On tap at Poor Henry’s, strong golden ale (8.6% ABV) aged in wine barrels with orange Muscat grape juice maintains tannic oaken barnyard acridity. Lightly vinous champagne sparkle reinforces tart orange Muscat wining of crisply clean Belgian-styled blonde ale hybrid.
On tap at Plank Pizza, passionately designed Madagascar vanilla bean version of famous bourbon-aged Imperial Stout really is decadent. Creamily rich vanilla sugaring informs fudgy dark chocolate mass. Light bourbon sweetness glides into luxurious chocolate-vanilla sludging. Luscious crème brulee, milk chocolate, toasted coconut, marshmallow, hazelnut coffee and Graham Cracker illusions as well as latent burgundy licks contrast tarry hop-charred bittering at bold dessert finish.
On tap at Andy’s Corner Bar, dark chocolate syruping drapes caramel-burnt nuttiness, casual coffee-cocoa confluence and soy-sauced earthen hop char. Semi-sweet, halfway rich and quite velvety.
“Classic cold-cellared German lager” brewed in collaboration with Spaten Brauerei stays crisply clean as doughy yeast enticement brings biscuity breading to light lemon-rotted musk, musty peat earthiness and leafy hop astringency. Spritzy carbolic pep awakens the tongue.
Elegantly suave 2017 barleywine aged in Heaven Hills bourbon barrels (14.4% ABV) really soothes the nerves. Sweet bourbon vanilla sugaring coated by brown chocolate syruping picks up candied cherry tartness and pureed orange bruise. Mild cognac, sherry and burgundy wining regales bourbon booziness. Oaken charcoal bittering (and crisp tobacco roast) underscore cherry chocolate-caked finish. Marvelous.
On tap at Morris Tap & Grill, opulent bourbon-barreled Imperial Stout (13.2% ABV) utilizes syrupy blueberry juice and marzipan-like almond extract to concoct (nearly cloy) dark chocolate dessert treat. Super-sweet blueberry brandy, blueberry puree and blueberry amaretto illusions gain sugary rum-spiced cherry coughdrop stickiness for chocolate-fudged sweet-toothed liqueur.
On tap at Plank Pizza, sweet bourbon vanilla richness (of 13.6% ABV 2014 reserve – aged four years) thickened by anise-spiced brown chocolate malting, burnt caramel sugaring and ancillary cocoa reminder above mild hop-charred bittering of annual English-styled barleywine. Delicate port, burgundy and brandy wining finds space below alongside bruised cherry sedation.
On tap at Biggie’s, dry light-bodied marzen (formerly Goose Oktoberfest) greets dewy earthen peat with floral-spiced Hallertau hops and baked breaded rye malts. Dried apricot and orange illusions fade in the recess.
On tap at Plank Pizza, interestingly hybridized wine-barrel aged saison (with camouflaged 7.9 ABV) offers contagious brettanomyces-soured peach overtones to vinous white grape frisk and lemon-rotted orange, apricot, pineapple, gooseberry and tangerine tartness. Mild herbal perfumed citrus niche and residual lemongrass stint counteract musty barnyard rusticity just below dried peach adjunct.
On tap at The Oath, quaint wine-barreled farmhouse ale (with unassuming 9.5% ABV) brings bacterial brettanomyces-bound Champagne yeast souring to raw-honeyed lemon juicing, white-peppered hop pep, musky dried fruiting and murky strawberry adjunct. Vinous white grape tannins soak desiccated plum, pomegranate, white peach, crab apple and mandarin orange sedation above even dryer straw-hay-barnyard acridity . Not far removed from buckwheat honey mead styling.
Festive 2015 Christmastime brown ale blends “caramel and dark fruit malts,” picking up sharp hop astringency (50 IBU’s) and wily alcohol burn (7.7% ABV) to briefly overwhelm burgundy-dried fruit spicing. Dewy tobacco roast and dark chocolate mildness caress sugarplum, date, fig and raisin illusions as well as sweet orange peel spell. Subtle nutmeg, ginger and fennel wisps waver below.
