Decent pint-bottled (or oil canned) copper-hazed pale ale retains moderate hop bitterness to mineral-grained finish. Watery consistency absorbs creamy caramel malting and sugared nut nuances. Could pass for brown ale in a heartbeat.
All posts by John Fortunato
BAD FROG TWO BIRD LIGHT PILSENER
Middling amber-yellowed lightweight with initial corn sugar sweetness beckoning soft hop fizz, cracked wheat slack, and crisp water flow. Starchy sourdough funk cheapens crystal malting. Happily, no chemically processed ‘lite’ beer additives detected.
BACK ROAD MAPLE CITY GOLD
Lively marzen-styled Octoberfest contrasts sharp hop bitterness against caramel malt creaminess and nestled ripe fruit backdrop, remaining mild and smooth.
BACK ROAD BROWN ALE
Fizzy hop frisk picks up faintest mocha-caramel insinuation as dry wheat contour builds to smooth nutty finish.
BACK ROAD BELL GUNNESS STOUT
Mild Irish-styled dry stout brings soft water sedation to dark coffee roast and blanched mocha bitterness. Sharp hops, resinous peat malts, and ashy cigarette stain permeate deep molasses finish, thickening resolve.
BACK ROAD BELGIAN STYLE WITBIER
Buttery coriander-spiced orange peel elegance takes in soured apricot-grapefruit-quince hints as subtle hop-bitten wheat-flaked barley-roasted setting emerges.
BACK ROAD ALE
Dry tea and pine tips inform embittered Fuggle-hopped medium-bodied pale ale, countering toasted malt linger at pleasingly soft finish.
(AZALEA COAST) FOKKER ALE
Despite sexy long-legged blonde on label, this is some rough stuff. Musty Kolsch-styled ale retains dirty earthen dryness and sourdough undercurrent. Lousy lemongrass souring disrupts unripe orange bittering undercutting astringent white grape scour. Brewery defunct: 2010.
AZALEA COAST EAST COAST INDIA PALE ALE
A different kind of IPA – more like a boringly herbaceous Belgian gueuze. Murky golden medium body places saffron-like horse-blanketed alfalfa-hay astringency inside soured unripe orange tartness and tannic white grape acridity. Toasted wheat bottom gives out early. Brewery defunct: 2010.
AYINGER UR-WEISSE
Nonpareil old-styled gold-hazed medium-bodied Bavarian dunkelweizen pours out of bottle with lively carbolic vigor, amplifying creamy vanilla seduction before leaving banana nut and raisin bread illusions plus mild ginger-hibiscus snips in its wake. Musty clove-spiced cherry-apple-grape fruiting fortifies chewy malt center to sweet honeyed wheat finish.
AYINGER OKTOBERFEST MARZEN BIERSPEZIAL
Deep golden hue, thick toffee waft, and rich grain concentration hit the senses initially. Creamy caramel malts and sweet doughy yeast underscore clean nut-abetted finish preserving taut off-dry lager even average Bud drinkers would enjoy.
AYINGER JAHRHUNDERT-BIER
Creamy pale-toned ‘Munich Helles’ brings subtle peppery hop-spiced bittering to vague malt-candied cocoa powdering informing lemony banana bread midst. But lazy yellow-fruiting and polite peach marmalade frailty are never sweet, raspy, bitter, or brazen enough to compare with Ayinger’s better efforts.