Sweet whiskey malt-wafted Greek pale body secures moldy orange souring and alcoholic cognac tinge for dry wheat-backed flack. Vanilla creaminess and light spicing lost amongst mild acidity.
All posts by John Fortunato
ARGO EXTRA LAGER
Mediocre white-headed golden-bodied middleweight smears malted barley sweetness atop charred hop bitterness and minor wood-chafed smokiness but depth and clarity lack.
ARGO DARK LAGER
Sumptuous soda-flowing tan-headed lager with cascading bubbles rising from bottom to top of mahogany body. Chocolate raisin fortitude given red ale-like spiced hop bittering to nutty cocoa finish, retaining up-front malt thrust along the way.
ARCOBRAU BAVARIAN DARK WHEAT LAGER
White grape-wafted oaken tannic dryness and soured plum pungency give prune-clouded dunkelweizen lager its bitter resolve. Thick acridity overwhelms lazy wheat serenity of vinous peculiarity.
ARCADIA WHITSUN ALE
Slack honeyed malt sulk, listless grain-toasted snub, and grapefruit-soured cherry-berry marmalade skulk leave weak off-dry honey finish exposed. Further tasting reveals more prominent red grapefruit tang undercut by danker sucrose plethora.
ARCADIA STARBOARD STOUT
Jet black oatmeal stout lacks creamy black chocolate density of richer rivals, yet woodsy hickory-oak insistence, smoked meat graze, black cherry tang, and anise amble confirm scintillating dry port appeal. By firm finish, mellow butterscotch awakens flaked oats toasting.
ARCADIA SHIPWRECK PORTER
Excellently aggressive jet black heavyweight aged in oaken whiskey barrels retains exquisite bourbon sweetness and burnt-sugared vanilla-maple undertone. Thick molasses malts pick up cherry puree, dried prune, and vinous port illusions as charred wood cinders thicken bitter end.
ARCADIA SCOTCH ALE
Redolent of a sweet chocolate-y bock up-front, though unsettled malt protraction lacks distinction and banana-cherry serenity falters when warmed. Oily metallic finish hinders oak-y hazelnut retreat.
ARCADIA NUT BROWN ALE
Chocolate-malted powdered cocoa enchants ashen mocha frontage, settling into soured maple whim its lost walnut-hazelnut-almond astringency and oily diacetyl finish fail to properly punctuate. Further tasting revealed raisin-fig-date troika undermined by stove-burnt coffee sourness.
ARCADIA LONDON PORTER
‘Hardwood smoked malts’ waft through bottle-conditioned Baltic-styled porter endorsing Winston Churchill (on label). Bittersweet black chocolate richness relegates roasted coffee bean severity and hop-charred walnut harshness. Sticky blackstrap molasses backdrop brings out cacophonous cocoa cusp, minor espresso tinge, and latently, vinous cherry-grape souring.
(ARCADIA) LAKE SUPERIOR EXTRA SPECIAL BITTER
Middling phenol-fizzed bitter loses Fuggle-hopped sass as well as barley-roasted toffee-butterscotch sweetness by unresolved cereal grain finish. Raspberry-cider tartness dissipates in tea-like midst.
ARCADIA INDIA PALE ALE
Durable bronze-hued, spruce-hopped, English-styled medium body splashes gleaming berry, melon, cantaloupe and tangerine fruiting across intimate floral bouquet, peppery spicing, and prim pop fizz. Black currant finish enforces coarse piney bitterness. On tap at Blue Ribbon Tavern (2015), latest version lacked fruitiness and picked up dryer, earthier Brit-styled Goldings hop graining and murkier pale malting over mild lemon-peeled bittering.