Transient frothy-headed amber-deepened ‘Old London Style’ fireside sipping winter ale lacks advertised richness. However, aromatic butternut sweetness, spicy hop bitterness, orange peel souring and sticky pine sap bottom fortify caramel-chocolate insurgence just fine.
Monthly Archives: January 2009
PORT WIPE OUT I.P.A.
Alluring burnt sienna-hued India Pale Ale as enjoyable as rival California brewer Alesmith’s equivalent. Spice-sweetened peach-pear-apple promenade laminates resinous piney hops and floral-daubed spruce stickiness. Honeyed oats rampage creamy molasses malting to tangy orange-grapefruit finish. Heavy yeast sediment coats glass bottom.
PORT OLD VISCOSITY ALE
Irresistible mahogany-bodied bourbon-barrel aged ale brings smoked cedar aromatics to pertinent lactose chocolate malting and creamy cacao liqueur stickiness. Frothy nature increases as fudge-y center thickens, allowing sherry, port, and cherry puree notes to emerge above black licorice blotch.
POPERINGS HOMMEL ALE
Herbal tea whiff welcomes lemony peach tang of turbid butterscotch-hued Belgian. Wispy peppered hop fizz embitters imminent grapefruit-peeled orange rind tartness as dry raisin finish picks up acidic grape esters.
PONY EXPRESS TORNADO RED ALE
A fruity bonanza! Red apple whiff greets loud tangerine-peach ripeness, raspy orange sourness and bitter grapefruit tang. Sweet malts thicken raw honey bed as dry wheat chaff undercurrent tucks away cherry, nut, and grape illusions.
POLAR LAGER
Sedate cereal-grained maize-floured moderate body layers peppy hop fizz over glutinous wheat sweetness as light skunk waft persists. Narrow pilsner-like template gets watery and washed-out so drink ’em from smaller 8-ounce bottles.
(BROK) POLANDER LAGER
Fragrant maize sweetness, wheat-chaffed oats dryness, and grassy-hopped frayed edge define straw-hazed pale lager. Slight yeast sinew shields quaint bittersweet lemon-grapefruit rush.
POINT LAGER
Classic macrobrewed bottled-canned beer saturated Wisconsin and Illinois market during the Seventies. Brassy barleycorn and lackadaisical dry hops encounter nasty citrus funk before unripe peach fizz halfway redeems it. Tinny cerel-grained cornmeal finish gets slushy. Still betters Coors, Bud, and Miller.
POINT CASCADE PALE ALE
Dry prickly hop spice infiltrates resinous fruited malts, puncturing brisk orange peel, grapefruit, white peach, and mango adjuncts to grain-nut spine. Clean finish allows white bread bottom to brighten minor piney nuance.
POINT AMBER CLASSIC LAGER
Gentle Cascade hop vibrancy lingers through roasted caramel malt pleasantry and faint fruitiness, appealing to mainstream tastes as well as slumming critics. 2010 re-tasting: Phenol vegetal astringency reduces chocolate-cocoa influence and wavering orange-dried apple-candied cherry tartness.
POCONO PALE ALE
Toasted almond aroma welcomes otherwise passive corn sugared middleweight. Pale malt sweetness counters polite hop backing, bitter citrus siding and piney tinge before hasty dry finish slips into minor acidity.
POCONO LAGER
Coppery amber complexion much deeper and darker than chintzy washed-out moderate-bodied fizzy predilection. Barren barley roast and toasted nuttiness dissipate by soapy citric finish, leaving nary a trace of chalky malted hop dryness.