Blackened malts thicken resolve of dry-toned fizzy-hopped stout. Burnt pine mouthfeel enriches creamy coffee bitterness, sticky toffee sweetness, and grainy earthiness, leading to firm mocha finish. Further assertiveness needed for world class resolve.
All posts by John Fortunato
(MENDOCINO) BLACK EYE ALE
Black & tan blends brewers’ Black Hawk Stout with Eye Of The Hawk Ale for dry mahogany-hued ruby-highlighted nonchalance. Ashy mocha-raisin sterility and distant coffee-chocolate creaminess stagnate roasted hop indifference. Robust stout nature lost in transition.
MENABREA LAGER
Hazy golden Italian with suspended yeast particles, aromatic floral accents, soft honeyed malts, and slight mint tingle goes down easy. Pleasant hop tide caresses sweet tobacco-leafed cotton candy illusion, lifting dewy nectar lightness to watery-textured musty-fruited finish.
MELBOURN BROS. STRAWBERRY BEER
Fruit-bursting orange-paled strawberry-saturated brew stays rich, syrupy, and tart to dry lambic-like candied finish. Fairly accomplished, quite strong, and better than Pete’s Wicked Strawberry Blonde by a hair.
MELBOURNE BROS. CHERRY BEER
Glorious strawberry reddish, pink-headed, wild yeast-fermented fruit beer binds cherry Danish tartness to sweet cherry pie dominance and ambrosial tangerine-berry-melon illusions, becoming medicinal by Chardonnay-like finish. Serve to New Glarus Raspberry Tart lovers.
MELBOURN BROS. APRICOT BEER
Pungent pint-sized Brit brewed with condensed, eye squinting apricot juice tartness fortified by syrupy malt sweetness, stewed peach moderation, and dulcet lambic tartness. Almost like a Fruit Roll Up, but a tad more sour. Perfect for dessert.
MEANTIME LONDON PORTER
Chameleon-like burgundy-hued ruby-sidled light-bodied English porter pampers roasted barleymalt heave with fickle burnt wood continuance, buttery biscuit-y spell, and constricted prune-raisin delve. Creamy iced coffee waver and minimized smoked peat savor nestled deep inside easygoing Brit.
MEANTIME COFFEE PORTER
Marvelous full-bodied ruby brown dessert beer comes in squat 12-ounce teardrop-shaped bottle and retains delicious Hershey’s chocolate sweetness. Beautiful lactic porter gains complexity as creamy vanilla, burnt caramel, and roasted mocha nicely recede, allowing dry coffee bean roast to become prominent. After initial brown chocolate luster levels off, milky cappuccino bittering strengthens.
MEANTIME INDIA PALE ALE
Resplendently well-balanced white-laced amber-hazed IPA brings lively floral fruited cornucopia and creamy candi-sugared vanilla malting to dry wood chip-burnt Fuggle hop bittering. Tangy apricot-mango-tangerine frontage surges above friendly piney grapefruit reminder and boozy brandy warmth, finishing with sweet candied apple glaze.
MC SORLEY’S WINTERTIME ALE
Eye catching winter scene on label is ale’s most appealing characteristic. Watery hop-teased light body begs for better nutmeg spicing, richer dried fruiting and improved distinction.
MC SORLEY’S DOUBLE DARK ALE
Deep mahogany hue and Scotch-like aroma hit the senses before sturdy roasted coffee bitterness and creamy caramel nougat richness stabilize. But unobtrusive finish lacks full-bodied inertia.
MC SORLEY’S BLACK & TAN
Sullen dark chocolate presence weak compared to bolder stouts while grain resilience lacks crispness of golden lagers. Incomplete soured fruit esters interrupt moderately creamy mocha sweetness and bitter coffee usurpation. Infrequent raisin-licorice illusions surface as lukewarm nuttiness diminishes flat burnt-toast finish.