Complexities abound for yummy butterscotch-candied elixir (with heady 10.5% ABV turbulence and ethyl alcohol burn). Plying chewy caramel-burnt cookie dough yeast sinew to buttered rum-spiced almond, pecan and toasted almond illusions. Beneath, smoky maple molasses sap picks up sugary vanilla, toffee and black cherry subsidy to contrast remedial dry-hopped pink grapefruit bittering.
Interesting collaboration between Indiana and Colorado brewers. German-styled gratzer with smoked Polish dark ale roots brings oak-smoked wheat to the fore alongside bittersweet mocha nuttiness. Baker’s chocolate, cocoa powder and black coffee illusions get reinforced by sneaky peat smoked malts and latent wood-burnt char. Dry finish obtains milk-soured lactic acidity.
On tap at The Lantern in Naperville, well-rounded pale ale pushes the envelope slightly without becoming too harshly alcoholic. Profoundly embittered IPA-like fruiting protrudes above crisp bite of stylish summer session ale. Pungent piney hop resin flourishes beside juicy pineapple, grapefruit, orange and peach tang, leaving an imprint on its mild wheat-sugared biscuit malt bottom.
Using a similar sinewy yeast profile as BBC’s Amber Ale and informed by its reliable maple-sugared nuttiness, fine medium-bodied dark ale places cola-walnut-hazelnut conflux above toasted rye breading and burnt caramel malts. Tertiary red grape snip nosedives.
Imprecise farmhouse ale tosses raw-honeyed orange rot and yellow grapefruit souring at soapy grained murk. Off-putting molded fruitiness and dank hop astringency lower appeal. Phenol carbolic fizz depletes zesty lemon rind wisp.
Updated ’13 version of BBC Altbier thins out from syrupy honey pour to nutty caramelized Vienna-like malting before glutinous wheat flouring subsides and hasty malt liquor snip becomes metallic by murky sweet grained finish.
Easy flowing sessionable IPA heightens sugary fruited malting against piney dry-hopped bittering. Sweet orange-peeled pineapple, mango, peach, nectar and kiwi tang spreads across lemony grapefruit rind affluence and whimsical floral bouquet. A zestier alternative to brewers’ Double Wide IPA.
Classic English pub ale may be sessionable, but its body is only fair. Phenol hop astringency and musty earthen peat contrast teasing lemon spritz. Docile caramel malting and bread-crusted biscuit buttering need to be pushed forward. Nondescript, methinks, though very well-liked by enlightened Anglo proletariat.
Not a slickly cloy shandy despite overriding lemon-candied tartness, sugary lemon soda fizz and distant lemonade sweetness. Instead, dry ginger herbage, salty Berliner Weisse-like coriander spicing and musty lemongrass musk bring certain bittering to acidic limoncello liqueur likeness. Light minty freshness nips at increasingly sour lemon-oiled finish.
Easygoing summer session malt beverage (in a can) loads sugary yellow and pink grapefruit tang above soda-like spritz. Sparkling water crisping brightens citric lightness. Latent lemon-juiced wisp not far removed from a salted margarita. A worthy grapefruit-derived ale-ternative.
Skeptical limited edition Imperial Stout spreads roasted chocolate nuttiness atop hop-charred bittering. Smoked mocha malting, burnt coffee souring and raw molasses bittering influence walnut-hazelnut conflux and tepid black cherry snip.
Unsure if stylistic integrity is betrayed or if correct balance is achieved with sour ale-leaning German dunkel (in canned version). Certain odd complexities abound after cascading tan head settles above caramel-hued body. Fungi yeast earthiness inundates vinegary green apple and white grape tartness as well as bubbly champagne pucker, disrupting mild chocolate malting. Unduly dried orange musk and murky ashen walnut char congest embittered citric-spoiled finish. Expectant banana sweetness lost in the muddled mix.
