. Not surprising, because the original Merlin was so good, but a really tasty nitro stout.
After the Greenleaf, a lot less fresh-tasting, a lot more resinous, and a whole lot less appealing.
Gross. White chocolate on top of a rooty, ginseng-esque slurry. Finishes with a funky malt sweetness. Smells pretty awful too.
A lot more boring than it seemed in the early days of my beer drinking. Smooth, with a nice mellow bourbon character - that was nice. But the base porter was very thin and more than a little sour, which were clear minuses. Still, a lot better than mediocre.
Exactly what the label says - smells, and opens exactly like white chocolate, with the buttery-sweet-smooth character down pat. Finishes mildly with a slightly bitter blonde ale character. Despite the name, this is not a wit. If there is anything wrong with this, it's that it was a little "safe" and could have used some rougher edges to balance out the blandness of the white chocolate.
An inky, thick black stout with alcohol and slight tomato on the nose. Flavor is halfway between yeast extract and worcestershire sauce, super-umami, smooth, a bit bitter on the finish. Very dry, and less alcohol-tasting than 17.5% would predict. It had one job, though, and this is super-disappointingly un-pizza-like.
Astringent cucumber in front, with a slightly hoppy fruitiness and dry body. Finish is slightly sour and maybe psychosomatically dilly... I'm just gonna say it, this finished like pickles.
Starts like a nice, malty Scotch ale, but there's a little too much of a fruity/spicy yeast character in here for me to really enjoy it. It tasted more like a dry dubbel, which I definitely wasn't in the mood for.
Generic but perfectly drinkable lager. Decent cereal and a soda-like effervescence.
A dark brown or a very light porter in caramel and roastiness, dry and biscuit-like. The weizenbock yeast character comes in with a subtle clove spiciness but without the usually-accompanying fruit notes or sweetness, which makes for a unique, slightly festive beer.
That feeling you get when you grab a grapefruit juice and instead of being delicious Ruby Red or Pink Grapefruit, it's that horrible yellow stuff? That's what this was. Super-dry with a resinous hop presence. Not. Good.
A fragrant, cereal blonde with an unfortunate sheen of fake buttered popcorn jelly beans.
A creamy, roasted, porter-like beer with a light coffee character. Like other schwarzbiers I've had, there's a lactic funk in the background and a malty sweetness that closes. This one is slightly more roasty and correspondingly more bitter, but still nice.
A really dry stout, smooth, medium roast with a slightly salty, umami flavor. If you'd told me this was an oyster stout, I would have believed you. The savory nature made it slightly difficult to drink, but in an easy-to-appreciate way.
A light amber ale with a smooth, distinct coffee flavor. There's a bit of hop resin hiding underneath the coffee, but not in a way that intrudes. A bit of yeasty funk as well. This tastes like a hybrid between a blonde ale and a porter, a really weird combination that somehow works.
Wow, this place is hopping! Note for next time, the pork sliders are really delicious. And giardinera! (The beer was good too, but we've already reviewed this one)
Sweet, frothy thick porter with lots of caramel and coffee but not much of anything in the way of pecans, I thought. I think some kind of nutty bitterness would have cut through the simple sweetness nicely.
A really resinous pale with a slight tickle of cucumber at the opening. Pithy, bitter finish. I kept going back and forth between really not liking this beer and being intrigued by its flavors.
A Scots-like beer, lots of sweet, wet hay flavor and a slightly thin disposition. Toffee, dates, a bit of sourness. Plenty of smoke in the malt and some roasty bitterness.
Simply aged, no barrel, lots of concentrated resin in an otherwise smooth, slightly molassesy ale. Wouldn't call it sweet. And it's so hoppy - on the edge of burning.
Slightly less bitter on the finish than last time, I think? A nice cap to the day.
Another pleasant surprise of an ESB; not quite as good as Geaux's Gris Gris but with many similar qualities. Nutty, caramel, slightly more on the hop profile but finishes smooth.
Almost savory coriander profile, like a medicinal chicken dish or something.
Lightly spiced banana Belgian with a faintly smoky finish leading into a lager-like malt finish. A little under-carbonated, but otherwise I liked it.
Elevation Oil Man Imperial Stout Aged in Bourbon Barrels (unknown release)
What she said. (My former self)
Resin city. I shouldn't have been surprised. Choice between Barley Brown and this, Barley Brown wins. Same flavors carried out to different extremes.
Caramel amber, not too hoppy or sweet on opening, but finishes with a lightly sweet cereal finish. A nice surprise from a brewery that's not afraid to brew hop bombs. Yum!
Medium-resin with a grapefruit and pine opening. Very fragrant. Alcohol pokes through at the finish. Too far an IPA for me to love, but it was fine.
A little too yeasty-tart of a lager with no real redeeming crispness. I was disappointed.
A weird one! Decidedly golden, with a strongly toasted malt flavor crossed with a light coffee flavor. Finishes with cereal and a slightly bitter finish, pilsner-like. It's so weird at first that I thought I hated it for a second, but really got around to liking it.
Moderate maple on the nose and in the aftertaste of this mellow, medium-thin porter. It's not a complicated flavor, but it is nice, slightly unusual, and very drinkable porter. Not as sweet as you might expect, but still says "maple" pretty clearly.
Sweet amber, more malty than hoppy, with an herbal, ginger-root finish. As seems typical for ginger brews, the hops and ginger kind of meld into each other, and the otherwise uncomplicated flavor is a bit insipid. Probably wouldn't order this again.
Creamy, thin coffee overtone with a slightly smoky roast character. This was on nitro, but didn't suffer for it, which was a nice change for me.
Fruity and thin body, more towards pale ale in character than lager at first. Clean and crisp. Slight cereal finish -- that much is lager-like.
Lots of smoke on the nose on top of a thin, sweet, slightly tangy ale. Lighter than I would typically think of as a wee heavy.
Very unsweet pale ale with a dry cucumber opening. More melon than cuke, with light citrus and a mellow malt finish.
Slightly less fake-tasting, but pretty much tastes like a mass produced American lager.
Thanks, Francis! A nicely textured stout, on the sour side, with a complex roast flavor. Can't say I really detected bourbon so much, though.
Sweet malt on top of a slightly tangy yeast base. The literature says this is a helles lager, and it fits the bill pretty nicely. As a bonus, this is the least bitter beer I've had from this brewery, so they can actually manage that.
Had to try a beer from a new brewery. A light brown ale, with a sweet caramel flavor. The sweetness is a bit uncomplicated, like cheap candy, which wasn't a great impression.
A decidedly unsweet Scotch ale, with caramel and a slightly savory character. Not salty, per se (salted caramel would have been interesting), but more kind of odd and off-putting. I kept going back and forth between liking and not liking this.
A very, very solid pilsner, German-style and thick on the malt. I do like it as a break from the Czech style, and I'm pretty sure I really like it on its own merits!
Maybe the least bitter beer I've had here, with a biscuity, caramel flavor and a smooth finish. Not much in the way of holiday spices as promised in the description, but it was a pleasant beer.
A very dank, hoppy, musty smell, almost like a locker room. The flavor is syrupy and sweet and boozy - a gin and tonic made with beer. Lots and lots of grapefruit on the palate.
A bready, spicy porter with definite Belgian notes and a thick, malty head. The berry flavors are clear and fruity but not sour. Smooth for its strength. An unusual but tasty beer.
Very much an IPA, but isn't almost everything from Lagunitas, in disguise? :) Vibrant and fruity, which was nice, but with a metric fuck-ton of bitterness. Just a ton.
Maybe my palate was off? But this seemed unusually dry and tart to open. The finish was delightful, with smooth cereal. But that opening was just weird. I'd like to try this again on another occasion.
Thanks Emil! Slightly funky saison tartness rounds out piney hops to make for a really fresh flavor that reminds me of Breakside's La Tormenta. Super-clean finish, and super-sessionable too, at 3+% ABV.
Very smooth and malt-rich beer, but with a rich hop flavor. The brewery claims an IBU north of 120, but it's hard to believe. Tastes aged, oak? Fresh it's not, but sippable for sure.
Very hoppy, very bitter, but with very nice, vibrant hop fragrance. Moderate amber malt sweetness. This is a beer whose quality I can appreciate more than I want to drink it again.
Stone Enjoy By IPA (12.25.15)
Tastes significantly better than I remember from back in December. Less perfumey, still somewhat light on body and dry, but much more balanced.
A smooth lager with a slightly milky quality and dark, toasted caramel notes. I liked the smooth finish a lot, but the forward taste was a bit more timid, so: less memorable. Still, this was very easy to drink.
A real foreign export stout, with a medium-strong spicy hop presence poking through a dry, slightly tangy stout, with plenty of malt sweetness and roast. Not my favorite style of stout, but given that, it was perfectly fine.
Tons of vibrant, orangey citrus on the nose here. Usually when the scent is so rich the flavor comes across as over-perfumey, and that is certainly true here. There's almost an oily sheen to the flavor, which is good but can wear thin. Especially because there's very little backbone to the flavor. Oddly, this IPA had the least bitter finish of all the pales I've had here.
A light, sweet, slightly buttery ale with a rich, yellow color. Similar, perfumey quality shared with the other pale beers here, although with noticeably less citrus. Same acrid bitterness on the finish, as well, which was a negative. Otherwise, nice for such a lightly flavored beer
Slightly funky-tart saison with a lot of vibrant hop flavor on top. Lemony with a touch of pine, it was viscous and almost fresh-hop-like. Still, a touch more on the IPA side than I want when ordering a saison.
A very bready, sweet beer with a subtle spice profile and a molasses-y brown sugar richness. Bit of bitter funk on the end, but one which really worked. This was very comforting, and very tasty!
Agh. Not my favorite. Definitely more on the barnyard funk side than sour, with a plummy sweet alcoholic quality maybe playing a bit too prominent a role.
Strong bourbon notes pervade this inky stout. There's a dry, slightly tacky plummy quality at the heart of the flavor, and some yeasty bitterness that builds up quite strongly into the aftertaste. It was quite a bit more bitter than I remember. Decent, but not what I think I had back then.
Bready ale that starts out like an amber but moves into an almost spicy, but smooth cereal finish. Unusual but also easy-drinking.
Different than the last time I logged this - maybe it was skunked back then. This just struck me more as a slightly watery, corn-flavored American lager. Inoffensive, but also unremarkable. And not worth $4 for a mason jar, unless you really need to assert your hipster cred.
Medium-roast stout with chocolate and a sheen of marshmallow sweetness on top. A bit of a dry tackiness on the tongue. Not nearly as nice as the S'moa Please but still very enjoyable.
Slightly watery, slightly sweet, but somehow went well with that lime in a way I've never quite appreciated with Corona.
I had to get this, with that name! A lightly sweet dark beer with a smooth coffee-hinted roast flavor. Medium bitterness.
A rich, malty stout with notable smoke and chocolate flavors. Slightly sweet, with a smooth, creamy finish that starts mild but builds up a bit of bitterness. Tastes stronger than its 7.7% ABV.
A strong, fragrant lemony hop opening. Slightly buttery on the follow-through, ending with a light, sweet cereal flavor. Mild finish. Enjoyable, but just a bit perfumey.
A new brewery! This beer had a very pleasant caramelly biscuit flavor, with a bit of nutty yeast funk. A bit of fruit on the nose but not so much in the taste. The strike against this beer is an unexpectedly strong, yeasty bitterness in the finish.
Peanut butter is very faint, almost just an aftertaste against a strong porter. There's an assertive syrupy character that has to be the lactose sugar, a thing I usually like but which seemed a bit tacked on on this beer. Anyway, the broken promise of peanut butter is the main issue here.
Amazing smell, which is basically exactly like opening a pack of Reese's peanut butter cups. A very mild, creamy porter makes for a great base for the peanut butter flavor, which is a very good balance of chocolate, salt, sweet, and peanut. The finish might be a tad gritty, or maybe that's just my imagination? Still, yum.
A whole of yeasty sourness in this beer... Not at all what I would call a pilsner. Had a hard time enjoying this.
Nice flavors in front, a slightly spicy cereal followed by sweet malty notes. Some fragrant hop notes. The finish, though, was a big wall of acrid bitterness, which seemed well out of balance.
Sweet sparkling raspberry juice. Raspberries aren't my favorite fruit by any measure, but this... was perfectly decent for a party drink.
Smooth, but with a super-roasty finish. Didn't finish as bitter as the Peppermint, so that was nice. Really, though, seek out the coconut!
The weakest beer in the bunch, but still quite decent. A hint of a fruity-tart core, maybe cherry-like, with a moderate spicy-smoky roast. Creamy texture. Irish-like character, if I had to pick one.
Midnight Sun Arctic Devil (unknown release)
Boozy, with a lot of bourbon character. Medium-sweet. The basic hop character of the barleywine is toward fruit, balanced with a lot of caramel.
Almanac Barbary Coast Imperial Stout (unknown release)
A lot of unusual flavors in this stout, with a nutty, slightly latte-like flavor with moderately roasted malt flavors. There's a hint of the alcohol's strength at the back, but overall this was the most interesting in the bunch, and probably the best.
Standard nut brown character, with a bit of yeast funk bringing the nutty flavor in. Smooth and very drinkable. So far this brewery has hit all the right notes.
Lots of banana at the forefront, almost saturated, with some complex spice flavors in the mix. Good, lager-like cereal on the finish It's not exactly crisp, but it is flavorful and those flavors are good.
There's a nice pilsner underneath here, but also a really resin-sweet hop presence that I didn't much care for. Dry hopped? I think this was dry hopped.
I thought this was much more successful than the Peppermint variant, mostly because the coconut was strong enough (and sweet enough) to counteract and smoothen the heavily roasted nature of the base beer. Very nice.
Very smoothed out roasted stout flavor with a fair bit of complexity. Hard to identify the side flavors in here, but cacao was probably the dominant one. No detectable sourness. I don't typically like this beer, but aging really helps it.
Opens juicy and like a grapefruit cocktail, before settling into a bit of funk and then a sweet-ish, cereal finish. Would be nice for a summer day; as it was, on this cold day it was perfectly decent.
I think my palate was really messed up on this beer, so my impressions aren't to be trusted. Drier than the Badlands is about the best I can say.
The description says this was aged in bourbon barrels, but I can't say I tasted it (two weeks is short, though). A fruity-malty-sweet amber ale, definitely stronger than it tastes. Pleasant but not really my style.
A perfectly decent but unremarkable stout in the Irish vein. Creamy, malty finish. Very drinkable and the best bet of the day.
Lonerider Cowboy in Black (2015)
Toasty, coffee-like black IPA with nominal hop presence. Finishes smooth and very lightly bitter.
Sweeter and less fragrant than I remember from the brewery. Maybe this beer loses its freshness really quickly? I wouldn't have believed it, but the bottles do scream warnings.
A very mellow IPA with a rounded hop flavor, but also a slightly toasty, savory character. At last at this tasting, I thought it made out slightly better than the Pliny.
A pleasant pilsner with a lot of rich barley cereal flavor. Finish is moderately bitter and builds up over time, which detracts a bit from the crispness. Still, I liked this very much.
Like a sweet peppermint shake, built on the slightly smoky but very mellow woofer base. I think Hi-Fi is best at these dessert-like concoctions, and I certainly liked it better than Ballast Point's Peppermint Victory at Sea. Finishes clean, but the peppermint sticks with you; drink this last or it'll ruin your palate.
Doesn't really live up to the barrel-aged moniker, but this wasn't bad at all. Takes the thin, slightly savory woofer base and adds some wood complexity, with a touch of bourbon caramel (if not any expected sweetness thereof). Complex without being profound.
A little thinner, a little curlier in flavor, and less peanutty than I remember from last time. It was still OK, but not quite as good or memorable this time.
Smelled exactly like an orange creamsicle, which was weird and enticing. The flavor is more dank; like an herbal lemon drop, and without any sweetness whatsover. Made it taste a bit superficial, like a perfume. Wish it tasted like it smells; still, I drank the whole thing.
A resinous pale with... well, the coffee blends in a little too well with the alpha hop bitterness, to the point that it's hard to tell where one begins and one ends. Sweet, too. None of this made for a super-pleasant beer.
Thin but smooth texture; you could've fooled me by saying this was nitro. A bit over-smooth, almost soapy flavor, but lightly sweet with just the barest hints of coffee. I haven't tried them side by side, but this seemed really similar to their regular milk stout.
Not nearly as Peppermint Patty as Perennial's stout, this has just a hint of peppermint on top of a rich, creamy, but not particularly sweet beer. Lots of chocolate on top, but with a rather bitter, over-roasted kind of bitter finish.
Far less opaque than my memory? Still very good, though.
Thinner than I remembered, with a light, caramel, slightly nutty flavor. Bourbon is clear on the tongue but not overwhelming. I think I actually prefer the Possum Claus this year, and I don't know if it's me or the beer that's changed.
Chocolate-caramel like a porter or dark lager, but with a half-hop, half-roast bitterness on the finish that builds up over the glass. On the surface it was okay, but it definitely seemed worse than the Pray For Snow and Big Ol' Pumpkin beers that others had.
Ack. I think I'm giving up on "young" Abyss for a while. This was strongly alcoholic and complex in a variety of directions that all led to bitter. These beers age for the better, but this wasn't there.
Medium tart, plenty of salt on the tongue. Lots of wheat funk. Finishes really clean with a pleasant flavor, like a slice of hot buttered toast.
Bready, strong bock with a harsh-ish bitter yeast finish. The coffee flavor is sweet without being creamy, and comes out very pungent.I tend to think Maui's canned beer suffers a bit, but this was worse than usual.
This was pretty good, but I absolutely failed to take notes. Sorry.
A fruity-uric lager, very flavorful and a bit floral. Medium-bitter finish. Good cereal, but maybe a bit metallic?
This beer is always better aged, and moreso on draft. Very smooth but very boozy. Roast coffee with hints of cherry or blackcurrant on the finish.
Deschutes Jubelale (2015)
The first beer of the flight with funk. I liked this more than I usually do: caramel and toast. Finishes bitter.
Lemony and slightly tart; the flavors are richer on cask but resin is more prominent on the tongue. I think I like this one better carbonated.
Lemon bubblegum, a bit of pine. Super smooth and almost milky-sweet. Is there lactose sugar involved here? The finish is slightly bitter but builds over time.
Holy sage! The herbal flavor complements but builds on resin. This all leads to a big bitter finish which was hard to take.
My favorite of the flight! Fruity marzen opening leads into a light, grapefruity IPA flavor. Slight bubblegum (I think this is probably characteristic of Deschutes' hop profile). Slightly vinous finish with no bitterness. Delish!
White apple & malt, sits nicely in-between the Red Chair and Das-Schutz in flavor. Grassy finish. This was also yummy!
Cola-like, with a light, toasty flavor and a sweet caramel malt flavor. Reminiscent of some light brown ales I've had, a very uncomplicated flavor. I like a little more grassiness and just a touch more toasted flavor in my marzens. This was fine, though.
Roasty and caramel, but with a lot of hop spiciness. Not the kind of CDA I'm really into.
Citrus-bubblegum IPA-like flavors. Bit of pine. Sweet, but bitter finish. Perfectly fine.
The general thing at this brewery seems to be light flavors and soda-like carbonation, and this was no exception. Still, a lot of things to like about this beer, with some caramel and light fruit. Best of the flight.
Much more balanced than the Umbrella, with a light caramel malt body and a slight fruitiness. Hops are more fruit and less pine cleaner. Very low bitterness, clean finish. The description mentions English character but this tasted more like a low-alpha northwest IPA.
Ella hops, says the sheet. The hop effect is light but perfumey, a bit lemon-pledge, but not as strong as beers brewed with lemon drop hops. Surprisingly bitter on the end, with a lot of filmy resin.
More flavorful than I remembered. Still light, but with a fruity, malt flavor and a bit of funk on the nose. Lots of soda-like effervescence.
Russian River Consecration (unknown release)
Just as sour as Temptation, but definitely more fruity in character. Cherry and wood, with maybe a touch of chocolate. There's less complexity in this beer, and the finish is a bit one-note and less memorable. Overall, I liked this less than the other sour.
The better of the two sours in the flight - this had some funky yeast bitterness from the wine barreling, without overt wine flavors in the beer itself. Very sour, but with a relatively sweetish, malty finish.
Rich, creamy porter with a lot of roasty bite. That last brings out some coffee and chocolate in the flavor but lingers for a long time, verging on outright smoke. The alcohol pokes through, too. Fine, but I wished for a less pointy experience.
Very, very good on draft. A similar overall character to the Row 2, Hill 56, but with the flavors all smoothed out. Smoother, yes, but also a little more boring. Still, very fresh-tasting and tasty.
Similar to the Whole Cone Madness, but adds a kind of savory, uric tang (and maybe some more resinous character?) to add a perfect note of contrast to the overall flavor. The best beer of the batch, I think - better than Pliny.
A really good, super-fresh tasting hoppy ale. This is in the piney-but-cereal vein of beers that somehow strike that delicate balance to become delicious.
Hoppy amber with a good amount of toasted malt. Balanced and went very well with barbeque.
Solid tripel flavor with honey, stonefruit, some murky yeastiness and a bit of candi sugar on top. The finish was kind of astringent, though, and got less and less pleasant over the course of the glass.
Was this bottle skunked? There was definitely some skunk on the nose, and the flavor was a bit over-yeasty and sour. Not a super-happy beer.
Lots of hop resin, more IPA than lager. This is definitely a common kind of IPL-type lager, but not a type I particularly enjoy.
I liked this a lot. Wish I could remember more about this. The bar was nice, though.
Definitely on the sweet side. More liqueury than hard booze. Makes for a very dessert-like beer, but I liked it a lot.
Bitter, crisp, grassy pilsner with a slightly fruity flavor. A nice break from the other beers.
A smoky-tart beginning marks a very different beer from the coconut porter. This coco is more savory, not buttery. Definitely more roast. The finish floats in with the sweetness, bringing the cane sugar to mind.
Rooty, medicinal ginger flavor, with a slightly metallic opening. The hibiscus comes in later. Not much discernible malt body. My least favorite beer of the flight.
Nutty caramel flavor with a bit of a hop bite. Toasty with hints of sweetness and coffeee.
Very nice toasted coconut flavor, which based on my last log I completely missed back then. Slightly sour yeast aspect. Good balance between roast and sweet.
Nicely roasted chocolate malt flavors mix with an understated but definitely present spicy hop followthrough. This was... pointy, but balanced. I liked it.
A little over-tart, I thought, while still somehow tasting a little syrupy. I guess I like my ciders cleaner and crisper.
By far the beetier of the two beers. This was about exactly like drinking a beet salad, with a sharp vinaigrette flavor and a sweet, super-earthy beet follow through. I think I liked this? But it was hard to imagine I was drinking a beer while I was doing it.
Dry, lambicky, curly sour beer. Beet is there but more like a faint overtone than a dominant flavor, due to the sharp tartness and funk. Good but I'll stick with the small pour.
The server described this as light, but I thought it was actually super-flavorful, with a rich tang and an almost wine-like fruitiness. Definitely the kind of lager that I really like.
Amazing to be able to try this. Thanks, Chandler! A very smooth, plummy quad with complexity below the surface. Finishes remarkably clean, maybe the most so of any straight quad I've had. This isn't going to hit my top 10, but deliciousness and rarity combined to make for a special experience.
Westbrook Mexican Cake Imperial Stout (unknown release)
A sweet spiced chocolaty stout with a thick character. The habanero comes in at the finish and is moderately strong, building up to a nice heat. Still, I'm not sure the habanero was completely necessary or even helpful overall to the flavor profile. Or maybe I'd just had too many at this point.
Tons of funk coming off this beer in the aroma... veering a little towards blue cheese. The dry tang and vegetal pumpkin dryness are very nice, but there is a really tongue-curling flavor always lurking behind the forefront flavors.
Smells amazing, very nutty and cocoa-like. Maybe one of the nuttiest-tasting beers I've had, rich, and thick. Not nearly as sweet as you might expect, although some of that may be a bit of a yeasty or woody bitterness on the end. This was probably somewhere between Yum and Awesome, but I'll give it points for the setting.
Founders Blushing Monk (2015)
Opens like a dry, fruity soda or a framboise lambic - believable raspberry flavors and refreshingly effervescent. The finish is unusually funky and bitter and comes a little bit out of nowhere, which was a negative.
A malty, caramel barleywine with good flavor that derails sharply at the end with an acerbic bitterness.
Wasn't nearly as sweet as I remember. This was actually a very good pumpkin beer on the creamy custard side of the spectrum, as opposed to spice-centric. Always good to have another solid pumpkin choice.
Dark, thick, boozy beer with mellow chocolate notes and a hint of cherry, I thought. I think it may have come from wood (although it wasn't noted as wood-aged), as well as a strong, building bitterness typical of wood chips. I enjoyed this a lot at first but couldn't finish the glass.
Bit of a sharp porter with sweet booze throughout. This beer doesn't hide any of its significant strength. It's a bit angular, but very enjoyable.
Lots of coffee and a slightly sharp, bitter backend, like it's halfway to a CDA. Nice caramel flavors.
Creamy, lightly sweet, malty beer with definite-but-not-overboard pie spice presence. Very lightly fruity, or is that the pumpkin? An easy drinking option, and cheap.
Initially thin porter taste gives way to a warm, slightly viscous caramel flavor. Hints of toasted pecans and bourbon that's initially hidden behind the caramel but is definitely there if you look. Stronger than it tastes, too. I was afraid this wouldn't match my memory but it might actually be better.
Smooth porter. Nothing hugely memorable, but easy to drink and very nice with food.
Tasting table at Total Wine Northgate. Comes across sweeter than the hopped cider, with a tinge of candied ginger. Not spicy at all - this runs more towards ginger ale character than ginger beer. Would work well as a holiday dessert drink. For sipping I'd choose the hopped.
Tasting table at Total Wine Northgate. A clean, semi-sweet cider that gets a nice dry bitter finish from the hops. A touch, maybe, of passionfruit as well, but mostly the hops stay floral rather than fruity, letting the apple show through. This was nice.
Deschutes Jubelale (2015)
Caramel, malty ale. After the hop fests of the previous few beers, this was welcome.
Stone Enjoy By IPA (12.25.15)
This one tasted like it had lemondrop hops in it, with a lot of the lemon pledge quality and oily, tongue-coating hop that was in this year's Chasing Freshies. I've liked this beer in the past, but not this release.
Sweet - fruity-sweet, not malt-sweet - IPA. Resin on the finish, but not too bitter. This was somewhat enjoyable.
Medium-tart saison with round fruit at the beginning. A bit of funk and wine grape flavor leads into an unpleasantly lingering bitterness at the finish, which I'm going to give to the juniper. I do admit this tasted better when coming back after a couple IPAs.
Avery Samael's Oak Aged Ale (2012)
Really strange smell on this, and I had notes that I lost on what it was like. Some kind of musty cookie - may have just been weird in context? Flavor matched the smell. Will have to try again some day in isolation.
Grand Teton Barrel-Aged Black Cauldron Imperial Stout (unknown release)
I remember this being really good, but this was a victim of too much good, memory-affecting stuff. Sorry.
Bit of coffee, bit of caramel. I remember this being really good, but this was a victim of too much good, memory-affecting stuff. Sorry.
Tasty, mildly tart saison. The Aquavit lent a character that was vegetal and alcoholic. I honestly don't remember too much more about this.
Sweet, and definitely the most syrupy of the beers tasted at Big Wood today. It's still very good, but a notch down from the generally outstanding selections of the day.
Block 15 The Demon's Farm Black Farmhouse (unknown release)
Tart, Flanders-esque sourness with a nice, smooth overall character. Sorry, I was too far gone to be more specific here.
Firestone Walker Bretta Rosé (unknown release)
Dry raspberry, very clean. Not very beer-like, and surprisingly little funk. This was cleansing, and I liked it a lot.
Like a caramel apple in a glass? That's my overriding impression. Other than the fact that this didn't jibe at all with what I wrote when I had this before.
Thanks, Chandler! Just amazing, super complex beer. Vegetal. Umami. Toffee. Thick. Smooth. All of the single words.
Cantillon Iris (unknown release)
Mildly sour and moderate but not too weird in the funkiness department. This is much less odd than the Saint-Gilloise from last year.
Perennial Maman Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout: 23-Year Evan Williams Blue Label Variant (unknown release)
Super smooth finish. Toffee. Slight hints of cherry. But oh, that finish.
Slight smoke, but much less than I would have expected. Really, the Islay influence was subtle. Lots of toffee up front and otherwise the super-refined BBomb experience that you'd expect. Delicious.
The flavor was... um, curly, is the best word I can come up with. Sweet coffee and vanilla that, well, curls into wood smoke.
Sweet, bourbon, cinnamon, smooth, creamy. Adjectives.
Reminds me of Maui's Imperial CoCoNut Porter, thick, umami. Lots of toasted coconut, which is always a win. Sweet, but with a bit of sourness on the finish. Delicious, like all of the Speedways I've tried so far.
Boozy, with a caramelized sugar finish. Same sourness on the finish as the Hawaiian Speedway. I preferred the other beer, but this was also delicious.
Tastes like a latte, with dessert-like sweetness. Smooth, with just a hint of cinnamon. The overall impression is like a molasses caramel cookie.
Oaty and creamy. The finish is a bit savory. I don't know if it was intended, but fits with the "spaghetti" in the name.
Lots of caramel with a bit of yeasty tang. Not nearly as burnt toffee or tart as the Regal Rye, and this definitely isn't a stout. It does seem to sit nicely in between the Coffee and the Regal Rye stout in terms of character, though. Tasty.
Basically a Bourbon County with what seems like a touch of cherry syrup added. I'm not a fan of cherry stouts or cherry chocolates, so while this was still good, it was a step down from the others. High and sweet bourbon notes and a lingering fruit-tart finish.
This year's version has lovely coffee flavor with no acidity or bitterness; very smooth. Bourbon is present but muted by the coffee flavors, making for a mellow overall character. I want to say this was a definite step up from last year, but this might just be because of its contrast from the rest of the flight. Still: delicious!
Fragrant hoppy IPA, on the dry side and noticeably little malt presence. Finishes very clean and with barely any lingering bitterness. Glad it wasn't sweet but really missed some cereal.
Clean-drinking black lager with very light flavoring - light caramel, light roast, almost too little there but somehow it worked for me. Didn't have the lactic finish of most dark lagers, which was nice given the lightness of flavor. Very strongly carbonated, which may have taken away some of that character.
Opens with hops and sweet malt, finishes with a bit of dry roast. The taster glass I had was almost entirely flat, which wasn't a super way to get to know this beer. I think the flavors were good but I'll have to try it again out of a fresh bottle.
A dry saison with the same roast-tart yeast tang as the other beers on the night. Very nice acid from the blood orange sits on top of the saison funk to create a nice little beer.
A typical, caramel forward Scotch ale, stronger than usual (11%!) and tempered a bit by a roasty-tangy yeast finish. This seems to be a common factor with all of these Liberty Station brews. I did like this.
Roasty, medium bodied stout with the typical Irish stout tartness blending into berry fruit tartness to finish. It's a subtle effect, and the difference is in how the finish lingers. That is; the fruit was recognizable fruity, but didn't say "raspberry" very clearly to me. Overall, this was pretty okay, but suffered after the Storm Brain.
Went with a quartet of Liberty Station-brewed beers. This was a light-bodied stout with medium roast. Definite bourbon but toned down from the normal blunt approach a lot of dabblers take; that is, there was a very good balance here despite a lack of complexity in the flavors. A very promising start to the flight.
Tastes like a roasty red with a kind of yeasty curl. If you squint you can get the maple but it's not as strong as I would like. Sweet potato? May have come through as a murkiness of flavor more than anything. This was interesting, but never quite emerged from weirdness.
Honey sweetness and a light fruitiness are almost overwhelmed by spicy hops. There was a lot to like here but I couldn't love it... I think a different brewery might not have had to assert the hops like Ballast Point does.
Nice roast on this porter, with subdued chai spice compared to other "chai" beers of late. This is a huge win, and makes this not taste like soap. All of this is well-balanced with a lactic sweetness to make for a very successful beer.
Very good, as usual. Even better in the brewery restaurant, which was gorgeous.
Fragrant, hoppy double IPA with a candy-like watermelon sheen on top. I'm not sure anyone has managed to make a watermelon beer yet that doesn't bring Jolly Ranchers to mind. Bitter finish.
Lightly hoppy blonde with a creamy cereal finish. Light but definitely not watery. Maybe not super-memorable, but it went well with Thanksgiving dinner.
Dry-ish with lots of banana and caramel but not too much sweetness, a bit of salty umami on the back end. Very nice flavor and clean for a strong beer.
Exactly as advertised - light, smooth, buttery caramel, toasted coconut and cocoa. Almost like a dessert without being syrupy. I'm a sucker for these flavors, though!
Cycle Lost DOS (2015)
Pours thick and black with a boozy nose. Very good bourbon stout with some overt plum-raisin notes to mix things up. Like a mix of Parabola and Stickee Monkee.
Like a toffee date cake in beer form, with a wet grassy sweetness to finish. Super-carbonated.
Lemondrop hops give this a syrupy lemon Pledge flavor that is hard to ignore. There is an interestingly buttery finish that is the one thing that saves this. It's not love, but I liked this more than others seemed to.
Vinegary smell. Effervescent, tart ale with definite raspberry notes and a sweet wheaty malt finish.
A lot of lactic sourness at the finish marks the milk more than any sweetness. It's at the point at which I remarked that this was probably the closest thing to turned milk that I've ever enjoyed drinking.
Hoo boy, does this smell of green olives. It doesn't taste so much like them, but that briny, vegetal overtone is hard to shake. The rest of it is like a standard Berliner weisse, with a strong tartness and sweet wheat aftertaste.
Doesn't taste so much like a toaster pastry as it does a fruity, hoppy red ale. The hops are very bright, almost fresh-hop-like. Finished quite bitter.
Light, fruity plum ale with a mellow sweetness. This tastes more like a mimosa than a beer, and I wished that there was more pickled ume overtness in the flavor.
Exactly as advertised. Without being overtly sweet, there is a creamy chocolate shake characteristic to this beer, with a note of espresso nibs on top. Very enjoyable.
Pleasant, thinnish brown with more of a straight malt sweetness than anything caramel brownie. There's a hint of salt but it kind of recedes into a general, drying minerality over time.
I don't know if this was mislabeled. The keg backs up the attribution, but it tasted more like a fresh hop IPA than anything alt-like - hoppy, yellow and fruity. So I have a hard time believing it was correct.
A thick, malty stout with more than a hint of umami and salt. If you'd told me this was an oyster stout I would have believed you for sure. Again, not sure if the labeling was correct - I did not taste chocolate at all.
Opens reminiscent of a better dry-hopped cider, with floral hop notes, but tangs quite quickly to a sincere sourness. I appreciated the boldness of the flavor; most "apple ales" are timid at best. This ends with a very clean, cereal finish. Surprisingly good offering from Lagunitas.
An unpleasant funk coming off of this beer. The flavor is much better, with a malt-forward Scotch ale ending with a half-funky, half-butterscotch, refined finish. The smell never quite disappeared though, and inevitably colors the impression.
Enlightenment Bière Brut (unknown release)
Slightly tangy, definitely funky, malty-sweet brett saison in the mold of a Logsdon. This is the first biere de Champagne I've ever had, and it's reminiscent of its namesake. I liked this!
Vaguely Belgian-esque pumpkin ale. That's mostly the estery yeast character; spice presence is subdued. Definite vegetal notes, and good sweetness.
More like a straight spiced porter than particularly pumpkiny. Weirdly sweet and the spices were basically tacked on, I thought. Suffered a lot next to the other two.
I'm imagining this cask was a little middle finger to Anheuser-Busch? Flat and Belgian-esque, with a musty coriander-like essence on top of the base pumpkin ale. Didn't particularly think peach, either.
Wow! This is maybe the most pumpkin pie-like beer I've ever had - at once vegetal, lightly spiced, and creamy cereal on the finish. Just a touch of cider-like fruitiness on top. It's like they took the best of Pumking and Pumpkick and threw some more pumpkin in there.
An unusually light-colored stout, much less an "epic stout," but with a good, light roasted flavor. Flavor is tempered by a pronounced yeasty character.
I still thought the ginger was subtle but I could detect it this time. A bitter, woody, but fragrant IPA. Finish is bitter but not the unpleasantly lingering type.
Thinnish, roasty stout. Definitely more roasty than the porter, and not quite as good.
The winner of the flight - a medium-bodied porter with light roast and really good malt backbone. I likedt his one a lot.
On nitro, a lot of hop juice and gin right at the forefront. Smooth, but quite clearly strong. These aren't my favorite flavors, but given that this was pretty good.
A lactic sweetness on this, tasting a bit like a pumpkin spice milkshake. That was a promising start. But there's something artificial-tasting about that sweetness, kind of like candy sour sugar.
Almost sour, thatch-and-molasses Belgian with some dankness from the pumpkin. This wasn't the all-around winner I remember back from my early beer days. But it's still overall on the positive end.
Kind of a funky, skunky smell on this one, as well as subtle pie spice. Flavor-wise, this makes it less sweet, which is nice and keeps things interesting, but the skunk is there as a kind of constant undertone.
Of the two, this was a little spicier on the nose and more woody, resinous on the tongue. Similar to the citra / simcoe, but not nearly as fruity (as one might guess). Finish is a bit oiler, a bit more woody-bitter. Still very nice, but not quite as good as the first.
Rounded citrus hop flavor, kind of like Asian chewing gum (but in a good way). The flavor is just really, really appealing and unlike the hop presence in nearly any other beer I've tried. Just the barest hint of bitterness on the finish, and no oily resin sheen.
Stone's 20th Anniversary encore release of this seven-year old beer. Sweet & spicy Belgian ale. Undertones of subtle plum and brown sugar. Probably could use some mellowing, but pretty tasty.
Loowit Judge WOPNA Fresh Hop (2015)
A fragrant, fresh fruity hop flavor in this beer, with a slightly sweet aspect and some finishing bitterness.
Deschutes Oktoberfest (2015)
Really nice Oktoberfest flavors, with lots of toasty malt, but with a mushy hint of fruit - apricot, maybe? - kind of preventing this from being as clean a flavor as I like.
Basically tastes like the liquid from a jar of pickled peppers... and yet, somehow, in a good-ish way? I'm probably the only one, but I kind of enjoyed this. I'm in a really weird mood, though.
Bottle #2 was minus the tequila (spirit unspecified) but plus coffee and cocoa nibs. The coffee is really well-done, not super-strong but clear and tasty. Smooth chocolate finishes. This is the slight winner between these two bottles.
An unexpected gift from Florida! Slightly thinner than I expected, with a sweet-sour tequila-tinged vegetal quality mixed with a sweet-ish, very good stout. The tequila makes this one a bit challenging, but overall it was very tasty.
Squashy, mildly sweet, with subtle pie spice. This is a solid pumpkin ale, not hugely memorable, but among the good ones - and nice to see something from Avery that isn't completely over the top.
On the syrupy side for a doppelbock. Too sweet and pungent for me to enjoy.
Two Beers Fresh Hop IPA (2015)
Hoppy-dank-sweet. Pith and resin bitterness on the finish. Not my cup of tea, generally.
Still really tasty. Maybe even better than I remembered.
Sweeter for sure than when had after the Brew 1000. And more... well, perfect. YUM.
A Belgian pale, mildly spicy, with lots of rounded, slightly funky wine flavor and a sweet malt finish. Unusual flavor profile, and really delicous!
Against the Grain The Brown Note (unknown release)
Still absolutely the worst label art I've ever seen. It's even more disturbing up-close - no hand? The flavor, on the other hand, is really nice -- a roast-chocolate brown ale with a slightly salty flavor and maybe a hint of smoke. It produces a pretty warm, comfy feeling, and surprisingly, no bitterness on the finish. Drink this, but maybe out of a paper bag?
Very interesting. This beer is slightly tart, and the overall impression is that of a mellow pumpkin pie ale mixed with a small amount of hard apple cider. It was actually pretty interesting, although I never quite got over the strangeness in a half pint. Will try again, though.
Unappealing, murky light color. Flavor is a mix of medium-heavy roast, chocolate, and a very round hop flavor. In fact, I'd have called this a straight CDA if not for the amount of roast on the flavor. Anyway, not really my style.
A delicious golden ale, with just a hint of Belgian spice character before hop perfume and an exotic bitterness from the grains of paradise kick in. Delicious, cereal malt finish. This is like an actually excellent mutation of Sam Adams Summer Ale.
A light, hop and caramel amber ale. Drinkable, but I think most of the appeal may have been from the surroundings here.
You know I had to try this one. This beer opens sharp and alcoholic, with some forward yeast bitterness, which is the most Belgian part of this beer. The finish is actually very nice, with mellow, sweet cake-like notes, but that start. Not happy.
Southern Tier Pumking (2015)
I just love this beer on draft! Creamy, sweet body with just a hint of molasses. So good.
A really delicious fresh hop ale, with tons of pine and fruit in the opening. Avoids feeling like an all essential-oil and resin and no body beer, although it is still pretty thin. But it's hard to fault the flavors that are there when they're so good.
A light, cola-like brown but with just the right amount of smooth, caramel sweetness. A model easy brown ale, I think.
An interesting beer. Opens like a dry-hopped saison, very fragrant, with bits of white pepper and a yeasty dryness. The body and finish are unusually strong in cereal malt, almost bringing to mind a helles lager. Makes for a strange hybrid, but very enjoyable, I thought.
Sweet, and estery with a ton of molasses and dried stonefruit flavor. Essentially this was like drinking liquid banana bread, but much more believable and integrated than other gimmicky beers that try for that flavor. Maybe a bit over the top, but very tasty!
Smells a bit skunky. It's there in the flavor too, but offset nicely by a distinct Scotch flavor. Some caramel and wet grass, noticeably sweet. It does taste a bit gimmicky, and there's that touch of skunk there. But overall, decent enough.
Simple Malt Imperial Stout Reserve (unknown release)
Thick, viscous liquid with an umami-tart tinge, like soy sauce and stonefruit. Not sweet at all, and not much bourbon in evidence. This is more like a Harveistoun Ola Dubh in character... hard to come to terms with?
Black Raven Fresh Hop Saison (2015)
Extremely fruity, round fruit and hops, on the front, although it's more of an essential-oil fruitiness than anything that seems super-integrated. The finish is a bit acrid and bitter, which builds up unpleasantly over time.
Sweetish, malty amber beer. I think we've established this is not how I prefer my Oktoberfest beers.
Smelled like, in the words of some of the guys, "urinal cake." It's really difficult to get past a thing like that.
Really good, but do not drink this directly after the Brew 1000. The contrast in sweetness leaves this tasting a bit tart and ashy. A few minutes separation set everything right again, though. However - it does seem like this is getting less sweet each year. Am I imagining this?
You know, this was so sweet -- sweet with malt, with whiskey, with toffee, but totally perfect in that context. Just a superbly constructed beer.
Perfectly ok sweetish lager with some vaguely fruity notes and good malt. Not my preference for the style but decent. And the company was great.
The must have changed up the recipe. This was pretty bad, like drinking pumpkin spice Pledge. Perfumey and way too much cinnamon. I couldn't even finish the taster.
The chai spices are a little strong and the overall character maybe over-sweet. There's a bit of lemony sourness as well which was off-putting at first but became almost decent after the pumpkin ale.
A hoppy amber with a nutty, funky turn that reminded me of that very first Vienna Lager here. Dat yeast, right? Some roast. Okay.
Initial, weird hit of sweet lemon candy, but resolves into a firm, very pleasant malt cereal flavor, almost toasted in character. Best glass of the flight, by a fair margin.
Base Camp Fresh Hop Ultra Gnar Gnar IPA (unknown release)
Tasted like a decent fruity & malty IPA; mild bitterness, lots of resin, a touch of poky alcohol. But not especially "fresh hoppy." Got better over the course of the glass, for sure.
I don't get this trend of fruity, hoppy pilsners. Call it an India lager or whatever, if it has the word pilsner in it, I got expectations. And they weren't met.
An unexpected hit of coriander and other flavors more Belgian than English. Tasted a bit like a holiday cookie. Finished with a mild, malty roundness and a moderate bitter finish. Definitely grew on me until I rather quite liked it.
Very light-colored for a porter, with a flavor that is less roasty and more caramel, with the kind of sour undertone that is typical of some English porters. This was okay, which is about as enthusiastic as I can get about this beer.
A very pleasant, malty-sweet amber. Least tart of the Rickard's bunch, and also the least memorable.
Labeled a German pilsner but laced with a lemony fruit tartness - much more subtle than a shandy, but distinctly not a pilsner either. Normally I get offended by this kind of fiddling, but this was a really drinkable, refreshing beer.
Supercharged, dank coriander flavors were an unpleasant surprise, but I got used to that quickly and found that an unusual lemon and sweet wheat flavor peeking out really made this flavor work. Definitely needs time to sway the drinker, though.
This was really quite good, although I can't remember it outright. :/
Midnight Sun Son of Berserker Imperial Stout (unknown release)
A medium-bodied stout with some sweetness but a highly roasted character. The finish has some hints of peppery spice, a bit of smoke or ash and moderate bitterness, but finishes clean. It's nothing at all like the Berserker, but it is a very solid stout.
E9 Holy Diver (unknown release)
Lots of caramel and candi sugar in this beer, with a rounded fruitiness that is mellowed out and made buttery (and funky) by the red wine barreling. Similar to Black Raven's La Mort Rouge, but could be even better. Warming and delicious.
A really solid, tasty Oktoberfest. Good, dry bread yeast flavor and a good amount of rich, toasted barley flavor. Clean and crisp.
Very sweet, but ridiculously good. Slightly effervescent, with a nice apple-y twang and a boozy, complex caramel sweetness. 18% sneaks up on you quickly, though.
Picked up this old bottle unexpectedly at a shop. A marked contrast to the Bourbon County, this opens smooth and chocolaty, like an after-dinner chocolate, but with a fast developing savoriness that brings to mind stewed chilies. The green chile is more of the fruit flavor than it is spice, although a mild warmth does build up over time. Mellow and much better than expected.
Lots of vanilla and toffee on the nose. Sweet and more than a little bourbony, this beer has a sweet, marshmallow-like aftertaste. Finishes smooth, and wonderful. So glad to have this again. Thanks, Chandler!
A fragrant, malty ale with just a hint of fruit and a sweetish, strongly honey-like aspect. Sits somewhere in between a Vienna lager and a light amber in terms of flavor and quaffability. Very nice!
Not sure how I feel about this beer. It tastes like a sour corn lager with a pilsner-like bitter finish. Just writing that out feels weird.
A slight smokiness from a decent amount of roast, this is a porter on the sour side, like a lot of English porters. It has a bit of an empty-feeling body but it does sweeten out. A bit nutty and a finish reminiscent of a malted chocolate milk ball, but not nearly as sweet. Very decent, I'd say?
Thanks, Emily! Fresh from XOXOFest. Wonderful, fruity fresh hops, citrus and passionfruit. Touch of bitterness to remind you this is still an IPA, but yum!
Much tamer than usual for an Evil Twin Beer - positively normal after the Lil' B. Basically tastes like an oatmeal or milk stout, medium thick. Not very memorable, but it may have suffered in its company. Doesn't taste like its Imperial moniker nor the 10+ % ABV.
A musty, dank hop smell like a brewery on cook day, not the best first impression. The flavor, on the other hand, was just really way too sweet, almost as if it had been sweetened after the fact. Big sad face.
This has aged, so it's hard to tell what it was like young, but my impression is that this is a lot smoother than other anniversary Black Buttes I've had. Thinner too, in body and flavor, making the cranberry and pomegranate tartness and fruitiness a lot more prominent. In fact, I'd call this a fruit beer first (though a profound one), and dark beer second. Other notes: mild chocolate, not too sweet.
The Bruery Mash & Grind (2013)
I think this suffered after the Event Horizon - the first smell was off-putting, like daikon and caramel. Flavor-wise, the main impression is burnt caramel coffee, which overpowers the thinnish, sweetish body somewhat. Over time this got a lot better, but it never got as great as I'd hoped. It's possible this turned during aging?
Thick and amazingly smooth. You can smell the bourbon from a mile away, and you'd think it would be too boozy. But this is so amazingly delicious, you guys. Honey sweet, but not cloying, milky and rich. Like a super-mellow version of Berserker, if that helps the picture.
A nice IPA, with nice fragrance and a backbone of toasted barley flavor. But I don't think I tasted one ginger, much less four. So that was disappointing. Moderately bitter finish. Tingled on the tongue, as advertised.
A pithy IPA, but with a nice bit of fruit. Not my style, but it was surprisingly better than "for science" would have predicted.
A creamy, mildly roasty porter. I think I'd call this excellent for the style.
Creamy-sweet on nitro, with a good amount of cereal and mild fruitiness. Great for the sun.
Moderately tart, slightly watery. The quality of the cherry was not sweet, but still syrup-like, vaguely reminiscent of medicine. Wasn't a huge fan.
Sweet and honeylike up front, with a slight amount of carbonation. Finishes clean and with just a touch of tartness. Undertones of whiskey, but not too overt. If you want something on the sweet side, this is awesome.
A solid stout with coffee notes, and it would have been perfectly fine if I hadn't just had the Big Woody, which was excellent. This was just decent. Less sweet and a little more sour than that beer, as well.
Basically your average American hefe. Perfectly drinkable but completely easy to forget given the other beers of the evening.
It's not mentioned anywhere, but this beer has a very pronounced coffee & cream flavor, and it's a good coffee. This is in the general neighborhood of a Sump in terms of excellent coffee stouts, even if it doesn't quite reach that level.
Paler and less toasty than your average festbier, this was an excellent medium-weight German lager. So far this flight has been a total winner.
Less like the thicker malt bombs common amongst Eastside scotch ales, and more like a solid, caramel and hops lager or bitter. A nice change and quite tasty.
Trying out the new taproom/bottle shop near work. Doesn't taste like your average witbier. More like somewhere between a helles lager and a marzen, with a grassy tang and a bit of toast, and some distinct but not assertive berry flavor on top. I thought this was easy drinking and really tasty.
This was the harshest smooth beer I think I've ever had. It was smoky and bitter, and perhaps over-roasted, but mellowed out precipitously by the finish. Still, it was work to drink this.
Smells very musty, with a lot of funk and bordering on ham-like. The initial flavor is sweet citrus but turns puckeringly tart immediately. This fades back into a sweet wheat funk, with maybe a hint of cinnamon. Leaves salt on the lips. It grew on my after a while.
The label had no information at all about what this beer was, so it was a guessing game! Hoppy and a bit citrusy, but with plenty of roast. I'd say this was an amber first and a hoppy pale second. I read somewhere this was a blend of two beers, and I believe it.
Toffee and malt, with more than a little alcohol right up front. I think we know now that this beer is a great candidate for aging.
Very refreshing, though a bit on the hollow-side, body wise. A touch of fruit on the yeast that didn't quite sit harmoniously with the rest of the flavor. I'd say pilsner-like, like the Gaffel Kolsch, but maybe without the purity of flavor.
A very tasty, malty and toasty Oktoberfest. Wouldn't be sad to drink this again, anytime.
A lot like the 1845 from yesterday; a malty, rich caramel lager that has a lot in common with a wee heavy, aside from a bit of prickly hop flavor on top. Touch of dry roastiness before it smooths out again in the finish.
Could possibly be the fruitiest-from-hop IPA I've ever had. Lots of sunny flavor here - passionfruit, pineapple. But the flavor stays bright and light, which is where most fruity IPAs go wrong. Moderate bitterness on the finish.
There's an unusual, delicious smell straight away to this beer, almost like buttered coconut and maple on top of the stout. It smells amazing! The flavor follows pretty much the same, with that richness rounding out what is an otherwise thinnish stout with mild roast, sweet malt and a slightly sour flavor. Really, really delicious.
Rich, believable sweet coffee flavor, but comes on a little too strong and bitter to be truly enjoyable.
Surprisingly delicious West Coast IPA from Israel. Honey on the nose, and in the flavor too. Not much body, mostly hop essence, but unusually richly flavored despite. Sweet-ish finish, mild bitterness.
2013 bottle. Very mellow, sweetly smooth, probably from age. There is a hint of clear alcohol as well, but not enough to detract. Delicious.
Rich with caramel, very much like a wee heavy. Touch of date, maybe, and a nutty, dank, herbaceous finish. Really very nice.
Mildly hoppy amber with a toasted barley finish. Works well with the nutty house yeast here, although the finish was a bit on the bitter side.
A malty scotch ale with some balanced pie spice thrown in. Rich but not too sweet, which is all good. A bit of a funky bitter finish, don't know if that's a feature of the regular Piper Down or if it's new with the pumpkin. You don't see a lot of pumpkin scotch ales, but maybe there should be more.
Hoppy and floral, with the jasmine coming in a bit perfumey (but hey, that's par for the course). The nice touch here is some toasted barley flavor to add some grounding. The real issue is that the jasmine perfume sits a little too long on the tongue but the flowers don't punch through the strong hop fragrance to make it worth it.
Not nearly as sour as other goses I've had, not even sour at all, actually. Just more of a wet almost-tartness. Not detectably salty, either. However, there is some sweet wheat funk and a wood-smoke character that combine for an appealing (but weird) drink.
Cascade Cranberry (2014)
Still very nice. I think this younger vintage showed more funk, which added a buttery balance as well as made it taste more like a beer. Still very enjoyable.
Noticeably hoppy, almost IPA-like, with good cereal. A bit of clove and light banana and caramel, but not sweet. Very clean flavor. Finishes with a bit of bitter funk.
Black Raven La Petite Mort (2015)
Might be the best batch yet? Cherry, subtle clove, bit of chocolate on the finish.
Just about as drinkable a golden lager-type that I could imagine from a can. The character is very pilsner like, distinctively bitter, but with a bready yeast character that fortunately doesn't sink into being too fruity or tangy.
Thick and chewy imperial stout with plenty of rich chocolate and roasty flavors, with some real Belgian complexity coming in to round out the flavors. Nothing typical about it either; I think I picked out anise, smoke, and plenty of herbacious notes. Very tasty.
Dry, but with a pulpy rich flavor reminiscent of almost-turned fall cider. The real downer here was that, in spite of the name, this bottle was nearly entirely flat, which had a real dulling effect. Would love to try again in ideal circumstances (assuming the ciderhouse hasn't burnt down).
Fizzy cider that with a firm spice presence of cinnamon and cardamom. Rather than evoking chai, it reminded me a lot of hot mulled apple cider. I think this would be great warm. Cold, it's pleasant enough, but a little insipidly sweet and soda-like.
Has that almost-skunky smell typical of green Euro bottles, though not quite as strong as the Carlsberg. Flavor-wise it's a lot better, with a sweet Helles-like aspect and nominal bitterness. Nothing to go crazy about, but a very nice lager.
A creamy, thick stout with a lot of chocolate presence. Briefly tart, but also with a salty aspect that was a very pleasant surprise and squashed expectations set by the bourbon barrel stout from before. Like a salted hot chocolate - very, very yummy.
Nicely toasty-sweet, gem-clear with a rich, yeasty fragrance. I think this year's batch is less hop-prickly than before and more straight Oktoberfest lager in character. Since I really like that, I think it may the best batch yet.
Starts creamy, like an oatmeal pale, but dries out quickly, revealing some alcohol in the flavor. Finishes with some abrupt resins and woody bitterness. Unusual and disjointed.
A very enjoyable, rich but mellow Kolsch with light yeast character and just enough smoke to hint at campfires without being overtly smoky. There might have been a touch of salt too? I wanted s'mores after drinking this.
Starts with concentrated hop juice; lots of pine and fruit and a touch of resin. This beer screams high alpha - but! It mellows out abruptly and quickly, with a soft corn sweetness and absolutely no finishing bitterness whatsoever. I had to keep sipping to make sure, but I really enjoyed this unusual beer.
A mix of a light-body, grassy Czech pilsner with a hit of bready yeast. This isn't as tangy or as sweet as most Kolsches, and I think I appreciated the difference. Initial sips were a little confusing, but the grassy-yeasty interaction really seems to complement food very nicely.
Like a sparkling grape cider, tart and fragrant. Muscat came to mind? Bubblegum finish, with maybe a touch of wheat?
WHISKEY! Lots of caramel and whiskey. Not very nuanced. Decent, but not memorable in a very strong category.
You know, I bought it for the lulz, but this Lululemon lager was actually really good? Crisp, with a nice lemony pine zing from the hops. Very summery.
Musty sourness and a very distinct salt aftertaste. This is probably the saltiest of the goses I've tried. Flat out of the tap, but the keg blew.
Light-tasting, light bodied stout with definite chocolate notes. Bit of a sour aspect to it. Very drinkable, but not especially memorable, which is kind of par for the course with this brewery.
The draft board said this was a differently-named CDA, but the server said it was a dark lager and it tasted like one. Light-flavored, hints of coffee and cola-like fruitiness, and more than a little chocolate.
Very light, almost like an American light beer, but with a nice, honeyed sweetness. Soda-like effervescence. This was easy to drink, and I'd drink it again.
Exactly as advertised - Bellevue's malty-side scotch ale crossed with a distinct but pleasant vanilla flavor. Finishes a little bitter after a while, but overall, a nice treat. Maybe too sweet to be a regular drinker though.
A rich lager with a bit of grass and a firm, bitter finish. Comes across more like a richer, meatier pilsner rather than a bready, Germanic bock. That was a pleasant surprise!
You can tell from the smell that this beer is not as advertised. This is another IPL in disguise, with a slightly toasted barley character that is overwhelmed by what tastes like hop syrup. Concentrated resin and a thick, bitter finish, and more than a little metallic.
Mildly tart, soda-like weisse with a dry, blackcurrant tang leading into a sweet wheat finish. Maybe I've just had too many British pastilles, but I couldn't help thinking of anise and medicinal herbs when drinking this. Other than that, it was pretty tasty (and different!).
A sample at the Ballard Farmer's Market. Very light, creamy ale with just a hint of coffee. Really easy-drinking. Will definitely try this when I can get it in a less-than-32-ounce portion.
Very similar to yesterday's Humulus Experimentus, but with some actual malt backbone. That is - dry resin and hop perfume but balanced with some body and sweetness.
Pretty good for a very hoppy IPL. Very pronounced hop perfume and resin, with a moderately bitter finish, but with a sweet, cereal lager character creating a very firm backbone. It's still not my style, but this is a beer that makes me think it could someday be.
This was all perfume and resin and no body. Which is not automatically bad -- the flavors were good. I just wish there was something to offset the perfume.
Thin brown that moves somewhat unexpectedly to a rich, creamy caramel sweetness. It was almost one-note, but very pleasantly so. A treat beer that won't distract from whatever else you're eating.
Moderate wood-smoke flavor on top of a chewy but dry märzen base. Some folks didn't like the smoke at all, but this was - I thought - a good example of a balanced smoked beer. What surprised me the most was the strong bitterness that closed, which I didn't enjoy. The rest was decent, though.
Logsdon Oak Aged Bretta (unknown release)
Not quite as delicious as I remember from last time, but my palate did get a kick in the teeth from the Almanac.
Almanac Dark Pumpkin Sour (unknown release)
Almanac makes sour sours, and this may be the most sour yet. This is truly like a five-pucker beer, although the character of the flavor is nice. Hints of pie spice in the fragrance although the sour basically erases everything. Finishes with a poppy tingle.
Ballast Point Bourbon Barrel Aged Victory At Sea Imperial Porter (unknown release)
Clearly related to the Sea Monster. Opens with a vanilla bourbon sweetness but fades quickly into the same smooth, almost salty finish. Different, but equally good.
Thin mouthfeel but with a rich flavor - smooth chocolate with an almost salty roasted finish. I do very much appreciate the unusual character. A very nice stout.
My palate is kinder to this beer now, and I can appreciate it more. It still has quite a bit of forward hop fragrance & character and I would never call this a pils. But it's a perfectly drinkable light-ish beer.
This bottle was from either 2012 or 2013 - either way, the result was super-smooth, thick, mellow chocolate. A superb no-frills imperial stout that hid its alcohol content extremely well.
Firestone Walker Helldorado (2015)
Firestone knocks it out again! A strong blonde barleywine with a similar scent to Sucaba but with a much mellower, honey-butter-like finish, with a touch of florality on top. You can even taste the barley in there, which is nice for something so boozy
Almanac Valley of the Heart's Delight (unknown release)
Extremely, puckeringly tart, almost like a fruit vinegar. A little too tart for me to truly enjoy. There was a pleasant, buttery peach flavor that emerged if you let it, right at the very end, which was a nice positive. But very little, and very late.
Logsdon Oak Aged Bretta (unknown release)
Crisp saison with a touch of vinous tartness. Really very nice -- if I'd had more than just a taste of this I might likely have rated it higher.
Tastes like coffee and creamer, in a pale golden ale. Bit of a yeast tang at the finish. I am liking this trend towards golden coffee ales -- I wouldn't put this quite at the level of Goose Island's Fulton St. Blend, but this was fairly close.
A little too bitter, but really nice tropical fruit flavors and a clean spicy hop finish. A bit of resin on the tongue and alcohol is a little on the nose in flavor, and gets stronger.
Smells sour, but flavor is only mildly tart. Sweet malt with coriander. A little musty.
Black Raven Three Sundays Oaked Tripel (unknown release)
I wanted to like this but didn't quite connect. The tripel character borders a bit on the syrupy side, and the transition to wood is more disconnected than I'd like. It took me quite a while to finish this one.
A straight up clean-to-bitter pilsner. I'm sure this would rate highly with some folks I know, but it wasn't as approachable as the Wing Dome Lager that directly preceded it, so that was a minus.
A really nice pilsner of the toasted barley and buttery cereal variety. Went really, really well with the food here.
Hoppy, syrupy, cloying. Verged a bit on medicinal in flavor. Really had a hard time with this.
That moment when you think you've signaled the bartender to settle up but he thinks you want another...?
Big hops of the citrus-resin variety, with sweetish cereal in the finish. Would be nice except the finish is kind of unrelenting bitter. And that makes the alcohol more pronounced as well.
A pie spice beer of the creamy-sweet variety. Appealing notes of cinnamon and nutmeg and top of vanilla, maybe? The pumpkin lends a bit of vegetal earthiness to the finish, but it does bog down into a... well, muddy kind of yeasty murk to finish.
Pours rich gold, with a dry cherry tartness that moves onto a sweet, wheaty finish. Evokes the fruit and doesn't get too sour for refreshment. I really liked this.
A creamy dark porter, light in flavor, with a lactic finish that brings to mind Euro dark lagers. Very drinkable and different enough from the standard American porter as to be a nice change.
Omg this place. But this was a perfectly OK brown ale with a dry tinge to it. Moderate bitterness.
What am I even doing in this place? The shorts are ridiculous. This beer was a pretty standard, unfiltered American hefe type with a moderate yeast tang but otherwise very light. The accompanying orange did help it.
Very much seemed like a solid Russian Imperial Stout -- especially after the Solemn Oath stout. Roasty and medium thick, not too bitter on the backend. Nice creamy aftertaste.
A dank-sweet bitter IPA, not extremely bitter, but bitter through and through.
Very dark, like a porter. In fact, this basically tasted like the cinilla without the vanilla or the cinammon, and actually that made it very nice. Light coffee notes on an otherwise mellow dark beer.
Lots of yeast dryness that followed closely on the Yes, Dear. I'd be hard pressed to name anything Belgian about this "tripel" -- seemed more like a American hefe with some decided wood notes. A bit of grape from the barreling was interesting but more confusing for me.
Murky strawberry-ish fruit flavor, which I guess is better than strong fake strawberry. A lot of yeast tang was unpleasant at first, and decidedly not refreshing, but having a bit of fried food helped the character immensely, losing a few h's off the Meh rating.
A light porter, smooth with bright, sweetish notes of vanilla and cinnamon on top. I liked that the vanilla didn't taste tacked on, but otherwise this didn't stick in my memory much.
At last! What every Belgian dark ale needs - a hit of cinnamon. Not really. Otherwise, this was perfectly decent, and got better as it warmed.
This didn't really bring tripel flavors to mind for me. Darker aspect, with a quaddish candi sugar and light plum character. The flavors, while not exactly watery, seemed a little insipid in the overall color of the beer.
Tastes like a bog standard light roasty stout. Fine enough but there is no justification for this to be 11%+ or to spend your night's alcohol allotment on it.
Smells of clove and white pepper. Opens with fruit that wants to get tart but never does. Empty flavor until yeast bitterness takes over, and strongly.
Barrel aged IPA which tends toward the sweet side. Bit of white grape and plenty of bourbon on the nose, but hoppy bitterness is quite present as well. Smooth? This isn't.
Allagash Victor Ale (unknown release)
Opens like white grape juice, followed by a yeasty bitterness that turns into a candi sugar quad flavor.
Like a slightly fruitier IPA of the sweet variety. Not identifiably blueberry.
Thai chili is Front and center in the flavor and aroma here. Ballast Point doesn't mess around with the chili although this isn't nearly as strong as the habanero Sciulpin. Lime and ginger round out the balance with the underlying, mellow wit.
No detectable peach. Smells of clove and white pepper. Fruity on the tip of the tongue but fades into straight spice as it finishes.
Sweetish, mellow wheat that moves quickly to a mild sourness that is plummy and vinous at the same time. Ends with a little murky wheat funk. No overt saltiness, but the flavor was definitely intriguing.
Last review still holds. A non-descript beer strong on caramel flavors and very faint Belgian spice notes in the background. This place, though? It takes a lot to out-cheese Outback Steakhouse.
A stout with flavor that wants to be thick but has a thin mouthfeel and maybe not enough roast to counteract the high, sweet bourbon flavor from the barrel. It was "poky" in a way that I've kind of lost my love for.
This was kind of odd man out in the flight - after a bunch of fragrant, light beers, this popped right off the bat with toasty flavors. On its own I might have been able to pick out more transitions, but this time the flavor went right to spicy rye and booze. Given that the previous beer was 10% that's saying something.
One more step amped up from the Happy Fun Beer, this has a concentrated resin flavor that comes in right at the front, with appealing wood-tang and bitterness. The finish is bitter but not excessively so. I thought this was deeply complex and liked it a lot, and definitely didn't taste like it was 10%!
Similar to the Hexafoos but with most of the Belgian-ness swapped out for distinct piney hop notes. Faint spices show through at the end.
A saison with forward banana and spice notes - very appealing - but a very dry yeastiness that kind of drains the energy out of the beer.
Smoothed out, mild roasted flavor, more like an oatmeal porter than a brown. There's a murky undercurrent to the yeast, like wet tobacco ash - very light, but interacts with the dry nature of the beer to make for an unpleasantish experience.
This IPL has forward resin and a dry, fruity, clean finish reminiscent of a very dry apple cider. Super-unusual hop profile for an IPL and one that I enjoyed much more than the rating might indicate.
Malty IPA with a firmly bitter pithy finish. By the end I couldn't taste the grain anymore and I just got a bunch of booze. Oh, and this place is totally tacky.
Sweet toasted barley, drinks very smooth. Almost (literally) buttery - diacetyls usually don't register for me, but? Jasmine is there as a perfumey overtone but is not super-explicit.
Lightly roasted, thin-feel brown ale with a cola-like effervescence and a closing almost-fruitiness. Mildly tasty and easy-drinking. But this fried chicken gumbo? Can't stop thinking about it.
Slightly musty smell. Taste is all rich caramel, and maybe a little wet hay. Not bad, but this variety of overt sweetness doesn't really work for me very often.
Thanks Alex! Sweet hay with a strange overtone of lemon-lime effervescence (without the actual fruit flavors). I had a real hard time deciding whether it was appealing or not. I'm not sure what I expected from the "Cream" in the name, but I didn't get it.
Bit of banana esters before the yeast takes over, imparting an immediate drying quality and then some heady bitterness. Finish is a touch of clean barley. I think I liked this better than last time.
Straight banana-clove Belgian Pale. Tasty enough but nothing particularly memorable about it.
Whiskey is a sweet and noticeable overtone, but the main focus of the flavor is on dry woodiness. Touch of sourness on the back end, like the porter. No profound depths of flavor here, but very solidly enjoyable.
Nitro, so very smoothed out, but still flavorful enough to retain some distinct character. Medium roasty notes and a bit of a milky cocoa sheen before turning to a somewhat typical sourish nitro finish.
Back towards resin with this one, but with a more profound finish than the pale ale. Tangy wood-sap flavors.
Starts off like the pale, but with a lot of fragrant pine thrown in. Less bitter, and ends with pronounced notes of sweet cereal malt. Very nicely balanced, and my favorite by far of the pales.
Woody, dry resin is the major flavor here. Mildly bitter finish, with a slight nutty quality.
Got this as a bonus pour with my $5 (!) flight. She said this was an aging experiment that turned sour. Pilsner bitterness and tangy wine flavor which doesn't follow through to true sourness but has a very nice, fruity flavor. Cereal malt shows through very clearly. Ends bitter again.
Startlingly similar to the Gose, but also.... not at all the same. Much sweeter and fruitier, but not cloying - more like a fizzy, sour-sweet cocktail with hints of chocolate. Somehow avoids tasting like a confection. Less coffee than the gose, with a clean finish. I think I really liked this!
So strange! Smells roasty but the initial taste is salty-tart as expected for the style. Less expected is the distinct notes of coffee and chocolate, and that those flavors absolutely work. Vaguely reminiscent of aged Balsamic, but only in hints. Great find!
A bit of resin and a musty, wet toasted barley flavor. It was certainly okay, but I have a hard time imagining this would be a fun, refreshing drink on a hot day.
Very light, some banana esters mixing with a light essence of cucumber. Touch of yeasty funk on the back. A lot of the recent cucumber beers I've had have a similar flavor profile - I'd love to see one that incorporates citrus someday. But this was fine.
A Session IPA that sits more on the resinous side. Bit of nutty malt, with no detectable bitterness in the finish. Perfectly enjoyable, but maybe a tad watery?
Pleasant but subdued nutty flavor. Depending on your mood this could either be smooth or watery.
Smooth, nutty brown with a creamy cereal malt finish. Very solid brown ale for sure! More interesting is finding another bottle shop with good taps nearby!
Pecan pie and bourbon, but all the flavors are... well, pointy. Certainly I've had beers with these flavors that are more integrated, smooth, and enjoyable in their complexity. I've liked those beers much better than this one. Odd that I said similar things about the 1.0 release but rated it much higher - I guess it's not them, it's me.
Lightly sour with a lot of sweet, wheat cereal funk. A bit damp, I'd call the flavor, where I was hoping for something brighter and sunnier.
Unusually toasty flavor survives the nitro smoothing. More smooth than sweet, creamy mouthfeel. Tastes like an iced coffee drink rather than a beer until the toasted barley aftertaste reminds you.
Smells and tastes unidentifiably fruity - I think rather than cranberry, I felt more guava, maybe passionfruit or mango. The color is more in that direction as well, a vague red-orange. Remains fruity rather than tart, and ends with a sweet breakfast cereal finish. Nice, but only the wrong parts build up over the glass.
Really fragrant, piney hops with an unusually clean resin flavor. Bit of a woody tang, and very little bitterness.
Oude Gueuze Tilquin À l'ancienne (unknown release)
My tastes have definitely changed. This is delicious! Medium but decisively tart. Buttery, amorphously fruity, with a slightly sweet, clean finish.
Tart opening with a bit of funk. Transitions into a kind of sweet peach flavor, maybe a touch of mango. Fruity finish with some sweet cereal.
A 2011 bottle of a beer I've never seen before. Very smooth, to the point of almost being flavored out of existence. Sweetish malt finish.
Smoothed out a bit. I've always thought this beer had some prickly edges, and they're better after a couple years. But I still wouldn't go out of my way for it.
Roast coffee and sweet, oatmeal-like malt. Very, very pleasant (and it was cheap, too!)
Amazing to find this on tap during Migration Week! Take Bourbon County, add a sweet sheen of vanilla on top and then finish it with a little bit of rye fire. Not so much smooth as it is a treat.
Solid lager. Fragrant, cracker-like opening. Not sweet, but the finish is only mildly bitter, so I don't know how authentic it is, but it is richly flavored and suits me very nicely.
A very pleasant pale ale: not too hoppy, not too malty. Light and refreshing. Also, Harry Caray!
Thickish stout with a mouth-coating sheen of dark chocolate. Cherry is a bit syrupy but also not cloying -- more like the interior of a dark cherry cordial, tart-ish but simple. Not noticeably roasty. A nice dessert sip, but downing a bomber of this would be a hard thing, I think.
A very nice lager... Bit sweet and a touch of caramel to open. Cracker-like follow through and a nice, medium bitter finish. Thanks Matt!
A really nice oyster stout - up there at the top of the heap. Medium thick stout with a roasty character, and a kind of umami smokiness that hints at the oyster without being overtly briny.
Pours a most unpleasant color, like a muddy yellow ochre. More than a little funky and reminiscent of medicinal herbs, but also resolves into a pleasant wheaty haze. Still, a little too weird for me.
Like the 10%, only a little less sweet (but also a little less richly-flavored). Still can't taste the alcohol. One wonders about the 19.5% version.
Only Child Le Perfectionniste aged in Oak Pinot Noir Barrels (unknown release)
Delicious. Dry saison notes with mild Belgian spice and a finish that tends more towards a fruity, round grape than barrel tannins. Tiny bit of funk keeps the flavor complex. I really wish I had more of this to age.
I don't know if this was the specific name of this beer or if it's a rotating cask. This was a Belgian quad, and I can't say I liked it. Without carbonation it was way too sweet, to the point where it just started tasting weird. If I squinted though I could tell maybe there was something to it, but on cask I really couldn't like it.
Goose Island Halia Belgian Style Farmhouse Ale (unknown release)
Strongly tart and ambiguously fruity at the front, lingering into the finish. The flavor resolves into a thickish peach nectar flavor to close, which mixed well with the tartness. Hints of buttery Brett brings cobbler to mind and nicely sweetens out. First few sips tasted syrupy but resolved nicely over time. Very tasty!
Opening funk in the aroma and flavor. Goes very quickly into a puckeringly sour finish, and at this point you can taste the slightly murky character added by the salt. Finishes clean. I'm still kind of conflicted on this one, but I think it was overall on the plus side.
Opens like a wit, sweet with coriander and wheat. Finishes fruity, with a tart, dry notes that really recall sangria. Loved, loved, loved it. Amazing!
Another stylistic oddity. I think I've learnt not to really trust any of the descriptions. This ale has a thin character, a caramel opening and a finish that turns nutty and has more than a little bit of drying, wood resin in the flavor. In a dubbel I look for some candi sugar and molasses character and didn't find it in this, but it was still a decent beer.
A sweetish stout with very little bitterness or complexity, and very smooth on nitro. Not going to stick in the mind, but at least it was stylistically spot on and very easy to drink, so it wins the flight.
Does not taste like a German wheat at all - more like a wit (because of the faint grapefruit tartness) or a kristallweizen (because of the musty wheat funk that had me thinking luncheon meat).
Smells like a spicy saison, with a predominantly clove / banana / cucumber flavor. None of the flavor components really rose above the others, and I found myself wanting a whole lot more more cucumber.
Not like a Kölsch at all, in my mind. More like a very dry session IPA with a bit of bubblegum and a hard bitter finish. Also, the yeast character seemed more Belgian to me.
Standard dry coriander-dominant saison, avoids being musty. My palate was still a little messed up from a mystery beer no one could identify that tasted like Chinese medicinal herbs. There's a claim that this had tamarind in it, but who knows?
Bell's Third Coast Old Ale (2014)
Caramel ale, slightly thinner in texture than expected, with a nutty, grassy finish. Definitely wears its alcohol content on its sleeve, both in fragrance and flavor, but all of its other flavors are robust enough to match it. One to sip slowly.
Hops first and foremost, with the fresh, fragrant flavor of a dry-hopped pale. Then, a sharp turn to very dry tartness. It's a nice juxtaposition, and definitely intriguing.
Smells strongly of raspberries. The flavor is surprisingly sweet, almost too much so, but mellows out very quickly into nitro smoothness and a breakfast cereally sweet finish (I thought... streusel? corn pops in milk?). Never allowed to get tart, the flavor is very much along the lines of a raspberry bar.
An Imperial Milk IPA? I had to try this, and it was actually really interesting and pretty tasty too. Starts with a strong IPA flavor tending towards pine and resin, and you can feel the hint of strong bitterness starting to form, but then the milk sugar appears and basically neutralizes it. Creamy, semisweet finish.
Belgian spice-heavy saison. Tasted a little boozy but did go well with strongly-flavored, fried food.
Pretty much exactly as described, I love hibiscus tea, so this did it for me too. Not overtly sweet and has the right tinge of tartness at the finish. I never forgot it was beer, either, which was nice.
A roasty enough beer that it was difficult to tell whether this was a schwarzbier or a porter. Slight bit of coffee on top. You have to admire the name, though!
A very nice pilsner of the clear body / end bitterness type. Not sweet nor overly malty.
I've been wanting to visit this brewpub for a long, long time. Fragrant, slightly fruity hops crossed with a crisp blonde ale body. I really enjoyed this!
Dark Horse Bourbon Barrel Plead the 5th Imperial Stout (unknown release)
Look, I'm not absolutely sure this was the bourbon version, but the ABV in the menu matched this one (12%) and it used the word barrel. So, honestly: I couldn't explicitly taste bourbon or wood in this. However, it was still pretty amazing. It's about as roasty and dry a stout as I've ever had without it going bad - thick, and with a strength you can feel without a boozy flavor. A workout, but remarkable.
Somehow this tastes exactly like a sweet, summery root beer, despite also being a 10.7% alcohol drink. I'm not sure I can wrap my head around this? And what in the world does the 19.5% version taste like??
New Holland Dragon's Milk Bourbon Barrel Stout (unknown release)
On draft for the first time. It was still quite nice but not nearly as special as when I first encountered it, and it definitely (unfortunately) sat forgotten after trying the Plead the 5th.
Tastes like a faintly spicy Belgian pale. The ginger shows up at the end as a kind of rooty bitterness, but I can't say it was as gingery as I wanted. Perfectly drinkable, though.
This was kind of awesome, and also weird. Medium gold in color, this tastes like a much darker beer. I think flavor-wise, it resembles most closely a creamy Irish red with a lot of excellent, smooth coffee flavor on top. Really, really good.
An interestingly different wheat beer. Opens yeasty but the flavor kind of just stops developing abruptly, never getting past a mere hint of fruity or tart. It dissipates into a non-sweet funky wheat before ending on strong, sustained bitterness. Shows its booze, slightly, in the middle. Somehow, with all that said, it did go down easily.
Sits kind of in the middle of the Daisy Cutter and the Bottom Up - a saison with very piney hop notes with some strong Belgian yeast spice notes - mainly white pepper and a touch of woodsmoke. Finishes quite clean, and at first was very appealing, but continued drinking started feeling more and more perfumey.
Lots of clove and white pepper. Light banana and plum esters - this is not a citrusy witbier. Ends with wheat and a bit of nutty funk.
Lots of fragrance. Pine resin to start. Medium malt body. Closes woody, with an interesting bitter tang and a touch of cereal funk. That last bit elevates it from boring IPA-ish pale to something more interesting.
Medium, yeasty tang. Bit of white pepper and hops. Finishes with a bit of sweet wheat funk.
Pleasantly clean and a bit soda-like, but with a light, nutty caramel flavor and bready finish to keep it interesting enough. Verges on a weird fruitiness but doesn't quite get there -- and also, probably served too cold. But this is an airport bar.
Not as sweet as the name would suggest, and in fact has a lot in common with the Linden St. lager of the day before. Of the best friends, coffee is most present. The rest is hard to spot behind a sour-ish yeast flavor. Had to try it in a coffee mug, though!
Dark lager with some caramel but also a bit of a woody, dry, possibly hoppy aspect that was a little off. I know that's all in the name but I was hoping for something a little more pleasantly balanced.
Opens with apricot but turns to a very dry sourness very quickly. Once that dissipates, it finishes with a subtle, nutty malt that makes for a very pleasant close.
Sweet, super vanilla-cream-esque ale with just a touch of hop dankness at the beginning to keep it honest. Otherwise, the vanilla is a little bit over the top, making this feel very much like a gimmick. Still, it's a fairly tasty gimmick.
A sweet, light-bodied, bready ale. Summery, super refreshing and doesn't linger unpleasantly.
A clean, very light bodied pilsner with a lot of effervescence and a solid, bitter finish. I think I remember a floral lilt at the beginning too. Very tasty!
Had a taster and then a schooner, I liked this so much! Pink, cloudy beer that sits halfway between sweet cereal and a fruity but neither sweet nor tart cherry character. Super refreshing and definitely unique.
Delighted that this is still very enjoyable after over a thousand beers in between. Light, caramel sweet and overtly nutty.
Much better on nitro than I remember out of the can, but then again you expect a kind of flatness on nitro. Pleasant, sweet, caramel, and very creamy. Definitely a beer-mustache kind of glass. Twenty ounces disappeared in a hurry (which given its strength, might be dangerous)!
Grassy in the smell, which is nice, but there is an acrid quality to the bitterness in this beer that is hard to overcome.
A thin-mouthfeel but decidedly roasty porter. I can't say I tasted any coconut whatsoever, which if you know me, is a fatal flaw. You had one job, beer. Well, maybe two - I could taste the chocolate - but you had one important job.
The Bruery Or Xata (unknown release)
Holy crap, was this terrible. I like this brewery and these flavor components, so you know I mean it! This was basically like drinking a vanilla cinnamon Yankee Candle, and the flavor just kept on giving long after I stopped drinking the beer (well before the glass was empty).
Someone mixed a piney IPA with bitter lemon soda. The effect is, unfortunately, a bit Lemon Pledge. Intermittent prickles too, which is a bit like what I imagine drinking something mildly poisonous is like.
Holy jalapeno. I like chilies - don't get me wrong - but this is absolutely on the more extreme end of a chili beer, with lots of pith and seed in the flavor.
Nice, fruity ale with just the right amount of dry berry tang. I wouldn't say this was overtly fruity, but you could divine the character of the fruit clearly.
Delicious. There's a richness to the mouthfeel that matches up really well with a sweet, milk chocolate flavor, all on top of what was already an excellent milk stout in the Nemesis. The touch of whiskey just enhances the effect. One to watch for.
For an ESB, this certainly was full of Northwest hop character. In fact, it starts out very much on the same track as the Easy A, but has an appealing sour tang before it transitions to sweet cereal. Finish is moderately bitter.
Lots of fragrant pine in this IPA, with nearly no bitterness in the finish. I wouldn't say there was any real malt body here. Just a hop-centric session IPA.
Right after the coffee porter there was a weird quality the this beer's flavor, but it cleared up fairly quickly. I think it was the yeast poking through the previous palate color. A decent, if not memorable dry stout.
Smells like a loaf of whole wheat sandwich bread. Banana esters are there, but subdued in what is really not a sweet beer. Bready, tangy yeast finish. You have to squint to see the Hefeweizen in this, but it's very appealing!
After those other two beers? This was refreshingly clean, and I'll take it.
Holy cow, it's like someone made a syrup out of Stickee Monkee. In fact, this is very much like the versions of that beer that hovered around 16% in the pre-bottle days. Butterscotch and plum and oh-so-intense. It was a lot to take, but I think this was pretty great.
Dark ale dominated by notes of milk chocolate and sweet bourbon. On the edge of too boozy, but very tasty despite that.
I finally got them to bring me the right beer. The cereal profile is tasty but a bit simple, like breakfast cereal and toasted barley. Very clean, not too sweet, and finishes with a strong grassy bitterness. Yummy!
They brought me the wrong beer. At least my palate didn't fail me! A brown-sugar malty IPA that opens a lot like a Vienna Lager but finishes on a mild, pithy bitter finish. Unremarkable.
This place looks like a hole in the wall but I bet it's hopping at night. This beer was opaque orange, very yeasty, lots of banana and apricot. Some dank hop juice in there as well? Dry, clean finish. Not my favorite style, but enjoyable.
Sweet, smooth, and caramel. Just the faintest hint of smoke. Less complex than my favorite Scotch ales, but this is very pleasant.
A very roasty stout with a thick, slightly sweet character. Finishes bitter.
Reading my previous description, somehow everything is accurate except this time I thought it was really nice. Maybe I've just gotten a bit more expansive in my tastes since then.
Somewhere between a pale ale and a kölsch, with a bit of fruity, yeasty tang and what seems like fragrant dry-hopping, closing with cereal sweetness and pilsner-like bitterness.
Today this beer felt a lot stronger on the bourbon, but I may have been burned out on strong beer. It was still really tasty but a little less remarkable.
It didn't taste much like a wit, nor a radler (their cute name for this cask). Much more profound, like a Belgian IPA, with equal parts dank hops and clove and white pepper in the flavor. Some citrus, although of the candied variety, and maybe some anise or medicinal herb in there? Weird. Not bad, but really weird.
Lots of Brett funk give this a forward bitterness, mixed with a touch of fruitiness, clove, and a whole lot of dank hops. Not going to lie, this felt a little like work.
Dry, dark chocolate with subdued wood and a good amount of bourbon. This was more balanced than I remember - just absolutely delicious. I may have had more than I should have, but I was on the rebound from having missed the bottles (which sold out in an hour!).
A lot like the Sculler's but with noticeably more pine and bubblegum, which served to appreciably balance the flavor. This one reminded me a lot of some of Deschutes's better IPAs. Won't go up on my list of favorites, but it was enjoyable.
This IPA is firmly in the resin and pith category. Not overpoweringly hoppy, but maybe still a little much for me.
This brown has a little more yeast spice flavor than expected. It was good but not nearly as good as the wheat.
A yeasty witbier with lots of clove. Normally this would work against it but on a bright sunny day and in a lovely old building, it was perfect.
It doesn't taste as syrupy to me two months old, but the feeling of concentrated hop resin is still here in force. Bitter and dank and best drunk slightly warmer, I think.
Funky smell on this one. Opens with a bit of musty sourness that resolves into orange rather quickly. The finish is mellow and sweet but never quite comes all the way back from funk.
Unabashed molasses and candi sugar sweetness, with hints of sweet rum. No sharpness or bitterness, this is a confection through and through - though it somehow avoids being cloying. Really delicious!
The original Señorita was really nice, but this adds a whole new layer of complexity on top, with a smoky-woody barrel flavor nicely playing off the spicy-sweet base. The expected rum sweetness is there, too, but the char is the dominant new feature here, and a beautiful surprise.
More barrel than whiskey, a roasty, medium-thick porter with a slight sour tinge. Drying wood bitterness to close.
Without any kind of carbonation, this was pure resin syrup. Bitter and dank and very unpleasant.
I could taste watermelon this time, but it still wasn't overt. I got more yeasty funk and banana than anything else. Still, worked well with the sunshine.
Funky banana and subtle spice, nothing overt. This saison was much more on the funky / yeasty side than fruit or sour. Complex and enjoyable.
Caramel toffee brown with a light, nutty flavor. Thin, cola-like mouthfeel, with a touch of drying sourness. The bourbon is clear, but not overwhelming, and the beer goes down very easy.
Would have liked to have had more of this. A very mild brown ale with nice cereal to close. But I only had a taste.
Round, overt blueberry on the nose. Flavor-wise it is quite clear as well, but goes into a bit of a uric tang - but in a good way? It's not as interesting as the Kitty Kat Blues, but still very tasty.
Lots of hops burst out on first taste, quite bitter in a way that really masks the effect of the ginger. You can tell it's there and it pokes out at the end, before the flavor goes out in an alcoholic haze. Was not a fan of the overall effect.
All resin all the time. I think this reacted badly to the oregano in the Greek fries I'd been eating. This was just hops turned up to eleven. I know people who would love this, bathe in it. Just not me.
Sweetish bourbon stout with a thin, cola-like body, not much bitterness. Creamy, this isn't, but it is very tasty. More immediately appealing than the nitro version from a couple years back.
An intense hit of concentrated hop juice, pungent and funky to the smell, opens this beer, before weirdly subsiding into bubblegum and sweet malt. The finish is actually somewhat pleasant, but the opening is hard to get past.
A session mead! I had to try it. Clean, light, with bubbly carbonation, medium ginger notes and a touch of floral sweetness to mark the honey. This is scarily easy to drink, with very little obvious alcohol in the flavor. At 6%+ ABV, this is very light for a mead, but still strong enough to sneak up on you.
Hoppy foretaste, with lots of fruit and fragrant oils, with sweet malt but not too rich on the cereal. Finishes light. I imagine this is dry-hopped? Nice but not as good as my memory of last time.
Brunch beer! Which should totally be a thing. I liked this better now that I'm more familiar with these flavors. This is very kölsch-like, with a tangy yeast profile, but with very light notes of honey and orange blossom on top. Clean, dry finish. I loved the fragrance of this beer, and was glad it wasn't overwhelming.
Like the 2013, but more woody, and all that implies.
Lightly-flavored, smooth, with lots of candy-like chocolate and almost no bitterness. Really lives up to its name, basically. The nitro makes it creamy without much of the bleachy flavor that usually ruins nitro for me. It's not super beer-like, but it is fun and easy to drink!
Not a strong smell coming from this. Medium-tart cherry with a kind of timid yeast funk to finish. I remember thinking that there wasn't very much to remember about this beer at all.
This was a tasty hard cider, not too dry, not too sweet, and perfect for a sunny day. I had a hard time finding any noticeable ginger in it, though. Canadra Dry-ish at best.
I mean, this beer tastes completely 100% as advertised. Biscotti with a light cuppa with creamer. If that's your mood this beer will hit all the right spots.
Seemed to have a lot of grassy bitterness, like a pilsner turned up to 10. I didn't get a lot of cereal to match, but this was in the middle of a bunch of different beers. I have another bottle and hope to experience that with a cleaner palate.
Strongly amber-hoppy-caramel winter ale. No winter spices, just a hearty, warming beer. I did like it, but it was nothing to get excited about.
Epic Elder Brett (#5)
This was awesome. If you love Black Raven's Pour les Oiseaux (which I do!) this is all of the same things - vinous, buttery, funky, malty. Perhaps a tiny touch sweeter, maybe a little more fruit, but definitely the same ballpark, and -- I hope -- easier to get a hold of as well.
Thinnish porter with a really interesting, sweet milk-sugar overtone and just a hint of cinnamon. Closes with a touch of porter sourness and roast. Tasty and goes down very easily.
A light, caramel brown with a sweetness reminiscent of a nitro ale but picked up with good carbonation. Very pleasant, if not deep.
Clearly an IPA, this opens resinous and bitter, before fading into peppery Belgian spice and a smooth malt finish. It's kind of the opposite of how most IPAs go, and the opening nearly killed this for me. The finish is nice, though, and the beer clear and beautiful.
Roasty amber, with a murky yeast flavor reminiscent of other Bushnell beers. It's not bad at all, but there is an faint undercurrent of tobacco ash in the flavor, which is a little odd. Medium hop profile, and, as always at this brewery, the excellent food definitely helps.
Other than the fine head, this beer did not feel like a nitro beer, with what seemed like plenty of "normal" carbonation; the keg may not have been conditioned properly? But that probably worked in its favor for me. A pale that starts hoppy but that lightens swiftly and pleasantly. Still finishes with some pith.
Creamy and surprisingly smooth for a 9%+ beer. Spicy notes of rye on top and hints of chocolate round out the flavor. A tasty beer at a fun location (and ice cream next door!).
Smells a bit disturbingly of pine cleaner, but tastes better than that. Nice roasted notes, coupled with a pithy, high alpha hop bitterness. It builds up a bit much, which by the end was really hard to take.
Slightly watered down in character from what I was expecting, but once the fruit hits it's actually quite appealing. A very clean, semi-dry tartness, with a touch of sweet-funky wheat to close. A bit of a palate-wrecker, though... Watch what you plan to drink afterwards.
Not a whole lot of sesame - maybe some mild toastiness - and a plummy, but also tart (dragonfruit?) character layered on top of the Diablo base. It's not as good as the Diablo (I miss the purity of flavor) but it was still enjoyable.
Milk sugar and very noticeable honey makes this a surprisingly sweet-drinking beer, but not at all syrup-like or cloying. The color is light, more like an amber or brown than a stout (doubly unusual for a milk stout). Very well balanced despite the sweetness - enjoyed this!
A slightly darker, more caramel version of the blonde. Only very slightly nutty, but still very drinkable. Appreciated the clean finish.
Light tasting malty blonde, slight touch of wet hay as seems common with these east coast beers. Would probably be great outdoors.
I'm convinced that this batch is better on draft than in the bottle. The herbal bitterness I remembered was fully in presence, and offset the sweet berry very well.
A medium-thick stout of the Old Rasputin variety, with a smooth, light roast coffee sheen and a full body. Very enjoyable.
A thick, pungent stout gets even moreso. The Randalled ingredients come through extremely clearly - the chocolate and coffee are both pretty good, although syrup-thick. The wood chips are a bit of a problem, woody and bitter and building fast on the finish. I couldn't imagine finishing a full glass of this.
Clear alcohol flavor, and a bit of caramel malt. Still not a beer I can really put my finger on.
A pungent, rooty hop flavor that brings to mind English beers. Some west coast fragrance comes in after the fact, but this is one dank beer. A light malt profile and some slight yeast tartness and bitterness to the finish.
A medium-light lager with good body and a helles lager character, but with a thick, mineralish sheen that coats the tongue unpleasantly and lends a dull, grimy character to the beer. Kind of an extreme version of DAB. I really wanted to enjoy this, too.
Yes. Just as great out of the bottle. More, please.
Thin, cola-like beer somewhere between a brown ale and a schwarzbier, but lighter flavored than either. Pleasant enough to drink, with a lot of effervescence, but not very memorable.
I don't know if it immediately tastes like pineapple or coconut, but this beer is definitely pina-colada-ish in that vague, "I kind of remember partying in college" kind of way. Vaguely hoppy tropical fruit merges into a faintly nutty flavor that turns into a funky yeast nuttiness to finish. All that and you don't forget it's an IPA either.Have to admit, I liked it.
Not sure they gave me the right beer, the flavor was so unexpected. A super-yeasty, cloudy beer, with a tart, citrus-ish tang and atringent bitterness in the finish. Prickly, soda-like carbonation. Creamy it was not.
I had to try this when I saw it on the tap list, but I hate to say it may have aged too long. There's a real, flat boozy flavor through which you get a bit of stonefruit syrup - and not much else. What complexity and balance used to be here was long gone.
Not sure I could tell this was cask. Piney, hoppy IPA with a surprising, pleasant sweet cereal malt body (much like the River Ale), but ends with a strong, pithy bitterness. Frankly, this was much nicer than I expected.
Light, piney ale with a sweet, bubblegum-tinged cereal malt body that continues on through the aftertaste. This was very drinkable, although maybe too sweet. Thankfully, it wasn't syrupy.
A rather tasty pilsner, not too sweet, with a shot of piney hop syrup. That last can seem a bit tacked on, but it doesn't prevent this from being quite enjoyable.
Herbal, thyme-y kick on top of a rather resinous amber ale. I like herbal beers but I find that they don't work for me when the base beer is a hopfest. This one I didn't finish.
Creamy, somewhat bland pale that goes down really easily but also has a bit of that sweet nitro chemical-ish flavor to me. Piney-apple flavors and sweet cereal.
Lompoc Blackberry Thyme Ale (2013)
Dry berry tartness and faint herbal notes on top of a light ale with a sweetish malt profile. I liked this a lot, but had to drink it in a hurry. Really friendly atmosphere at the Sidebar, though! I'll have to go back.
Frankly, this wouldn't have been my first choice, but there was nothing else remotely interesting on the tap list this time. Lots of candi sugar in a boozy, somewhat spicy Belgian. There's a lot of piney hop character and finishing bitterness as well, which wasn't what I was looking for. They say this was aged on Madeira and oak... but I couldn't tell at all.
So thick and pungently sweet, a stout in the mold of a World Wide or maybe a non-barrel aged Berserker. Lots of molasses and spice: the anise there as a hint, the cinnamon more explicit. It's really good, but so in-your-face that some aging would probably much improve this.
Just as nice, outside on a sunny day. Definitely dessert-sweet, but balanced somewhat by a bit of yeast tartness. Over the course of a whole glass this is slightly less enjoyable than the taster from the other day, but it's still excellent.
Holy Mountain The White Lodge (unknown release)
Lot of funk on this beer, although overall its flavor is quite good. Lots of dry Belgian spice, the smoky ones a bit accentuated. Not much citrus if at all, which is a touch I usually like in witbiers.
Cascade Blackcap Raspberry (2014)
You could have fooled me into thinking this was a tart raspberry soda and not alcoholic at all. If you love raspberry you'll probably love this - it is raspberry through and through. I do not, though (but obviously, that's on me).
Oy, that's a right tart. Puckeringly dry to open, which is shocking at first. The finish is very pleasant, with clean hints of cereal and brett and wood, and worth savoring. I did find myself having to measure sips though.
I'm not sure the combination of nitro and barrel does it for me. There's definitely whiskey here, but it's also rendered weirdly bleachy and subdued by the carbonation. Which is a shame, because the aftertaste is just awesome, smooth chocolate, much like I remember from the bottle version. Get that one instead.
North Sound Bourbon Barrel-Aged To Hell In A Hop Basket Imperial IPA (unknown release)
So, I find myself having to try these, but I'm beginning to think that bourbon tends to accentuate only the parts of IPAs that I hate - the kind of bubblegummy sweetness, and pithy, sharp bitter finishes. And this seems like a big, bitter IPA to start with. Any hope of a balancing cereal body or subtle fragrance are obliterated by the booze.
Smells rather hoppy but the taste runs a bit more towards the syrupy end.
Coriander-heavy saison on its own, but holds up to food very well.
Telegraph Reserve Wheat Ale (unknown release)
A medium-dry sour, with a very clean, lemon-esque tartness and a wheaty-funky malt sweetness to finish. I say lemon-esque because it's reminiscent of lemon without actually tasting like lemon. I just don't have a better way of describing it.
Smooth bourbon on the nose, hitting all the right notes. Flavor actually veers a tiny bit toward the fruity side, making me wonder if there were any wine barrels involved. Smooth, with only a hint of maybe too much caramel sticking out.
A very clean, bright coffee flavor in a medium-thick porter. Thin out Sump by several factors and you might get this. Smooth finish, with no trace of burn or sourness. I liked this one a lot.
Slightly watery, stewed plum comes to mind. The rest of the beer around it seemed pretty nice, but that mental image was one I couldn't shake.
Ecliptic / Stone White Asteroid Imperial Wit IPA (unknown release)
About what I'd expect for a wit from Stone. Lots of white pepper and yeast and a prickly hop finish. These aren't bad flavors at all, but it is a little one-note and overwhelming.
The hop profile here seems much more west coast than Machine House's typical English bent. Citrus, lots of pith on the finish. Plenty of dankness, but no real earthiness, and the malt is only kind of faintly present. With these flavors, the near-total flatness was off-putting as well.
You. Guys. This beer is pretty much exactly as advertised - a jammy, mild stout with creamy peanut flavor, exactly the right sweetness & thickness of mouthfeel. I can't say the last few run-ins I've had with Fort George have been great, but this is a winner. It was a little off-puttingly cloudy in appearance, but that's the only negative I can think of.
My sweetness gauge was probably off due to the two beers before this, but I still really liked this. A rich, nutty coffee flavor in a dry brown ale with smoky, roasted notes. It may have veered a little towards over-roasting, but overall was very nice. It just had the bad luck of being paired with two vastly better beers.
A lot of the same flavors presented by the Abraxas, but richer on both ends. Lots of caramelized sugar in the aroma and flavor, and the stout runs toward bolder flavors as well. Never veers off balance, though, and it finished clean, not like what I noted in the regular Velvet Glove. I don't know if this is an always-OMG! but I did enjoy it more than the Abraxas.
Perennial Vanilla Bean Abraxas (unknown release)
Thank you Seattle Beer Week, for bringing out the good stuff. Like the Abraxas I remember, but even more smoothed out by vanilla. I think the chili was somehow erased in the process, because I couldn't taste it at all, and the sweetness kind of brings out the booze a bit, but this was still an ultra-refined beer.
Tastes more like a spiced, thin brown than the hearty, bready experience I associate with doppelbocks. It sure had the booze, though. Enjoyable, but not nearly as good as the Bob's.
A little less awesome than at Brouwer's. I think the anise was more at the forefront this time, and I also had to stare at everyone else's Lagunitas High Westified at the same time.
Georgetown Bob's Brown Ale (2015)
A very, very nice brown ale: malt and caramel, bready and sweet.. Believe the hype, I guess?
A little sweeter, and less herbal bitterness than I remember on draft. Just a tiny step down.
My first impression of this is that this was largely Stickee Monkee in composition, due to the color, thinner mouthfeel and forward plum/date flavor, but apparently this beer is almost 50% Parabola. Never would have guessed. A clean-ish finish with just a bit of tannic / woody astringency to close. This probably needs time to mature -- it was really good but I'd take a straight Parabola or Stickee Monkee any day.
Good grassy bitterness, but a little sweeter in the malt than I remember. Probably not sunny enough outside for me to have really enjoyed this.
I think they changed this up, and for the better. The fragrance is still strongly boozy, but flavor-wise this is super-smooth and goes down easily, with none of the components blaring in your face. The impression is of an after-dinner chocolate -- melts in the mouth very pleasingly and then disappears.
A bit on the dry side for an Imperial Stout, which matches earlier impressions, but with a nice milky smoothness to the opening that makes this hard to dislike. On the thinner side for a beer of this strength, which, hoo-girl, it does have.
Black Raven La Mort Rouge (2015)
A lot lighter and less red tinge (and correspondingly less presence in the flavor) than on draft, unless my imagination is fooling me. It was still good but also a lot less distinctive this way.
Tons of resin and tropical fruit - basically the first half of a super-pungent hop bomb, which suddenly and mysteriously vanishes right before it would have exploded. The finish is impressively clean. It's a neat trick.
Light, almost watery after the pFriem, but with good hop and malt flavors and an undercurrent of sweet cereal.
pFriem Flanders Blonde (2015)
Tart, dilute vinegary flavor with a wheaty cereal sweetness and no little funk. I wish Francis hadn't said this tasted like dill pickle juice, because that's really the only thing I could think of afterwards.
Smells strongly of sweet stonefruit. Flavor is more malty, a little one-dimensional, but pleasant enough to drink. Finish is a bit yeasty and astringent.
Light banana and clove on the nose. The flavor is decidedly less on the fruit and spice than the smell, with a bready malt and a yeasty bitterness that emulates a pilsner finish pretty well.
Boozy enough that you'd be forgiven for thinking this spent time in a whiskey barrel. A thick, woody stout with an anise overtone and plenty of nutty, yeast funk , ending in an almost savory nut finish. Bitterness on the end. Very nice. (6 oz goblet)
Fort George Bourbon Barrel Cavatica Stout (unknown release)
Smells a bit funky, like bleach on a diaper pail or something. Tastes better than that, but really, where do you go from there? (just a sip)
A lot less sweet than expected given the Biscotti moniker. Tart cherry flavor doesn't feel fake or tacked on. Very pleasant indeed.
A very subtle flavor compared to, say, a Parabola, but cleanse your palate enough and this is a very pleasant, balanced, bourbon stout. Not at all what I expected given its name. (just a sip)
Laurelwood Pinot Barrel Aged Moose & Squirrel Russian Imperial Stout (unknown release)
A lot of winners at this year's stout fest! I wish I could tell you in more detail exactly what this tasted like, but my notes are basically: "Loved this. Cherry / tannic qualities really enhance this."
A light, excellently balanced bourbon stout, with just a touch of cherry-like twang from the bourbon barrel, I imagine. It would be easy to drink a lot of this and be very happy.
A bourbon-barreled... pilsner? Well, I had to try it. It's not much like a pilsner, although there's plenty of bourbon, which plays with the yeast to make an almost fruity flavor. I thought it might have been a pale ale at first, but the absurdly clean, slightly bitter finish went in another direction.
Hop concentrate - lost of resin, not on the fruity side. Finish is much less bitter than I'd have expected, but this wasn't exactly one to love.
Elevation Oil Man Imperial Stout Aged in Bourbon Barrels (unknown release)
A woody, complex stout with lots of sweet Bourbon presence. Slightly lighter and sweeter than a Parabola, but it's definitely toward that direction of character. An excellent way to end the night.
A significant step down from the 2010. The flavors are less smoothed out, and the finish is almost ashy. On its own, it might have done much better, but context was not kind.
Best of the bunch - very similar to the 2009 but with a pleasant vinous tang added to it. This might be the only Abyss where I actually could detect the wine barreling. I don't know if the finish was any less woody, but it felt less bitter.
Black Raven Gunpowder Plot Porter (unknown release)
This seems very different every year. This one was a lot like a sweet, dessert coffee drink, with just a bit of sourness. Still no real obvious barrel character in evidence.
Not sure if it was nitro vs CO2 or just the flavor in general, but this was very different than my memory from two years ago. Blueberry is just a hint, with a kind of pie crust malt sweetness taking the spotlight. The finish is a moderate herbal bitterness which I think is new, and actually quite appealing. This beer is a legitimate winner now, rather than an enjoyable curiosity.
A very smooth, thinnish, caramel ale, more like a dark lager in quality than an amber. Prickly carbonation works well with these flavors. Nothing too deep, but super-drinkable.
To be fair, this jug was probably two years old. It had to be drunk. That said, it was surprisingly inoffensive; a porter on the sour, English side. A touch of roast on top. Rather than getting any pilsner character, it just seemed thinned out a little.
Jibes with my earlier description, except maybe less sweet. This would've been perfect outdoors and sunny.
I always appreciate when Black Raven puts out a cask that isn't just a differently-dry hopped IPA. Typical for cask, a lot of earthy, herbal notes from the hops, as well as a good, dry, dark chocolate flavor on top. The peppercorn notes clarify as the beer warms up, and while they're interesting they made some of the other flavors more "pokey" instead of balancing things out.
A very weird, nutty yeast funk sits at the heart of this beer - like boiled, bitter peanuts. It was reminiscent of the old Hi-Fi Session Brown, and not at all crisp or refreshing, which is table stakes for a Kölsch for me.
I asked for a Cold Snap and got this, so basically there is a baseline of disappointment here. Despite that, this was an inoffensive and perfectly drinkable, loose-tasting IPA. A sweetish, breakfast cereal-like malt creeps up at the end; at this point I think this is Sam Adams's signature.
Floral hop opening with a mild, toasty cereal finish. Though named as a pale ale, this is basically a prototypical northwest red ale, and not of the IPA-in-disguise variety.
A slightly sweetish golden ale with a rounded, bready yeast presence. Solid bitterness on the backend, bring a bit of pilsner to mind. Just the slightest touch of spice and a metallic tinge at the very end, but this was tasty enough to please.
Great fragrance, and a nice grassy opening to this beer. I was let down by the lack of any real cereal presence and the finish was a bit prickly and a lot bitter, in a way that built up and masked any nicer aspects that may have been there.
At this age, the smell coming off is vaporous and alcoholic, but none of that comes through in the flavor. There is no Dana. Only smooooth.
Ecliptic Helix Hoppy Lager (unknown release)
The smell is fragrant and full of hops, and the flavor opens that way, but the lager half of this beer asserts itself quickly. Refreshingly, it wasn't a sweet lager, either, as seems common with IPLs. Toasted barley, an almost buttery smoothness, and some good, Pilsner bitterness finish off the flavor. I really liked this a lot.
Perennial 17 Mint Chocolate Stout (unknown release)
Wasn't sure how this was going to work but with Perennial, anything's possible. Opens very much like an Andes after-dinner mint - creamy rather than herbal and firmly chocolate. It moves rather quickly to a thick, rich, stout flavor, much less sweet, and a building bitterness. It saves it from being cloying, but there's still a little bit of unnaturalness to it all. Still, yum.
A round, fruity hefeweizen with tons of banana and moderate clove. A tiny hint of smoke from the spice profile. The overall flavor is not subtle, but it is tasty.
This beer is pretty much exactly what the name implies - somewhere halfway between a pils and an IPA, as odd as it sounds. The IPA part is of a light, fragrant citrus type. A strong, unsweet cereal backbone represents pils, and finishing bitterness is right in the middle of grassy and pithy. Somehow, it works. I couldn't tell whether I actually liked it or if the weirdness was just too intriguing, but I came down on "liked."
Starts cola-like, like a lot of other Hi-Fi beers, but very quickly moves to a kind of sour, herbal, musty flavor, which seriously brought to mind spit and tobacco. If this was a showcase of yeast flavors, it was not a good kind of yeast. A literally sour note in an otherwise decent flight.
Thin, with a lot more vanilla than whiskey, but avoids being cloyingly sweet. The somewhat acidic, spiced base porter combined with the vanilla very much brings to mind a root beer. Very pleasantly drinkable, nothing profound. And it would have been nice to taste whiskey.
A light nutbrown ale with a creamy, very peanuty, mildly sweet flavor. In contrast to the other peanut butter beers I've had, this was a lot further toward the peanut butter cookie end of the spectrum (where the other end is chocolate peanut butter cup). I really enjoyed this, and could probably have had a lot of it.
A piney, fragrant session IPA of the sort with no discernible cereal body. This beer goes straight from hop juice to a medium, pithy bitterness that doesn't linger and finishes clean. In a lot of ways, this resembles the Sculpin from yesterday, although with less body. Still, it was rather pleasant.
Le Bilboquet MacKroken Flower Grande Réserve: Fût de Bourbon (unknown release)
Sweet and malty (but less sweet than the Perennial), with a kind of wet cereal presence to remind you it's a scotch ale. This was more or less like drinking a beer version of a sticky toffee pudding, with lots of caramel and hints of date. Just awesome. Finish is a little tacky, the only slight negative.
Perennial Vermilion Barleywine (unknown release)
Rich and toffee-like, like a Sucaba without the overt hints of hard liquor, and a creamy, malty head that you can taste in the flavor. This is another clear winner for Perennial. Surprisingly clean finish for something so sweet, and hides its strength with an elegant balance.
Fragrant, fruity IPA. A bit on the boozy side for me to enjoy it fully through the pint. And a total loser next to that Kölsch. But caveat lector - after a rich meal, my palate may well have been compromised.
Absolutely delicious Kölsch, with a hit of pilsner like bitterness and a strong, cracker-like cereal malt. Hints of yeast, but at first impression, I'd say this swings more towards the pils end. Super-crisp.
Surprisingly unsweet for a beer with this description. The flavor profile brings to mind Munich dark lagers, crackery with a bit of singe, but a smooth finish with little bitterness. Not a chugger, but a very pleasant glass.
A solid, very dry coffee stout, slightly thick and with a good amount of roast. I'm not very sure it was worth the 100%+ markup over bottle price I was charged, though.
Subtle coriander, other Belgian spice & banana esters; good cereal, balanced with drying yeast bitterness and a tart, vinous finish. Lovely effervescence and -- in the sunlight -- an amazing appearance of flecks of gold in suspension, frozen in amber. I mean, look at that picture!
A sweetish amber of the hoppy variety. Kind of one-note, with a lot of alcohol poking its way through the flavor. Significantly less enjoyable than the Red Rocket.
A strongly sweet caramelized flavor hints at unpleasantness, but the flavor has none of it. Just a nice amount of toasted malt to offset the hops, simple and uncomplicated. Beat the Kingpin hands-down for me, but it wasn't especially memorable.
Dry, saisony pale with a bit of white wine hat the front and back of the flavor. Subtle tartness and a pleasant late cereal entrance. There's a strong, yeasty funk bitterness that pervades the flavor and builds up over time. It overwhelms the flavor a bit, knocking it down a notch.
Had just a taste of this. Pleasantly funky-tart with a pleasant malt flavor. I will definitely try this again, and in a larger portion, if I see it.
Slightly fruitier than I remembered, I think. A bit prickly on the hops, which brings to mind the Hochzeit for me.
I think I'm getting used to the cask thing, especially the nutty-funky hop flavors that emerge when there's little carbonation. With the Scotch ale, what you get is a complex but drinkable, mildly sweet beer. Less fruit and sugar than I expected. Bitterness builds up a bit over time.
No doubt, this tastes watery. Dilute sweet-malt flavor, and a slight tinge of sourness. The bright side is that the carbonation is just right and the finish is clean. I'd drink this before a Bud or Coors Light, but that's not saying much. ONE DIRECTION!
A very solid Belgian with good caramel flavors. Not so much on the exotic spices and it was rather less -- profound, maybe? -- than I prefer in a pricy quad, but there's really very little to complain about.
Perennial Sump (2014)
Inky-thick stout with a rich, lightly sweet coffee flavor. This may have been the most coffee-like coffee beer I've ever had. You might have even fooled me into thinking that this wasn't even a beer at all, actually. Really delicious!
Sharp plum-vinegar-like tartness to open, which mildens quickly and opens out to a sweet malt / candi sugar finish. I appreciated the good balance between the sour and Belgian aspects, with only a lasting, tacky finish interfering with complete enjoyment.
Airways Anniversary Mosaic Pilsner (5th Anniversary)
It's clear right away that this is absolutely not a pilsner. Smells and tastes very much like a Hall's lemon herb cough drop, with maybe a touch of bubblegum. Very perfumey, with a tongue-coating oiliness, and very much not good. It's been a long time, but the closest analogue I can come up with is the Williams Bros. Alba ale.
Smoke is very much at the forefront here, both in the fragrance and flavor. It's a dry, charcoal kind of smoke, and one which I think would be quite nice in a dry, roasty stout. Here, it's mixed with one that is perhaps over-rich & pungently sweet. It's not especially harmonious.
Drier than I thought it'd be, with hints of hop dankness and perfume to open. Not a lot of the more exotic Belgian spice flavors -- instead, the yeast comes through as white pepper and a high-set bitterness. Mildly sweet cereal finish.
A thinnish stout with a ton of roast. I would call it "ashy" but it takes a bit of a lactic turn at the end which is milk-stout-like but never really resolves into the sweetness of that style. This wasn't bad, but it was a bit... strange in a way that never came together for me.
Thin, watery-sweet malt flavor with an unexpected, dry yeast tang. On its own, pretty remarkably bad. In the middle of a tropical paradise, maybe a tiny bit better? Can't complain about the surroundings.
Very light, but with a pleasant toasted barley malt flavor. The lightness of the beer allowed the aluminum bottle to give it an unpleasant metallic tinge, which was a definite minus. Still, this was maybe the best of the American macro light beers I've tried so far.
Pilsner is totally the wrong name for this. Far from crisp, this beer has a dry, yeasty tang more reminiscent of a Kölsch or American wheat. Lots of orange citrus and more than a little sweet cereal funk. If you squint you could almost imagine this was a musty orange soda.
A light stout with a refreshing amount of malt. The oyster presence is just a hint of salty seawater, not much on oyster brine or smoke. Probably my favorite oyster stout yet!
2015's odd-year imperial stout release. Nothing subtle about this one, as expected from Stone. A rich, thick stout with tons of sweet cardamom, cinnamon and other spice to start. The finish is very roasty, building up in bitterness over time. I did wish it was a little less intense.
Unibroue La Résolution (2014)
Scent of plum and candi sugar. Really delicious holiday flavors in this beer, with a lot of gingerbread, caramel, plum, clove, maybe some nutmeg. The finish almost wraps around to toasted coconut. It's been a while since I had it, but my memory wants to put this on a shelf with St. Bernardus Christmas Ale.
My favorite of the night wasn't a Belgian at all! This was pungent with a cereal sweetness. Like wet grass on the side of a muddy trail after a spring rain, but in a good way. Hints of vegetal honey. Perfect on cask.
Much drier and somewhat more muddled than the quad. It's nice, but lacks the purity of that beer, and maybe screams a little "cave" while it's at it.
Round, light and full of plummy fruit flavor. Doesn't have the depth of flavor I associate with quads, but this is really, really drinkable.
Sweeter than most milk stouts I've tried, almost overly so -- I don't know if that is from being on nitro. Combined with a whole lot of roast, this recalls campfire s'mores, but the pungent umami of the sweetness interfered with my enjoyment somewhat.
Lots of white pepper and spicy dry hops. Bitterness builds up. Interesting.
Smells like it has a good gueuze-like tang, but the flavor is almost timid in response - veering quickly away from tartness before it even happens. The finishing flavor is strong on banana esters and some cereal. I liked this, but it could have been so much better with a real sour attack.
Overtones of chocolate and cherry without overt fruitiness or tartness.
Definitely falls into the "We made an IPA lighter by watering it down" category of flavor. That the basic IPA seems tasty helps it out, though.
Yeasty-dry American wheat ale. Nice wheaty finish, but a lot of skunk on the nose that seemed to get worse very quickly over time.
Holy cereal, Batman! The malt finish on this "pilsner" is faintly sweet and almost Cheerios-like in its cereal presence. It was so unusually over the top that I couldn't help but like it, but calling it a pilsner is a stretch. A bit of characteristic bitter finish closes.
Very thin, with a sweetish almost maple toffee sheen and maybe only a hint of whiskey. Flavor-wise it was pleasant enough. For the price and the hype, though, this was honestly a disappointment.
Clean, crisp, light and bready, with a nice bite. Can't say it's much different than before but it suited me today.
Something like a fat tire with extra hops on top. Pleasant to drink.
On nitro, the deep roast is at the forefront, smoky and a bit sharp. With the nitro-malt sweetness the effect is almost like hints of peat whiskey on top of a chocolatey dark stout. I can't say I've ever had a lager on nitro before, and this may not be not super lager-like, but it was quite good.
A nice rooty dankness crossed with bready malt, reminds me a lot of beers I've had in England. The difference here is a bit of prickly carbonation, thinning out the flavor and giving this a bit of a soda-like feel. Authentic? Maybe not, but I did enjoy the combination on a sunny day.
What you'd expect from Evil Twin - a profound, roasty stout with penty of hop presence from the IPA side. The hops are most prominent in the smell, which is very roundly floral and CDA-like, but the flavor is much more on the stout side. The hops do come back as a pronounced bitterness at the end.
A roasty, very dry porter. It opens a bit like a Baltic porter, with a hint of cherry and wood. This favorable first impression starts to muddle a bit as Belgian flavors come in, quad-like but a little discordant, and then the finishing bitterness comes off as ashy over time. Ok, but I regretted not getting the High Westified instead.
Fragrant hop juice IPA, which for a Lagunitas surprised me with its pleasant flavor. Nice wild yeast funk rounds out the finish in a way that is neither too weird nor sour. If anything, it shows up more as a faint wine-like quality. I liked this so much more than I expected!
I hate the marketing tie-in, but this is a very decent, roasty thick stout. Good malt to thicken the flavor. The finish starts mild but builds up to a level that is quite bitter -- just a bit over my threshold, I think.
I didn't know what to look forward to here, because the other P-51's have been horrifyingly bad. So this turned into a really nice surprise: lots of peanut butter candy aroma and flavor, which spreads out over the tongue in an appropriately oily fashion. It really cuts the sour aspect of the base porter, which is still clearly there but with, well, grossness neutralized. Not quite as good as other peanut butter beers I've had, but still solidly enjoyable.
Very pleasant banana & spice Belgian pale, mildly sweet and refreshing. Had it with Redhook's pulled pork sandwich, and it was perfect.
Thinnish porter body with a strong, sweet-ish coffee sheen and some prickly roast flavors. Underneath there was a hint of sourness, which might be from the English ale yeast that was used. I'd call this a solid coffee porter.
This tasted like a firmly boozier version of the hopper, which threw it out of balance for me. I didn't think the other flavors were proportionately made stronger to compensate.
I had a hard time pinning down the flavor here. The owner said this also used English ale yeast, and maybe that was throwing me off a little. I'd say -- hoppy, fragrant, a touch of caramel roast on top. Similar hint of booze to the Pale. I never wrapped my head around this, so this suffered a little compared to the others.
Dry session IPA flavors, with lots of hop fragrance but not much noticeable malt. A bit of booziness pokes through, but this was still nicely balanced in flavor. Some prickliness from the amarillos. I preferred the Blonde, but this was a good backup.
Trying out the new brewery in Kirkland - very friendly! This was the best of the flight - a bit of yeasty tartness, like a Kölsch (and I'm told it started out as a Kölsch recipe), but with nice hop fragrance from the dry hopping. The only one of the beers to have a strong cereal finish, and this was a nice one. Very tasty.
Tastes like the Guinness bundt I had on St. Patrick's Day, with a malty bitter chocolate and sweetish cake flavor. It's not a bad beer, but let's just say it's much better as a cake.
Super-fragrant - grapefruit at first, but almost orangey in its fruitiness. Rounded hop-fruit flavor and a sweet cereal finish. Mild bitterness builds up over time, which you could say is not in my wheelhouse, but ... I really loved the flavors here.
This tasted pretty much like concentrated hop syrup. The flavors were basically good; what you'd expect from Fremont, but so intense here that it was hard to take this beer seriously. The finish was impressively not bitter, given all that, however.
Nice, balanced mix of chocolate and cinnamon, on top of a sweetish, water-thin porter base. This almost didn't taste like a beer, but its drinkability is saved by the non-beer flavorings. Still, I can't given it a super-strong rating.
Inky-thick stout with a roast malt flavor. Unlike other oyster stouts, there isn't a clear saline aspect or any kind of tongue-coating umami flavor -- at least not that I could detect. Instead, there was a hint of something around the edges giving a sense of depth. I think that gave it a sense of Imperial strength, despite it being only 6%. Quite good.
The standard resin-and-hops bonanza that is Trickster, but with a bit of floral spice at the end. I think I would have liked that combination but for the sweet-bitter hit of the lemon that interrupts halfway through -- one of my least favorite of the cask components Black Raven seems to like using.
Reading these logs, it seems like this beer is nothing like it used to be. But maybe that's just me. This time it wasn't much like my memory of Pour les Oiseaux - less vinous, less funky, but with a clean, slightly bitter finish. The flavor is basically very good, but there's also a prominent coriander mustiness to the flavor, which I think pulls it down a little. "Wet sock" comes to mind.
This is pretty much exactly what it says - a Belgian (think dubbel) crossed with a coffee porter. You can tell that both components are basically strong, quality-wise, but I don't think the combination is particularly harmonious. I think basically that the yeast asserts its idiosyncracies to detrimental effect as the flavor winds down.
I know I liked it but I couldn't tell you much about it.
A roasty chocolate-sweet sheen very much prevents this from tasting like an ESB to me, but it was very drinkable. I'd have this again.
Hoppy sweet lager, with an unusual herbaceous quality to the flavor. I couldn't quite identify it, but I wasn't exactly operating with a virgin palate and nobody else seemed to notice anything.
A very interesting IPA with clear hop resin and bitterness that somehow doesn't overpower the green tea. That shows up as a grassy, matcha latte-like sweetness that both mellows the hops but also adds a bitterness of its own. That tea fragrance is super-present in the smell as well. It doesn't exactly go down easy but it was definitely worth trying.
Much less tart than expected. A light, summery beer with a wheaty, cloudy funk and round fruitiness in the place of the lactic acid tang of other Berliner Weisses I've had. Refreshing & sweet, I could definitely see myself drinking this again, and soon.
A surprise from Widmer, here was a caramel-toffee amber with a lager-like sweet-bitter maltiness and smooth but obvious rye whiskey overtones. Like a less-sophisticated Sucaba, but still very much balanced. I wish I'd gotten more than the taster.
Not sure what I expected when I read "very dry," but I thought maybe tacky and tart. This was nothing of the sort. Certainly it wasn't sweet, but it was also very... well, wet, light. Ephemeral. Like the ghost of an apple. And delicious! Even better was the Pommeau eau de vie made by the same Cidery, but this isn't boozelog.
Malty and caramel, and very much the 25% barleywine that it claims. A very American hop florality prevents it from tasting super-English, nor did it have the funky dankness of an English real ale, but still, this was an interesting and very enjoyable cask.
Bit of a sour smell, but the flavor is not at all. Light and sweet like coffee with a ton of creamer in it, just enough roast and no real bitterness. Drinkable and cheering.
Rogue! You magnificent bastards. Somehow this was surprisingly good, and yet accurately-flavored at the same time. A creamy roast stout opening moves smoothly into a roast chili flavor with just a hint of garlic and other savory flavors coloring the spice. There's a definite heat to this, but nothing that builds up overpoweringly like the recent habanero beers I've had. I'd wanted this to be terrible, but it decidedly wasn't. As a bonus, the bottle is adorable.
Drinking at home isn't my favorite thing when the beer doesn't work out, since I have a hard time putting away a bottle's worth of mediocre beer. This was molasses cake and a lot of yeasty tang. Drying finish, maybe a little metallic. I wasn't a huge fan of this at all.
Almanac Imperial Chocolate Stout (unknown release)
A dry, tangy stout with a bit of a dark chocolate sheen. Pleasant enough, but not one I'll remember for too long.
A very nicely balanced bourbon barrel stout. Noticeably boozy on the nose, it starts dry with some toffee notes, then quickly goes unexpectedly tangy for a moment before finishing on a velvety bourbon oak sheen. I was so glad the flavor was nowhere near as raw as the smell.
A best in class IPA, I think. A fragrant, dry hoppy opening, hints of apple and pine. Good cereal body. Finishes on some resin and moderate-strong bitterness, but in a balanced experience like this I'm totally fine with that. Another win for Breakside!
I think this was a really successful cask offering. The fragrant citrus flavors complement the Wisdom Seeker very well, and everything is just well-balanced. Light carbonation, but not flat.
There's no way this should have tasted good, but it did! The fragrance had plenty of habanero and a weird pungent funkiness, which wasn't promising, but the flavor was quite bright and light. Saisony with a fruity opening, bright habanero flavor and then just enough high heat to leave a nice closing buzz. Did not have the overwhelming habanero of the Sculpin, which was a real fear based on the smell. Breakside stays on its streak.
Pleasant honey sheen on this tripel, although it is a bit strong in the coriander direction which makes it a little musty instead of bright. The alcohol is a bit in your face after a while, as well. Still, not bad at all.
A kind of creamy cereal shows up right away, although unusually for a helles, it's not sweet. Instead, a really nice yeasty tang shows up right before a bit of fragrant pilsner hop bitterness closes. This mix of helles and pilsner characteristics was really unusual and I really enjoyed it.
The Lost Abbey Carnevale Ale (unknown release)
Nice yeast flavor with some nice spice. The finish is almost acridly bitter, though, and it builds up. I liked it, but probably couldn't drink too much of it.
Caramel, with mildly bitter hop notes. Kind of boring, although it might have been stale for how long it had been sitting in the refrigerator.
Resin city hop bomb. I can imagine people who would like this, but it's absolutely not me.
A floral hop bomb like the Triple IPA but this also had a strong burnt toffee flavor on top of that. A hint of that combination is usually enough to turn me off completely (see: Brown Shugga), but this was a lot more than a hint. Nope. Nooooope.
Resinous, fragrant and fruity hop flavor. I like more malt in my pales, and this doesn't have much at all. If it hadn't been written on the board, I would have said pretty confidently that this was a strong IPA.
A sweet, deep coffee flavor cuts through the sourness of the base porter; for me, almost completely. The coffee was quite good, I thought, although the overall effect may have been a little too sweet. Still, I liked this one too.
Dry porter in what I would call an Irish mold; there's a sourness that is probably more yeasty than it is bad coffee, and though that's usually not something I love, the overall flavor was pretty good. Fairly robust roastiness finishes.
Caramelized flavor, bit of smoke. Similar to Bellevue's scotch ale, but a bit thinner. Tacky finish.
Darker and yeastier than the Goldilocks. More tang, less fruit, less lightness. The aftertaste is also a touch tacky, which may just be a feature of the yeast here. Overall a step down.
Rounded banana flavor, with a light kiss of spice, Smooth, dry finish with good cereal. V. light and refreshing, and a great start to the flight.
Way more resinous than I would expect from a standard pale. If you'd called this a single IPA it would have probably been appropriate. Even so, this had a strange metallic tinge and a lot of bitterness - making it not very enjoyable.
Yeasty open, only the slightest hint of apple on the nose (maybe it's just me, today). Finish is equal parts mild cider and sweetish-malt cereal (reminiscent of Sam Adams lagers), bordering on watery. Dryish finish. Different enough to be interesting.
Decent macro-style lager with a mineral, dry (but not tacky) finish. Bit of a spicy hop presence.
Almanac Tequila Barrel Noir (unknown release)
Lots of tequila in the fragrance. Stout base is on the dry side with more than a little tartness. Tequila is strongly present with a vegetal, lettuce-like overtone. Unique and very appealing, although perhaps starting to wear by the end of the glass. (10 oz goblet)
Light saison with a rounded banana flavor to open; not too spicy, with just a bit of smoke or pepper at the end. Very refreshing and easy to drink, especially with food. I'm really liking just about everything I've had from Breakside.
Tastes like it smells, which is basically exactly maple syrup, sweet and woody to start and with a malty body. It's pretty amazingly spot on, and as long as you enjoy maple syrup you can't go wrong.
Black Raven Redfeather Session Red IPA (Prototype)
Opens with a bit of pine and a bit of fruit, a really fragrant typical IPA opening. Like lots of other Black Raven beers, though, this has a solid cereal backbone, almost pretzely. Bitter finish.
Very light in flavor, although not what I would call watery... Just light. A tiny bit sweet but not in the cloying, watered-down corn syrup style of a Coors or Bud Light. (12 oz can)
I don't know if this was an off bottle, but this was strongly yeasty to open, to the point of being tart. The rest of the flavor is dank and rooty in the way the other beers I've had here are, but this was maybe too dry to enjoy. (450 mL bottle)
Okay, this beer made me appreciate there might be something to cask real ale. Dank and rooty hop wine, was my impression of the taste. The flatness and slightly higher temperature led to a complex mix of flavors in the mouth. Not floral, or piney, or even fresh-tasting like an American IPA, the emphasis is more on oily, dank and bitter. (8 oz schooner)
My first real cask ale in England! Flat and dank, although strangely watery and maybe a bit too cold. The delivery was interesting but the flavors weren't compelling here. (16 oz glass)
House beer at Harrods. A sweet-ish lager with a bit of a caramel flavor. The color was golden but it tasted more amber, if that makes any sense.
Pretty much a Heineken. In a can. And I was just blossoming into a full-blown cold.
Black Raven La Mort Rouge (2015)
Opens with definite red wine flavors, a buttery tannic fruitiness that more than balances the base beer. Some bitter yeast funk that reminds me of the recent Raven de Garde release, and some nontrivial amount of banana and clove finish off the flavor. I liked it, but do admit the red wine and overt sweet Belgian was a weird combination that never quite stopped being weird.
Smells fairly hoppy but the flavor is mellow and malty, which was a nice surprise. A very drinkable red.
Very solid medium-texture porter, slightly sweet, moderately roasty, and with a creamy finish. Nice surprise from Pyramid, whom I don't usually enjoy.
Tasty tripel that keeps to the mellow, sophisticated side, although it is unmistakably Belgian. The alcohol level is deceptive and will knock you on your ass if you're not careful.
Pleasant American Hefe with a tangy yeast profile. Possibly gone stale; I wouldn't know. A bit of a sharp tang at the beginning and end, like lemon juice, gives it some character, although the flavor other than that is fairly straightforward.
Dogfish Head Raison d'Extra (unknown release)
High alcohol starts off hidden but becomes more apparent over time, right at the front of the flavor. There's definitely raisin in here, but the beer is surprisingly mellow in spite of what could have been a cloyingly sweet flavor. Quite good, but small sips!
Very nice pilsner. I wish I could describe this more interestingly, but I was very happy to drink it (and it went well with my shrimp & grits!).
A bit of a sharp, chemical bite to the flavor got in the way of my enjoyment here.
I don't know if I can describe this beer accurately. The scent of cucumber is unmistakable, a kind of wet, vegetal sharpness. The flavor is surprisingly fruity, almost canteloupe-like at first, finishing cool and cucumber-like with a bit of that bitter skin flavor to finish. For something that could have been so terrible, it was actually enjoyable.
On cask, at room temperature, barely any carbonation. Lots of flavors coming out here, a kind of sweet roastiness and a bit of yeast funk that probably would have been lost on CO2. Interesting? Yes. It didn't exactly convert me to cask stouts, however.
Has all the kolsch flavors, but unexpectedly dry. I don't know if the yeast was tangier, or if there was less cereal sweetness, but ... it was dry. It still had a good amount of appeal, but refreshingly crisp it was not.
Very sweet after the Wookey, with just a hint of that smoke flavor. It doesn't quite ever melt into a unified experience, but it wasn't bad.
Rounded, cola-like opening and finish, with a long, toffee caramel middle.
A smooth stout with a high caramel overtone and some mellow, sweet bourbon on the finish. That part was pretty great. On the other hand it was a little overbalanced on dry wood bitterness, which seems characteristic of beer aged on chips. Quite good, though.
Basically tasted like an Americano, and if you squint you notice the bubbles and alcohol. Lots of roast, pure coffee flavor, and big cooked bitterness at the end. It was a little much for me; I like my coffee milder. I could tell this was a good beer, but it just wasn't quite to my taste.
Boozy fragrance. Tastes like a strong barleywine, with some date-cake fruity sweetness and a nice, smooth finish. Thing is, the booze builds up fast and strong... I wish they had shown some restraint and given us something a little less in-your-face. The flavors are great and deserve it.
Very roasty dry porter -- on the edge of burnt. It wasn't super-pleasant to drink, although the flavor was fine. I just think it was a bit much. (16 oz glass)
I didn't think I'd had this before, but I guess I had. My previous comments are basically still spot-on. (16 oz glass)
Smells like a typical Euro dark lager and starts that way, but hits you with a big doppelbock-ish bready sweetness right away. Finishes with a spicy bite, which I assume is the rye, although I've never felt it burn quite like this. Very odd.
Pine Sol. This tasted basically like Pine Sol and I couldn't taste anything else. My mouth feels like furniture.
Really quite nice. A piney, light IPA with a sweetish cereal finish. The lightness and sweetness make for a good combination. Maybe I'm just over-happy it was no longer the lemon/chinook version?
It starts like a session IPA but finishes like a fake lemon drop hard candy. I can't say it was a good thing.
Smoke was subtle, with notably more hops when compared to the other dark beers on this tray. Not gonna lie, this probably would have fared much better out of context.
Good coffee flavor on top of a dry, roasty base beer. It didn't blow me away, but it was very decent. I know I said some things about spices with the regular Abominable, but didn't notice that much here. Just dark beer and coffee.
Somehow I've never had this before. Dry and roasty to good levels, but there's a sour coffee undertone that is never a sign of a stout I'll love. I guess I should stick to the bourbon versions of this from now on.
A big brother to the saison, with a lot of the same flavors, but stronger. There's also a touch of raw booze, which knocks it down a peg, although if it weren't side by side with the saison it probably would have fared better.
A bit of clove on the nose, which is not my favorite kind of saison, but this had a really light, refreshing body on top of the spice and a clean, cereal malt finish. It was much better than I thought it'd be, and maybe even the day's winner!
A lager with a pleasant, inoffensive opening and a peculiarly sweet overtone to the finish that I think I also remember from Sam Adams's Summer Ale. So this is a house thing, I guess? It's different, which is appealing, although in a sort of bland way, so I give it a "middling good." (16 oz glass)
A light hint of clove and a rounded banana-not-banana-bread flavor open this light, easily drinkable (even at 7+%!) Belgian. I don't know if the yeast they use for this is related at all to the regular house yeast, but it has a similar kind of tanginess, and this beer finishes a lot like the Pils, with clean cereal notes. (two 5 oz tasters)
I don't know if it's me, or the brewery figuring itself out, but the balance between the tangy house yeast and the rest of this beer seems to have been perfected. Good tang gives way to a sweetish cereal finish, and though it doesn't have much of the grassy bitterness I consider true to the style, it's now really enjoyable. (5 oz taster)
The surprise of the day, a very well-balanced toffee-tinged stout in the Parabola vein, although (expectedly) less complex. Very nice and doesn't stick out in any unpleasant directions.
A malty, sweet brown, moderately thick in the mouth (uhh, did I just say that?) and smoothed out on nitro. No weird nitro flavors that I noticed. Not barrel aged, making it the lone outlier in today's group, but one of the tastier beers on the list.
Full Sail Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout (unknown release)
Basically a slightly thicker version of the Top Sail, complete with that weird flavor. Now, this one I know I've had before without noticing bad flavors, so I'm not sure what's up here.
Full Sail Top Sail Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Porter (unknown release)
This is probably context too, but this felt thin and had a strange, almost cucumber-like chemical tinge to it that I found unpleasant.
Basically continues an upward trend with age. Expectedly tasty.
The Bruery Sour in the Rye (unknown release)
All the sours I've tried from The Bruery share a similar yeast profile, and this is no exception. Same smooth-entry, finishing tart bite as the Tart of Darkness, but without the plum sugar / malt finish. Not sure I detected what the rye brought, either.
Solid, but in this crowd that makes it slightly of little note.
Smells faintly of sour yeast; flavor is that of a slightly tart barleywine with a vegetal, strong booze flavor from the spirit barrel. I initially thought tequila before learning that Calvados is an apple brandy. Pretty good.
Firestone Walker §ucaba (2013)
This was probably context, but this didn't blow me away as it has in the past. Making it merely great instead of mind-bendingly awesome.
The Bruery Smoking Wood aged in Rye Barrels (unknown release)
A dry stout with some booze notes and a noticeable, but manageable, charcoal smoke flavor. Pretty good! I do feel like I've had this before, although there's no record of it.
The winner of the day, this beer has a strong chocolate / mild coffee fragrance & flavor with a lush, creamy mouthfeel. Smooth barrel and bourbon finish it off. Absolutely delicious!
The Bruery Tart of Darkness (unknown release)
This is definitely a sour first, and a stout second. Opens smooth, slightly sweet, before jumping quickly to a bite of tartness. It's faintly pruney, although I wouldn't call this a fruity beer, and it moves towards more stouty characteristics as it finishes, smooth and malty again. I wouldn't go so far as to call this roasty, however.
A bit of cherry, good roastiness and lactic funk to close. This was really good and probably the model Baltic Porter to date, for me. It's a shame it's probably nearly impossible to get around here.
This was weird, but somehow much better than expected. I think it's because the added flavors were almost unrecognizable in their expression. First you have what appears to be a very decent tripel. The orange lends a bit of fragrance and acid to the opening, while what I assume are the green coffee beans add a vegetal and unusual bitter quality to the finish. Glad I tried it.
What a pretty color! Mildly tart, clean, fruity cider. I liked this a lot, even if I didn't really detect any rosehip. I don't drink a lot of ciders so there's no good comparisons I can make, but this was good.
Lots of coffee on the nose, and a roast, dry coffee flavor as well. It's not a lot like other barrel aged stouts, in that it's more interested in pushing a great coffee flavor than boozy sweetness, and that's something to appreciate.
Gulden Draak Brewmaster's Edition (unknown release)
I couldn't get the release year from the server. Quad flavors with a pale complexion, not much spice presence and an almost-there plum flavor that melts into a soft cereal flavor. There's a hint of a bitter funk on the finish before going back to cereal for the aftertaste. Very, very pleasant.
Stout with an Evil-Twin-like roastiness and thick complexion, made a bit murky by a round, fruity grape flavor which sits just below the surface. This could have been really off-putting, but the balance was just right, I thought.
A faintly-sweet beer with a Euro dark lager mouthfeel and mildly bitter finish. I learned afterwards that this was bourbon aged, and I can't say I noticed in the least, although it was smooth and very drinkable (and, as evidenced afterwards, much stronger than it seemed!). A good beer to accompany a new phone.
It's been too long for me to have a clear description here, but I remember a kind of strange chemical lemon quality to the hop flavor that never became pleasant, and built up in bitterness over time. Not a fan.
A light flavor of raspberry syrup, sweet and soda-like. Hard to call this a beer.
There's a bit of reek to this beer; it's subtle but evocative of bacitracin on a foot wound, or a public school gymnasium after a good bleaching. It's a shame because every other flavor in this beer was nice -- smooth nitro and sweet malt with some fragrant hoppiness. But oh, that reek.
There's a yeasty tartness and dankness present in this beer that is opposed to what I want in a pale lager. This is followed by some characteristic helles sweetness and then a prickly, bitter finish, both of which are fine, but that opening didn't work for me.
Reminiscent of cinnamon graham crackers; sweet and spiced. I think I may be done with holiday beers, because I actually felt a real sense of letdown on getting those flavors.
Still surprisingly good - fresh, citrus hop fragrance, opening effervescence and good cereal malt body, and then BOOM. I think the habanero was stronger out of the bottle than on draft, almost too strong. That dings it a bit. It did make me want to explore the regular Sculpin sooner, rather than later, though.
Light, drinkable pie spice-style pumpkin porter. Doesn't stick out, but that can be all you want sometimes.
Has all the Czech pilsner notes in it but not so much on the crispness. Instead, there's a kind of wet hay sweetness in it that seems par for the course for east coast pilsners. It was the better of the two golden beers, though. (taster)
The first of two beers brought by Alex from her beer of the month club. Pronounced, fruity yeast in the smell and a kind of wet hay dankness in an otherwise light, malty golden ale. Smelled good, but in the end it was maybe just okay. (taster)
I think I prefer this muchly out of the bottle. Whereas on tap this beer was super-smooth, almost blandly so, here it carried a lot more bitter chocolate in the flavor. That masked the sweet effect of the cinnamon, and maybe enhanced the chili (though not much). More intriguing, balanced, and tasty this way.
Lagunitas High West-ified Imperial Coffee Stout (unknown release)
We all avoided this at Big Wood because someone said it wasn't great, but this was really, really good. Just enough rye against a good coffee stout flavor wrapped in a creamy froth of a finish. No cloying anything. (7 oz schooner)
Old Schoolhouse Imperial Stout (unknown release)
An exceptionally well-balanced stout. No frills, just thick enough, sweet enough, roasted enough -- so smooth and drinkable. Oh, and get your minds out of the gutter.
A confection for sure - lots of maple and bourbon in the nose & flavor; sweet, but not cloying. The base beer appears to be a light brown ale with a good, clear yeasty nuttiness, which grounds the whole flavor. A good one to start - or finish - with. (7 oz schooner)
BFM Abbaye de Saint Bon-Chien (unknown release)
An interesting sour -- opens slightly plummy but the sourness is unexpectedly umami; Worcestershire-like. It's not savory, per se, but really recalls flavors that wouldn't be out of place in a steak sauce. Finishes tingly but clean. It's more interesting than it is delicious, but I'm glad I tried it. (6 oz goblet)
Prickly cinnamon and light cocoa; a nice change from the procession of cinnamon beers lately in that it no way resembles Red Hots. Finishes very mildly; whatever base stout doesn't assert itself. This is very much a cinnamon drink. Very tasty but not the life changer it was hinted as. (6 oz goblet)
Alcohol a little more pronounced than I remember. Still quite tasty. (6 oz goblet)
Thank you Keith, for getting me this bottle! Rich and smooth, like a lighter Berserker. Out of the bottle, by itself, the alcohol and the sweetness were a little more on the nose than on draft, which knocks it down a bit. Perhaps more aging when buying bottled.
At its base a mild pale ale with sweet cereal. The brett and dry-hopping add fragrance and a yeasty forward bitterness that give this a nice added complexity. There's a bit of a Squirt-like grapefruit soda flavor that I'm not sure I loved, but other than that... a nice experience. (8 oz schooner)
Wasn't sure what to expect, given my history here. But this was actually quite fun to drink. A thinnish milk-stout flavor with strong, sweetish cinnamon leading into a late chili heat. This was pretty much a Red Hot stout, guys. I wasn't exactly in love, but I was so pleasantly surprised to like it that I think it gets an extra point. (10 oz schooner)
In a full glass, this was much more standard than the earlier taster made me think. Light like a session IPA but with a touch more resin, and a sweet cereal finish. Somehow, less weird made it less appealing to me... Not super interested in adding a new standard IPA to my life right now? (12 oz schooner)
When at Olive Garden... A light, macro-tasting lager, not very sweet, with the kind of mineral hardness that I've come to associate with Italian beers. A bit of skunk on the nose and a grassy pilsner finish all add up to overcoming what could have otherwise been a watery beer. (12 oz bottle)
This is a B Bomb, all right, and true to its base there is a dessert-like sweetness about this beer. In this, however, the finish is diffused and defused by a very high quality, roasty-smooth coffee flavor. In between, noticeable cinnamon adds a festive after-dinner drink quality to the whole affair. Best of all, the whole progression is wholly organic; not a flavor out of place. So far, all of the "special" versions of Fremont's barrel-aged beers have been arguably better than the originals, and this is no exception.
They said this was barrel aged and 9.2%. This was surprisingly tasty! Malty-sweet with strong butter caramel notes and maybe some estery fruitiness under the covers. Finish hints at being boozy but rounds out with a subtly dry bitterness that recalls malty Scotch Ales.
Hoppin' Frog Barrel Aged B.O.R.I.S. The Crusher (unknown release)
Pours syrup thick and black, with strong whiffs of sweet booze. I like me some barrel-aged beers, but this was a little too sweet for me, like it was mixed with more than a little straight whiskey.
Fragrant, citrus-pine IPA, super-fresh smell. Sweetish cereal comes in as the hops fade away, although after the first few sips it does start building bitter again. Very fine IPA.
I think maybe it was too flat when I got it, which probably didn't help, but it did get me up close with the flavors. Quite roasty-sour, a bit much, with some chocolate on top and a ashy coffee finish. Medium-thin texture. I'd like to try this again under more ideal circumstances.
Thin cola-like brown, dry hint-of-coffee flavor. Drinkable, but nothing exciting. This is actually the beer I ordered and the Snowline was a taster that the bartender mistakenly filled as a schooner, but I much preferred that one to this. (8 oz schooner)
Was expecting more of the same old type of winter ale, but actually this was refreshingly different. Golden, with a strong cereal presence and a bitter-hop finish mixed with... pepper, maybe? Overall, a European blonde character more than an American malt-hop bomb. Subtle spice, but not of the holiday-bouquet-in-your-face variety. (8 oz schooner)
Darker than the Great Lakes, with a more overt spice smell. The flavors were closer, with the same kind of amber lager notes and Belgian-esque holiday spices. I thought there was less dampness to the flavor, but also less cereal, which made the beer feel a little more hollow and less complex. I think this one is the slight loser.
Great Lakes Christmas Ale (2014)
Side-by-side, this is lighter in color than the Thirsty Dog, and while it exhibits the same spice hints in the smell it also had a bit of a tart smell. That didn't come out in the flavor, which was more of a grassy caramel malt flavor reminiscent of Alaskan Amber or a Vienna Lager. I thought it was just a tiny bit limp, but better than the Thirsty Dog.
A spicy-rather-than-funky saison, with a sheen of clove and white pepper to start. The body was clean, not too sweet. There was something else about it that kind of set it apart from other beers with this spice profile (which is not my favorite), but not quite enough to raise it to the next level.
Opens creamy, with an oatmeal-like sweetness - wouldn't be surprised if the OATstanding was the base beer here. Mouthfeel is thin, although the foamy head reinforced the sense of creaminess. The smoke manifested more as a kind of tobacco-ash roastiness than as the kind of wood smoke that I've commonly encountered lately. Pretty good, although the bitterness builds up faster than I liked.
Almanac Cerise Sour Blond (unknown release)
Golden and puckeringly tart in the way I've come to expect from Almanac. Clean cherry flavor without noticeable funk, although cherry is a fruit that intensifies the sense of sourness (like the citrus beer from the same brewery) rather than playing off of it (like the pluot's butteriness), making it a bit more one-dimensional. So it goes lower on the ranking.
Very solid imperial stout on the dry, roasty side but with a good body as well, with an undercurrent of malt but not overt sweetness. Pretty much exactly what I like in a straight stout. It hid its booziness well, I thought. You could definitely tell it was strong, but it was much stronger than I guessed at 12%.
Now, this was odd. Not nearly as resinous as their regular IPA, with a lemon-pepper sweet wheat-funk finish. There's no wheat in the malt bill, so I'm not sure where those flavors are coming from. The only other beer with that kind of finish I can think of is Sam Adams Summer Ale, and this probably got there by accident. Like that other beer, I found this strangely appealing, but find it harder to imagine having it in larger quantities.
Black Raven Wheat Wine (2012)
Fourth time having it, and I'm tasting less cognac barrel and more of a ribbon of syrupy umami... followed by booze. This reminds me a bit of what I must have thought the first time I had this. Same vintage, four different reactions. Maybe this beer is just better in the summer? Who knows?
Tastes like a wood fireplace crossed with a touch of sweet coffee. A little too much smoke for me -- either it needed some more thickness or less of the wood.
Plummy quad, not very spicy. Hard to say anything stuck out on this for me, other than being drinkable.
Decent, dry, thinnish porter. Hints of coffee in the roast but nothing overt.
Light & fragrant hops with a cereal finish. Very drinkable, and when eating a Chicago-style pizza, geographically appropriate.
Deschutes The Dissident (2010)
Was told rather late that this was on the special tap, and I had to order it. I don't know if it's the age, or if I've gotten more used to funky sours, but I did enjoy this a lot more than I did the 2012. It's still not super-tart, with some mild, vinous funk and some evident booze. I think for sure this was the most interesting beer of the night, so I'm glad I found it.
Had to try this on nitro. The beer is expressed totally differently this way, with the wine notes and other sour flavors coming to the forefront. It's still rather opaquely roasty, although it doesn't come across as ashy as with CO2. Didn't sense much bourbon. The nitro does give this a bit of a weird, vegetal overtaste which prevented me from falling in love, but it made me wonder how this version would age.
Deschutes Hop Henge IPA (unknown release)
This was just too bitter and I wasn't ready to do any more of that tonight. I'll have to try and give it a fair shake later.
I really wanted to like this beer because of the name, but it was really nondescript -- a kind of ambery amberness. Of the eight beers in this flight it had the least character. At least it wasn't actively unenjoyable.
Similar fragrance and hop profile to the Fresh Squeezed, which is nice, but rings hollow in the malt department. That leaves this beer tasting pretty much like pine cleaner. That's nice for a few sips but it gets boring, fast.
Belgian with a somewhat flat coriander flavor profile. Meh.
Taken straight, opens spicy with a rooty, forward bitterness that sits through to the finish. With food, it takes on a vinous character that is actually quite nice, but the totality of the flavor doesn't quite meld together.
Super-fragrant pine with a citrus sheen, and good cereal finish. This was the first I tried out of the flight, on purpose, and it was a good choice. I do feel like I've had this before, but I must have missed logging it?
Standard barley wine. Sweet, whiskey flavors. For this brewery, it was at least nice not to get kicked by hops, but I still didn't think a lot about this beer while drinking it.
Sharp, hoppy opening. I get it now -- they sure like a piney hop profile here. Sweet, typical American Hefe wheat follow through, with a touch of yeasty tang. Pretty good.
After all the hoppy beers this was almost sweet. Smooth and a mellow cereal malt presence. I think it lived up to its namesake, and made for a nice change in context.
It was... red? Smoother than the abominable but similar. Just a hint of chocolate malt. After several sips, I still couldn't think of anything interesting to say about it.
Seemed like a standard IPA. In context the flavors were a little... musty. Less fresh. Definitely in contrast to the IPX, at least.
Very, very similar to their regular IPA offering. There's just a tiny bit more fresh "pop" to the hop flavor. I can't really put it into better words than that, unfortunately.
This is definitely a different beast than the other two stouts. It's got a thick malty sweetness more in the vein of a Czar or World Wide, although it also still has a noticeable roasted bitterness to it. I wish I'd had this out of the context of a flight of 15 beers! I probably would have enjoyed it more.
I've had this before but it was illuminating to have this in the flight. The same sour roasty opening as the Black Dragon is there, although this time the finish is just more roast. Not a thick stout, and on the dry side. I give it more points for a consistent follow through, though I think I liked it better last time.
There's a sharp roasted flavor to open, with a bit of that dry stout sourness, before it transitions to that familiar, creamy oat finish. I liked it overall, but that jarring change from the opening is hard to forget.
The third version of Abominable in the flight. Didn't taste much whiskey in this, but the barrel definitely smoothed this out. I'd actually place this halfway between the regular and nitro versions in terms of smoothness. There's still a good bit of sharpness in there.
The flight included a nitro version of this as well. Definitely a lot smoother, and the finish was much less bitter. A clear malt expression in this one as well, and I was pleased not to notice any weird nitro flavors.
Quite hoppy and fragrant, almost IPA like. A bit of amber sweetness but not strongly malty to my mind. Pithy finish, but clean.
Taken right after the regular HUB Lager, you can tell the resemblance. But this has a spike of tangerine and fragrant hop on top of it -- interesting, and a tiny bit jarring. Some of the pilsner aspects that make the HUB Lager good were masked. Overall, this was not as well-melded as some IPL-type beers, but I liked it.
Still a strong lager. Did have that bit of rooty astringence that I think I noticed last time.
Better than I expected, although somehow the mango flavor doesn't quite completely mesh. The tart, "thick" flavor of the mango does play off the grassy hop bitterness to make for an interesting glass. I was quite happy to only drink part of the bomber, though.
A nice change of pace for a barreled stout. This had a strongly toasty flavor, like toasted sesame or barley tea. The whiskey comes in clearly but not overwhelmingly -- just enough to smooth and give character. Very solid, and more characterful than I remember from Odin's other barrel aged stouts.
Firestone Walker Bretta Weisse (unknown release)
Of course I had high hopes, but this turned out to be exactly what I want in a sour beer. A clear tartness to open, not fruity but yeasty. A buttery funk transition into a sweetish, very wheaty finish. Superbly balanced, I thought.
Bready, chewy doppelbock. Slightly strong on the alcohol finish, and not very estery. I thought this was very drinkable, if not remarkable.
I will never call another beer "piney" again. This beer has out-pined them all. Dry and strongly evergreen-fragrant at first, the perfume soon turns bitter and overwhelming. I really regretted the second half of my schooner. (12 oz schooner)
Just last week I had another dry-hopped sour, the La Tormenta. Where that had a kind of funky tartness, this was a more forward, weiss-like sour, and therefore less unexpected. It also combined with the hop fragrance to leave a clean, fresh sheen over the flavor. The Tormenta was altogether more memorable and, honestly, better, though.
A taste of cereal, no sweetness, assertively bitter pilsner finish. Just a tad musty, which made it less crisp than I wanted, but it was fairly decent. (8 oz schooner)
This has an off-putting smell, like something turned in the fridge, but not in a sour way. Once you get past that the flavor is ok, with clear apple and dubbel spice notes and sweetness. That funky smell, though, which I assume is the Brett asserting itself, never quite recedes into the background.
To tell the truth, I couldn't much taste any fruit in this at all. But my palate's been a little wonky all week. For all I could tell, this tasted like a decent, hoppy amber.
Tasted exactly like advertised - warm, baked apples with a hint of pie spice. Sweet but not cloying, fruity and fizzy, it's very easy to miss the alcohol if you aren't paying attention. Yum!
An extremely dark stout, with a hint of red wine in the flavor and some roasty smoke. There is an extreme amount of dry wood flavor in this beer, which builds up in bitterness over time. Makes it hard to love, but (as usual with The Abyss) probably worth trying again after some aging.
'Twas good, but not remarkable. Hit all the expected Belgian and Christmas ale notes.
Stone Enjoy By IPA (12.26.14)
Still solid, still skirting the risky edge of too-much-dankness for me.
Like the last Beehaven, this is a sparkling Christmas spice Yankee Candle Company candle in a glass. It's sickly sweet and perfumey and absolutely kills the palate, and yet... somehow I can't hate it. This one isn't as "good" as the Lavenderberry, though.
Smooth at first, with a frothy chocolate finish, but there is a kind of overroasted flavor that builds up in both bitterness and tackiness over time.
I think my palate was still recovering from the Tormenta, so my impressions are muted. A woody flavor, not as malty as I'd expect from a Scotch ale, which kind of gives the closing impression of a watered-down Scotch whisky. I'll have to try it again on its own.
Scaldis Noël (unknown release)
Yuck. One-note sweet and highly boozy. I've really enjoyed most strong Belgian Christmas ales I've tried, but definitely not this one.
Sometimes you get a beer that is so weird that you have to love it. This smells of floral hops on top of a kind of dank sourness. The opening is a non-sweet mix of grapefruit and pineapple, hints at being mouth-puckeringly tart, and then relaxes into a malty smoothness tinged with dry hop bitterness. Definitely strange, but settles nicely.
A nicely less-sweet pumpkin ale. I didn't notice much in the way of pie spice, which was very nice (and probably explains the name). The vegetal pumpkin actually translates to a nice lagery bitter finish -- which worked very nicely for me.
Dry, with strong hints of wood but only faint echoes of wine. The base red ale seems quite nice, but the flavor got drier and woodier until all I could taste was a kind of tacky bitterness.
A thinnish stout with a wonderful aroma of big, roast coffee. The flavor is a lot more subdued than the smell, in line maybe with the regular Velvet Merlin, though I found myself wishing for some more body. The roastiness flirts with the edge of being burnt, but falls on the right side of the line, and the quality of the coffee flavor is excellent. A very easy beer to drink.
Smells hugely of peach, so much so that I was almost expecting the flavor of a sour ale and was slightly shocked when it wasn't tart at all. I think that may have ruined me for this beer, because it tasted weak from that point on. There are some nice scotch ale-like malt notes that unfortunately never seem to meld with the peach flavors. Not bad, though.
BJ's Grand Cru (XV)
Sickly sweet, like plum wine spiked with clove. Drank like syrup. Normally I find BJ's beers to be inoffensive and drinkable, but this was just gross. It's hard to believe how much they hype this beer up, too.
Hair of the Dog Ardbeg Adam from the Wood (unknown release)
The first thing is you definitely get a faceful of Ardbeg with this beer. It smells exactly like Ardbeg, peaty and smoky and that flavor kicks in strongly at the start. The flavor transitions to a kind of dank vegetal smoky-raw alcohol taste that did sit well at first. Here again, to me, the beer got a lot better as it warmed, but I love peaty Scotches. I do have to say that this was not a popular share with the crowd, either.
Cantillon Cuvée Saint-Gilloise (unknown release)
Oh man, this was a whole boatload of funk. If it weren't so good, I'd have called it rank. I certainly haven't tried anything else like it before. They say this was dry-hopped with Hallertau. Well, I guess it was just one more part of the funk.
Thick and raw, this may have been aged three years but still has the fire of a young barrel-aged stout. Lots of bourbon, and some dry woodiness as well. (6 oz goblet)
Bourbony barleywine - not complex but smooth and sweet in a good way. I'm not going to dream about this, but it was very nice.
Elysian Gourdfather Barrel-Aged Pumpkin Barleywine (unknown release)
Sweet and pumpkiny. Boozy, I think, but who can tell anymore?
About as textbook example of a bourbon barrel aged imperial stout as you could ask for. This is not idiosyncratic in any way, nor does it have any funky residual barrel flavors. This is... it's Sparta.
Fremont Barrel Aged B-Bomb Cinnamon Infusion (unknown release)
I had to sniff it again because I couldn't taste any cinnamon in this. It's there in the nose, but I'll be darned if I could tell the difference between this and regular BBomb as far as pure flavor goes. But BBomb is wonderful in the first place, so this is automatically wonderful as well. (For the record, everyone else assured me they could taste the cinnamon.)
Elevation Signal De Botrange (unknown release)
I'm writing notes several days late on this one, so there are details I can't remember. I do remember this being a somewhat spice-forward, standard saison, and I definitely remember being quite disappointed that I didn't detect any wine-like yeast or grape funk in the ale, nor did I sense wood.
I kind of had to try this first, given the description. This beer was very strange. The pinot noir comes right out to start, vinous and dark. The transition to yeast and berry is sudden and not very natural -- I got a lot of puzzled faces after sharing this glass. I remember thinking this felt more black saison than stout, flavor-profile wise. As it warmed the flavors did become more integrated, and I liked it better.
A taster. Malty-sweet resinous IPA. If there's spice in here it's hard to tell because it goes straight to pithy bitterness almost immediately and stays that way.
A bit grassy, followed by helles-like sweetness, trending toward bubblegum, but with a dry pilsner-like finish. Quite solid.
Very smooth to open, with some clean chocolate notes. Finishes slightly bitter and with a noticeable chili kick, which builds up over time. Leaves the mouth feeling clean.
Sweet, hoppy-malty amber with a pithy finish and a wallop of booze. Didn't make me feel particularly celebratory. Happy Anniversary, Hale's.
The description still seems apt, but somehow I was much more in the mood to enjoy this today. Funny how these things can be so finely tuned.
Almanac Farmer's Reserve Citrus (unknown release)
Not my favorite of the Farmer's Reserve series to date. My memory has gotten fuzzy, but I think this one was a little too sharply tart in a kind of raw citric acid sense for me to really love.
I wish I had written notes the day I had this, because it was supremely weird -- unique, and somewhat disturbing. I do remember a kind of tongue-curdling vinegary plum funk and a creamy malt finish. I kind of ended the glass with a headache as well, but still, there was something mildly compelling about all this strangeness. Total palate-wrecker, though, for sure.
Oskar Blues Ten FIDY Imperial Stout (unknown release)
Disappointing given its reputation. Thick, but has the astringent sourness of a bad stout. Especially doesn't fare well after the Serpent Stout, although that isn't exactly fair.
It was nice to have this with the two Hoppy Holidays. The bourbon presence is strong and smoothing, but you can definitely taste the base beer beneath.
Basically the same as the 2013 but with a noticeable and initially unpleasant hop bite to start. It did get better over time, but definitely lost.
Round hop fruitiness melts quickly into a mellow cereal-sweet malt. I don't know how much of this was the aging, but it seemed like a very well balanced winter ale.
Sweet, but not cloying, thick and deeply smooth. Always an excellent stout, and aged, even moreso.
Clear hints of holiday spice right in the nose, which carries well into the flavor. Where the coffee darkened the overall effect, this brightens it considerably, leaving the mouth tingling after the deep smoothness of the base beer. Alternating this and the coffee actually accentuated the good qualities each brought. Super-yummy!
You know, I might have liked this better than the regular Dark Star, but it's hard to say. The coffee is quite clear, not bitter, but gives a complex down note at the end of a beer that can tinge a little sweet. It's hard to say if I liked this more than the Spice Wars. They're both absolutely delicious.
Given the last Propolis beer I had, I was expecting the worst. This wasn't bad at all, a spicy saison with a heady layer of wheat funk, and a touch of tartness in the background. Nothing I'd seek out again, but I wasn't sorry to try it.
Mouth-puckeringly tart but also very clean with a nice flavor. Leaves the mouth tingling. I'm no expert in sours, but this seems more like an oud bruin than any kind of fruit sour or lambic.
Dry and hoppy, slightly sweet, with a hit of pith at the finish. This was for all intents and purposes a fairly tasty session IPA, but I was promised a rice lager, and this did not fill the bill at all for me. So that has to count against this.
Flattish with no discernible orange. Nutty with a hint of caramel but didn't really taste the bourbon. Not bad, otherwise.
Previous impressions mostly hold - sweet, pungent, fairly smooth. No nitro weirdness out of the bottle, so this is automatically better than before.
Kind of a blend of sour ale and wit, but each part seems only half-there and not well-integrated.
This was weird. Intensely sweet, floral, downright perfumey. Hints of peach. The taste lingers forever on the palate. And yet, I just kept wanting more of it. Apparently BeeHaven carbonates all of their mead, and it kind of works. Somehow!
Strong and bourbon-sweet. In fact, this basically tasted like bourbon, on the cherry side, and maybe not so much beer. But I like bourbon.
This may be the first Bastard family beer that I actually enjoyed. Noticeable sweet, bourbon character blends with the almost-frothy hoppiness of Arrogant Bastard in a way that actually manages to smooth the edges of both. Still intense, but drinkable and maybe even enjoyable.
A bit of dry red in a vinous start, even though there was no mention of barreling of any kind in the literature. Still, that's what I tasted. Smooth transition to a roasted, coffee-stout finish. Due to the wine impression, I'd thought this was the Fino Countdown, but Joev assured me this was not (he'd also gotten the Fino).
Not at all what I was expecting. I didn't taste wine qualities as such, just a weird, dank sourness and a kind of burnt yeasty taste on top of it. I honestly thought the Hercule was this one, because it tasted like my expectations. Instead, that one was pretty good, and this -- this was Not Tasty.
Sweet & creamy, a lot like Pumking (as one might expect), but with a nice touch of roastiness to finish. It's not as purely enjoyable as that other beer, but it does make for a nice, and more complex, alternative.
Today there are tacos and also this is the perfect beer for these tacos
Good flavor with some caramel malt sweetness and a touch of nutty funk. Smoothed out, but super-drinkable.
Wet hay seems to be a theme today. I don't know if the Alaskan killed my palate, or if this is just how these beers are. Wet hay sweet blonde.
Musty and hay like. Reminiscent of both pants and kilts, and not in a good way.
Weird, acrid smell in an attractive-looking bottle. Bubblegummy IPA.
Strange, tangy almost-fruit sweetness that didn't message light or lager to me.
Warm and mellow, with an anise cookie flavor and a piney-but-not-hoppy character. Yum!
Fragrant, fruity hops combine with pilsner bitterness to make something prickly. Reminded me of Prima Pils, which is not what I think of our want in a Czech pilsner.
Good balance between caramel malt sweetness and fruity hops. Still seemed stronger than advertised.
Started off nice, but got less good with every sip. A little more caramel than I remember last year, but still plenty of weird perfume.
Surprisingly not bad. Of the Vienna-style caramel-hop IPL variety.
Light pumpkin ale in the vein of a Night Owl, but with a good, vegetal pumpkin presence and well-balanced spice. Some hop presence to balance everything out. I think Bale Breaker knows what it's doing here!
At first I thought I'd burned my palate out on the Emelisse (and I probably did), but no, I think this beer is probably genuinely gross. You can tell that the butterfinger is there, but the flavor is musty, lumpy and out of sorts in all kinds of ways. No harmony at all.
Emelisse White Label Black & Tan: Ardbeg (unknown release)
Holy wow did this smell good - basically exactly like a glass of Ardbeg. The flavor is much weirder, somewhere between awesome and disgusting, with strong hops combining with the smoke to create a cucumber-like flavor and sharply bitter edge. Over time, as your taste buds burn out, it starts to taste perversely appealing, but never quite overcomes the strangeness.
Almanac Heirloom Pumpkin (2014)
Dry beer with clear notes of pumpkin and pie spice with an understated but definitely present drinking-vinegar tart edge. This is actually the kind of flavor I hope for whenever I try a pumpkin cider, but am usually disappointed by too much sweetness. Very well-balanced, with the only minus being a slightly unpleasant brett-funk aftertaste.
Spice forward Belgian pale with a surprisingly overt hop character. Body was almost nonexistent and there was a weird musty odor to it as well.
Creamy, smooth opening reminiscent of malt balls. Decently roasty finish - bitter, but not burnt. V. enjoyable!
Dry pale with tropical overtones and a fairly pithy, bitter finish. Good cereal smoothes it out. Aromatic and slightly hazy.
Tart and vegetal with a musty cereal undertone. Smells sweet but tastes dank. I liked it but it was definitely weird.
I don't know if it actually is different, but this was so much better than I remembered. Clean, with a bit of umami tartness. Right amount of bourbon sweetness.
This is so different every time I try it. In the context of this site tasting, out was actually nice.
Free supermarket tasting. Nice, bitter sharpness at the front, dry follow-through. Fragrant but not fruity, with absolutely no finishing bitterness.
Avery Pump[KY]n (#1)
Made me forget that the 10 Barrel was boozy at all. This is basically sweet, sweet bourbon syrup with a touch of roast and pie spice. Manages to be balanced within its own context, but this needs to be drunk a shot glass's worth at a time. I did find it easier to take than the Rumpkin, though.
On the sweet side, with rum forefront. Not nearly as over the top as the Avery Rumpkin, which is a good thing. Good pumpkin malt character with its own sweetness, more in the Pumking vein, with a nice pie spice presence. Still, a little boozy.
I'm not going to lie, the color of this beer was really unappetizing - somewhere between pepto-bismol and melted watermelon Jolly Rancher. Flavorwise it wasn't bad, but if you asked me I'd probably pin it as a berry grapefruit soda. I need more wheat in a Berliner Weisse to remind me it's a beer.
Wow, basically exactly like its name! A sweet, fragrant peach opening without being syrupy or tart, leading right into a creamy cereal body to remind you there's a beer at the center of this. Light and super-drinkable.
This was so weird. Not bad, just ... I couldn't really come to terms with it. The chocolate was definitely present.
Terminal Gravity Festivale (unknown release)
Round and fragrant amber, ESB-like. Not especially festive, but still tasty.
Two Beers Fall Line Russian Imperial Stout (Winter 2014)
My previous description fits. Really, really good.
I didn't think "saison" so much; more like a cross between a German dark wheat and a porter. The opening is mellow and estery, in a way that could have been banana as much as pumpkin. A bit of yeasty funk bitterness brings out the sweetness, and then a transition to a roasty porter finish. I think I liked this better than the Harbinger.
Thinnish porter with a bit of tanginess and a coffee-like bitter finish.
Enjoyable, but at least young out of the bottle not so complex or unified. Huge bourbon opening with an abrupt shift to solid stout -- all nice, but nothing to go out of your way for.
Caramel lager, a bit of toastiness, with much less bitterness on the end than I'm used to for this style. Lots of flavor, but smoothed out in the style of a Sam Adams.
Stone Coffee Milk Stout (2014)
Not as sweet as other milk stouts, but with a really nice lactose-like creamy texture that coats the tongue nicely. The coffee is not especially prominent, but overall ... I could drink a lot of this.
The smell and opening flavor are all chocolate -- creamy, cocoa-like roundness that, while not actually being sweet, brings the decadence of Belgian chocolate strongly to mind. It doesn't quite mesh well with the finish, which is more dry and bitter than expected.
Starts with a bit of tangy, bready yeast before settling into a toasted malt body that reminded me a lot of the Hochtoberfest in a paler outfit. The finish is sharply bitter, which was a minus (I already had a headache going in), but overall, quite good.
Bellevue Fresh Hop Ale (2014)
On the dry side. Lately I've really enjoyed Fresh Hop beers with that oily, fragrant fruit sheen, and this didn't have any of that. It was good, but really like any number of beers made without wet hops.
This beer had a singularly unattractive look, like thin, muddy water. It was so unpleasant that I think it affected how I enjoyed the flavor. A shame, because it was otherwise good - reminiscent of toasted pretzels. Nice, yeasty fizz.
Oh wow. This beer had to have been a quarter rum -- the opening was all spirit, sweet and heady. The pumpkin ale character was actually quite well defined and integrated, which makes me think the basic idea is a winner. I just wish this was maybe a little less over-the-top.
Tastes like a standard American lager, maybe a bit fuller in flavor but without any European pilsner bite at the end. Quite drinkable, if a bit boring.
Clean, thin-textured and somewhat dry, with a chocolate-tinged bright coffee aroma that avoids being thick or sweet, which is a common pitfall in this category. Lots of cinnamon on the nose, less so in flavor, and no detectable chili at all, to my taste.
Beer at the ballet! A bit of yeast tanginess and a moderately hoppy finish. I had no choice but to drink it from the bottle so I didn't get the full experience.
Dry, hoppy pale ale. Oatmeal creaminess is definitely present but so is a strongly bitter finish. Too bitter for me to truly enjoy.
The bourbon is very much in the background here, and the other flavors meld oddly until you identify the overall effect as "nutty." Once you do that, it's less puzzling and more enjoyable. Nutty and mellow, coupled with the malty sweetness of the base ale.
I normally like this one but especially after the Whistling pig, this one seemed overhopped today.
Spicy-hoppy and mildly toasted. Okay, and not unflavorful, but also not really memorable.
Quite good - creamy and sweetly cereal from the wheat but with a nice pilsnery bitter finish. Much less yeast-centered than most wheat ales. One thing's for sure, this is not in any way an authentic Bavarian Hefeweizen, no matter what their website says.
Still quite good, but the peppery Belgian yeast character was more at the forefront in a full glass. I found it a bit disruptive.
Sweet and bready like you'd expect from an amber bock, but with a lot more fruity overtones and bitterness from the hops. The flavor is surprisingly evocative of pineapple and passionfruit, which is impressive, but I wonder if using actual fruit instead of relying on hop-yeast magic would have helped make for a more adjustable flavor balance. As it is, it seems like they sacrificed something to get the effect they wanted.
A bit of skunk on the nose and a clear, rounded berry essence right at the front. It really is more of an essence than anything like juice, and sweet it's not. Fills out well, cereal-wise and finishes with a good bitter tang at the end; that is, a perfectly good if not very crisp Kolsch, and the berry complements it well.
Got an early taste of this! A dry saison but with a veneer of fruit oils characteristic of wet hop beers. This one tastes a lot like fresh pineapple, but not juice-like like the recent wet hop cask ale here. Very clean finish.
Super saturated with fruity essential oils - grapefruit and hints of tropical fruit. For the first time in a while, I didn't mind the cask flatness at all, but the overall effect was a bit syrupy.
Decent pils character, but, well -- I wouldn't call it watery, but the flavor is thin. Wouldn't be my first choice.
I liked this - pilsner bitterness on top of a malty amber lager. I wish I had taken more notes at the time.
Tasted like cider. I don't know why, but by this point of the evening I didn't even taste pie spice - which I was assured by others was quite prominent.
A hoppy amber ale with toasty malt, moderate hop presence, and surprising hints of chocolate. The finish is noticeably bitter, and it lingers that way in the throat for a while.
Raisin oat bran muffin in a beer. Lots of molasses and dried fruit flavors in a meaty beer with a prickly, creamy head. Very nice.
It smells like all of its 16% ABV and looks like dark toffee, but the flavor is supple and unbelievably smooth for something so strong. Lots of molasses and rounded plum flavor that manages to be very fruity, even tangy, without disturbing the overall smoothness. Clean finish. Stickee Monkee, with more complexity.
The Lost Abbey Cuvee de Tomme (unknown release)
Tart, but not nearly as tart as Spontaneous Cheer, and definitely more towards cherry, this beer has a strong, boozy undercurrent that is overt in the fragrance but masked by the sourness in flavor. However, you always sense it's there, and it feels out of balance. Flavor profile tends toward oak wood and sugary quad. I do think it suffers in direct comparison to the Cheer.
The Lost Abbey Spontaneous Cheer (unknown release)
Tart with qualities of fresh stone fruit and buttery wild notes. The really impressive thing about this beer is the hugely sour long tail that persists in the mouth long after the liquid is gone. It's a challenge, but also really good - my favorite of the night.
Destihl Antiquity Rye Wine (unknown release)
Mellowed-out hop character, reminiscent - maybe - of Southern Tier's Back Burner, with some rye bite at the end. It was pretty good, but that hop juice on the tip of the tongue never quite settled into something I loved.
Balanced pie spice and a creamy/mellow mouthfeel that is believably pumpkin. It's really quite nice, except for a moderate but wall-like bitterness that appears at the finish. Maybe I was just sensitive to it today, but that's how it goes.
A light-bodied dry saison, with an unmistakable wildness that shows up in just-enough amounts of tart and funky. Slightly watery middle which fades into a clean, buttery, toasty-wood finish. Pretzel-like, I think, would work as a description.
Somehow comes across as very sweet without being bothersome -- a clean, malt sweetness that recalls the Pumking, without quite reaching that beer's heights. At the same time, it's a chunk of change cheaper, and still very tasty -- definitely the kind of pumpkin beer I like to drink.
A new brewery! It's located halfway between Triplehorn and Dirty Bucket, and I got a taste. This stout is odd in appearance, a dark caramel which still lets quite a bit of light through. Taste-wise, it's firmly a stout, albeit a light one, with plenty of roasted malt and light coffee notes. Will definitely revisit.
Rich and sweet without getting too thick. Perfect amount of roast but somewhat bitter on the finish. Obviously the barrel aged version of this is better, but this was still quite good.
Perfect amount of toasty malt flavor building on the solid Hochzeit base. Better than I remember from last year.
Solid standard sweet stout with a clear... English character to it? Thin, with a touch of finishing tartness?
Light and caramel and I didn't even mind the lime. Helps that everything else at Azteca was so much worse.
I have it on good authority that this tastes exactly like an MGD. Slightly watery-sweet attack, but the finish is clean.
Didn't get any of the smoke that I tasted so strongly on draft, and instead got just a total cinnamon bomb.
First impression is of a pumpkin spice latte in a beer, strong, nutmeggy, & sweet. Not bad, but after a while the coffee begins to take on a murky, thin quality of dishwater, which was not a welcome turn of events.
Sweet, like Bourbon County Coffee but with less creaminess in the mouthfeel. Plenty of roasted coffee, and a strong hint of toasted ... hazelnut ... on the finish? Really delicious.
More Scottish than an American-style Scotch Ale. Thinnish with a bit of wet-hay grassiness and quite sweet. It was ... okay.
Bell's Hopslam Ale (2013)
Bottled in December 2013, so I don't know if that makes this 2013 or 2014. Directly after the Two Hearted, this stuck out in ways that weren't to my taste. A little more resin, and noticeably boozy on top.
Much better than I remember it, and right after the Oberon the familial connection is quite clear. Grapefruit-leaning IPA with a good malt. I didn't detect it as being any more bitter than the Oberon, though the hops were otherwise more pronounced.
Starts with light cereal, like a blonde, before transitioning quickly to a subtly-starting but ultimately bracing tart, bretty funk. Finishes clean, and really a very tasty beer. But you probably need to like sours.
Light, good wheaty cereal flavor, scented faintly of grapefruit with a overtone of peppery yeast. More complex and a bit more bitter than I'd expect from a summer blonde, but still easy to imagine drinking often.
House ale at the restaurant. Scent of faintly-floral honey, and there's definitely that sweet, rich mellowness on the top of the tongue, rolling into biscuity malt. But there's surprising hop presence here, too, with florality mixing nicely with the honey and ending in a mild-but-there bitterness. Had some of their actual honey side-by-side, which was a nice touch: the honey was better, but it'd be hard to beat with any beer!
Smells strongly of blueberry, but the flavor is more like a shell of an idea. No hint of juice, just skins and seeds, tannic and astringent on the finish. There is dry sweetness from the malt, but it just creates more dissonance with the desire to taste fruit juice. An unpleasant residual sense of blueberry does linger on afterwards, and for quite a while.
The wit component is heavy on cardamom and peppercorn, with no small amount of wheat funk. The combination with the fragrant, floral hops is not entirely harmonious.
The chai spices give this beer a kind of ginger-sandalwood-spice soap quality in the fragrance and in the flavor as well. There's a creamy malt presence and a bit of musty funk as well, but somehow this leads to a subdued overall experience. Flattish carbonation, with a bit of finishing prickle on the top of the tongue.
Tart and drying with a nice flavor. Not identifiably fruity.
Sweet and creamy, like a vanilla mocha with five pumps of syrup, but somehow avoids being cloying (although it certainly skirts the edge). Bourbon is just a hint at the beginning; the overall barrel character is subdued.
Against the Grain Kentucky Ryed Chiquen (unknown release)
The first impression is definitely of rye whiskey, but it's followed soon after by unexpected wheat funk and a light, bubblegummy yeast character. I don't know if it was my imagination given the chicken imagery, but I thought maybe a hint of corn as well? It was interesting, but more on the novelty side than something truly good.
Oud Beersel Oude Kriek Vieille (unknown release)
Snappy, very dry, with a great taste of cherry coming through the wild yeast funk. Finishes super-clean. I don't know how it would fare on its own, but with some good cheese, it was nice.
All the standard flavors of a Dupont-style saison, but with a darker caramel presence and a very round, fruity yeast flavor that doesn't run in the standard banana or bubblegum direction. Very smooth and tasty!
Maybe it sat for too long, but this was nearly totally flat, and that flatness made the bourbon sweetness come out a bit overdone. A shame, because the flavors were clearly good -- toffee and bourbon and wood.
This beer takes the fragrance of both hops and jalapeno without the accompanying bitterness or spice and melds them quite well. A fair bit of caramel, too. The flavor at first is jarringly odd, but settles very quickly into a mellow, flavorful brew.
Oakshire Smokin' Hell (unknown release)
The smoke is a strong, mesquite like flavor that comes on oddly just as the yeast is starting to express itself. It got better after I had food, but...
Unlike other coconut beers, this didn't taste like toasted coconut, but rather coconut milk, dank and dimly nutty. It doesn't fit well with the otherwise bright flavors of the beer, which are nice. Too bad.
Not normally the style of pale ale I enjoy, this was very much a fragrant hop flower and fruit fest lite. However, as Boneyard always seems to find a way to make happen, this was perfectly flavored and super-drinkable.
This was really good, you guys! The description didn't say anything about brett or wine barrels, but the flavor is very much along those lines -- maybe that's the blackcurrant at work in the saison. Flavorful and sophisticated, and reminiscent of Black Raven's Pour les Oiseaux, a fave.
Syrupy-thick, with an umami pungency and sweetness standing in for coffee.
Stone Arbalest Bourbon Barrel Aged Belgian Ale (unknown release)
The barrel character here is more wine-like than bourbon, but maybe that's an artifact of mixing with the Belgian flavors in the base beer. Reminded me of Black Raven's La Petite Mort, but a bit more muted. Still, it was very good. I had to knock it down a peg after having Lompoc's Forbidden Fruit, though.
Cascade Cranberry (2011)
Tart and fruity with a nice fizz, with alcohol very much on the back burner, this may just have been the best fruit soda I've ever had.
Cream-sweet on first taste, with only a light coconut character. Overall the beer has the body and hints of unwelcome sourness of a thin porter. There are much better options in this category.
A bit of funk on the nose and good malt, but a touch watery. Lots of yeast presence, mostly tending towards bubblegum.
Black Raven Wheat Wine (2012)
It's still intriguing, no doubt, but I think I may just be about done with this beer.
At first, this drinks like a classic saison, but the herbs, while understated, do start poking out in uncomfortable ways. In particular there's a savory turn with the thyme right before the end, and a soapy bitterness afterwards which I assume comes from the parsley. I assume the rosemary faded into the hops and I couldn't detect sage at all. I thought I was going to like it, but in the end I couldn't finish.
Southern Tier Pumking (2013)
Always a treat to get this on draft, and last year's vintage, to boot! Cream and sweet corn and pumpkin and all that turkey day jazz, pilgrim.
The keg blew on this one. A little bit of unpleasant nitro-esque sourness right off the bat. Otherwise, this beer is characterized by sweet, thick malt and just a bit of roast. Smooth, but a lot to take. I'm kind of glad it was just a taste.
Was it a bad bottle? I don't know. But there was a metallic edge to the flavor and a drying bitterness that was not at all to my taste. Otherwise, the flavor ran towards yeasty banana and tamarind. I know what I prefer in quads these days, and this wasn't it.
Still remarkable. Something I didn't note before, which is a nice roasted malt flavor on top, not detracting from the smoothness in any way.
All hops and toasted malt, with a lot of strength but not a lot of real body in between.
Smells of brown sugar, with a sweet toffee character and some moderate hop presence. Mellow, but a little flat coming from the growler.
I don't know if it's different from the bottle, but today it seemed like the pinot noir was overwhelming in presence. Like a blend of wine with plum-tinged Belgian ale and an overt candi sweetness. Nothing subtle about it, and I felt off-kilter for a while afterwards.
Smells quite tart with a hint of smoke, but the actual sourness in the taste is much subdued. A little bit of grassy twang and malt lead to a clean finish. A kind of reedy smoke is subtly present throughout.
Tasty Irish red, with good caramel malt flavor with a bit of toastiness. Not super distinctive, but very easy to drink. The company made it even better. :)
Black Raven La Petite Mort (2014)
Fresh off the wheatwine, but this seemed better balanced than my memory of the 2013 when it was new. Subtle fruit, malt, Belgian spice come together in a strong beer.
Black Raven Wheat Wine (2012)
A year seems to have helped this, unsurprisingly. Unlike last time, the alcohol is no longer overpowering, and the cognac is actually noticeable, if not dominant. Slight bitterness on the finish - really, really tasty!
Belgian, sweet and dark, but mixed with a rooty, dank grassiness reminiscent of Scottish beers. Carbonation is prickly compared to the flavor, which is more subtle. Good, but not great.
Smells inky and tart, but if anything, it translates into a subtle fruit overtone rather than any detectable sourness on top of a smooth, malty stout mellowed considerably by barrel aging. The fruitiness, cherry-like but mostly unidentifiable, surfaces on the breath between sips. Delicious.
Not as good as Reuben's Balsch, but tasty. Sweeter and yeastier, but still summery and easy-drinking.
Touch of funk with some yeast tanginess and bubblegum. Light and summery, but doesn't nearly approach the heights of the kölsch.
Creamy with good dry coffee stout flavor and a light texture. No nitro weirdness but the almost total lack of carbonation was a minus.
A cream ale with coffee. Understandably the beer is a little overbalanced, but it's not totally misguided. The coffee is good and berry-like, but the overall combination didn't win me over.
Toasty for an altbier, almost like toasted sesame on first taste. Good, dry caramel tang. Finishes bitter, but fairly nice.
Beautiful tang, bit of funk, delicious cereal malt body. I don't know from authentic, but this is about as perfect a summer beer as I could ask for.
Issaquah Frosty Frog (unknown release)
Did not like. Flattish texture with that hop / too-sweet caramel combination I don't enjoy mixed with insipid fruit notes from the raisins. Left my tongue feeling tacky and numb.
Light, hoppy blonde. The aftertaste to me tasted like celery seed, and I just couldn't get past that.
An odd experience in that it tastes considerably better if you chug it. Otherwise it tastes like hop juice with no real body.
Coriander-heavy wit with good wheat flavor and subtle citrus tang. Nothing exciting, but pretty good.
Clean, lager-like cereal flavor, with some fruity hop juice character as counterpoint. Dry, bitter finish. Quite tasty, I thought!
Thick, puree like appearance, but it feels a lot lighter in practice. Flavor is more grapefruit than strawberry, with a strong pithy bitter finish.
Sharp distinction between the dried fruit and caramel opening and the distinctive, vegetal liquor twang of tequila at the end. Nowhere near as weird or smoky as the same brewery's Agave Maria, which is good. This tasted refined, if not wholly organic.
Changes so much over the course of a glass. Complex, spicy and still delicious.
Smells a touch fruit-musty in a non-identifiable way, and far more sour than it actually tastes, which is to say: not at all. Fruity and sweet, with some Brett funk, and no bitterness, and totally believable as persimmon. That was good. The knock is that it's a bit too sweet.
Light and airy on nitro. Rating doesn't go up, but I'm glad to have tried it.
Port Older Viscosity Ale (2014)
Molasses and bourbon recall Berserker, although the body is drier and thinner. Good flavor, with some wood astringency to close, although the finish is very clean, considering. Bitterness builds. Not in the tippy-top of its class, but still a rare treat.
Smells promising, banana and spice and yeast. The flavor is empty, with no malt body detectable, and a sudden wall of simple bitterness. Alcohol is fairly unsubtle as well. So far ,this Beer Camp Across America box has been a bust.
Basically in India Pale Lager, with some additional rye spice and a touch of wheat sweetness in effect. Way too hoppy for me, though. Piney and super-bitter on the finish.
Dark, liquid molasses-cake. The slightest notes of spice and banana or raisin, but the bready character of the yeast is king here. Frothy head with thickish mouthfeel, prickly carbonation and a bit of metallic aftertaste. Filling and tasty.
Dry with good fruit flavor, but the lavender never quite sits well with the rest of the experience. Is it fruity? Is it flowery? Only her doctor knows for sure.
Smells like a good ginger beer. Flavor is a mix of that with beer character coming in through a kind of vegetal & slightly skunky hop aroma with some herbal dryness. Not bad at all, although it certainly is something fit for a specific mood. Cask conditioning suits it well.
Funky and rooty, with lime being just an idea rather than an explicit flavoring. Not crisp at all.
Slight, toasty malt character with a bit of sweetness followed by rounded hops and moderate bitterness on the finish. Drinkable and slight, if not a style I particularly enjoy.
Unusually sour in the foretaste along with burnt notes. Ashtray water comes to mind. Slight coconut and a burnt bitterness follow and build up over time. It takes a lot to make coconut gross for me, but this one nailed it.
Bubblegum and clove, with a bit of a rich, egg custard slash corn chip flavor.
Amber lager with caramel with a bit of toasty flavor in the malt. Finishes with a stronger than usual hop bitterness, but it's clean and works in context. Really solid.
Thinnish porter with some chocolate and fruit in the offing but with a strong burnt flavor that sits like a vengeful beast, on top of everything. I guess it's appropriate for the name, bit I didn't really enjoy it.
Hint of floral perfume starts early and keeps on going, masking a lot of what appears to be a solid underlying pilsner. Good cereal is all that pokes out before finishing bitter.
Does not in any way taste like a Scotch Ale or yams. More like a sweet IPA with some resin that's been watered down and then allowed to go stale.
Not bad, but it was a little strong on the coffee and the sweetness was turned up to compensate. Covers the same territory as Split Shot, and much less effectively.
Bubblegum and sweet amber malt with resinous hop presence but very thin. A watery Lagunitas Brown Shugga is what came to mind, which should tell you a lot about how I liked it. Alcohol is a bit too exposed.
Dry, spicy pale Belgian with a thinnish body and a slightly bitter, prickly finish. Banana, clove, pepper, some bubblegum. Weaker carbonation than I'm used to from this brewery. Bright, drinkable, but not really in the class of its siblings.
I wanted to dislike this, because, let's face it - classy marketing campaign, guys. But it was actually a solid, light lager with slightly sweet malt and a dry, clean pilsner-bitter finish. Lots of people complain about skunking, but my bottle seems to have escaped that fate.
The rose perfume was a noticeable and constant presence in this beer, which opens floral & slightly bitter and takes a left turn into biscuity cereal before airily dissipating into nothingness. I liked this a lot more than I expected!
Moderate skunk on the nose, which thankfully doesn't transfer to the flavor. Tons of spice, especially white pepper, on a dry-opening saison, transferring to a lightly sweet, wheaty body. Moderate yeast bitterness on the finish.
Very well-balanced toffee and bourbon notes on top of a base which is subdued in flavor but still clearly identifiable as a CDA. I appreciated the clear hop notes which didn't go overboard on resin or florality. Yum!
Somewhat dank, vegetal fragrance on top of the usual dunkelweizen aromas. Lots of banana and clove, and enough coriander to lend a savory feeling to the affair. The finish is thin and dry, undoubtedly clean but not what I was looking for today - so a "decent" for now. At some point I really want to do a vertical with Ayinger, Weihenstephaner and maybe Maisel or Franziskaner. I think I'm ready.
Charlevoix Dominus Vobiscum Double (11/23/2013)
Sweet and heavy on coriander, with notes of streusel and brown sugar. The aftertaste sits sweet and long, and is unusually reminiscent of blueberry cobbler, although the base beer was not especially fruity.
Rounded dubbel with a really appealing vinous character imparted by the Chardonnay barreling. Not funky, just clean and fruity.
Chocolatey and sweet with a finish that turns more toward coffee bitterness. Hop presence was not as overt as the Choklat and I think that this suffered for it - a smoother finish made the sweetness a bit over the top.
Still needs some time to age, but especially in comparison it fares very well.
Firestone Walker Double DBA (2013)
Lots of caramel. Blunter than the other beers in this lineup, but still delicious.
Just a few degrees below room temperature seems ideal for serving this beer. Chocolatey and smooth, with a really nice, complex but smooth malt-ball texture. Delicious.
Hint of bubblegum sweetness on the nose, but the flavor is more balanced. Not as dry as Weihenstephaner, but a light helles sweetness, crisp bitterness, and good cereal. Lightish, but just flavorful enough, and an easy quaff.
Somewhat vegetal cereal fragrance. Flavor has some rooty tartness and a savory, toasted-spice flavor profile that settles into a cereal-but-not-sweet malt body. Bitterness on the back end builds up over time. Hard to figure out, but not bad, either. Doesn't scream crisp refreshment, though.
Smells richly of chocolate. Flavor is not exactly bitter chocolate - more like a 55% dark bar with added hop bitterness at the end. The flavor is intense, but integrated - though just a bit more and it would have been over the top.
A perfectly drinkable black lager, and that's about all you can say about it.
It's hard to describe how much of a failure this beer was. Honey-sweet with floral perfume & a possible touch of oats, it was like sucking on a hippie bath bar from LUSH. Added to no other body, no bourbon to speak of, made this a sickening experience.
A CDA firmly on the well-roasted side. Nice, malted-milk head. Round hop flavor rides into roasted malt-hop bitterness, which makes it go well with cooked food. The bitterness does build up, though.
I really liked this on first taste - clearly a helles, though not nearly as sweet as is typical for the style. Great cracker-like flavor and a mineral, dry finish followed by a wall of hop bitterness. That bitterness and minerality built up strongly through the glass, though, and detracted just a bit. I'll definitely have to give this one another chance.
Coffee on the nose and in the flavor, along with a kind of undefined malt sweetness to smooth it out - nice basic flavor. However, on CO2, the finishing hoppy bitterness is a bit much to take. I wonder if nitro would have made it easier to swallow. Thinnish, cola-like mouthfeel.
A little on the sweet side, but the flavor is nicely floral and the fruit has a nice complexity that is not immediately apple-y. But it is on the sweet side.
Strong attack for a cream ale. Opening spicy bitterness gives way to a light but present corn-chip malt flavor. Clean finish. Not a whole lot of individual character but very drinkable, and additionally nice that it's not on nitro.
Unexpectedly clean-drinking and pure of flavor, but let's be serious - this is a sweet barley soda more than it is a beer.
Smells powerfully boozy, like rubbing alcohol with a perfume of hops on top. The flavor is more balanced, while still quite strong - hop juice and a sweetish, almost saturated malt body that don't exactly make it pleasant, but masks the alcohol fairly well. It's still a workout and a little goes a long, long way.
An interesting flavor, like burnt toffee candy, sabotaged for me by really aggressive hopping. Prickly, pithy bitterness is dominant on the finish. Probably would float someone's boat, but not mine.
I haven't really liked the IPL style so far, truthfully. I don't know if it was my food, but this was a pleasant surprise. It's not apologetic about its India Pale roots - there is a spicy hop sharpness to the attack and it's dry and fragrant throughout, but there is also a caramel, sweet (but not too much!) body to match it. Bitterness on the finish, but the aftertaste is very nice.
This didn't exactly meld together. Ringing tartness from the blood orange without any other real fruit body lingers separately - and in parallel - with the oncoming wheat funk and sweetish wit finish. I just ended up feeling confused for a while.
I don't know if the recipe's changed or my palate has, but this wasn't quite as transcendent as I remembered. It's still awesome, for sure. A bit thinner, maybe more drying on the tongue, more tannic, maybe?
A taster at the brewery. Dry IPA with a strongly boozy flavor and a strong, pithy bitter finish. Not sure the rye had a chance against all that.
A taster at the brewery. Tastes like hop juice without the bitter finish. Drinkable, but not really my cup of tea - I want my blondes with more grain expression.
Fizzy, cloudy, somewhat ugly beer with absolutely no head retention (see picture). This claims to be a Czech lager, but the abundant yeasty tang & fruit esters make this taste more like a Kölsch. Similar unappealing aftertaste to the Prickly Pear; otherwise, this isn't bad once you get past the fact that it's not very lager-like.
Grassy lager, but also candy-sweet on the malt. A bit too much sweetness to really enjoy, honestly, although the rest of the beer wasn't bad.
Smells like a whiskey shot with a chocolate cream egg whipped into it. Strong but smooth, with a somewhat creamy, pungent finishing sweetness reminiscent of milk chocolate & a lot of late hop bitterness. The tacky, sour aftertaste is an unpleasant minus.
Smoky-dry but recognizably a Belgian dark. Still confusing, but this bottle was definitely better than the last.
Pours a beautiful ginger ale-like golden amber. Wonderful scent, reminiscent of "Guaraná Antarctica" soda, with its dry, ambiguous berry flavor. That fruit is prominent in the foretaste, followed by a slight tart dryness, and then (reminding you it's a beer) a touch of pilsner-like bitterness. This would have made for a refreshing, light summer beer, except that the aftertaste is really off-putting: rooty, mineral, astringent. Quite unpleasant, and a shame.
Medium-thin brown porter with a dry touch of toffee and roasted barley flavor. A hint of that grassy-sour funk typical of some British dark beers. Easy drinking, nutty, and flavorful.
Charlevoix La Vache Folle Imperial Milk Stout (2014/05/28)
Medium-thin stout with a notably toasty flavor. Nice creamy overtone and some lactic tartness that avoids tasting like bad coffee. Slightly tacky mouthfeel in the aftertaste, probably from the milk.
More cask vanilla flavor came through this time, which helped the flavor.
Science has finally figured out how to swirl water in an ashtray and make beer. This picture is terrible, but I really needed to show you what it looked like, you guys. Thick smoke on the nose, tastes like sour ashes & bitterness.
Not a whole lot of malt body in this one, other than the expected mild wheat finish. Otherwise, it feels more like a session Belgian IPA, with grapefruit and pith notes in addition to Belgian yeast. Refreshing, but felt a little empty.
A year younger, and immediately, the alcohol presence is much more prominent, almost like an antiseptic wipe. A lot of the same flavor notes, although here there is a strong, CDA-like floral hop presence that wasn't in the other glass. Not my cup of stout, but if a year's aging turns this into the 2012, it might well be worth buying bottles and aging.
An interesting vertical comparison. This one was super-smooth from an extra year's aging, with subdued sweet malt and coffee. Not syrupy-thick, but not exactly thin, either. I didn't get much bitterness, but a notable strong alcohol flavor throughout prevented this from being great.
Firestone Walker Lil' Opal Farmhouse Ale (unknown release)
Significantly more tart than the regular Opal - no doubt, this is a sour. There's no particular fruit that comes to mind, but it's certainly not vinegary. The tartness combines with a nice, buttery brett funk at the end. I wouldn't call it pie-like, like some of Amnesia's sours. It's nicely complex, balanced, summery & clean.
The Lost Abbey Angel's Share Ale Aged in Bourbon Barrels (unknown release)
In celebration of 1,000 unique beers, a special one. The vintage was rubbed off of the bottle, unfortunately, but this bottle was a gift from last year. Thanks, Alex!
The immediate comparison is with Stickee Monkee - lots of toffee and plum and wood. This was a bit more tannic and the finish quite dry, which I think puts this lower in sheer enjoyment, but it was complex, very tasty, and worth sipping slowly.
Dry, hop-fragrance forward pale / session IPA-type. Not much balancing malt to speak of.
This is basically a tart grapefruit soda, and is not bad as such. Wheat beer is nearly undetectable, except as a creamy, appealing finish. But! Soda.
Probably couldn't get further from the Agave Maria than this. Clear bourbon in the nose, as well as a candy-sweet coolness reminiscent of an Andes coconut dinner mint. Clear raisin on the back end, though I didn't detect any chili. Could have been cloying, but instead is just very sweet. Again, a beer to enjoy in small doses.
Frankly, this smelled bizarre - vegetal and smoky like an autumn leaf fire after a rainy day. That carries over to the taste, but there is also an unexpected overt sourness to the beer that brings balance in addition to emphasizing its overall weirdness. Intruiging (in a good way), but a sipping beer for small doses, I think.
Musty with tangy-sweet yeast character. Slight touch of smoke or wood, maybe and a more-bitter-than-expected finish. All that makes this sound more interesting than it was. None of it really came together in an interesting way.
Smooth, dry flavor on top of a thin-mouthfeel stout, with a clean coffee note. Some obvious alcohol strength, although it wasn't quite knocked out of balance. I enjoyed this, but at 14% it gets you quick.
Unpleasant smell, like gin and dank basement & an acrid, tar-bitter finish that lingers sandwich a surprisingly inoffensive hop-and-citrus plus sweet malt IPA. But those bookends - eaugh.
Thick, condensed, sweet (but not syrupy!) stout that's obviously been pleasingly smoothed out with aging. Hints of more complexity behind the scenes - wood, or, seed-spice, or something.
I really liked this. Faintly sweet, with kind of a corn flavor and a slight tanginess that offsets it nicely. Touch of spice & a barely bitter finish. Refreshing and tasty!
Barest of tastes, but it was very promising. Dry, with a bit of tang, followed by a pilsner-like bitterness.
Lots of caramel malt sweetness in addition to floral-fruity hops. Barely bitter finish, and the strength is well-hidden.
Smell is like chocolate caramels. Porter is thin with dry coffee flavors and a bit of sourness. Vanilla is slightly tacked-on, enough to make me pause, but in the end I liked this one.
Incredibly boozy and much too much over the top. Lots of prune and did I mention booze?
Having really liked the base beer, I had high hopes, but I think the extra booze (now 13%) just knocked this out of balance. Lots of yam, maple, caramel and bourbon made for an oversweet, over-alcoholic experience.
Very bready, with plenty of molasses & a touch of gingerbread spice, I thought. I was looking for banana notes but didn't find them, although there was a strong hint of raisin or dried plum. Strong booze presence, but overall, very decent.
The Bruery Saison Rue (2014)
Vinous with a light spice presence, and surprisingly strong banana-like esters made me think weizen rather than Belgian here. Very drinkable and refreshing!
Muted hints of fruit & wine, pleasant but bordering on watery. Over time, more complex wood and metallic notes come out, making this beer more interesting, but on the whole it is harder-edged and not as enjoyable as the Saison Rue.
Omg, kind of exactly like drinking a peanut butter cup. And, I kind of loved it? Just sweet enough to support the other flavors without feeling tacked-on, with a great, milky lactose finish. I could drink a lot of this, frighteningly quickly.
On cask, sweet booze & pithy bitterness are accentuated. It does mellow out as it continues to warm, with the light carbonation smoothing things out considerably. I don't know if it was flatness or extra hops, but I do think regular carbonation made for a better-balanced beer.
Absolutely delicious caramel & malt centric Scotch ale. Clear as a bell - no wet hay here. Lemon verbena & tart cherries are overtones rather than overt, and add a freshness that really helps its drinkability. Yum!
Wild yeast funkiness is a delicate thing to manage, and here it's a tiny bit on the too-funky side - a little more metallic, a little more "blue." Not sour at all. It's built on top of what seems to be a solid saison with clear Belgian spice notes. Not much noticeable cereal body.
Nose is coriander and wheat funk. Really crisp and drinkable white, with a strength of flavor that stood up to... well, let's just say my burger had truffle cheese, garlic aioli and braised short ribs on it.
The smell is nice here, promising caramel and coffee. What works against it is the finish, which is a poor combination of sour and bitter, leading to a tacky aftertaste. At least it's not burnt-coffee-sour - I hate that. Thinnish, cola-like mouthfeel.
Cloudy, fragrant, fruity (though not citrus -- passionfruit, maybe?) opening, with a fairly dry middle, coupled with malt. The finish is pithy, but not exceedingly bitter; maybe it was because this was served ice cold, but I thought this IPA was quite good.
I just got a ton of prickly hop spiciness and bitterness with this, and nothing else. Maybe my palate was out of whack. I'd give it another chance given the opportunity.
Less fragrance and fruit than the Filthy Hoppin', with a lot more resin and a quick transition right away to straight, boozy bitterness. This was definitely a pine cleaner type of beer for me.
Fragrance of pine and a touch of bubblegum. Flavor follows on that, with vague citrus, hops, dry body and a strong, bitter, pithy finish. It's not too far off from the style of IPAs I enjoy, but it's off enough that I can't love it.
Smells almost soapy, but the taste is mild and toasty and dry, appropriate for the style. Soda-like effervescence leads into a sweet cereal finish that could be -- oats, or wheat? Whatever's in this "complex grain bill" is working for me, definitely.
Sweet smell of coffee & cream, following into a dry-ish, light stout - not one that brings "Russian" to mind. Toasty but not burnt, it ends with a nice creamy, oaty finish. While the on-the-nose coffee creamer notes could have gotten cloying, at least in a 4 oz pour, it didn't. Yum!
A sharp fragrance, almost shocking. Flavorwise, there's a tart-ish, very natural-tasting pineapple / passionfruit flavor that melds very nicely with the bready clove of the base kristallweizen. Malty wheatiness and a somewhat bitter finish make this an interesting, and I think a good, beer.
A lot of wheat funk aroma leads into a beer which feels a lot like a cross between an American Hefe and a peach cider. The tartness is pleasantly acidic but not in your face, and the finish is quite clean. That smell, though.
No timid Belgian Pale here, with a strong kick of alcohol and Belgian spice (namely peppercorn). There is a sharp bitterness at the back end, which actually helps to balance this out. The head is formidable, for sure.
Not as appealing as last time. Picked up a trace of skunky fragrance, and the sweetness was a bit much by the end.
Pleasant, round west coast amber with a surprising and welcome hit of toasted malt flavor to add some sophistication. Very nice.
It's clearly a quality beer and related to the other one, but this passes over into gratuitous pithy bitterness from beginning to end. In my mind, A wins this round.
Yummy grapefruit, passing through nice malt and moderate bitterness. Very balanced, and light, like a session IPA.
This manages to taste more like a coffee soda than a beer, but still completely works somehow. Really, really yummy.
Stone Enjoy By IPA (07.04.14)
Had a sweet-ish character that I didn't remember from before. Somewhat more Pliny-like, I think. Still quite good.
Smells like olive loaf, ends sweet. Extrapolate the rest.
Definitely Bavarian-style, but the banana and clove are subdued in favor of a light, sweet, and bready overall character. I found the balance very appealing and super-drinkable.
The best release by this brewery to date. None of the weird, murky yeastiness in this one, with a clean, if sharply bitter finish. Lots of coffee & a potent ABV over 8% mean you really feel it after a pint.
This wasn't bad at all, but it was very confusing. I couldn't pin down this style at all. On the one hand, it was similar to all the other beers in the flight, but with a slightly off-kilter balance. Maybe that was the buckwheat... but who knows? Maybe one to explore on its own.
Bready, with some definite hop bitterness and booziness around the edges. Tasty, if not especially memorable.
A clean, dry ale with a fruity-but-not-citrus character throughout. Not especially IPA-like, in my mind.
Dry, clean and crisp with good cereal and pilsner-like bitterness. None of the weird, zesty yeast character that most Kölsches seem to have. The aftertaste is awesome, dry and cider-like.
I liked this! A light, but characterful blonde ale with noticeable green tea flavors, which (as usual, it seems) mellowed the flavors quite a lot in addition to adding sweetness.
Refreshing dry, hoppy pale ale with a mellow wheatiness. I don't know if it was the sun or the World Cup but it really hit the right notes today.
Not bad... The promise of sweet malt is offset nicely by a mineral bitterness & slightly salty finish. Does leave the mouth feeling tacky, though, and the aftertaste is weird.
A clean-drinking, sweet pale lager that reminded me a lot of Stella Artois, but with a cleaner finish. I was expecting some noticeable bitterness based on descriptions of the style, but there's none of that here. Truthfully, I missed it, as over time the background hint of candy can grow somewhat cloying. But it's hard to argue with the price.
Sickly sweet yet watery lager with more than a little wet hay and resemblance to urine. Being served over-warm and under-carbonated probably didn't help.
Laughing Dog The Dogfather Imperial Stout (unknown release)
No date markings on the bottle. Soupy & thick, with an overtly boozy fragrance. This did seem more well-integrated than the last time I had it (on draft), so it gets an uptick in score. Thanks Alex!
Supposedly this style is the basis for beers like Alaskan Amber, but this was pale yellow and decidedly more distinct in flavor (as one would hope!). A bit of wet hay sweetness on the front and a decently bitter finish, I liked this quite a bit.
Light hop fragrance and citrus on the front end, with a touch of must, followed by a good hit of cereal malt and a medium, pilsner-bitter finish. The hop dankness built up a bit over time, but it was a good match for savory food.
Very nice, sweetly crisp Helles lager in the Hofbräuhaus vein, but $8 a pint seems a little steep for something in this class.
Remarkably well-balanced for something that is decidedly spicy. I haven't had the regular Sculpin, but the fruit, fragrance and resin are dialed way down in this beer, leaving a good malt body and a dry, bitter finish that complements the spice very well. I've had a run of good luck with chili beers lately, and this is one more.
Rooty, ginger dankness, and medicinal ginger biterness build up into something that somehow like an IPA, but unlike a beer. Alternate universe stuff, but strangely appealing.
Rich cereal flavor, almost savory, like a corn chip. Otherwise, very crisp and summery, finishing with an almost acrid, bracing bitterness. It came on a bit strong, to be honest. But I'd drink this again.
I liked this one. Nicely roasty, almost on the burnt side but without that unpleasant sourness. Light, creamy flavor with a lactic finish more reminiscent of a black lager. I could drink a lot of this, very easily.
Wits are still not my favorite style, but this one was enjoyably drinkable, despite being light on wheat flavor and slightly musty & coriander-forward.
First time I've had this on its own rather than following up another beer. There's a lot to like here - mellow cereal, a bracing, bitter pilsnery finish. It is strong for a blonde, at 6.9%, and it shows, which may be its main flaw. But it's still quite tasty.
Amazing smell of coconut and chocolate. Slightly dry on the opening, but the overall feeling is of sweetness, kissed with nice barrel complexity if not much bourbon. Lovely, drinkable, and perfect for a coconut nut.
I think the key to this beer is: drink it by itself. After other beers it ends up seeming stronger-balanced toward its idiosyncratic flavors: caramel, prune, sugar, which can get to be a bit much. Still undeniably excellent though.
Dry, hoppy beer that was less fragrant and fruity than I expected. Tasty with a mildly bitter finish. I guess, looking at it now, that it isn't an American IPA at all, which does help everything make sense.
About what you'd expect from Boneyard: flavorful, fresh-tasting, easy-drinking amber. Balanced malts & hops.
Beautiful, smooth, rich stout. Real barrel character without being boozy. Just a remarkable beer, all around.
Sweet and boozy -- a little too much of both. Otherwise, it's okay.
I'd have to be in a very specific mood for this, but I still very much enjoy its clean lines. Summar!
I can't even pretend to rate this. It was basically tasteless after six high gravity beers.
I can't even pretend to rate this. It was basically tasteless after six high gravity beers.
I can't even pretend to rate this. It was basically tasteless after six high gravity beers.
I can't even pretend to rate this. It was basically tasteless after six high gravity beers. This one had slightly more coffee and roast to it, though.
It's almost a joke how little I was able to taste this one after the rest.
I think it tasted good. It just didn't taste nearly as good as anything we had before it.
Interesting how much this resembles the 13 in almost every way, although with a bit more rawness and the sticky finish I remember. This does seem to have benefited from the extra aging since last time, though.
An illusion of rich chocolate on the nose. Incredibly complex but smooth flavor. It was almost a little understated - maybe this was five years' aging talking - but still, this was undeniably delicious.
This is the first session IPA I've had that came off initially as watery. It wasn't half bad after I got used to that, with a good, fresh flavor, but it didn't have much depth.
I don't know if it was the bottle or my tastes today, but this was less crisp and more sweet than I usually find it. It also seemed to have a kind of Kölsch-like yeasty tang to it that I don't want in this style.
Had this just cooler than room temperature. A roasty, sweet, thick stout. Very well balanced with a clean finish. Without going too far in any direction, it's very, very drinkable.
This was one of the first barleywines I ever had, and though I've had much more sophisticated examples since then, this is still v. enjoyable in its simplicity.
I've grown more into this style since the last time, so I found the flavor quite light and refreshing, with a good balance of bright banana esters and wheat. The fragrance is still the main issue here, a kind of musty Vienna sausage funk. It doesn't ruin the beer, but it is off-putting.
A far cry from regular Splinters, which is one of my all-time favorite beers. Mostly at issue is the finish, which is super-sweet, like the recent Barrel Head, but also turns murky in the aftertaste. Combined with the weak cask carbonation, I had a hard time finishing it.
Very solid, robust, roasty basically-a-stout beer with a date-cake-like molasses flavor that gets better over time. It's nothing earth-shattering, but it was tasty.
Sweet-smelling. A clean, very pleasant, refreshing beer. The banana and spice are not overt but come out nicely as the finish fades away. I liked it a lot!
A very pleasant surprise. On the light side, but not to the point that I'd call it watery, with a decent amount of pilsnery hop bitterness and a sweet malt finish. A bit of metallic dryness at the very end prevents this from being a top choice, but it was nice and refreshing for a dinner by the lake.
Sweet whiskey & barrel on the nose, but the flavor is more straightforwardly porter, coffee, maple syrup. Lots of prickly carbonation. The real love-it / hate-it feature is the sweet finish, which really is an over-the-top, soda-syrupy maple sweetness. It lingers on the mind, if not in the throat: the finish is surprisingly clean, & not cloying. I'm still mixed on it.
Crisp, wheat cereal body which works well with the bright, citrusy nature of the house yeast, with a slightly bitter finish that cuts sweetness & serves the flavor well. Definitely one to have again.
For all intents and purposes, this was a CDA. Hoppy and bright, with what started out as a touch of coffee for good measure but mellows out into cola-like effervescence over time. Good, but I would also have enjoyed an actual brown.
New Holland Mad Hatter IPA (unknown release)
Echo what I said about my palate, but this just came across as a slightly over-sweet IPA.
All I could taste was peaches. It was decent but I'm pretty sure my palate was corrupted.
All the hallmarks of a decent, dry IPA, but I can't for the life of me remember anything that stood out. Blame the quick flight.
Nice wood character on top of a decent IPA; slightly over-boozy, but still good.
Bready, thinnish-but-balanced doppelbock. Touch of wet hay. Not complex, but tasty.
Somewhat sweet, not very hoppy, decent malt presence. Weaker than what I'd expect from an IPA, but very drinkable outdoors on a sunny day.
I liked this in the past, but today it seemed to have basically no interesting flavor whatsoever. The hot dog was good, though.
Basically indistinguishable from a cream ale. Very light, with a touch of funk on top. Good carbonation. Not bad.
Ommmmmmg. Firestone dialed down everything that was over the top about this beer in the past, and now it's basically perfect. Tons of complex wood and molasses, rounded plummy fruit on top, and a sweet but amazingly clean finish. Absolutely one of the best beers I've ever had.
Delicious, bready doppelbock with a smooth, malty, caramel flavor. I can't say the barrel aging was especially obvious, though there were clear reminders of something like §ucaba in there.
For once the yeast is in harmony with this beer's flavor, and I think we have our first solidly decent beer here. It's maybe too bitter, but otherwise is a good example of a fruit-forward, grapefruity IPA.
Smooth caramel ale with a touch of coffee and rather flat carbonation; the initial flavor is very pleasant but there is a weird, drying aftertaste that gets weirder over time. That's in addition to the all-pervasive, tangy yeast typical of this brewery.
Superbly well-put-together beer; definite banana and clove and molasses, but with a thin, dry texture that prevents it from being cloying. Much less boozy-flavored than other doppelbocks. Yum!
Nobody seemed quite certain of how old this bottle was. Thin like a thin porter, but undeniably boozy, and characteristic milky Baltic porter finish. Weird, but decent.
Malt city! Surprisingly crisp for a drink so sweet. Clean, tingly finish that leaves a pleasant residual cereal flavor, and got better as it went along. I really, really liked this.
Super-smoothed out and sweet on nitro with a lot of sweet malt. No detectable hops or bitterness, which I guess is kind of the strategy when highlighting a rare grain. 8% ABV is seriously stealth. Unusual and noteworthy, if not especially delicious.
Somehow this is the first non-skunked Heineken I've ever had, and it was actually... okay? Crisp, grassy hop flavor with a finish on the slightly sweet, bready side. Not watery, exactly, but thin. Shocked to find I enjoyed it.
Brickyard Southwestern Hatch Green Chili Blonde Ale (unknown release)
The second time around, this is just as unexpectedly good. There's a fruity roundness in the transition from fragrant, flowery chili to cereal backbone, and then chili comes back as an almost pilsner-like pithy bitterness to close. Yum!
I'm not gonna lie, I had enough before this that I can't rate this reliably. But it seemed good, and I like Reuben's.
Still very sweet, but fortified wine serves this beer much better than gin. Much cleaner and the sweetness is not so overwhelming.
I've never been a fan of gin (except in a good G&T - yum), and this beer is not kidding around with the gin. Sweet malt + sweet booze = omg sweet.
A mild, fragrant-fruity pale ale with sweet cereal body.
Almanac Farmer's Reserve Pluot (unknown release)
Missed opportunity for notes. I remember this being delicious, but a month and a half on, I don't remember much else.
Deschutes Hop Henge IPA (2013/2014)
A fresh tasting, hop-fragrant IPA with an unusual, bitter, cucumber-like after-aftertaste. I can't say I loved it, but it was unusual in a way that intrigued me.
An effervescent, mildly hoppy amber opens into wood, fruit, and funky wild yeast. Vinous rather than sour. It was near the end of a tasting, so I might be suspect, but it seemed like a younger, red cousin of the likes of Pour les Oiseaux.
Deschutes Planète Rouge (unknown release)
A pleasant surprise given how much I disliked the Dissident. Moderately tart, fruity, and with a buttery hit of funky wild yeast, this shares the fruit pie characteristics I've generally liked best in sours.
Has the taste of a sparkling apple cider with a slight hint of cranberry tartness. Like the Belgian Red, it's really hard to tell this is a beer or even alcoholic, but unlike that one, this is maybe a little too sweet. It took a long time to clear the taste out of my mouth.
Slightly more wet-hay aspect to this - don't know if it's the can. It's still very nice.
On the second try, there is kind of a canned juice background to this that doesn't serve it well. Still, it wasn't the worst choice.
A mild red ale with a slightly toasty malt flavor. At first I was a big fan of the beer but it had an off-message bitterness that built up quickly. Still, it was decent.
Opens like a nitro stout usually does for me; that is, with a kind of sour dishwater flavor that nobody else seems to notice. But the strong cereal malt finish that followed was unexpected, and also completely redeemed this beer for me.
Has the flavors you'd expect of a winter ale, with a fruity hop character and sweet malt, but rounded out beautifully with wine notes from the pinot noir barrels (while still tasting like beer).
I liked it a more this time - the lilikoi especially took on a depth of character over time, a mild, but complex fruity tartness. Still, wheat was little more than a ghost of an aftertaste, making this taste not so beer-like. Sam Adams wins today's battle of summer fruit ales.
Typical of Sam Adams, this one starts unpromisingly, but after a bit of prickly spice smooths out into a mellow, sweetish wheat finish. Along the way, what started out as mustiness morphs into subtly tart citrus. Easy to drink, and really quite appealing!
Literally smells like nothing. Flavor is like diluted corn syrup soda - hard to believe this is 6% ABV - but the worst part is absolutely the aftertaste, which is musty, gross, and keeps on going.
Different from Black Raven's other session IPAs in that it's not so fruity or sweet. Just a nice spicy hop opening to a really mellow cereal flavor followed quickly by a medium-strong bitter finish. Without the sweetness there's no cloying or vaporous buildup. Very solid.
Very similar on draft to what is in the bottle.
Lots of fruity, fragrant hop juice flavor to open, with a candy-sweet fragrance that should have been cloying, but somehow resolved into just the right amount of sweet cereal malt. Maybe on another day this would have been terrible, but I liked it a lot today.
Similar to A on basic principles, but without the syrupy finish, resulting in a light, creamy stout that, even though it tasted slightly boozier, was a lot more drinkable.
Nitro smooth imperial stout with a kind of thick, syrupy umami finish. It was on the edge of cloying at first but at some point I got used to it and it started to taste a lot better.
The smell's tangy, like a Kölsch, but otherwise tastes like your average dark Euro lager. That is to say, it's light and very drinkable, with good roasty notes and a slightly lactic finish.
The cumin-curry character of this was much more at the forefront of fragrance & flavor this time, which took some getting used to, but I think I still like it. Great sweet hints from the coconut without actually being sweet, with a nice chili burn at the end.
Brickyard Southwestern Hatch Green Chili Blonde Ale (unknown release)
Smells like a ton of green chilies and tastes like it too, but without any more than the most token amount of heat, which was a refreshing change and a good way to experience just the essence of the fruit. Much better than expected!
Not bad in general, with good coffee flavor, but has a cloying sweetness that can get annoying fast.
Tastes like smoke, all right. Smoke-got-in-my-eyes-and-now-they're-burning smoke.
Good cereal malt flavor and has that tang I like, right before the hop bitterness comes in. Nice and crisp. The fact that this beer is balanced just a bit too far on the side of bitterness is the only thing that works against it.
A little too dank, a little too sweet, a lot too nondescript. No two breweries seem to agree on what an IPL's flavor profile is supposed to be, but I think it's safe to say that if it's this, there's no point.
Perfectly decent medium-bodied stout, with a sweet-umami flavor and somewhat burnt coffee character to finish.
Well, this was the first beer I ever had, way back when I was six years old! Watery-sweet, with a kind of syrupy, slightly cloying finish. Fun, weird can shape. The main question I have is - if this is a Budweiser, what is a Bud Light?
Expected grassy funk smell. Flavor is a little softer and sweeter than I expected, which wasn't bad, but made it less crisp than I'd have liked.
Pale, peppery Belgian flavors are mellowed out considerably by pleasant wheat malts. As the beer warms the flavors stand out a little more, adding a touch of tartness, but also a lightly acrid bitter buildup. Still, it was very decent.
A lot of what I said about the 2011 still holds true for this version. It's even more smoothed out, with vanilla being a dominant overtone, but not sweet at all. Smooth wood and coffee with faint tartness build up to become a little bit too much wood over the course of the glass. No noticeable spirit flavors.
Holy crap. I have to admit this beer was way too much for me. Dank resin, bitterness, and boozy alcohol all wrapped up in a giant fist to the face. I do have to admire the audacity, though. Thanks, Zack!
Light flavored straw-colored beer with a bit of malty funk and finishing sourness. Sight unseen, I would have said cream ale.
Deliciously creamy coffee aroma, and though light-bodied, has none of that thin-porter sourness. Just good, slightly sweet, light, roasted coffee flavor. Great example of what I'd imagine the style's ideal to be.
Night Shift Grove (unknown release)
Not-too-spicy saison with more than a little tartness. Terrific fruity flavor, not too sweet - reminds me of a Schweppes Bitter Lemon but as a beer. Very tasty.
Strongly sweet malt dominates this beer, reminding me more of an amber hop-malt bomb like Brown Shugga than anything I'd identify as a lager. Not bad in small amounts, but this gets old fast.
Fresh, fragrant citrus nose, a lot like some recent Session IPAs I've had, but the flavor is more high-and-dry with very little actual flavor. It's not watery, just kind of ... missing something. And I know this isn't an IPA, but it doesn't exactly scream "lager," either.
I liked that this bock sat in the drier, bitter tradition of a pilsner rather than being sweet or overtly bready. Wow does the alcohol sneak up on you, though.
Tropical fruit smell, passion-pineapple, with a fresh, spicy hop flavor, dry body and clean, moderately bitter finish. Reminded me a lot of Six Degrees of Collaboration, but maybe a little fruitier.
Lovely overt wine flavor, much like Black Raven's Pour les Oiseaux, and shares many similarities with that beer as well. The bitter, floral peppery character of the base beer makes for a nice finish, and maybe just a touch of wild funk right at the end.
On tap this had a much more overt cereal malt finish than I remembered from the bottle. Still dry, still very fresh tasting, still tasty.
Boozy for a blonde, with some bitterness. I'm not sure I was tasting everything after the flavorful beer I had right before it.
Musty, yeasty wheat leading into the puckering tartness of blood orange. Not much malt, and definitely not crisp, which is the main issue here, esp. on a beautiful, sunny day. Still, there's enough to like that I can't complain.
Smells like a sour, but the taste is more a high gravity version of a Bavarian Hefeweizen - not strongly spiced, but definitely a sweet caramel banana flavor at the fore. A little bit bland, but decent.
Quite tart, but of a clearly sour-cherry character. Clean finish has some almost-buttery wild yeast funk that really binds this beer together in pie-like glory. Not sure how much I could drink, but it was very nice.
Opens with a tongue-pricklingly effervescent, sweet lightness, which called the rice to mind, before settling into an IPA-ish flavor profile where the yuzu citrus and floral dry-hopping are quite clear. The finish goes back to sweet rice. I say IPA-ish because it's different enough to tickle the cortex, but it still sits firmly in that world.
A little bit empty on the malt side with a clear hop presence both in terms of fruit and bitterness at the end.
Cantillon Lou Pepe Framboise (2011)
Color of candy. Dry and tart, with noticeable gueuze funk to add complexity. Nice to try a decidedly non-sweet fruit lambic.
The Lost Abbey Serpent's Stout (unknown release)
A super tasty straight stout, malty and deep, without crossing over into the good-but-almost-syrupy intensity of even higher gravity brews like World Wide and Mephistopheles.
Aroma of roasted espresso, with a surprisingly dry, delicious flavor at odds with the other selections here. Pretty much redefines in one swoop what I want out of a coffee stout.
Big Sky Ivan the Terrible Imperial Stout (unknown release)
Good, but feels like the younger sibling of Mephistopheles in every way possible. I found out the next day that this claims to be a bourbon-aged stout, but I couldn't for the life of me detect that.
Avery Mephistopheles' Stout (2009)
Five years' aging has smoothed and deepened this beer's character, leaving an intense, but deliciously umami "reduction of stout."
If I hadn't had this after Brouwer's, I would've unreservedly loved it. Dry, thinnish stout with a nice roasty flavor and smooth coconut to finish. As usual I'm likely to love anything with coconut in it.
From Brouwer's Back in Black Stout Festival. Aged three years, this is one of the best beers I've ever had! Strong and toffee-like and complex with a boozy but well-blended barrel character and a creamy, malted-milk, clean finish. Any coffee in this beer is subtly done. So delicious.
On cask, almost entirely flat. Like watered down Apple juice, although it made me think it could have been enjoyable with some actual carbonation.
Session IPA-style American Pale. Lots of sweet hop juice, almost syrupy after a while. Very little cereal malt body, which I like in a pale.
Thin, coal-dark beer with a slightly cola-like mouthfeel, but over time you get to appreciate its dry, molasses-bread smoothness. Slight roasty flavor.
Standard medium-robust stout, a bit on the burnt side. Also, I know they say that cans don't impart a metallic flavor to beer, but I swear, there's something there.
Lots of sweet caramel overtones but it's otherwise very light in flavor. I don't have a lot of reference for this style, but it certainly isn't as memorable as Black Raven's Raven de Garde, and with none of the strong fruit esters I noted in that beer.
So strange. Tropical fragrance, like dried papaya or pineapple, leading into a more caramel, bitter body. Lactic, smooth, but astringent buzz on the tongue, closing with a kind of dishwater taste that probably comes from the Thai Basil. Overall, it seemed like a decent idea that needed a few more iterations to get right, but it's hard not to respect the audacity.
This beer smells unambiguously peppery, and you can just tell it's going to be spicy. Once it's in your mouth, the taste of fresh chili (poblano? jalapeno?) dominates but doesn't completely destroy the light malt flavor of the underlying beer. The heat's assertive & sticks with you without ever getting too uncomfortable. A workout, but I think, really well-done.
A drinkable if subdued IPA, not too extreme in any direction and a pleasant, fragrant flavor, almost like if you let an actual tasty IPA get stale.
Gross. Bitter and redolent of acrid spice & India rubber.
Similar to the Ubu in base flavors, but more integrated and smoothed out. Not bad at all.
Strong dried stonefruit fragrance carries over to the taste, which is that plus some vegetal wet-hay notes. Reminded me somewhat of Scottish beers like Traquair House Ale, although a little more one-note in flavor.
Sweet-ish pale lager with just a touch of wet-hay sourness. Not my favorite flavor in the world, and not at all crisp. But it was okay.
Not what I expected. Cloudy and vegetal, this didn't make me think "lager" at all.
Hard to tell how this is different from the Pour les Oiseaux, at least in broad strokes. Still delicious, vinous and funky. Maybe it's turned down just a bit on the malt side and a little fruitier, but it's really quite similar (and just as good). Neither is very Belgian in spice profile.
Same kind of fruity-sweet fragrance typical of Hi-Fi's beers, although thankfully it doesn't intrude on the flavor too much. It's still not what I would call a pils; there's not really any bitterness and the bready malt, while tasty, is a bit on the sweet side. (10 oz schooner)
First taste is strongly bready, followed by pilsner bitterness and then bread again on the finish. Lovely malt without being overtly sweet, and none of the piney hop fragrance that graced Pravda, which makes this a nice & different complement to that beer. I really, really liked this.
This is the house ale at Anthony's restaurants. Medium-hoppy amber with subtle malt and a dry, clean, and medium-bitter finish. Not bad, and it goes with the salad & bread bowl chowder v. nicely!
This beer's official description is "robust," which must be Spanish for watery, syrup-sweet flavor.
I finally know what that aftertaste is. It tastes like exactly like popcorn-flavored Jelly Bellies.
High rating because this may be the tastiest sparkling fruit juice I've ever had. Blind, you'd be hard pressed to identify this as a beer, or even alcoholic. Tart, strong cherry flavor is the key, and it's very good.
Based on what I wrote earlier, this can was a lot better than when I had it on tap. Fresh, effervescent citrus-hop flavor. The finish was a bit unexpected, juice-like. but not bitter at all.
Crisp, grassy pilsner. I didn't have the cleanest of palates, but it sure seemed pleasant. Would love to try under better circumstances.
Pretty good for a work beer. Wheaty American hefe flavor with dark malty flavors on top of it. Lactic finish, like a Euro dark lager. Would drink this again, no doubt.
Lightly flavored but with more substance than most blondes, probably due to having nearly 7% ABV. As the weather heats up, I could get very used to this.
Smooth, boozy barleywine with great bourbon and oak character, but not too far out in any direction. Great beer for a beautiful day!
Does the strong malt / strong hop balance much better than either the Brown Shugga or the Sucks, to my memory. I thought this one was tasty and drinkable.
Didn't taste at all like it smelled. Mix of caramel and noticeable hops at the front, followed by a clean but dry finish with caramel overtones but not much sweetness or malt body. It never really made sense as a whole, but I liked it.
More Wookey Jack in the mix than I expected, with some real caramel and hop presence, but all in the service of a well-rounded, tasty beer. I don't know if I could drink a lot of it, but I certainly relished the taster glass.
Boulevard Rye On Rye (unknown release)
Powerful whiskey on the nose with a really well-balanced mix of malty ale and rye barrel character in the flavor. No one aspect of this beer jumped out and proclaimed itself as being remarkable, but just, overall, really well done and tasty.
Mouth-puckeringly tart, but not vinegary. Appealing fruit flavor, with pomegranate and hibiscus both shining through. Clean finish.
Lovely beer to have found in a kegerator at work! Crisp, refreshing, malty ale. I forgot to log it back then - wish I could remember more other than how much I liked it.
Peppery American hops open this lager, and a crisp, cereal malt finishes. It's not as well-balanced as Ninkasi's Pravda Pils or Upright's Engelberg Pils, but it's in that vein and quite decent.
A good-tasting, thinnish porter. The wood character is a little hard to pin down at first - if anything, it comes across as a kind of disconnected smokiness - not bad, but it didn't harmonize with the flavor. Possibly this would have tasted less dry if I hadn't just had the malt-bomb scotch ale.
Another new brewery, and I think that this first-try wee heavy is a winner. Malty sweet scotch ale flavor with a kind of rough-and-tumble rawness of character. That is, it's not as refined or smooth an experience like BBC's or Black Raven's scotch ales, but it can sit with the gang.
On the sweet, boozy side, but with a lot of creamy, malty body to offset it. A slight, dry sourness typical of milk stouts - pretty tasty!
Still loose-tasting, but didn't explicitly give me a watery feeling like last time. So this gets upgraded from a frown to a meh.
21st Amendment Monk's Blood (2014)
Appealing, sweet dubbel-like flavor but with a bright, fruity fig overtone that recalls stronger ales. That's the problem, though, since it feels like they cheated - getting that from actual figs instead of yeast. So instead of complex esters you get FRUIT! in your face. Slightly metallic finish.
Starts off tasting a lot like a raspberry ginger ale - not bad, but an odd flavor for a beer. Almost immediately you get a strong hit of dank, medicinal bitterness that lingers a long while. All of this contributes to more of an IPA feel than a brown ale. Still, it was surprisingly drinkable, although really, really weird.
No lie in the name, starts out malty and thick with some hop character, like the beginnings of a Scotch Ale. The finish is a big let-down afterwards, with a dry tangy metallic character that did not leave me feeling satisfied. Also, somehow I always feel really bloated after having beer here.
Smells a little funky but flavor-wise, it's very refreshing with a cereal flavor that dances tangily on the tongue. The name is appropriate.
Justice High Stupidity (2014)
I have a really hard time quantifying how bad this beer was. It wasn't gross, exactly, but it had so many disparate flavors in it that came together in a way that wasn't good either. Dark Belgian base with stonefruit and smoke, with some strangeness in the spice profile and the visual appeal of chaw spit. Somewhat flat carbonation.
Very similar in flavor profile to the Pliny, but with a bit more caramel malt flavor. Still, directly after Pliny this tasted somewhat watery.
Much better fresh - bottled on 4/9. Great aroma, with a huge hit of fragrant and resinous hop that goes directly into a dry, pithy, clean but bitter finish. That transition is sudden and dramatic, but it beats syrupy any day of the week. Still a little too bitter to be a favorite, but I'm beginning to see what the fuss is about.
Thick, malty-sweet and chocolaty stout with a pronounced cream/vanilla overtone. Normally I'd consider this much too sweet, but given the name it's appropriate. Much better than the Base Camp S'more Stout - the only thing it's missing is the campfire,
Boring and sweet and boozy and that's about all she wrote and ALSO WHAT THE HELL IS SHE WEARING DOWN THERE THAT IS A TERRIBLE INJURY WAITING TO HAPPEN
Oh, yum. Basic Dragonstooth with well-integrated whiskey and barrel flavors. Like the Dragonstooth itself, it's much lighter than you'd expect from a barrel aged imperial stout with a slight acidity in the flavor and a clean finish.
Very dry flavor, almost overtly sour, with some India rubber-like peppery overtones. It's not terrible, but the weirdness makes it suffer badly in comparison to the other dark beers in this flight.
Nice roast malt flavor. Too thin? Too thick!? Usually in a porter you're afraid of what you'll get, but this was neither - perfect mouthfeel. Flavor is good but nothing remarkable, but who cares? It does what it does, and very well.
It's not watery, but it's a one-note bitter pilsner. The main thing it did was make me enjoy the Hombre even more.
I guess this is the house beer at Poquitos? Good cereal body with a slightly sweet corn flavor. Light in flavor, but with a rounded tang at the end that was quite appealing. And the fact that it wasn't watery automatically makes it better than any other Mexican lager I've ever had.
I'll be logging the occasional long-lost beer based on photos I'm recovering.
Started out nicely, light Belgian kick and some fruit. Then the alcohol started kicking in, and boy, it kept kicking. After a while I couldn't taste anything else. I wonder if some of that was the aging.
Thanks Zack! The description pretty much nails it, this is a sweet, malty, hoppy beer. Manages to balance the malt and hops well, even though both are quite strongly present.
Extremely fragrant, fresh tasting session IPA, tending to the fruity side without being syrupy. A small hit of pithy bitterness at the finish but it goes away fast. Really, really pleasant.
I don't know how trustworthy my taste was at this point, but I really enjoyed this. Fragrant and floral but also clearly still a pilsner, combining very harmoniously. I'd compare this to the Ninkasi Pravda, but with much more overtly American hop flavor.
It may be the aging or just being on draft, but this was awesome. Less sweet than your typical bourbon barrel stout, but with a good amount of complexity and a totally integrated flavor. Not too thick and with a totally clean finish. Yum.
Just about ideal German-style pilsner. Good cereal, slight grass, nice tang. Effervescent. Still as good as I remember!
Same funky brett flavor as the Pour Les Oiseaux, but this time layered on top of a dry chocolate porter-like base. I thought it worked really well with the vinous and malty saison, but here it just seemed like a puzzle that I never figured out.
This time I got a clear wheat body, so it's automatically better than the last. Maybe my sense of taste was off then. I also sensed a bite that was a little surprising, but otherwise, a crisp, light, hoppy ale.
Almanac Sourdough Wild Ale (unknown release)
Funky smell that starts to seem skunky after a bit; otherwise it turns from the sun really fast. The flavor is a cross between funk-laden sour and a fruity, fragrant session IPA, with a good amount of chewy bread to go with it. An odd beer, but I mostly enjoyed it.
Caramelly and hoppy in equal measure, a decent red. Not especially deep; the imperial-ness, it seems, shows up mostly as boozy flavor.
Starts off with thick, delicious-smelling chocolate-coffee-coconut on the nose. Flavor is good, if thinner than promised, and with a touch of dry bitterness like semisweet chocolate that leaves the mouth slightly sour. Still, pretty decent, and I'm a sucker for coconut as always.
Golden lager with a vegetal fragrance and flavor and some malty sweetness in evidence. Typical amount of pilsner bitterness to finish. A little too much wet hay for me to really enjoy - if it's cold outside and something from Scotland, I'm a fan, but I think by now it's obvious I like my lagers crisp.
House beer at the Hula Grill in Ka'anapali. Glad because I regretted not trying this one at the Maui Brewpub! An amber with mild hop expression that somehow manages to be sweet and dry at the same time, probably because of the honey. The sweetness is not so much tied to a malt flavor as it is a general, creaminess... If I were going to imagine an oatmeal amber, this is pretty much what it would be.
They sure have a lot of lagers at this lu'au. This was more watery than I remembered. I feel like I've been saying "watery" a lot lately, but ... this was. Honestly, though? The beachside will make up for a lot of shortcomings.
Light tasting lager from Fiji with a somewhat interesting cereal malt flavor, but also featuring a watery skunkiness reminiscent of Dutch lagers like Heineken and Grolsch.
Part of a sample flight. Less watery than at the brewpub yesterday, it was nice to have this side by side with the Bikini Blonde, to see the differences. Less sweet and more grassy with a pilsnery bitter finish. Still light on flavor, but better than last time.
Part of a sample flight. Decent, dry IPA with some significant resin in the flavor but a fairly mild finish.
On draft this is a big improvement over the cans you can get in WA. No acrid aftertaste, you get a nice smooth coconut flavor on top of a thin porter. This suffers somewhat from the memory of the awesome Imperial version of this from the brewpub, but it's still tasty.
Part of a sample flight. Wheaty, with a dry, musty fruit tartness that builds up over time in an almost savory way. The guy behind the counter tells me it's the pineapple, and it fits. A little too dank to be refreshing, but it's definitely interesting.
Part of a sample flight. Much better on draft than out of the can, which had a weird metallic aftertaste. Still on the sweet side for me, but very drinkable on a hot day.
The house ale here, only available on draft in HI. Light, slightly thin blonde ale with a good cereal body. The house yeast gives it a slightly tangy, fruity finish. Nice on a hot day, but I usually want a little more depth, even in my light beers.
A taster. Bikini Blonde with chipotle peppers. Surprisingly good smoke flavor and clear spiciness; even though I had it with the house jambalaya, which is quite spicy, I noticed it. However, it did make it hard to judge this beer on its own. I'd try it again, definitely.
Extremely boozy with a ton of sweet whiskey. It kind of overwhelms the rest of the flavor, which came through as a slight bit of fruit and a lot of bitterness. Claims to be an IPA at its base, but I can't say I detected any clear notes.
Oh, wow. Thick, sweet, and tons of chocolate and coconut flavor. They say the used four times the amount of the regular coconut porter, and it really comes through. Really yummy.
Fruity (apricot? grapefruit?) IPA with a good rye bite. Lots of pithy bitterness to finish, and I may be wrong but it seemed to get boozier as I went along.
Slightly watery, some tang, good malt and not much grassiness. At first taste I'd peg this as a blonde rather than a pilsner.
A sweet-malt lager with a light flavor. It could be my imagination but it sure seemed to pick up a metallic aftertaste as I went along, even from a glass. By the end it was really not working for me.
Suffers only because it was in a vertical tasting with the 2013. Amazing difference: much less aroma and sharper, rawer flavors - a little spikey sweet, a little fire. This would have been superb on its own but it gets knocked down because, like Matthew McConaughey, it's still chasing its future self.
So, wow. About a year of aging brings this beer to pretty much perfect. Great Bourbon toffee nose, and soooo smooth.
Musty smell, musty flavor, slightly salty on top of the expected coriander and citrus. Refreshing, it was not.
I've liked this by itself in the past, but it definitely doesn't stand up to being in the middle of a group of heavier beers.
Deschutes Mirror Mirror (2014)
Sweet, malty and potent. At first it's a little harsh but definitely mellows out over time, with a lot of caramel and barrel flavor in every sip. There's a noticeable hoppy background that keeps things spicy.
Understated saison with a slight funky yeastiness but an overall crisp freshness that was really enjoyable - artifact of the dry hopping, maybe? Anyway, another good beer from Firestone.
Dry with subtle spice, slightly buttery, with a big hit of wheat flavor to finish.
Thin coffee-like porter with a clear note of wood-smoke. I thought this was drinkable, but fairly boring.
Not much overt peppercorn; if anything, it's there as more of a floral overtone than any kind of spiciness. The overall beer seems sweeter than I remember the base pale being, with some fruit & just a touch of bitterness at the end.
Some nice grassiness in the smell, but also some out-of-place perfume and not enough malt to even it out. Hints of apple? Ends high, dry and bitter.
I'm mostly glad this wasn't yet another watery beer. More interesting than the amber, with a good cereal body but an overly bitter finish. Of Redhook's yellow beers, I like the others I've had (Game Changer, Blondage) better than this.
Part of a flight. Light stout with a creamy body & a thin mouthfeel. A lot of coffee character and a slight tanginess in the finish, same as the other beers here, but with maybe some additional bite from the lactose. Very drinkable. Interesting note: all the beers we had today had a cask-like flatness. Not sure if that helped or hurt, but it was different.
Part of a flight. Unusual grapefruit and floral nose. Medium-hoppy body with a touch of the same tang as the blonde, but a much more balanced body with every bit of that nose present in the flavor as well. This was the most intriguing beer of the flight, & interesting enough for me to order a second taster.
Part of a flight. Another craft brewery in Redmond! Scent of musty grapefruit with a dank, fruity-yeasty body and not much in the way of malt or hop expression. Reminded me more of a mimosa than a beer - drinkable, but not really my style.
This seemed much better on draft at the brewery. This bottle was watery and slightly off, like the Sapporo I had earlier today mixed with some additional funk.
Watery and malty sweet, like many adjunct lagers. This one came super-chilled to the point that there were ice crystals in it, which actually made it taste more interesting. But overall... meh.
Light summery beer with an overt cereal body and slight yeasty-sweet tang. That last bit is the lasting impression and it seems to come at the price of crispness, but it wasn't a bad beer at all.
Stylewise, I want some more cereal body in a pale ale, so expectations ding this a bit. More like a dry session IPA in the vein of Stone's Go To in flavor, this is actually quite good for what it is. Next time I'm in the mood I'll go into it with no preconceptions and it will, I'm sure, rate better.
Stone Enjoy By IPA (04.20.14)
Fresh. Dank. After a series of heavy beers this was quite nice. I don't know how I would have liked it on its own, but who really cares?
Chewy thick malt-sweet beer that is unique but almost too much in every direction.
A surprise in a sea of sweet beers. Quality coffee flavor with a toasty, light, dry malt body. Good wood presence which gets more and more pleasant over time. Chicago represent!
You guys, this was so good. Coffee, smooth, sweet and thick without being at all cloying. Pretty much exactly what I'd want a bourbon coffee stout to be, and seemingly a clear step up from the likes of the Baptist.
Fremont Barrel Aged B-Bomb (2011)
A special beer for Emil's goodbye. Thanks Alex! Smoothed out with age, this was almost too cloyingly sweet. It was still good, but I really missed the bite.
It was just a small taster pour, but it was a nice reminder of this beer that exceeded my memory of it. Maybe because it was a different coffee. Much drier than Barry.
A very, very nice surprise. Smooth, sweet, chocolaty bourbon opening, followed by a dry, dissipating, soda like body. The tongue-tingling finish evaporates into thin air - so, so clean. And at 6%, positively sessionable for the style.
Pleasant IPA that doesn't blow me away but which at least avoids all the things I usually don't like about IPAs. Nice fragrance, dry-ish flavor, no resin or syrupy notes, mildly-bitter finish. That last might have been impacted by the bitterness from the ReNEWale, though.
Reminded me of a slightly more interestingly-flavored but still weak Alaskan Amber type ale with a large hit of finishing bitterness thrown in. Boring and unexpected at the same time?
Funky, uric fragrance that did not promise a good time and a flavor that lived up to it at first, but mellowed out into a typical nitro cream ale smooth maltiness. Perversely, I actually started to appreciate how that skunky opening brought something interesting to this beer.
Fragrantly hoppy on the nose but smoothly malty in taste, I got an unexpected, almost-coconutty finish that heavily recalled Kona's Koko Brown. I don't know if my taste buds are broken today! Didn't get much rye bite or crispness from this one, but it was really enjoyable.
At this point, I'd pretty much drink any other Firestone beer over this one (sans the 805). It's just so... boring. That said, this kind of thing only happens when the rest of your line is so high-quality.
Mmm, so bready and delicious. I really liked the brandy barreled version of this but the base beer is also yummy. And doesn't nearly show its high alcohol content.
A little more wood and dryness than I remember from the tap. Drinkable and just complex enough to not be boring, but lacking a certain kind of depth.
Thanks, Zack! Wow, super plummy, Belgian and dark, with a ton of flavors very close to the surface. It got better as it warmed up, but still, it was mostly a kick in the face. Would be interested in seeing if this becomes more integrated with age.
Not sure if the bottle was old, because I have nothing to compare it to, but it didn't scream "fresh" at me. Kind of dank, hay-like, sweet finish - really didn't have any of the qualities I've enjoyed in IPAs.
I don't know if the previous bottle was bad, but this time, on draft, it was much better. Caramel, mellow and that (subtle, this time) funk-o-lactic finish I like in dark lagers.
Don't follow a really roasty beer with this or it'll come off as too sweet at first. In comparison to the Survival stout, this seemed almost unroasted. It recovered quickly, though. Much mellower; almost fruity, but still very nice.
Opens very roasted, almost burnt, before mellowing out into a creamy oatmeal stout character. The finish is mildly savory-nutty, which gives it a nice closing hit of complexity. The burnt feeling peters out after the first couple sips. Really enjoyable.
The weirdest thing about this beer was the acrid / musty / pine cleanser paradox of a fragrance it had. The flavor was just as bipolar: at once light but also resinous and bitter. Ick.
Hollow-tasting, flattish beer with definite caramel flavor but also a kind of dank, tart rootiness. The character seems more like an American hefeweizen than an ESB - no hoppiness at all. It was easy to drink but just never rose up out of the weirdness.
Tastes like cloved banana bread, if you removed all of the flour and diluted it a bit in carbonated water. This makes it still leaps better than Wells Banana Bread Beer, but it's remarkably one-note.
Peppery and clearly Belgian, this otherwise tastes like molasses cake in a bottle; creamy and malty and warming and sweet. Probably because I know a lot more about beer in general, this was more enjoyable than the last time - by far.
Strong malt backend really helps offset whatever 150-odd IBUs are claimed by this beer. I found the finish only mildly bitter and the fragrance and flavor, while strong, were not over the top. Solid Imperial IPA, even if that's not my main thing.
Fragrant & slightly more resinous than I'd like but without getting too far in any direction. The finish has a touch of malt and is nicely balanced but too bitter to be a favorite for me.
On the one hand, it's a very light-drinking, fragrant steam beer crossed with a sweeter-malt amber lager like a Sam Adams. On the other, there's a fascinating subtle turn of flavor as the finish evaporates into lager funk that reminds me of -- cherries? Caramel chews? Something that cuts the bitterness. I'd try it again.
I continue to really enjoy this beer. It helps to have a burger with CORNED BEEF and a FRIED EGG on it.
Opens like the Whale Ale, fragrant and citrusy, but quickly dries to a light, crisp cereal finish. Prickly carbonation helps the transition. Really tasty, I thought!
Hop and citrus fragrant through and through without bring bitter. No discernible body to contrast that. I haven't had a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale in a while but this jibes with my memory of it.
Smooth, dark malt lager with a pils-like bitter finish. What was really interesting was that behind the prickly carbonation was a flavor I couldn't pin down - fruit? milk? banana bread? I don't know, but whatever it was was appealingly different.
Watery, sweet lager - ehhh. Surprisingly disappointing for North Coast.
The most enjoyable Stone IPA for me yet. Hoppy, but not syrupy, with a dry middle moving pleasantly to a nice cereal malt finish. A bit bitter, but not like a wall of it. Surprisingly nice.
Resinous and fruity but without detectable bitterness, despite the listed 102 IBUs. Maybe I burned out my tongue on stouts? Still, a bit too pungent for me to truly love.
Strongly carbonated sweet stout with a tacky lactic mouthfeel and finish. It tasted good but it was also a multi-sensory experience to boot. Yum!
Not quite as delicious as the Kopi Loewak, but delicious nonetheless. Strong coffee presence and a slightly sweeter and assertive malt profile.
Distinct Belgian spice and black pepper on the nose. Starts with a bit of coffee-porter character, moves into a creamy, smooth Belgian funk, and finishes with a subtly peppery but definitely spicy kick. A nice surprise!
No, it did not taste like poop. Smells incredibly coffee-like and lush. Yummy, mellow flavor with none of the pitfalls you usually find in a coffee beer. No acid or bitterness, and a tasty but not cloying malt sweetness to finish.
Mission St. Anniversary Ale (2014)
Solidly drinkable caramel brown, if a little boring. But it's hard to beat $2.99 for 22 ounces.
Hard to figure out. Hop-fragrant, dry, rye-peppery beer with an almost savory berry-gose middle. The end was cereal malt, but in a way that didn't quite follow logically. I don't know. I was really confused!
I really liked this. It had the fragrant complex opening of a good pale ale with a strong cereal body and lager-like funky tang. The finish was just a touch on the bitter side, but this was nice, like a high-class steam beer.
Light and mildly roasty with the creamy finish of a good black lager. It's a little insubstantial, but very drinkable.
I liked this at first; funky and yeasty. But honestly, whatever strawberry flavor they're using got to be intolerable really quickly.
Smelled great, exactly like what you'd expect from a chocolate peanut butter beer. The flavor was weighted more towards peanuts; thick and candy-like, but still pretty tasty.
Smooth, thick stout with no bitterness to speak of, and a touch of dried fruit but not what I would call sour at all. Just enough to give complexity to an already-excellent stout.
This is the first India Pale Lager that I've felt didn't taste just like an IPA, so I'll give it points for that. That said, I liked the sweet, biscuity, malty finish, but it didn't mesh well with the strikingly bitter hoppiness. Hello, headache! I didn't finish the can.
A rare miss from Firestone Walker for me. Very watery; tastes like the Coors Light of pale ales.
Roasty, bitter stout with hints of licorice and other spice. The finish is, constrastingly, malty and mellow and caramel. That bitterness persists, though.
Sharply bitter opening and boozy. The citrus gives a ton of candied rind effect to the flavor, but it was too acrid -- I honestly couldn't finish it.
Oude Gueuze Tilquin À l'ancienne (unknown release)
Slightly metallic, dry, and sour with a cereal finish. The effect is not unlike Pour Les Oiseux, but more sour and less crisp.
Somehow manages to be watery and funky at the same time, with a sweet, wet-hay body and a dilute finish. Not a fan.
Hair of the Dog Blue Dot Double IPA (Winter 2013)
Round, fruity and delicious, with a fizzy grapefruit-malt open and barely any bitterness in the finish, despite the listed 80 IBUs. If all double IPAs were like this I'd be an IPA fan!
Two Beers Fall Line Russian Imperial Stout (Winter 2014)
Smells of booze and sour vanilla, but the flavor is perfectly balanced chocolate and brandy and stout, smooth and thick.
Roast chocolate and effervescence at the forefront here. I don't know if it's because the bottle is old, but the hops, while definitely present, were subdued for the style, other than in the strong, bitter finish. If you hadn't told me otherwise, I'd have guessed porter.
Musty and savory-sweet, like a medicinal eastern stew that someone decided to serve as a cold beverage. I'm sure there's a place for this "beer," but I'm pretty sure it's not in my mouth.
Deschutes The Dissident (2012)
... and then, a crash. There's a lot of funky yeast action going on in this beer, vinous and mushroom-like, but not with any of the (lucky?) elegance of, say, a Pour Les Oiseaux. If I've ever had a funky blue cheese of a beer, this was it.
Smells lightly of booze and fruit, with a complex, tart, cider-vinegar-like flavor that develops over time. The progression from Beauregarde to Supplication to this was definitely the right order, like a developing symphony.
Russian River Supplication (102113)
Didn't have the smoothness of the 2012 from earlier this year, but it was still very tasty.
The Bruery Beauregarde (2013)
Intensely, puckeringly sour, like sucking on a ruby grapefruit, with an appearance to match. Not bad, but it seemed like work to drink it.
Smells great -- fruity and fresh. Tastes really subdued compared to that. I know that sounds completely different than last time. Who knows?
Part of a flight. inoffensive. Decent. Much less interesting than yesterday's Uncle Big's Brown.
Bellevue CDA (2013)
Part of a flight. Much less fruity than other CDAs I've had lately, with a dank, root-like flavor, like someone crossed a root beer or a birch beer with a piney IPA. I didn't find the flavor much to my liking, but honestly, I hadn't expected to.
Part of a flight. A bit of funk, cereal body, buttery finish and -- surprise! Big bitter bite. A little more balance on that last and this would have been excellent.
Part of a flight. Whoa HOPS. Lots of bitter, citrus, floral hops in this guy -- which is to say, not more than your average West Coast-y pale, but a crapload for something you'd call a "Vienna Lager." So, no.
Pours lovely golden & crystal clear. Opens with the strong, concentrated flavor of hop juice, on the edge of being syrupy, but widens very thankfully into a pleasant and noticeable cereal body. The finish is fairly smooth, leaving a fruity tingle on the tongue. It's not as balanced as Wisdom Seeker, but very, very nice.
Even better the second time. The fragrance is stronger, slightly fruity, but totally in harmony with the cereal body and pilsner bitterness that follows. A keeper -- I wish they bottled this!
Bit of funk, bit of coffee, and a really pleasant molasses fragrance and flavor. A very solid nutbrown.
Paradox in a glass, which I guess is appropriate for an 11.2% Imperial Stout labeled a "session" ale. Buzzy effervescence; boozy, but smooth, with a bracing, pungent umami flavor laced with dried stonefruit. Tasty, but I get a headache just thinking about it.
The sum is so much worse than the parts. I'd love to try just the bourbon-aged Lukcy Basartd by itself, rather than force it through the high, dry heat of the ghost chilies. Every time I put the glass to my lips to take a sip, I had to fight the urge to change my mind.
Bell's Hopslam Ale (2014)
More subdued and smooth in about every dimension than the Hi-Res. I appreciated the smoothness but it did seem a bit one-note. I think my favorite of the trio was definitely the Hop Suplex. Thanks, Keith!
After the Hi-Res, the first sip of this was puckering, but that was just recovering from the sweetness. This is fragrant and hoppy but with a pleasant cereal transition and bit of spicy (Amarillo?) bite to end.
Lots of fragrance coming off of this one, with an almost too-sweet body and finish. It reminded me of the Jolly Rodger but with less resin. Decent, but skirts the edge of too much.
Rich and malty, a touch of umami tartness. Reminds me a lot of Dogfish's World Wide Stout, but a little less integrated. Booze sticks out.
Pungent, syrupy, sticky and really, really boozy. I could easily believe this being tasty in six months' to a year's time, but it's much too young right now.
A fragrant CDA with a large hit of sweet malt to finish. It was different, but didn'd do it for me at all.
The smell of this beer is very odd, like sesame and pungent lilies. With the toasty, dry, almost umami flavor of the porter, it's not a bad mix. I liked it.
The hop character of a pilsner crossed with the musty, wet-hay finish of a Scottish beer. Not bad, but very strange.
I really liked this a lot; it had the amped-up pilsner flavor of, say, a Pravda Pils but also a rounded mellowness that made it seem more like a balanced beer. Very, very nice.
Thick and cocoa-like with a decent barrel character, although this grows cloying very quickly. By the end of my glass I was thinking cough syrup all the way.
Super fragrant with hop perfume, but surprisingly malt-sweet on first taste. The finish is mellow, malty and I couldn't really taste any bitterness. A pleasant surprise!
It's been a long time and several hundred beers since the last time I had one of these! About as easy to drink as I remember, if a lot less special.
Indistinguishable from a decent, run-of-the-mill stout. Reminded me of Dragonstooth, roasty but light-bodied. I guess I was hoping for something more unusual, given the the lager-i-ness.
Not quite as good out of a bottle as on draft, but still delicious.
Avery Mephistopheles' Stout (2013)
Like a stout concentrate: Intense and pungent -- maybe a little too umami for me. But it was certianly memorable. As far as super-strong straight stouts go, though, Dogfish's World Wide was still better.
I don't usually like anise, and this is overt, but it has a lot of backbone to balance it out. Surprisingly enjoyable.
Every time I have this I think I enjoy it more. Love that cereal finish.
Much less umami than 21st Amendment's Marooned on Hog Island, there's a faint salty brininess that comes across more as charcoal and a spicy bite. So from that standpoint it was disappointing, but it wasn't bad overall.
I guess this was here for the Northwest Beer Ladder? Tasty bourbon notes followed by toffee smoothness. Touch of hop spice on the finish, but very smooth and enjoyable.
Bit of funk, solid bitterness throughout. A bit metallic and sweeter than I would have liked on the finish on its own -- crisp, it's not -- but once I started eating, it went quite well with food.
A freezer mishap meant that this was more like a slurpee than a beer. That said, beyond the terrible texture (not its fault), it seemed a bit like a dry, slightly sour stout without any of the creaminess I expect in a milk stout. On the other hand... nippletop.
Manages to straddle the line between creamy and roasty very well. A touch of bitterness on the finish, but really, really enjoyable overall.
Note of roast coffee, but also with a touch of that same bit-too-much-is-cloying tart backdrop as the other beers here. While nice, that dips it below the cream stout.
A toastier, nuttier version of the Dick Danger, which helps it, I think.
Roasty, bit of nuttiness, mayne some hints of chocolate? Slightly tart like the rest of Dick's beers. Very decent.
Boozy and hoppy. At this point in the flight, too much of both, but I could see this working by itself.
It does seem (and look!) kind of watered down for a stout. Goes well with spicy meat, though. (Did I really just write that?)
Easy drinking, light and faintly sweet, with a nice touch of roastiness. Slightly tart finish, but not like bad coffee.
Almost identical to the Golden, but with slightly different balances on the body. At the start of the flight it was too light; by the end it was just right.
Same fermented fruit tartness as the Golden, more clearly banana-like with noticeable cereal finish.
Lightly fruity, like fermented tea. Just enough cereal & hops to give it nice body.
Lots of funk in the smell, but not off-putting in itself. However, you know you've got to back that up with some grain flavor if you're going to get me. This tasted more hollow and the malt that snuck in later was of the bubblegum-sweet variety.
Toasty, creamy brown ale with a slightly nutty finish. A touch heavy, but quite decent.
Jordan was right, this is like a completely different beer coming out of a bottle. Bubblegummy start, slightly acrid, without any depth or tang. Get this on draft if you can, otherwise stay away. Also I'm weirded out by the big, soapy bubbles that filled the bottle after opening it.
Medium to thin-bodied stout with good roast. Flavor is neither overtly salty nor sweet, but seems to subtly and accurately communicate salted caramel, especially in the buttery-smooth mouthfeel and finish. Yum!
Super-hoppy, and by that I mean American northwest hops, full of florality and resin and pithy bitterness -- the last things I really want in something labeled a "pils."
Starts like a decent, robust stout with slight sweetness and a bitter backbone. At first it's not noticeable, but chili builds up in the back of the throat over the course of a glass. -- a high, dry, spice that I'd have preferred come with more smoke and fruit of the pepper.
Tangy with a strong, fruity, grape opening, followed by a somewhat shocking transition into wine-soaked malt. I never got used to it, but I also really liked it. I'm a sucker for oddness, as long as it's tasty.
Smells very sweet, like a vanilla punch on top of coconut. The flavor was at odds with that, kind of flat and sour and with a tinge of cleaner. I'd hoped for something more like Possum Claus, but I really haven't had much luck with the recent cask releases.
Was it because I'd just had the coffee IPA? Or maybe my palate has just grown a lot since last time. I found this to be mellow, rich and chocolaty, with a lot of barrel character but not overwhelmingly so. Call me a new fan!
Surprisingly manages to both accurately express the idea of a "Coffee IPA" and be rather tasty at the same time. Robust dry coffee flavor with strong hop character. Bitter and floral, but not fruity, for which I'm thankful.
Hoppy and dry, almost savory, with a clean finish. Not much cereal to speak of.
Lots of funk fragrance, along with a hint of fruit cider. Flavor is all fruit and hop bitterness, almost to the point where I felt a bit like I was drinking soapy water. I mean, it was definitely okay, but it was weird.
Deschutes The Stoic Belgian Style Quad (unknown release)
Slightly tangy with a pronounced clovey spice profile and tons of round, mellow fruit and vapor character from the pomegranate & various barrels. Very, very pleasant.
Nutty, coffee flavor with a hint of molasses sweetness. Light body, slightly bitter, funky finish but without the lactic thickness of other recent dark lagers.
On its own, it's a little malt-rich (but thankfully not sweet), but it balances the food at Din Tai Fung (for which it's made) beautifully. Grassy and dry open with a medium-bitter finish.
Left Hand Warrior IPA (2013)
Super fragrant without crossing the line, and manages to avoid ending on too pithy a note.
What could have been a decent beer, vanquished at last by the forces of sour.
Either the cold or it coming off draft kicked up the malt backbone here, making it much more drinkable than I remember. Still bitter though!
Effervescent, crisp, with a yummy cereal finish. Lovely, vibrant grassy hop smell -- Ninkasi is great at getting that nose out of bed.
A little more chewy than I wanted but if you're in the mood for a malty-sweet Oktoberfest kind of flavor this will probably work for you. I tend to prefer crisp, particularly when my beer is yellow.
Smells like a cross between an floral IPA and apple cider. Forward flavor is really nice, with the apple smoothing out hops and transitioning cleanly into the malts. The finish, though, is all IPA, bitter and lingering.
A sample. I don't really know much about cider, but I liked this quite a bit. The description says this was made from crabapple, and I believe it -- It was quite dry, but without losing the quality and perfume of the fruit.
Light, like a nutbrown. Fluffy, thick head and a creamy, uh... almondy... milkiness that I really enjoyed. I think this is a winner for 21A.
Stone Enjoy By IPA (02.14.14)
I remember liking the 07.04.13 more than this. Still really fresh and floral, but it skirts the line of being too dank and crosses it by the fourth sip or so. Soon after that I felt a little gross just smelling it.
On or maybe just over the very edge of too sweet. Combines a little strangely with a strong roasty finish but it's still very drinkable.
Sweet and malty, like an Oktoberfest, with a toasty lactic finish to give it that "dunkel" character. I liked that it had more body than other schwarzbiers I've had lately.
It's an okay stout, but if you were sold on the whole s'mores thing you'd be hard-pressed to identify any of that in here. Maybe the black stuff on the outside of a burnt marshmallow? Maybe.
Strongly roasty without being too bitter, & just the barest touch of wood. It's priced like a regular craft stout and given that it's solidly tasty. It wouldn't stand out in a field of barrel-aged beers, though.
What worked: mellow barrel taste, warm ginger spice & a malt-strong finish. What didn't work so well: Widmer kicks you in the teeth with ALCOHOL!, as usual, and I also wanted more ginger fruitiness.
More or less a piney Fresca - light and perfume-y with a barely detectable malt finish. Weak cask carbonation didn't help. (10 oz schooner)
Smells grassy, but seems overly malted, with a cloying finish. I'd go for the Havanüther over this, every time.
Really smooth, and weirdly awful.
Harviestoun Ola Dubh Special Reserve 12 (unknown release)
The description mentions notes of Worchestershire sauce, among other weird things, and it's not wrong. There's a savory tang underneath an otherwise normal, pleasant & strong imperial stout flavor, which lingers afterwards. Really strange, but I think it's appealing. Maybe?
Super-smooth, with hints of fruit and just a touch of tartness on the finish.
Smells v. promising, sweet & whiskey-like. Unfortunately, it tastes watery and off-sour in a "something-terrible-happened-in-the-fermenter" way. I couldn't finish even a small pour!
Russian River Supplication (2012)
Almost shockingly tart, with a liqueur-y, buttery finish. It was not unlike a tart, sour cherry pie. I don't usually like sours, but -- yum!
I LOVE sticky toffee pudding, so I was hoping for something tasty or at least comically terrible, but this was neither. Smells very strongly of dates and toffee, but the jarringly incongruous taste is like watered-down nutbrown ale or the dregs of an ice-filled cup of cola.
IPA-derived barleywine: lots of fragrant hops, mellow and warm opening which finishes in a gradually-building bitterness. Not my favorite style, but clearly high-quality. (I have a hard time believing 104 IBU!)
Beautiful, rich toasted coconut aroma which translates intact to the flavor. Dry, super clean finish. Aaaand, now I'm feeling really wistful for Possum Claus.
Holy malt, Barman. Strong and sweet and bready, and surprisingly un-hoppy for a Lagunitas brew.
Really tasty. Manages to be crisp and smooth at the same time, without the super-strong grassy funk that one sometimes gets from Czech pilsners (but just enough to give it depth!).
Outside the context of a tasting, the fact that this is 76% Abacus is a lot clearer. Still delicious, but more traditionally a barleywine.
Smells and tastes of piney hops and apple, I think? Overt alcohol and then a malty finish. All in all, I think it's a little bit too blatant for me to enjoy, or maybe I'm just hooked on healthy aging for these high gravity brews.
I think this was nearly identical to the 14 with a more cloying finish. I assume that will mellow out with age. Also, drinking this in the freezing cold is bringing out some petty bitchiness on my part, so maybe it's good that we've reached the end.
In context, it's clear that this is much sweeter than I remembered. Still, it has a hoppier complexity than the others, which stands out.
Firestone Walker Agrestic Ale (unknown release)
Quite tart & drying on the tongue. I don't really like sour ales that much, and honestly I didn't like this at first, but it really does have a pleasant transition to a grain flavored finish that I very much enjoyed. Maybe there's hope for me after all?
Unbelievably smooth, with overtones of stone fruit and fresh fig, but not in an overt way at all. Very different from the other Anniversaries tonight, rounder, & with much less toffee. Yummy.
Smooth, plenty of toffee. Plummy taste, with an ending that comes on strong with wood and pepper.
More like a mild sour or a lambic than anything I would call a saison. Fizzy and fragrant of peach or apricot or some other stone fruit. A light mellow tartness that dries out the tongue but in a pleasing way.
It's always dicey trying to predict what kind of smoke you'll get in a smoked beer. This is firmly cooking-wood smoke, strong but not gross, and thankfully the maltiness is toned way down. Nice, prominent noble hop bitterness evens out the finish. I might have been the only one in the room who liked it, but I liked it.
Quite hoppy, strongly fragrant, fruity and not too resinous. Just enough of a sweet malt kicker to remind you this is a winter ale, but you could fool me into calling this an IPA with no effort at all.
Woodsy IPA flavor that stays just on the acceptable side of resinous, and a nice peppery finish that -- while not screaming BELGIAN!! -- still manages to let you know where you're at.
Sweet and malty, very much like a sweeter-side Oktoberfest.
Yum, this is exactly what I want in a lager - clean, funky, tangy and malty.
It says Tripel, tastes more like a Belgian IPA and a lot hoppier than I enjoy. Dry and spicy. I admit I probably would have enjoyed it more if they'd gotten the category right.
About exactly as roasty as I want an imperial stout, medium-thick with no lingering bitterness or sourness. Just a hint of wood in the background. I'm going to age a bottle or three of this; I bet it'll do well.
Spicy, but candy-like and uncomplicated, like drinking fresh-baked gingerbread.
Great milk coffee flavor, not too sweet. Exactly what it claims to be, which is better than I expected.
Solid, light, smooth porter. Doesn't hit you on the head, but still comes off as recognizably chocolaty. Good balance and mouthfeel.
Part of a flight. Malty, toffee-coffee overtones, and strong. I can't honestly remember any more about it!
Part of a flight. Porter-like lager with a coffee-like, faintly smoky flavor. Light and very pleasant.
Part of a flight. Smells sweet, with an unusual kind of toasty, chalky flavor that I found somewhat unpleasant. The finish was kind of shallow from a malt perspective, which completed the disappointment.
Part of a flight. I'm not sure where they get off calling this a Czech Pilsner - there's way too much citrus hop perfume and no detectable grassiness. Maybe you could call this a Common. Bitter and spicy and lingering.
Part of a flight. Smells like clove candy, and tastes, well, holy banana, Batman. Proceeds immediately into an unexpectedly dry, tart finish, which seemed out of balance.
Clean, crisp malt flavor with more of that enjoyable funky tang than I expected. My favorite of the flight.
Smells like caramel candy. Clean, thin, soda effervescence, with hints of Scottish ale wet-hay character. Solidly enjoyable.
A taste. Thanks Alex! Smells like sweet cocoa, but not overpoweringly so. Nicely balanced, although too one-note to really stick out.
A taste. Thanks Alex... but yuck. Much too much perfume.
Has the character of a Scottish ale like Traquair more than anything I'd call an American Brown - malty, pungent like wet hay. Once I stopped trying to think of it as a holiday ale it was much more enjoyable.
A taste. Thanks Alex! First impression is... boring, brown. Got a wee bit better over time.
A taste. Thanks Alex! I pegged this as a thin-bodied Belgian Wit, but I guess this is supposed to be a Bavarian Hefeweizen. Dry and a bit watery, but everything is at least balanced light, so I liked it.
Solid medium-roasty porter with coffee notes and a medium body. I had this with strong-tasting food so I don't know how much I can trust myself here.
Strong wheaty body with just a touch of dry tartness. Really, really tasty, though it made me wish it were warmer out.
Super thick and malty & super-smooth. The depth and purity of flavor without resorting to barreling tricks is astounding. Scary to think how strong it is! Glad I had just a couple ounces.
Creamy medium bodied stout, not surprising given its lineage, with great bourbon barrel character. The only problem was a high-and-dry burnt bitterness that seemed strongly out of balance. But enjoyable nonetheless.
A little less weirdly out there, but still possessing the funky-tangy-nutty flavor the Session Brown had. Unusually appealing, but cloys after a while. (10 oz schooner)
A High Frequency club special release - starts nice but has some of the soapy sourness I associate with nitro (even though this was a cask pour). (10 oz schooner)
Tastes a lot like a strong barrel-aged barley wine: caramel, hoppy, rounded and mellow (think Old Birdbrain) -- but with some roasty dark flavor added.
Has most of what I like in an Oktoberfest but the noble hop bitterness is quite prominent.
I am broken with IPAs, I guess. Too much resin, too much perfume.
Too forward-bitter for my taste, and the malt is a little sweet. But I didn't know it was an amber before I ordered it, so half of this is fighting against expectations.
Felt a little more over-sweet than the last, more festive time I had it. It's still very good, but it didn't blow my mind.
Almanac Bourbon Sour Porter (unknown release)
Quite tart, with a restrained barrel character and a mellow dilute fruit-vinegar tartness. Finishes clean and dark.
Black Raven La Petite Mort (2012)
Significantly better than the 2013 - more integrated, stronger malt profile. Really, really nice. I guess that extra year and a half makes a difference.
Really nice open with liquor and barrel flavors; not too thick. Subtle transition to spicy rye hoppiness right before an absurdly clean finish. Noticeably better balanced and more enjoyable than the XVI.
A dry chocolate stout with some bitterness. The label says ancho chilies and vanilla went into this, but you'd have to squint to get more than the barest hint. There's noticeable chocolate, but I really wanted to taste more of the unusual stuff.
Fragrant and hoppy at first but finishes off with a chewy, bready (but not sweet!) malt finish. If you'd told me this was an IPA at the time I would absolutely not have believed you, but everything's always a little different with Anchor.
New in bottle. Sweet, thick coffee with a strong hit of wood, which builds up quickly into a bitterness -- no obvious hard liquor notes. Would probably benefit from some aging.
I'm prepared now to say less sweet. The dial needs to be turned to less sweet. But still very nice for a cider.
Much too sweet, with noticeable malt but also a kind of cloying hop-perfume finish. At this point Abita has crossed over into the assume-bad category for me.
Thin, but clean tasting porter with a medium milk-stout-like sweetness, but enough bitterness to let you know it's serious. Not bad at all.
I know it's a cliché to describe a beer as tasting like piss, but I think this one really nailed it.
Good grain flavor and a bit of spicy hopping. The best of a rather weak beer selection hit the spot.
Not nearly as good on nitro as it was on cask, but then again I've never liked nitro. Still strong, considering.
Lots of flaky sediment seemed scary at first, but this was a nice, bready beer with an unexpected, dry acid opening. Maybe slight hints of lemon or banana, but nothing overt. Finishes super-clean - I liked it a lot!
Really nice, the only thing I could live without is the bitter buildup.
A thin brown with a nice cinnamon graham like balance of spices. Not especially beer-like, but kind of yummy.
Thanks, Nick! This was undeniably thin, both in mouthfeel and flavor, but there was just enough of both a malty coffee/cocoa thing going on and a touch of backseat hop funk that it endeared itself to me. Slight notes of tobacco. Super-easy to drink.
Thanks Alex! This was cloudy with more grapefruit-like hop flavor than I was expecting, and a quick bitterness. Some overmatched malt. Balance was way off, I thought.
Crisp, tasty kölsch that was a touch bitter on the finish but was otherwise exactly what I was looking for.
Light golden Belgian flavor with a touch of pepper, slightest hint of smoke, citrusy tang and a clean, malt, slightly bitter finish.
Fremont Barrel Aged B-Bomb (2013)
Mmm. Just the right amount of wood - what a great finish. Not too thick, but still possesses a wonderful chocolate creaminess.
Smells like a cherry coke, but most of what could have been syrupy is cut nicely by toasty stout bitterness, smoothening and becoming more dark chocolaty.
More distinctly spiced than the Draak, with clear Belgian character and a roundly fruity, sweet flavor.
Gulden Draak Vintage Ale (2012)
Dry, plummy flavor with subtle festive spicing. Smooth and subdued fizz, like an excellent unfiltered cider.
Smells sweetly of chocolate and molasses, and tastes strongly similar. Peppery, bitter finish to offset, but didn't notice much if any salt. An "interesting" beer.
I feel like I can say this was absolutely intended to be drunk I've cold.
Quite strong on the whiskey barrel with a nice woody caramel mellowness and a fiery bite. Finish is bitter but not out of place. An easy winner.
I think there was an okay beer in there, but it basically tasted flat and watery after the Yuengling. Reminded me of a Modelo Especial.
Orval Trappist Ale (2013)
Classic Belgian candi sugar intro but the end seemed unexpectedly grapefruit-IPA and bitter.
Bubblegummy grapefruit IPA with a peppery juniper bite on the finish. Over time, the bitterness builds up, but it starts out clean.
Like the Yuengling, it smells funky, but this time the taste is not an improvement. There's a weird sourness to this lager that makes it taste somewhere south of fresh.
Strong hit of Bourbon, very promising, but the flavor is a bit over-sweet and somewhat too woody, finishing on the cloying, sour side. It's not bad, but there's a lot better in this category.
Smells a little off, but tastes really nice. Noticeable tang to give it crispness, bit of funk, and a clean malt finish. Really drinkable; I can see why people dig it.
Watery. Got out of the way of Indian food in a hurry, so I'll give it that.
Nice caramel, coffee overtone with a stronger than expect malt profile and slightly Belgian character. A bit watery, though.
Either this got better with age, this doesn't do well on draft, or I appreciate these flavors now. Distinct dried-fruit flavors mesh nicely with both the sugar-spice Belgian and thatchy Doppel characters. I liked it.
A lot like the Brown Shugga but with a bit of acrid bite on top, which actually helps balance out the flavor. I found myself appreciating the other beer more after trying this.
Out of the bottle it wasn't revolting like it was on draft the other week. It's still kind of a war between the fruit-hop side and the malt and I still wouldn't choose it for myself.
Strong, recognizably gingerbread spice with both sweetness and sourness reminiscent of molasses on top of a thin porter-like base.
Thick and cocoa like with a hint of spicy bitterness from the Belgian yeast. Bit of sourness -- from the nitro?
Nice and rich, caramel and straw with a touch of sweetness, a lot like a super-strong Scotch Ale. Strong bourbon and barrel character rounds it out. It's not the smoothest beer, but there's a lot to like.
Bizarre beer, with a sweet flavor profile dominated by honey and muscat. The overall feeling is a lot like a Belgian pale, but without the effervescence. Somewhat cloying finish.
A weird, musty smell, which absolutely does not reflect the flavor of the beer. Flavorwise, vanilla dominates, combining with subtle smoke and strong hop presence to taste a bit like a burnt barrel. A tiny bit unpleasant, but I liked it better than the regular smoked porter.
Not what I'd call noticeably coffee-like in color or taste, this has a nice festive fragrance of cinnamon and molasses and drinks clean. Well-balanced.
Fruity and resinous with some pithy, spicy bitterness. Touch of malt, but I would have liked more.
In general, I've been pleasantly surprised with BJ's beers. They're all drinkable, if not especially memorable. This "light beer" has some nice grain flavor and some poppy effervescence and is about exactly what I was looking for when I ordered it.
Slight coffee on the nose, with a very light and dry roasty, slightly nutty taste. The finish is clean and lightly malty. Nice caramel.
First miss for me in a while for Avery. Hollow nuttiness transitions into a dank, uncomplicated malt profile that seems like it can't decide to be sweet or dry. No real hop or grain presence to bring it to character in one direction or another.
A very Belgian strong pale that has a bit of bitter, spicy kick at the end but still manages to go down smoothly, overall. Tasty.
Big Wood Festival. Tastes more wine barreled than bourbon, with a fresh, fruity grape overtone on to of a tasty Belgian beer base. Delicious.
Big Wood Festival. Fruity and grapey but with a huge caramel presence. Not sour, in spite of the name, other than that sense of fruit. Really nice.
Big Wood Festival. Sweet, candy like with a nice bite. Very tasty.
Mad Viking Cognac Barrel Night Raid Imperial Stout (unknown release)
Big Wood Festival. More cognac than stout, very muscat-fruity, with just a touch of stout robustness at the end. I liked it, but it's really confusing.
Big Wood Festival. Sweet, with tons of vanilla. Coats the mouth and just keeps on warming.
Not sweet at all, with some sharp roasty notes without losing its smoothness. Not my ideal flavor profile, but it is a nice beer.
Citrusy and pungent on the nose, with a heavy dose of some kind of potpourri spice. After some cranberry dryness there's a nice mellow malt finish. A little too weird to really love, it was still a nice glass.
I wanted to like this a lot, but it was at once more hoppy than I was looking for, in a fruity and piney way, and also just maybe the most carbonated beer on Earth. I'd like to give this a try again someday with a clean palate, though. It seemed like there was something worthwhile in there.
Like drinking an Andes mint, with just a touch of oak. Super clean finish. Really good!
Fragrant, hoppy, brown -- a typical Lagunitas flavor profile. I liked it but probably won't remember it for a long time.
A rich, smooth imperial stout that seems one bourbon barrel away from sublime. Which is to say, it's quite good.
Nice strong funk to open. Body's a bit thin but flavor-wise it's there. And I appreciate a not-overtly-sweet Oktoberfest, for once.
My tip would be that this beer works best when drunk alone or with something meaty. Bread or pizza, not so much.
A thin, mostly typical nitro stout with a pronounced sweet toffee finish that sets it slightly above the pack.
I thought this was undrinkable, like someone dumped a resiny, bubblegum-sweet double IPA into an Oktoberfest and left it to die in the woods. What's weird is I had this bottled last Winter and thought it was okay.
Much sweeter than expected, kind of like a beer version of a honey liqueur. Definitely strong bourbon presence.
A light porter with distinct and pleasing bourbon barrel characteristics. I could drink a whole lot of this - and I probably did.
More like a strong Tripel in character than other quads, golden-amber in color and Belgian-spiced, but wonderfully balanced and assertive. I think I like these Avery people.
The Lost Abbey Deliverance Ale (unknown release)
Amazing, creamy, bourbon-sweet stout-ish beer, with tons of complexity and -- oh, that nose! Mmmm.
Kind of featureless, save the assertive hoppy finish. Needed some meat to balance it out. NO THAT IS NOT A EUPHEMISM.
Wow, that juniper adds a bite. I don't know why I didn't notice that before.
So much going on in this beer, as expected. The balance is much better than the 14, with less sweetness, some pronounced hoppiness, caramel, caramel, caramel, and about a billion barrels of Firestone Walker magic.
Vaguely Oktoberfest-like with a strong, sharp, much-too-bitter noble hop finish.
Dry and hoppy without much malt, but it worked with the smoke, I thought.
I liked the flavor - nice caramel malt -but it was somewhat waterier than I expected.
Really decent porter with a nice, subtle hazelnut essence & a touch of savor to enhance the feeling of nuttiness.
Stone's normal huge IPA character, but mixed with a strange bubblegummy candy quality and ... something? Cucumber rind, or maybe bell pepper? It was different, for sure, but I'm not sure that made it good.
Huge, sweet bourbon fragrance, thin body, with lots of stuff going on flavor-wise: a kind of tangy dried fruit essence, chocolate, molasses, caramel. It wasn't as fully integrated as the most top-flight representatives of this style, but a nice, STRONG, and tasty beer, without being too heavy.
Strong, roasty, thick, balanced tart and bitter without coffee or any other gimmickry in play. And no nitro! (Yay.) Really enjoyed this one.
Good, bready malt, not too sweet. Smells exactly right. A little bit too much alcoholic bite for my mood, but not bad at all. (10 oz schooner)
Balanced between grassy and piney hops with a big grain malt body. Hit of bitterness at the end, but a good, crisp, refreshing lager overall.
A little too much roasted chocolate malt and not enough body to match. It sure smelled nice, though.
Not very memorable, with a thin, watery body and a slightly bitter, fragrant finish.
Unexpected medicinal bitterness hits you right in the face but mellows out quickly into a strongly grain-flavored finish -- dank pine & grapefruit in the background the whole time.
Opens as a really mellow, wit-like ale, before settling into a slightly savory göse-like coriander haze. Smells sweet, tastes less so, but finishes with a lingering metallic finish which is the only dark spot on an otherwise enjoyable beer.
Tasty, pleasant, like drinking a banana bread as a beer without having to drink Banana Bread Beer.
For whatever reason, this was better the second time. Well integrated with a kind of lactic-acid super-creaminess reminiscent of sour cream. Which I mean in a good way.
The slightly salty pecan is pure goodness. The chili sits subtly on the tongue and gives it a nice bite.
Has a sharp, rooty-barky finish reminiscent of birch or anise that I never really warmed up to. I guess I'll wait for the Bourbon version next time.
A grassy, pungent, sweeti-ish Scottish ale, richly flavored but light in body. A wet-hay quality to it, if you're into that sort of thing.
Some of that nitro sourness at the end, but otherwise very nice. Good, but understated, whiskey character, not too sweet, and a very clean finish. Gets noticeably better as it warms.
I don't know if it was just that much worse from the bottle, but it was.
Grassy with some sharp lager hop bitterness and a decent amount of malt. Amber still seems a little indifferent to me as a lager style, but it hit a lot of what I look for in a lager these days.
Coffee, hops and caramel. Pleasant, but not especially memorable.
Speakeasy Brewer's Reserve Old Godfather Barley Wine (unknown release)
Starts with huge hop florality, followed by a bitterness reminiscent of off cucumbers. Finishes with an indifferent maltiness that I wished were sweeter, with that bitter background never quite dissipating. Masks the strong alcohol pretty well, but this was a challenge anyway.
Big and fruity with huge amounts of piney florality and a pithy finish. I really enjoyed it at first but I think it was almost too floral; by the end it was tasting like fabric cleaner to me.
Very light, with very subtle carbon and a lemony tang leading into bright wheaty goodness. Nitro still isn't my thing, but this was yummy.
It was like the Chaka I had earlier today, only more watery. To be fair, I've absolutely had a lot of beer today.
Smells like a sweet stout, but there's no sweetness in the taste. The texture is distinctly soda-like, and a faintly unpleasant sourness dominates the flavor and sticks in the throat.
Smells really nice, but right away something is off with the flavor -- too tangy-sweet, with a strong transition into cough-syrup sweet molasses. Totally cloying. It's kind of like an Uncle Jacob gone terribly wrong.
Fragrant and clean IPA with a nice flavor, but just a hint more pithiness than I like.
Gulden Draak Vintage Ale (2008)
Smells like the best mulled apple cider, and starts that way, dissipating into a caramel, clean finish. Some tartness but not nearly as much as you'd initially expect. Just super, super yummy.
In commemoration of T minus 12:12:12:12 to Xbox One launch! Dark and chocolatey, with a nice dose of molasses, cinnamon and Belgian spice. Totally appropriate for December.
Lots of Belgian spice, coriander and cinnamon, with a bit of apricot-like fruit character. Not bad, but not really my cup of tea, and too one-note to overcome that.
Dry but not sour, nice bourbon on top of a solid thin-bodied stout.
Strong coffee on the nose, with a big hit of bourbon. Flavorwise it's very sweet, almost on the edge of too much, with a thin body and decent amounts of everything else - coffee, wood, bourbon, and chocolate. I'd love to try one of the other releases, since they use a different coffee each time.
Light-drinking beer with a strong caramel / molasses presence and a touch of cinnamon at the top. It's not challenging, but it's tasty.
Sweet, almost vegetal, super-malty character, bleeding into a strong alcohol finish. It's like they took a Sam Adams Oktoberfest and Imperialized it, where I was looking for some amped-up grassy hop character.
Bellevue Extra Red Ale (2013)
Super hop-forward with a strong malt backbone, and apparently stronger than it first appeared, because, wow. I think I got to being inappropriate.
Smells great, coffee and bourbon. Taste is thinner and drier, with that nitro chemical quality that I don't like, but with nice woody and chocolate character.
An otherwise boring lager made somewhat interesting by the addition of cinnamon, which gives it a dry, subtle spicy transition to the malt.
Incredibly rich molasses and a clean, tongue-tingling finish. Almost like drinking gingerbread. Drinks incredibly easily for a 10% beer.
Rich malty flavor with good cereal expression and a bit of sweetness, countered with some metallic tang and a funky finish. Just a touch strong on the alcohol flavor, but would probably sit well on a wintry day.
Prune pruney prune. Prune. Did I mention it tastes like prune? Not much bourbon or even wood character and that pruney tartness.
Thin and easy-drinking, with that creamy oatmeal smoothness that I think I can finally identify consistently. Really reminiscent of an iced milk coffee. Tiny bit bitter at the end, but left my mouth feeling happy.
Peppery and spice forward, with clove in full effect before melting into a smooth, clean, fizzy finish. The opening was a little strong for me but overall it was enjoyable.
Nice woody (but not ashy) smoke that interacts well with a crisp, not-too-sweet Oktoberfest. I could see being in the mood for this easily, though definitely not all the time.
I liked the base beer & the rye-barreling only elevates it. The sharpness of the whiskey and the sharpness of the rye malt bite complement each other very well, with the vanilla barrel character smoothing it out. Finishes amazingly clean, with no woody bitterness.
Big hit of coffee in the smell. Not a lot of pumpkin flavor but the thick, creamy mouthfeel probably comes from the gourd. The finish was a bit on the sharply bitter side for me.
This is basically a less-sweet, more-coffee version of Velvet Merkin.
Pale in color, with smooth malt flavor and grassy hop aroma and finish, in an easy-drinking Oktoberfest. Slightly subdued flavoring keeps this from being a top choice.
Still thin, no doubt, but for a super-drinkable light coffee porter that won't fill you up, this nails the mark.
Smells amazing, with a strong whiff of Bourbon and caramel and good strong beer. The flavor is less-balanced, with an awkward cherry finish and a syrupy tartness that cloys in the throat. It wasn't bad, but if you're going to splurge for barrel-aged beer there are far better options.
Smells distinctly candy-like, like a Tootsie Roll with a faint whiff of anise, but it doesn't really translate to the flavor, which is dense and caramel with a drying finish. I don't know if this is really to the style -- no hint of Belgian spice at all -- but it was yummy.
Chewy sweet malt texture, like wet hay and caramel. I kind of liked it, but it was undeniably one-note.
Funky amber lager with a sweet malty backbone and creamy texture. The funk and malt never seem to balance out, but it was decent.
The hop profile is reminiscent of a Black IPA, dry and caramel-toasty, more bitter than floral. Very pleasant for the style.
Naked City The Big Lebrewski White Russian Imperial Stout (5th Anniversary)
It starts sweet, like a creamy milk stout with some hints of coffee, followed by a mellow, delicious oak smoothness. Then the wood just keeps building into a sharp, bitter, ashtray-like big rock ending. I do think If they'd oaked it a little less, it would have been great.
Missing the savory tang I look for just before the malt finish in German pilsners, so it can only go so high. But it's otherwise decent.
Starts resinous. Which would normally be a problem for me, but an unusual transition into the malt finish really took me by surprise and in a good way. So at least that happened.
Nice to see a pumpkin ale that doesn't rely on sweetness or heavy spicing. This has a vegetal mustiness and understated pie spice with the strong impression that any sugar is coming right off the gourd. I liked it.
Nice heavy malt with some dry tang to offset it. A bit chewy rather than crisp, but quite decent. Comparable to Sam Adams in this category, but less sweet.
Did this have a weird perfumey finish, or was it just me?
A tasty medium-bodied porter with very nice coffee notes and a clean finish. Manages to be roasty without being unpleasantly bitter or sour. Another winner!
Good barrel character in a milky-robust porter. I have rosy memories of this on draft, but the bottle ain't bad, either.
Okay, I'm sold that draft is definitely the way to have this one. It's still good out of the can, but the coconut is faint at best.
Seemed better than last time, even though this can came from the same box.
Showing 6000 of 6602 log entries