Perfect molasses-draped Christmas dessert offering brings creamy S’more-like Graham Cracker marshamallow roast and Nestle Quik cocoa powdering to brazenly tar-like hop char. Chewy lactose richness fortified by dark-roasted milk chocolate, chicory-smoked coffee beaning, burnt caramel sweetness and light vanilla daub. Busy flavor profile never falters.
Exemplary full-bodied red ale with vibrant India Pale Ale leanings brings summery tropical fruitiness to wintry evergreen freshness. Zesty grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering and resinous pine sapping thicken over brisk mineral-watered crisping. Ancillary honey-spiced pineapple, peach, tangerine and mango tang picks up rosy floral aspect.
Summery bock lager (bottled for Illinois’ Local Option Bierwerker) brings beautiful floral bouquet to up-front sugary citric spicing and bittersweet raw-honeyed herbage. Clean-watered minerality and doughy pale malted breading provide base for lemony grapefruit-yellowed tartness and brisk navel orange tang. Peppery oregano-basil niche picks up teensy black tea snip.
On tap at Twisted Elm, fudgy winter warmer spreads maple-sapped golden and Blackstrap molasses atop sweet toffee, dried cocoa, bitter Baker’s chocolate and sour dried fruiting. Toasted hops fortify ancillary tobacco-roasted crisping. Distant port and burgundy undertones waver.
On tap at Shepherd & Knucklehead, dramatic mocha-doused Christmas seasonal (2013) picks up dry hop-charred bittering to deepen dark chocolate-milked coffee bean assertion over soft-watered base. Molasses sinew drapes ancillary vanilla, anise and walnut illusions. Dryer than most stylistic competitors.
On tap at Shepherd & Knucklehead, up-front peanut buttering gets smeared across gunky mocha nuttiness and sharp roasted hop bittering. Soft-watered silking contrasts rich dark chocolate milkiness as grape-jellied peanut butter sensation recedes. Pine nut, hazelnut and walnut illusions indulge oats-charred coffee snip.
Bountiful bourbon-barreled Imperial Stout allows hop-charred Peruvian coffee roast to embitter molasses-smoked dark chocolate segue, cocoa-buttered vanilla creaming and sour cherry uprising. Sweet bourbon, burgundy and whiskey illusions heighten mocha theme. In deep recess, oaken grape tannins gain strength over tertiary espresso, cocoa nibs, anise and raisin undertones.
Masterful hybridized smoked porter adds Madagascar vanilla beans to steadfast dark-roasted black chocolate template, creamy caramel-toffee cluster and hickory-smoked black coffee bittering. Charcoal-coarsened hop char thickens peat-smoked mocha malting, raw molasses pungency and sneaky cola-walnut conflux. Mildewed compost waft seems out of place, but not detrimental. A strong dessert choice in lieu of espresso.
Diligently combining brewers’ oak-forward Bravo Imperial Brown, Stickee Monkee Barleywine, Helldorado Blond Barleywine, Velvet Merkin Oatmeal Stout, Parabola Imperial Oatmeal Stout and Wooky Jack Black Rye IPA, velvety smooth full body reaches dessert beer nirvana on first sip. Lovely bourbon warmth reigns supreme above decadent vanilla-creamed chocolate caking, comprehensive fruit-dried red wining and advertised ‘cinnamon-glazed almond’ waft. Inviting cognac, whiskey, sherry, port and dark rum boozing reinforces bruised cherry, rum raisin, sugared fig and black grape fruiting. Molasses cookie dough richness increases rounded complexity further. Creme brulee, cocoa nibs, toasted coconut, hazelnut and marshmallow illusions deepen mocha pervasion. Highly recommended.
Industrious flavor profile hybridized by rauchbier-like peated malt smokiness while anchored by dark-roasted chocolate and coffee bittering. Chocolate-chipped cookie dough center picks up molasses sugaring, depleting some of the early beechwood-like campfire sear and prolific Band-aid waft by the bold mocha finish.
Despite contrarian rumors, syrupy soda-like spritzer successfully plies sweet lemonade adjunct to light-bodied summertime radler. Reminiscent of a lemony tea-leafed ginger ale, its explosive carbolic hop thrust adds salty astringency to the citric pleasantries. Deep in the mix are mandarin orange, navel orange and tangerine notions that affix the candied lemon sugaring.
From an original Dutch Caribbean recipe, sessionable light-bodied pale lager ransacks sunny lemon zest brightness with phenol grassy hop astringency, minor acetylene acridity and metallic tinge. Hints of lemongrass nip soft rice-grained white wheat spine. Designed for sweltering beachtime activities.