Pour slowly or pesky carbonation will overwhelm impressively balanced blend of floral-hopped apple-grape tartness, creamy caramel malting, and protracted barnyard-dried herbal spicing. Cotton candy mouthfeel absorbs delicate adjuncts. Despite its reference on the label, ‘honey’ is relegated to minor backup role. Like a fine Chardonnay, sweet-buttered 8% alcohol treat goes down like silk and shows endless character.
All posts by John Fortunato
DUPONT AVEC LES BONS VOEUX
Creamy billowy-headed ‘saison ale’ with welcoming wheat-grained white wine palate and tart citrus fruiting dotting carbolic champagne-like fizz. White-peppered spicing enhances lemon-peeled peach, mango. papaya and pineapple tropicalia. Despite hefty 9.5% alcohol content, it’s easy to imbibe.
DUNEDIN PIPERS PALE ALE
Befuddled medium-bodied mediocrity tethers brief floral-tinged tangerine-peach-grapefruit tang to dry rye spatter, but phenol nature overwhelms. Lingering wood-hopped bittering picks up earthen herbal nuance.
J.W. DUNDEE’S WHEAT BEER
Disturbingly off-balanced moderate-bodied American-styled hefeweizen retains nagging solvent-like oxidation, metallic nastiness, and worse, an odious compost whiff. Meek honeyed caramel malting, musty corn-oiled vegetal dankness, rotted lemon spoilage, and doughy sorghum retreat prompt chemical waste illusion.
J.W. DUNDEE’S PORTER
Dried-out chocolate mustiness, harsh walnut-hazelnut astringency, dismal burnt caramel resignation, and latent black coffee scud thaw initial frothy mocha rigor of lactic brown-bodied deficiency. Earthen peat, charred wood, and black tar backend roasted barley-hop sear.
J.W. DUNDEE’S PALE BOCK
Blah bock goes adrift. Bland sugared corn malts and toasted rye scant reach harsh off-dry vegetal spoiling. Some earthiness spotted amongst fuzzy stewed prune whim.
J.W. DUNDEE’S PALE ALE
Problematic coppery crud tosses rusty nail waft inside nasty stale-breaded citric-soured honey-malted skulk of medium-bodied flop. Cotton-candied orange tartness never reaches fruition.
J.W. DUNDEE’S OKTOBERFEST
Sour dry-fruited frontage fades into astringent dry-hopped popcorn snag, leaving autumnal gourd-spiced expectancy of autumnal marzen in the dust. Rotted peach, apricot, and orange illusions slip into waxen caramel malt sweetness, muddling roasted nut smear before picking up metallic twang.
J.W. DUNDEE’S INDIA PALE ALE
Fleeting cinnamon-spiced apple-peach-pumpkin pie delectability fades to less prominent pine-needled woody-hopped grapefruit peel bitterness. Recessive chocolate-cocoa malting sweetens minor tea-tobacco tease to bread-crusted biscuit spine. Rudimental pasty flavoring doesn’t deteriorate as badly as other Dundee brews manage to. 2010 re-tasting: Candi-sugared yellow-fruited malting contrasted lemon-dropped tartness and gin-like juniper berry bittering.
J.W. DUNDEE’S HONEY BROWN LAGER
Dundee’s staple beer priced right for less discrimating palates. Overriding honey-soured malts turn cloy above thinly veiled hop-fueled roasted barley murk of oily moderate-bodied lager. Dewy mocha malts and unspecific citrus notes retreat to astringent vegetal nature.
J.W. DUNDEE’S FESTIVE ALE
Busier and better than most blue-collar High Falls brews, this nifty holiday ale induces amiable allspice, cinnamon, and nutmeg spicing to counter subtle orange peel bittering. On downside, brown-sugared chocolate-molasses malts and tertiary pumpkin pie-gingerbread illusions rub up against dismal diacetyl astringency.
J.W. DUNDEE’S AMERICAN PALE ALE
Slightly better than Dundee’s Amber, this translucent auburn pale ale retains sour-fruited dryness and sharp clove-hopped frolic above cracked wheat spine. Unripe white peach, lemon, and grape tartness overtaken by sweet tea-leafed tobacco dalliance, but oily nature and phenol acidity decrease credibility.