“First brewed by Belgian monks,” foamy dark amber brings soft-watered freshness to prickly-hopped fruit-drooped red ale bitterness for a fine American knockoff. Only drawback is malt creaminess subsides too quickly at vague finish. Seasoned drinkers will get bored after a few gulps.
Monthly Archives: January 2009
BLUE HEN CHOCOLATE PORTER
Burnt caramel and milk chocolate dot heavy maple molasses essence of exceptional barleymalt-thickened porter. Best of all, robust mocha finish stays aggressive.
BLUE HEN BLACK & TAN
Strong fruity essence not often associated with Black & Tans. For better or worse, bitter chocolate notes overwhelmed by grainy lager sharpness. Distracting over-carbonation and sour mocha finish are letdowns, but a burst of sweetness coats the aftertaste. As with many black and tans, it loses its natural essence since it’s difficult to create in the bottle and easier to blend on tap when mixed at the time of serving.
(BLUE DOG) WILD BLUE BLUEBERRY LAGER
‘Wild’ is right! Peculiar pinkish mauve dessert beer piles on wafting blueberry pungency. As clamorous sweet and sour blueberry plot mellows, soda-fizzed cranberry, boysenberry, and raspberry tartness amplifies syrupy candi-sugared finish. Despite fructose-sucrose overload, malt-y fruited libation avoids cloy saccharine aftershock.
BLUEGRASS MEPHISTOPHELES METAMORPHOSIS
Nowhere near as complex as its academic-bound moniker, but this strong wheat-backed Belgian-styled ale nicely integrates wafting orange compote entry with dry herbal peppering. Setback apple, peach, nectarine, and plantain illusions receive minor candi-sugared sweetness, but metallic phenol spicing disrupts fruited nature.
BLUEGRASS DARK STAR PORTER
Robust English-styled ruby red port gluts dry coffee prominence with charred hop bitterness, powdered chocolate souring, unrefined maple sapping and chalky cocoa snip for creamy chocolate milkshake thickness. Hickory-seared charcoal, pine tar, cigar ash and tobacco chew undertones deepen black cherry conviction and soured raisin stipend to vegetative bottom.
BLUEGRASS BLACK SILK
Band-Aid nose proliferates as smoked beechwood and charred hickory deepen coffee penetration to soft molasses malt finish. Also known as ‘Old Smokey,’ but only brewed on rare occasions. An elusive butterfly indeed.
BLUEGRASS BEARDED PAT’S BARLEYWINE
BLUEGRASS AMERICAN PALE ALE
Fine sunset orange ale offers cracked wheat, doughy biscuit, and sweet tobacco triage to deepening raw honey bittering. Lingering spruce hop finish receives floral grapefruit-lemon twang and dried tobacco nuance.
BLUEGRASS ALTBIER
Encouraging tobacco leaf opening of tawny copper amber ale buried beneath muffled apricot-pear fruitiness, bland nuttiness, and herbal tinge by caramel malt finish, deserting reputed German-styled lager-ale blend. Grassy hops mildly affect honeyed wheat and raisin bread suggestion.
BLUE & GRAY VIRGINIA HEFEWEIZEN
Buttery amber-hazed German-styled wheat beer marries dry banana esters to floral clove-coriander seasoning. Tangy orange-grapefruit follow-up brings lasting sour citric tartness to dry-spiced finish.
BLUE & GRAY STONEWALL STOUT
Distinct dry espresso theme rises above soft-watered barley-oats sear and hop-charred cocoa bean, cacao seed, tar, and coal illusions, absorbing black chocolate-y burnt walnut trail relegated to back-throated quip. Moderate English-styled stout has easy appeal lighter thirsts will appreciate despite fairly harsh coffee bittering.