11.2 ounce bottle into tulip, best before 7-26-11. Pours hazy dark red-orange color with a huge 3 finger off white head with fantastic retention that eventually reduces to a thin lacing. Aromas of huge pineapple, mango, orange, and pine; with caramel and a some honey. Very nice an balanced aromas, a bit different than I am used to in a DIPA though. Taste of big grapefruit, orange, pine, and spices on the front; with big caramel sweetness afterward. Nice strong bitterness on the finish that lingers for a while with caramel, citrus and pine flavor. Very well balanced bitterness and sweetness with the sweetness being a bit more prominent. Medium carbonation and medium-full bodied. No alcohol noticed on taste or finish. Overall a very good and unique imperial IPA.
My first real Brewdog beer, and I was pretty impressed with it. I would have it again sometime.
750 ml bottle into snifter. Pours cloudy red color with a dense 1 finger light tan head with great retention. Aromas of strong caramel, citrus, toast, molasses, and honey; with some pine and grapefruit notes as well with some booze. Taste of tons of caramel, honey, molasses, toast, and orange. Not much bitterness noticed on the finish, but there is huge malty lingering notes of caramel, bread, and molasses; with some citrus flavor. Insanely smooth drinking for its alcohol level with no alcohol in the taste and almost no warming noticed on the finish. Insanely smooth and drinkable for the alcohol level. Medium carbonation and huge full body. Overall, an incredible barleywine, and another fantastic beer from Alesmith.
Another great beer from Alesmith, as expected. Another one of the best barleywines I have had yet. Highly recommended.
22 ounce bottle into snifter, 2011 bottle. Pours crystal clear brick red color with a 1 finger dense light tan head with great retention that reduces to a thin lacing cap that lasts. Some decent lacing on the glass as well. Aromas of strong caramel, molasses, bread, orange and some pine and a small amount of booze. Decent aroma strength. Taste of bread, caramel, molasses, pineapple, orange, and some pine. Big malt on the taste but there is a decent amount of bitterness on the finish that lingers for a bit with big caramel and citrus flavors. Huge full and thick body with medium carbonation. Incredibly smooth drinking for its alcohol level, with no alcohol in the taste, and a decent warming on the finish. Overall, a fantastic and delicious barleywine, would love to see this with some age on it as well.
Definitely one of the best barleywines I have ever had. Highly recommended, and a great price as well for the bomber.
12 ounce bottle, best by 07/08/11. Pours slightly hazy amber color with a fairly dense 2 finger white head with good retention that reduces to a thin lacing cap. Aromas of mango, pineapple, and caramel; with some pine and bread as well. Aromas are on the weak side though. Taste of good amounts of grapefruit, pine, and spiciness; with caramel, bread, and a bit of pineapple as well. Fairly strong bitterness on the finish that lingers with citrus and pine flavors. Alcohol not present in the taste but a decent warming noticed on the finish. Very nice balance of sweetness and bitterness. Medium-high carbonation and medium bodied. Overall, this is a delicious and quality IPA.
A very nice offering from Great Lakes. Different from most IPAs I am used to being that it is an English styled IPA, but still an enjoyable experience.
22 ounce bottle into snifter, 2010 vintage. Pours very dark brown color with a 1 finger dark tan head with great retention. A thin lacing cap lasts for the remainder of the glass with decent lacing sticking to the glass. Aromas of strong citrus hops with chocolate, roasted malt, caramel, and a small bit of alcohol. Big aromas with plenty of hops here. Taste of huge amounts of dark chocolate, caramel, molasses, and roasted malt; with a bit of coffee and citrus as well. Decent bitterness on the finish that lingers with the strong roasted, chocolate, and caramel flavors. Very creamy and smooth with no alcohol noticed in the taste at all. Decent alcohol warming on the finish. Medium-low carbonation and full bodied. Overall, an excellent imperial stout.
More great stuff from Smuttynose here. Still have quite a few more Big Beer series brews to try out in the future.
22 ounce bottle into snifter. Pours very dark brown color with a dense 1 finger tan head with good retention. A thin lacing cap lingers for the remainder of the glass. Aromas of strong milk and dark chocolate; with some roasted malt and caramel as well. Not very complex here, but it sure smells damn good, like a tootsie roll. Taste of strong chocolate once again, with some roasted malts and caramel. Maybe a bit of dark fruits and coffee mixed in there as well. A very small amount of bitterness is present on the finish, but isn’t around for long. Lots of roasted and chocolate flavor lingers after the finish. No alcohol noticed in the taste at all, but a decent warming is present on the finish. Medium carbonation with a fairly full and creamy body. Very smooth drinking as well for the alcohol level. Overall, quite an tasty chocolate stout, nice smoothness and good balance.
This is a very nice chocolate stout, would definitely have it again.
12 ounce bottle into tulip. Pours hazy dark red-orange color with a fairly dense 2 finger off white head with great retention. Aromas of strong orange and caramel; with pineapple, mango, and a bit of bread and alcohol. Fairly strong aromas here. Taste of strong caramel, orange, grapefruit, and mango. Very sweet flavors on the front that lead to a fairly strong bitterness on the finish that lingers with orange, grapefruit, and caramel flavor. This is very malt forward, but still has good balance. Light-Medium carbonation and very full bodied. Very smooth drinkability for its alcohol level. No alcohol noticed on the taste, but a decent warming was noticed on the finish, but overall the alcohol was very well hidden. Overall a very tasty DIPA, and the highest gravity DIPA I have had yet.
Glad that this gets into Ohio, despite being 13.6%. Great DIPA, if a bit malty for my taste.
12 ounce bottle into tulip, best by 08/08/11. Pours slightly hazy amber color with a huge 3 finger off white head with fantastic retention that reduces to a thin lacing cap. Some decent lacing on the glass. Aromas of tons of mango and pineapple; with a bit of grapefruit and caramel. Love the aromas, probably the most mango I have ever smelled in a beer yet. Taste of a lot of pineapple, grapefruit, pine, and a bit of caramel. Fairly strong bitterness on the finish that lingers with pineapple and citrus flavors. Incredibly smooth drinkability for over 9% ABV, and great balance of bitterness and sweetness. Medium carbonation and medium-full bodied. Overall an incredible Double IPA, this is the best beer I have ever had from Great Lakes so far.
Absolutely an incredible IPA when it is super fresh, no idea what a few months will do to it, but right now it is amazing.
This is another limited edition, but it was also available last year. Been a while since I had this one. It is amaretto ice cream with pieces of almond brittle. The ice cream has good texture, not the best, but is still good. The flavor is very strong and smooth amaretto that blends well with the almond brittle. The almost brittle varies in size but the largest in here is about the size of a pea. Very crunchy as well and adds a nice texture contrast to the pint. Very strong flavor also. There are also plenty of the brittle pieces spread throughout the pint. Pretty simplistic ice cream here, but overall it is excellent and highly enjoyable.
22 ounce bottle, very fresh bottle, picked it up at the brewery. Pours cloudy orange amber color with a dense 2 finger off white head with incredible retention that reduces to a lacing cap. Some very nice lacing coats the glass. Aromas of grapefruit, orange, caramel, pine, and spices. Pretty typical IPA aromas here, very nicely balanced. Taste of tons of orange, grapefruit, and pine; with spiciness and caramel as well. Fairly strong bitterness on the finish that lingers with citrus and pine flavors. Very nice balance, with bitterness being more prominent. Medium-high carbonation and medium bodied. No alcohol noticed on the taste or finish. Overall, an outstanding IPA, I always enjoy a nice hop forward IPA any time.
A fantastic IPA, especially fresh as it was. I would probably still highly enjoy it with a little age on it as well, nice and hoppy.
12 ounce bottle. Pours dark brown color with a delayed 2 finger dense tan head with incredible retention that reduces to a thin lacing cap that lingers. Aromas of chocolate, caramel, smoke, roasted malt, and a bit of cola. There are some decently strong aromas, but they are a little on the odd side. Taste of dark chocolate, roasted malt, smoke, caramel, coffee, and a small amount of dark fruit. A slight amount of bitterness shows up on the finish and lingers for a short period with roasted chocolate flavors. A bit of prickly carbonation felt as well. Medium body with a bit of a creamy feel. Great drinkability as well. No alcohol in the taste but a slight warming on the finish was noticed. Overall this is quite impressive stuff, glad I have another one of these in the collab 12 pack.
Another tasty offering from the Ohio Beer Week collab 12 pack. I have a feeling most of these are going to be good.
500 ml bottle into tulip. A bit of a gusher bottle. Pours extremely dark brown color with a huge 2 finger tan head with incredible retention that reduces to a thin lacing cap that lingers for a bit. Aromas of tons of caramel, roasted malt, molasses, chocolate, and coffee. A bit of spicy and citrus hops as well. Taste of huge caramel flavors and molasses, with roasted malt and chocolate as well. Fairly low bitterness on the finish with lingering caramel and roasted flavor. Medium-full bodied with medium-low carbonation. Very nice and creamy mouthfeel. Overall an excellent brew, tasty and smooth.
An excellent brown ale here, will try and get it again this year. I look forward to having more from this brewery soon.
12 ounce bottle into snifter. Pours opaque black color with a 1 finger dense tan head with great retention. Reduces to a thin lacing cap that lasts for the rest of the glass. Aromas of strong bourbon, oak, dark chocolate, vanilla, and roasted malt. Taste of dark chocolate, caramel, oak, bourbon, and roasted malt with a touch of coffee. Tons of roasted flavor with bourbon on the front that leads to a decent amount of bitterness on the finish that lingers for a bit with chocolate and roasted flavors. Very smooth mouthfeel with medium carbonation and medium-full body. No alcohol noticed on the taste, but a slight warming on the finish. Overall, a very enjoyable Imperial Stout, great in all aspects.
This was all around great stuff for an oak ages Imperial Stout. Smooth and tasty, I would have it again.
12 ounce bottle. Pours slightly hazy bright amber color with a fairly foamy 2 finger white head with great retention that reduces to a lacing cap. Some decent lacing on the glass. Aromas of rye, citrus, and spices with a bit of caramel. Some nice and balanced aromas, but a tad weak. Taste of caramel, citrus, rye, and spiciness. Mostly sweetness on the front, with a fairly strong bitterness on the finish that lingers with citrus and rye flavors. A nice balance of flavors as well, and a good amount of flavor. Medium-light bodied with medium carbonation. Very crisp and drinkable brew. Overall, a very nice beer with good flavor and mouthfeel. Good stuff, I have never had a Kolsch before, but this is quite tasty.
The second beer I have had from the Ohio beer week collab 12 pack. Tasty stuff indeed, can't wait for the other ones.
12 ounce bottle into tulip, bottled 11/22/10A. Pours slightly hazy red-orange color with a dense 2.5 finger off white head with amazing retention. Aromas of strong grapefruit, caramel, oak, and some bread. Fairly strong aromas as well. Taste of strong caramel and oak; with bread, grapefruit, pineapple, and orange. A fair amount of bitterness shows up on the finish and lingers for a bit with huge sweet flavors of oak, caramel, and citrus. The sweetness is definitely the strongest in this beer with the bitterness taking a backseat. No alcohol was noticed in tasting, but a fairly strong warming showed up on the finish. Medium carbonation and fairly full bodied. Very smooth drinking for its alcohol level. Overall a very tasty DIPA, even though it is a bit too sweet for my tastes for DIPAs.
A delicious DIPA, Dogfish has a good track record of making tasty beer to me, though their IPAs are a little too sweet for my liking.
Pretty simple flavor here. I have not had this one in a while so I decided to give it another shot. Yellow cake batter ice cream with a chocolate frosting swirl is what is in it. The ice cream texture is pretty good here, really smooth, but I softened it and it is still pretty dense and hard to dig into. Some nice cake batter flavor here, The cake batter flavor is overpowered by the chocolate frosting flavor, but I'd say that is fairly acceptable. The frosting has the typical texture of most frosting, fairly dense and creamy stuff. Really strong chocolate flavor as well, overpowering the ice cream as said before. Very nice amount of frosting in the pint as well, I would say about 70/30 ice cream/frosting ratio is here. The frosting is fairly well swirled around, but I did get a huge amount on the top and bottom. I kind of had a taste for some cake batter ice cream today, so I gave this a shot. Definitely hit the spot but was not anything overly outstanding. Definitely a good balance of flavors.
12 ounce bottle. Lets see what age has done to this IPA. Pours extremely hazy amber color with a nice dense 2 finger off white head with amazing retention that reduces to a fairly thick lacing cap. Some fairly thick lacing is left on the glass as you drink. Aromas of lots of orange, grapefruit, pine, caramel, and some spices. Fairly strong and balanced aromas here. Taste of strong grapefruit, orange, pine, caramel, and spices. Fairly strong bitterness shows up on the finish and lingers for a bit with orange, grapefruit, and pine flavors. Medium carbonation and medium bodied. Great balance of bitterness and sweetness. No alcohol noticed in taste or finish. Overall a fantastic IPA that was very delicious. Too bad the collaboration 12 pack only included 1 of these.
An impressive first pick from the Beer Week Collaboration mix pack I picked up last month. The 12 pack only had one of these, but I have at least one of all 6 included so those will be coming soon.
750 ml bottle into tulip, bottled 10-5-10. Pours clear very dark red color with a small dense 1 finger off white head with good retention that reduces to a thin lacing cap. Very thick lacing on the glass as well. Aromas of sour cherries, spices, oak, apple cider, a bit of chocolate, and some brown sugar. Very strong and complex aromas. Taste starts off with sour cherries and apples, and transitions to a bit of spice and oak with some sweetness of dark fruits at the end with brown sugar. No bitterness was really noticed at all. Fairly dry finish, but some fruity notes do linger for a short period with some sourness as well. Great balance of flavors, and sourness is not overbearing. Medium carbonation and medium bodied. No alcohol presence in the taste but a fairly strong warming is present on the finish. Extremely drinkable and smooth given its alcohol level, and highly enjoyable as well. Overall a fantastic sour Belgian style ale.
I will definitely be getting my sour fix quite a bit soon. I have plenty of Jolly Pumpkin ready for consumption a long with a few Belgian sours and others! Every JP brew I have had thus far has been great.
22 ounce bottle into tulip, best by June 1st, 2011. Pours slightly hazy amber color with a nice 2 finger white head with amazing retention. Some slight lacing on the glass. Aromas of strong citrus, grapefruit, pine, and some caramel. Some strong aromas here as well. Taste of strong grapefruit, orange, pine, and some caramel. A strong bitterness on the finish that lingers for a while with citrus and pine flavors. Incredible balance of sweetness and bitterness as well. Super smooth drinking with absolutely no alcohol noticed in taste or finish. Medium carbonation and body. Overall, an amazing DIPA with a fantastic flavor and balance. Has everything I love about IPAs in it.
Just doing a re-review of this one. My palate has evolved, but I still love this beer.
500 ml bottle into snifter. Pours black as night with a 1.5 finger dense dark tan head with amazing retention. Some slight glass lacing, and a lacing cap lasts for the entire glass. Aromas of strong coffee, chocolate, caramel, and roasted malt; with a bit of dark fruits and vanilla as well. Some fairly strong and well balanced aromas. Taste of strong dark chocolate, coffee, and roasted malt; with a bit of vanilla and molasses. Some slight bitterness noticed as well on the finish that lingers for a bit with roasted flavors. Some great balance of flavors here. Bitterness and sweetness are well balanced, with sweetness being slightly stronger in flavor. Super smooth and slick body with no alcohol noticed at all except for a very small warming after the finish. Medium-low carbonation and huge full body. Overall a fantastic imperial stout, and my first from Mikkeller.
An outstanding stout. The beer is brewed with rare coffee that is harvested from the droppings of the civet cat from Vietnam.
Seeing as this is the last BnJ's froyo that I have not reviewed yet, I decided to pick this one up today. It is cherry low fat frozen yogurt with cherries and fudge flakes. The yogurt itself has a great texture and a good strength of cherry flavor as well. The cherries in the pint are actually quite impressive, because I am getting more than a couple of almost whole cherries in this pint. There are a lot of cherry pieces in here as well. The chunks of fudge are a lot bigger than a remember the last time I had this pint. The flakes are also well distributed through the pint and are very numerous as well. They impart a nice dark chocolate flavor. All of the flavors blend together well in this pint. This is definitely a delicious froyo flavor. I really enjoyed it.
Big thanks to jsanford for sending me this one! 12 ounce bottle into snifter. Pours a very hazy orange color with a small off white head with good retention. Minimal glass lacing, but a thin lacing cap does last for the whole glass. Aromas of strong bourbon, oak, vanilla, maple, caramel, and molasses. Huge aromas here, a bit of alcohol in there as well. Taste of huge amounts of caramel, bourbon, and vanilla on the front that transitions to smooth and sweet maple and oak on the finish with some molasses. A bit of alcohol in there as well, but it blends well with the rest of the flavor. No bitterness noticed, but a lot of sweetness present here, and there is a ton of flavor with fantastic balance. Super smooth drinking for 12%, and alcohol is extremely well hidden for the amount. Fairly mild carbonation with a huge full body. Very slick feel as well that is incredible. Overall this is just an incredible beer, I would have it again if possible.
So glad I was able to try this one. As usual Founders never disappoints me with their offerings.
12 ounce bottle into tulip, 2010 vintage. Pours crystal clear red-orange color with a 2 finger off white head with great retention that reduces to a very thin lacing cap. Aromas of strong orange, grapefruit, pine, caramel, and some pineapple. Fairly strong aromas with a large amount of sweetness in them. Taste of grapefruit, and pine flavors with some light caramel and orange. Citrus flavors are not as pronounced as I would hope for a double IPA. Strong bitterness shows up on the finish and lingers for a bit with grapefruit and pine flavors. No alcohol noticed in taste, but a fairly pronounced warming on the finish is present. Medium carbonation and medium-full body. Overall, a good double IPA, but I had some issues with the flavor profile.
I might have to give this another go some time. No idea when it is released, this could have been fairly aged.
22 ounce bottle into tulip glass. Pours hazy golden amber color with a fairly dense 2 finger white head with good retention that reduces to a lacing cap. Aromas of lemon, orange, spices, herbs, with a bit of sourness, and grapes. Aromas are fairly strong and have good balance. Taste of citrus notes, with pepper, and other spices. A bit of floral as well, with some tart flavors. The fruitiness is not as prominent in the taste as the nose. Much more spice in the taste. Taste is fairly well balanced, a little off, but is pretty darn good. No bitterness on the taste or finish. Fairly dry finish but there is a bit of sweetness and spice that lingers for a bit. No alcohol in the taste but a moderate alcohol warming on the finish is present. Medium carbonation and body. Very smooth drinking as well for its alcohol level. Overall this is quite an enjoyable saison!
This had a very good price point, so I decided to try it out(about 4 bucks). Very good stuff for the price, and a good saison style ale.
Interesting flavor here, but definitely enjoyable. Basically is just rum ice cream with rum covered raisins. The ice cream is spot on as usual. The rum flavor is not too strong, but is noticeable, and there is also a lot of sweetened cream flavor to top it off. Ice cream texture is great, as was expected. Having raisins in your ice cream is a little odd at first, but they taste quite fresh, and add a decent amount of texture to the pint. Also very well distributed throughout the pint. The rum raisins definitely impart blasts of spiced rum flavor as you indulge, and the rum flavor actually goes really well with the raisin flavors. Overall, quite an enjoyable flavor. I would have it again in the future.
Well yet another time for some brewing over here. After having the Lukcy Basartd Ale, I decided I needed to try and make a clone of the regular Bastard. I had done quite a bit of searching around. But I settled on the Austin Homebrew Supply clone recipe. I haven't actually had this brew in a while, but I do remember enjoying it a lot, so why not make a clone. Fairly simple as well, I threw it into beersmith for some more accurate details:
So here we go then. I finally got a probe thermometer, really cheap walmart stuff, but it gets the job done. Even has an alarm on it that tells me when its getting ready to steep. I steeped the grains in 1 gallon of water for about 40-45 minutes. Temp stayed pretty good the whole time, but I did put in on the burner on the absolute lowest setting. I was keeping my eye on that temp. It was covered for the duration.
Then I got to collecting the resulting steep water in there. I sparged over a strainer like normal. Added some more hot water on top of that and then mixed in all the DME. Here is the results after steeping:
Smelled really good in there. Then after the DME was dissolved in there. Then I filled it up to about 6.25 gallons. I was expecting 1 gallon of boil off in the hour, but I actually ended up getting more than that. Here it is ready to come to the hot break:
After it came to hot break(which was quite insane, probably because of all the crystal malt I used lol). I actually never got a boil over during the whole duration, but it did come close. I used my spray bottle again and that tamed it down pretty good. I added the 2.5 ounces of chinook at 70 minutes or so. Got pretty crazy once again, but it kept it steady by adjusting the heat and such.
When it was time to add the aroma/flavor additions, the water level had decreased significantly. I then put in the wort chiller and when it boiled again added my irish moss and .75 ounces of chinook. Then after that at 5 minutes left, the last addition was added. Then at flame out, I covered it and added the chiller. Chilled it down in a good 20 minutes or so.
After the temp came down to comfortable ranges, I poured it straight into my bucket. Pitched my decanted 3L starter of WLP001 and sealed it up. Put a blowoff on it and kept it in the basement.
Right next to it, you can see the 2 cases of 12 ounce bottles. That is the robust porter from last time. I cracked open a bomber of it, but the carbonation was a bit low. I think a week more and the carbonation should turn out better. I kept it down there for a few days, but on Saturday I took off the blowoff and put a normal airlock on it.(and also brought it upstairs to slightly warmer temperatures). It is still bubbling every 3-5 seconds still and it has almost been a week. I may have to wait to rack it to secondary. I may also be racking it onto a bit of water to up the batch size to where I want it if the bucket says it is lower than it should be. The OG came out a lot higher than I wanted(about 1.079). Beersmith should be able to tell me what the new gravity and ABV would be. Can't wait to dry hop this with the 2 ounces of hops, it already smells amazing in the airlock. This is going to rock face.
I also made a video of my brew day, so here that is:
I already have the stout tasting up on my youtube account. I will probably be doing a tasting of the porter next week again, and then I will post that. The Imperial IPA will be waiting the longest time to make sure its carbed fully. I will wait 3 weeks from bottling time to taste that.
22 ounce bottle into tulip, no idea on freshness. Pours hazy amber color with a huge dense 3 finger off white head with amazing retention that reduces to a lacing cap that lasts for the entire glass. Some good lacing on the glass as well. Aromas of orange, grapefruit, mango; with a bit of caramel and pine. Fairly strong and well balanced aromas. Taste of strong orange, pine, and grapefruit; with a bit of caramel, mango, and spiciness as well. Starts off sweet tasting on the front with a strong bitterness on the finish that lingers with citrus and pine flavors. Very smooth drinking and very well balanced with sweetness and bitterness as well. Medium carbonation and medium-full bodied. No alcohol detected in taste or finish. Overall a fantastic DIPA and I would love to try this fresher.
A great Double IPA from Alesmith. I would like to have this one fresh sometime, I am not sure when it is released.
750 ml bottle, bottle 2010 2A? Pours cloudy amber color with a fairly dense 1.5 finger white head with great retention. Minimal lacing on the glass. Aromas of lemon, grass, orange, coriander, and spicy Belgian yeast. Fairly strong aromas, with some good balance as well. Taste of strong lemon, spice, honey, and orange. Finishes with practically no bitterness but the spicy yeast comes through on the finish with lemon and orange flavors. Fairly dry finish but some of the lemon and orange lingers with the spicy yeast flavors for a short period of time. Medium body and medium-high carbonation. The moderately high carbonation fits pretty well though. Very smooth drinking and absolutely no alcohol noticed in taste or finish. Overall a delicious wit, tons of flavor and great drinkability. Great!
Yet another impressive bottle conditioned ale from Dogfish Head.
12 ounce bottle. Pours crystal clear orange-amber color with a dense 2 finger off white head with amazing retention that reduces to a lacing cap. Some very nice lacing on the glass. Aromas of wheat, orange, grapefruit, caramel, and some pine. Some nice and fairly strong aromas here. Taste of strong wheat with orange, grapefruit, pine, and caramel. Starts off fairly sweet on the front, that leads to a good bitterness on the finish that lingers for a bit with wheat, pine, and citrus flavors. Medium carbonation and body. Very smooth an drinkable as well. No alcohol noticed other than a small warming after the finish. Overall this is a very tasty brew with a ton of flavor and easy drink ability. Great!
Another delicious brew from Lagunitas here. Good thing this is now a year round offering in 6 packs, and is priced very well also.
22 ounce bottle into tulip. Pours hazy golden amber color with a dense 2 finger off white head with great retention that reduces to a lacing cap. Some nice glass lacing as well. Aromas of bread dough, peach, apricot, and spices. Some very prominent aromas here. Taste of strong peach and apricot, and spice; with a bit of caramel, and dough. No bitterness noticed at all, but the finish has linger tastes of sweet fruits and spice that linger for a good period of time. Good balance of flavors as well in the taste. Medium carbonation and fairly full bodied. No alcohol noticed at all in taste or finish. Very smooth drinking and slick mouthfeel. Overall a fantastic and very tasty Belgian style!
I really enjoyed this one, I have been getting into Belgian styles a lot more lately.
12 ounce bottle into tulip, best by Feb 9 2012. Pours very slightly hazy golden amber color with a dense 2 finger white head with fantastic retention. Decent lacing on the glass. Aromas of grapefruit, orange, and pine. Aromas are weak for it being a DIPA. Taste of strong pine, orange, and grapefruit with a bit of spices. Strong sweetness in taste on the front that leads to a fairly strong bitterness on the finish that lingers for a bit with citrus and pine flavors. No alcohol was detected in taste or finish. Very good balance of sweetness and bitterness in this. Really smooth drinking as well. Medium carbonation and medium bodied. Not what I was expecting for the bottle saying it is a "Very Hoppy Ale", but overall it is still an enjoyable DIPA.
Overall an enjoyable DIPA, but I was hoping for more bitterness and hoppiness.
12 ounce bottle, unsure of bottling date, but it is in 2010. Pours crystal clear orange amber color with a dense 2 finger off white head with amazing retention, that reduces to a lacing cap. Nice lacing on the glass. Aromas of orange, mango, pine, caramel, and a bit of grapefruit. Decent aroma strength, improves as it warms up. Taste of fairly strong grapefruit, orange, and pine; with some caramel in the background. Sweet tastes on the front that lead to a fairly strong bitterness on the finish that lingers for a bit with citrus and pine flavors. Very smooth drinkability for it’s alcohol level. No alcohol noticed other than a very small warming after the finish. Very nice balance of sweetness and bitterness in this as well. Medium carbonation and body. Overall a very good IPA, tasty stuff.
22 ounce bottle into tulip. Pours dark red color with a dense 2 finger off white head with fantastic retention that reduces to a thin lacing cap that stays for the rest of the glass. Decent lacing on the glass. Aromas of strong caramel, grapefruit, orange, pine, and a bit of oak. Very prominent aromas. Taste of strong caramel, grapefruit, orange, and toast; with a bit of pine, oak, and lemon. A very strong bitterness on the finish that lingers with grapefruit, orange, and pine flavors. Medium carbonation and full bodied. Very smooth and drinkable for being 8.5%. No alcohol noticed except for a small warming after the finish. Fantastic balance of sweetness and bitterness. Overall this is definitely the best Bastard variation I have had. So tasty and smooth. I hope they make it again.
This is by far the best Bastard variation out of the bunch. I really hope they make another batch of this sometime. Incredible.
12 ounce bottle. Pours dark brown color with a fairly dense 2 finger light tan head with great retention that reduces to a thin lacing cap that lasts for a majority of the glass. Aromas of chocolate, roasted malt, wheat, oats, and a bit of cola and smoke. Some fairly strong aromas here. Taste of strong chocolate, oatmeal, roasted malt, coffee, and some caramel; with a very nice bitterness on the finish that adds a bit of a cola and citrus flavors that linger for a bit. Medium bodied and fairly high carbonation. A fairly creamy body that drinks very smoothly and easily. A little to much carbonation in my opinion, but it is still great on mouthfeel. Overall, an extremely enjoyable oatmeal stout with a ton of flavor and easy drink ability. I would definitely have it again.
For my first Anderson Valley brew, I am quite impressed. Maybe even the best normal gravity oatmeal stout I have had as well. Great stuff.
22 ounce bottle into snifter, bottled Dec 10, 2010. Pours opaque black color with a very dense 2 finger tan head with incredible retention that reduces to a fairly thick lacing cap that lasts. Fairly thick lacing on the glass. Aromas of extremely strong coffee, chocolate, roasted malt, oak, molasses, and a bit of vanilla and alcohol presence. Taste of strong coffee, dark chocolate, roasted malt, and a bit of vanilla and molasses on the front; that leads to a fairly strong bitterness on the finish that lingers for a bit with roasted coffee and chocolate flavors. Roasted coffee and chocolate flavors linger on the palate for a good period of time. The oak also has a strong presence on the finish, a little to much in my opinion but it doesn’t throw off the beer that much. Medium carbonation and full bodied. Extremely creamy, slick, and smooth mouthfeel. No alcohol noticed in the taste but there is a fairly strong warming after the finish. Overall this is fantastic stuff, and I would definitely like to see what this turns out to be with a couple years on it.
Another great Imperial Stout from Great Divide. I still like the original Yeti more than this, but the Yeti I had could have been aged quite a bit as well(did not check the bottle date on it). This one was pretty darn fresh, but I would love to see what age does to it as well.
Here is another one I haven't had in a while. This is part of the bunch that got released last year. Boston cream pie ice cream with yellow cake pieces, fudge flakes, and swirls of pastry cream. First off, the ice cream texture is great, and the ice cream itself also has a very strong flavor. Very good to use as the base. There are plenty of cake pieces in the mix. Almost makes it difficult to dig into the pint. Lots of good cream pie flavor in them, that pretty much matches the ice cream base flavor. Good texture of the cake pieces as well, nice and chewy. There is also plenty of pastry cream in the pint, mixed throughout. It has a nice and viscous texture to it, and a lot of flavor. The fudge flakes are few and far between, but the rest of the mix ins make up for that pretty well. This has a great mixture of flavors that go very well together. Overall, it did not blow me away, but it was a very enjoyable flavor.
12 ounce bottle. Pours very dark brown color with a 2 finger fairly dense dark tan head with very good retention that reduces to a thin lacing cap that lasts for most of the glass. Minimal lacing on the glass. Aromas of strong chocolate, roasted malt, oats, caramel, and molasses; with a little bit of vanilla and alcohol. Some pretty nice aromas here with good strength. Taste of strong dark chocolate, oatmeal, and roasted malt on the front; with a bit of coffee, caramel, and molasses. Starts off sweet on the front with chocolate and oats and transitions to a decent bitterness on the finish that lingers for a bit with roasted coffee and chocolate flavors. Creamy and smooth mouthfeel with no alcohol noticed in taste, but a slight warming on the finish was noticed. Medium carbonation and medium-full bodied. Some slight carbonation prickliness was noticed, but it doesn’t detract from the creamy mouthfeel that much. Overall a very good oatmeal stout!
I have yet to really be let down by Dark Horse. All around solid lineup it seems, can't wait to have even more offerings.
22 ounce bottle into tulip. Pours slightly hazy light orange-amber color with a fairly dense 2 finger off white head with good retention that reduces to a thin lacing cap. Some decent lacing on the glass. Aromas of insanely strong orange and grapefruit with pineapple; with light caramel and pine. Some very nice aromas here. Taste of strong grapefruit, pineapple, pine, and caramel with some spiciness. A fairly strong bitterness fades in on the finish and lingers with some sweet notes of orange and grapefruit. A great balance of sweetness and bitterness here, the sweetness is a tad bit stronger than the bitterness though. Medium carbonation and fairly full bodied. Incredibly well hidden alcohol content, only a slight warming after the finish noticed. Super smooth drinking for 8.5% and fairly slick feel. Overall, an incredible Imperial IPA, so much great flavor and balance. I will be getting this again for sure!
Such an incredible Imperial IPA. Highly recommended!
