Creamy brown-sugared molasses malting and mild barleywine persistence saddle viscous raisin-prune theme. Flashy bruised orange, dried fig, and red grape illusions abound at whiskey-dabbed Grand Marnier finish, fruiting-up chewy goo.
Monthly Archives: January 2009
ESTRELLA GALICIA PREMIUM PILSNER
Clear-bodied, flat-headed, softly textured, 5.4% alcohol brew with barren aroma, grungy disposition, but polite watery flow. Mildly floral-hopped barleycorn astringency wades through bubbly carbonation to auspicious dirty grain finish. Amazingly, Spain is the third largest brewer in Europe, behind Germany and England, and ahead of Belgium. Yet it’s a struggle to find Spanish beers outside the Euro zone.
ESTES PARK SAMSON STOUT
Fruited medium-bodied stout with cola-like flow softer and less assertive than expected. Lackadaisical coffee nut influence depletes weak mocha finish. Inconsequential berry nut meander lingers beneath.
ESTES PARK RENEGADE INDIA PALE ALE
Spiced red apple aromatics and bitterest pine nut initiation caress coffee-stained mocha malts. Pungent hop-embittered resilience gains strength to resin-y grain finish, but floral peach and honeyed spruce lack endurance.
(ESTES PARK) LONGS PEAK RASPBERRY WHEAT
Consumed at nearby Indian’s Peak after four-wheeling Colorado switchback trails, this fair hazy golden medium-bodied fluff lacks expedient raspberry rasp, sturdy cracked wheat spine, and proper carbolic hop bittering. Perfumed raspberry extract sweetness too washed out.
(ERIE) RAILBENDER ALE
Serviceable blue collar Scottish-styled copper body finds aromatic sweet cereal-grained malts, mossy barley-oats, and peachy red apple hints opposing mild grapefruit-lemon rind sourness bridging embittered black currant reminder to concealed 6.8% alcohol musk. Citric-splashed finish and peripheral butterscotch suggestion counter slight tea bittering.
(ERIE) PRESQUE ISLE PILSNER
Conventional clear golden medium body stays mildly hop-embittered and nearly unassuming, as corn sugared cereal oats gently carry brittle Seltzer flow forward. Phenol metallic nature hinders chaffed wheat dryness, grapefruit sourness, herbal peppering, and vegetal reminder.
(ERIE) MISERY BAY I.P.A.
Satisfyingly centrist medium-bodied IPA boasts big orange peel, grapefruit rind, and juniper bittering, securing malt-sweetened peach-tangerine-apple-cherry tang to wheat cracker base.
(ERIE) MAD ANTHONY’S ALE
Ordinary amber-hued pale ale may put off gourmet drunks with its funky vegetal dry-hopped listlessness and burnt toast malting. Besides, diacetyl astringency conceals soft nuttiness and orange souring at earthen herbal bottom.
ERIE GOLDEN FLEECE MAIBOCK
Invigorating golden amber springtime lager with subdued 8.5% alcohol content retains brisk lemon-fizzed grapefruit-orange-mango tang to counteract woody hop bitterness. At finish, cereal-grained honey wheat sweetness gains prominence over tucked-in floral latency.
(ERIE) DRAKE’S CRUDE OATMEAL STOUT
Nowhere near as thick as ‘crude’ moniker suggests while inconsistent tan bubbles above mahogany body seem shabbily arranged. But obliging roasted coffee theme registers above sturdy milk chocolate-y lactose and mocha-molasses maltose. Bittersweet hazelnut-butternut-Brazil nut vim, smoked meat whim, and burnt wood stint drape toasted oats bottom.
ERDINGER WEISBIER – DUNKEL
Sinewy yeast texture, Bavarian malt creaminess, and fizzy hop carbonation give soda-like dark wheat a refreshing combination. Though lacking explosive red wine-like essence sometimes typical of its class, soft lemon-clove perk and roasted barley backbone expand surprisingly smooth sedation.