Despite Imperial tag and boastful “double the malts and hops” of Big Daddy IPA, sweet fruit-spiced overtones outweigh stylistic hop-forward grapefruit peel bittering for better approachability. Candied apple, honey nut and marzipan spread across the fruited plain, picking up tangy melon, peach, orange and tangerine juicing. Heightened 8.5% alcohol volume never gets above the sensational fruit-juiced flavor profile.
Stylistically soft-toned and sweeter, relying just as much on sugary caramel malting as piney citric bittering. Grapefruit-peeled navel orange, peach, melon, mango, cherry and apricot tones rise above the fresh-cut grass stash. Resinous wood-lacquered florality polishes the receding finish.
Tranquilizing sweet stout made with ‘real espresso verdi’ perfectly re-creates silken cappuccino-milked macchiato with its compact sweet n’ sour java theme. Maple-sapped molasses creaming, sharp blackened hop char, light cola-walnut conflux and dry bourbon sedation induce ethereal coffee-roasted pleasantry. Lactic-sugared latte finish freshened by smoothest mineral water soothe.
On tap at Nanuet Mall’s Yard House, wayward medium-full body scatters prevalent citric overtones above sharp wood-hopped cannibis pining and farmhouse-derived Chambly Belgian yeast funk, but oily fusel astringency ruins upward momentum. Tangy orange-peeled ruby red grapefruit spritz as well as navel orange, orange pekoe tea, blood orange, mandarin orange and tangerine tartness get spread atop mild melon-rotted vanilla creaming. In the bottle, candi-sugared sweetness infiltrates grapefruit-tangerine-peach tang that contrasts black-peppered hop bittering effectively before alcohol astringency increases.
Nearly perfect pumpkin-spiced medium body (circa 2012) maintains crisp composure and nifty pumpkin-spiced sparkle. Advertised cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom and clove elegantly season rum-spiced caramel malt creaming. Sugary dried-fruited fig, raisin, plum and black cherry undertones soften beneath cinnamon-toasted pumpkin pie theme. Fizzy carbolic briskness adds crystalline sparkle.
Deliriously indistinct, yet strangely approachable, copper-hazed strong ale (with 6.8% alcohol volume) brings creamy caramelized brown chocolate entry to metallic Scotch Ale-like whiskeyed orange midst, oaken cherry pucker and mild dark-fruited spicing. Brown-sugared butterscotch, toffee and vanilla undertones coerce tertiary baked apple, brown pear, sugared fig, white peach, green grape and rhubarb pie illusions as well as pithy cola-hazelnut-chestnut niche to its hard-candied center.
Slick medium-bodied slacker lets bland dark-roasted malt astringency overwhelm any serious black coffee flavoring. Lacking necessary hop-charred bitterness as well as contrasting creamy mocha sweetness, nebulous porter’s passive molasses-smoked espresso influence wanes.
Adrift Irish Red Ale lacks stylish clarity. Tart orange-dried fruiting, weary Scotch malting and wispy cereal-grained sweetness whisked away by brisk carbolic Seltzer spritz. Understated biscuity malt bottom falters.
