Pale-clouded moderate-bodied white-wined wheat ale checks in with immediate clove-coriander spicing above fluctuant crystal malt assertion. Fizzy dry hop bittering overrides lemony orange-peach tartness. Light and fluffy for Belgian, but brisk quinine water crispness usurps bland finish while half-affirming tertiary tropical fruitiness.
All posts by John Fortunato
BLACK TOAD DARK ALE
Soft-tongued cola-hued porter-styled dark ale layers sweet chocolate malts atop almond-hazelnut-chestnut serenity and pipe tobacco hint. Hop-toasted dried fruits caress lucid barleymalt-roasted midst.
(BLACK SHEEP) RIGGWELTER YORKSHIRE ALE
Dark chocolate waft, green apple quickness, and tannic red grape tartness rise above date-fig conflux bordering earthy peat resin. Burnt hop dryness and chaffed wheat restraint smear otherwise tinny sour malt finish of frothy flesh-tone laced dark amber.
(BLACK SHEEP) MONTY PYTHON’S HOLY GRAIL ALE
Commemorating hilarious Monty Python movie, dry honeysuckled Brit (with clinging Brussels lace) matches thick caramel sweetness to light floral-hopped citric spicing. Abiding wood-smoked tinge, reminiscent of an India Pale Ale, endures to mildly bitter mineral-grained vegetal finish, but soapy aftertaste lowers vitality.
(BLACK SHEEP) BLACK RAM ALE
Complex hard-to-find amber-clouded dark ale gathers sweet yeast upsurge and black chocolate malt stint to counter subordinate tar-like bitterness. Tangy orange zest and dark nut remnant expand full-bodied nature before watery consistency softens carbolic flow.
BLACK SHEEP ALE
Watery-textured fruity malt stickiness counters acrid alcohol presence muting bittersweet apricot-tangerine succulence to dulled earthen graining, wallowing in purgatory to herbal dry-hopped finish.
BLACK OAK NUT BROWN ALE
Dry roasted chocolate splurge levels off for dirty-grained earthen bitterness as hazelnut, cola nut, butternut, and walnut illusions float around dulled lactose continuance. Creaminess lacks resilience while undesired diacetyl astringency swells.
BLACK BOSS PORTER
Chalky mahogany-hued tan-headed Baltic porter with concealed 9.4% alcohol thrust mires candi-sugared lactose malting and sour chocolate blur with harsh hop char. Dry cocoa astringency, weak burnt caramel jot, and frail anise blot weaken earthen walnut-pomegranate trail, disrupting thin port-barleywine illusions.
B.J.’S PIRANHA PALE ALE
Piney resin coats deep fruited grapefruit-lemon rind spritz and sweet grain graze as jaunty hop bite pervades.
B.J.’S JEREMIAH RED IRISH STYLE ALE
Translucent amber-hued flesh-laced middleweight attaches burnt hop bitterness to caramel malts, toasted barley, and fresh hay before off-dry fruity floral finish fades.
B.J.’S HARVEST HEFEWEIZEN
Unfiltered straw-hazed German-styled wheat entrusts punctual orange-soured grapefruit tang to doughy bread bottom, gaining banana-clove insistence by bubblegum finish. Autumnal leafy earthiness speckles citric acidity.
B.J.’S BREWHOUSE BLONDE
Light-bodied Kolsch-styled dank fruitiness hangs around soft wheat strand as lemony flow builds and tamped down hops gain off-dry pep.