Enticing crystal malt fleece, fruited floral bouquet, and leathery herbal spices punctuate striking reddish amber-glowed IPA. Blackened hop roast secures spruce-embittered bottom and latent berry tartness.
All posts by John Fortunato
BARLEY CREEK RESCUE INDIA PALE ALE
Fruited mocha waft informs spruce-hopped pleasantry and vegetal strip lingering to sharp piney finish. Maple-sapped malts gather reserved barleycorn roast and meager cocoa resin lost amongst intrusive phenol accrual.
BARLEY CREEK NAVIGATOR GOLDEN ALE
Lemony grapefruit souring counters candy malt sweetness of feathery pale-bodied mediocrity.
BARLEY CREEK ANTLER BROWN ALE
Out front, toasted barley and dry rye caress butterscotch sweetness of wood-charred sienna-auburn medium body. Spicy citric hop fizz nips fulsome wheat backbone, but phenol astringency undermining chestnut-walnut finish hinders subsidiary herbal tea sedation, dried tobacco pinch, and faded mocha tones.
BARLEY CREEK ANGLER BLACK LAGER
Amiable dark lager with cascading white head, raw molasses-draped dark chocolate bittering and dark-roast hop char loses wood-toned peculiarity to unconvincing dry-hopped raspberry pureed souring and acrid red grape esters.
BARLEY CREEK AMERICAN AMBER ALE
Crisp dark amber libation retains firm wheat-husked barley thrust to caramelized finish underscored by citric-spoiled spicy hop bitterness.
BARKLEY SOUND HONEY ALMOND LIGHT PILSNER
Low calorie-carbohydrate pils expectedly lacks sugary malt thrust to put it over the top. Instead, harshly astringent honeyed almond frontage gets mired in soft hop-fizzed neutrality. Luckily, light marzipan reminder avoids annoyingly synthetic ‘lite’ beer affliction.
BAR HARBOR THUNDERHOLE ALE
Highly praised amongst aficionados, this dry brown ale combines roasted barley-oats and sweet cereal grains with up-front honey wafer allure. Peppery hop fizz counters mocha-teased powdered cocoa subtlety as chestnut and soda bread illusions inform mannerly backdrop.
BAR HARBOR REAL ALE
Light-bodied chestnut-hued brown ale brings candied sugar malt waft to toasted barley efficiency, nutty chocolate fizz, and raisin-date sweetness juxtaposing roasted coffee signature. Tamped down hop dryness secures earthy wheat backbone but phenol astringency shrivels mocha finish.
BAR HARBOR CADILLAC MTN. STOUT
Resplendent velvety smooth dry stout with roasted chocolate sweetening, syrupy Scotch salience, and chewy molasses density allows creme caramel, vanilla, marshmallow, and cocoa nuances to dot cookie dough midst. Recessive coffee-espresso and parched fig-prune-raisin souring neatly counter chocolate-y motif as roasted nuttiness, mossy earthiness, and pumpernickel tinge hang at the fringe.
(BAR HARBOR) BROTHER ADAM’S BRAGGET HONEY ALE
Prestigious 12% alcohol wildflower-honeyed barleywine-styled ale lifts large floral bouquet above creamy butterscotch mantle, perfectly balancing sugary malt sweetness against less audacious peppery hop sheath whilst floating into cake-like pastry insistence. Tender port-sherry notes bring dessert wine warmth to vanilla wafer/ Graham cracker spell as wintry herbal mint effervescence whisks cheeks.
BAR HARBOR BLUEBERRY ALE
Sweetly compact blueberry pie theme enlivens embittered fruited hop fizz and brisk mineral water flow of great medium-bodied amber ale. Wheat wafer wisp wallows inside raspy huckleberry-banana-lemon thicket and precarious herbal clove-mint innuendo. Preferred over souring Sea Dog Blueberry Wheat as tart dessert sipper. On tap, massive blueberry-seeded tartness overrides arid hop acridity to honeyed wheat bottom.