Domineering full-bodied Imperial Stout with impressive 12.5% alcohol range and indelible creamy mocha sweetness. Chewy caramel-sugared cookie dough yeast, dark-roasted chocolate malts and coconut buttering saturate ascending hop-charred coffee bean bitterness. Aggressive bourbon rush, syrupy Scotch motif and chocolate liqueur nip linger through illustious maple-syrupy Blackstrap molasses richness.
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: FLYING DOG BREWERY, FREDERICK, MD.
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: DU BOCQ BREWERY, PURNODE, BELGIUM
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: ANHEUSER-BUSCH, ST. LOUIS, MO.
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: KEUKA BREW. CO., HAMMONDSPORT, N.Y.
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: SOUTHERN TIER BREW CO., LAKEWOOD, N.Y.
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
On tap at Copper Mine, glorious bourbon-aged version of standard barleywine (14% alcohol volume) perfect as slow sipping nightcap. Creamy Belgian chocolate-spiced entry enjoins brown-sugared vanilla, butterscotch, toffee and coconut sweetness as well as rum-soaked cherry, fig, prune and banana niche. Oaken remnant seeps into mocha influence. A terrific step up from original ‘back burner.’
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: SIXPOINT CRAFT ALES, BROOKLYN, N.Y.
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
On tap at Copper Mine, adamant coffee bean roast and resilient cocoa-powdered dark chocolate backup engage briny salt-watered oyster shelling. Ashen nuttiness reinforces rich mocha frontage but only the slightest dried fruiting emerges.
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: DOGFISH HEAD BREWERY, MILTON, DE.
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
On tap at Copper Mine, outlandishly hybridized witbier adds peculiar cider-spiced whimsicality to candi-sugared citric mix. Ripe red apple riff echoes through peach-lacquered lemon custard sweetness, wavering orange-candied pineapple tartness and cayenne-peppered cilantro herbage, picking up tertiary marshmallow, banana and cotton candy illusions to enlighten presumed crystal malt base.
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: HIGH POINT WHEAT BEER CO., BUTLER, N.J.
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
On tap at Copper Mine, likable soft-toned helles bock brings polite citric-spiced lemon-limed tartness and ancillary banana sweetness to buttery white-breaded spine. Resinous herbal-hopped respite fills out delicate backend of easygoing summertime session beer.
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: ASS KISSER BREW. CO., SAN JOSE, CA.
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
Quite exquisite soft-toned smoked porter retains well-integrated bittersweet lactic mocha theme. Creamy dark chocolate-roasted maple sapping and peat-smoked cocoa malting ride above subtle wood-burnt hop sear to brown-sugared oats backdrop. Sweet vanilla, fudge and burnt toffee counter lightly embittered cocoa nibs/ Bakers chocolate conflux. Espresso coffee niche sidelined by peanut-shelled walnut, hazelnut and macadamia nuttiness as well as slightest tobacco roast. Strangely dirty earthen waft is inconsequential misnomer.
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: ROCK ART BREWERY, MORRISVILLE, VT.
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
Marginalized autumnal seasonal (brewed with maple syrup) needs better maple sapping, richer pastry-like malting and deeper honeyed wheat penetration. Syrupy sugared sinew sweetens bark-dried cedar-aged rum notch that fades way too fast to rancorous raw-honeyed dry hop astringency. Tinny finish disrupts latent chestnut, almond, pecan and toffee illusions. A nebulous disappointment less effective than Rogue’s similarly styled Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Ale.
- Author: John Fortunato
- Brewery: THE LOST ABBEY, SAN MARCOS, CA.
- Category: Beers A-Z
- Comments: None
Unconvincing Farmhouse-styled ale closer to a wavering saison with its muted orange-oiled lemondrop frontage, phenol hop tingle and raw-honeyed fungi spell. Light white-breaded graining fails to properly insulate tertiary apricot, pear and apple smear.
