Well-balanced mocha-nutty German alt, positioned as traditional brown ale circa 2011, celebrates third anniversary of New England brewery. Perfectly rounded mouthfeel collates dry hop-charred walnut with wood-singed vanilla bean bittering and syrupy maple molasses. Hazelnut and pecan spotted in penetrative dark chocolate backdrop.
Perfectly obvious and totally easygoing fresh-watered pale lager now brewed by macro kings, Anheuser-Busch (but originating in Canada), crystallizes its tingly grassy-hopped spicing with wheat-flaked cereal grains and caramelized crystal malts. A slight metallic tinge edges forth by the fragile sweet-buttered finish.
On tap at Barcade, traditional Czech pils relates well to German dry lager and English ESB styles. Lemon-dried raw honey souring picks up herbal harvest graining, allowing grassy-hopped alfalfa, whey and porridge illusions to infiltrate sourdough bottom.
On tap at Barcade, mellow British-styled winter warmer (aged in bourbon barrels) is a slow sipping medium-bodied digestif. Dry Scotch, sherry and bourbon boozing picks up brown-sugared rye molasses sweetness over dry oaken vanilla satiation. Ancillary fig-date sugaring wavers.
On tap at Barcade, egg-y Challah breaded entry picks up light almond-toasted armagnac, almondine and sherry wining. Dry chocolate spicing lingers in the midst alongside red cherry, molasses and vanilla illusions. Less fruity and hop-fueled than American versions, this English-styled barleywine is more approachable for softer thirsts.
On tap at Barcade, medium-bodied obsidian-hued porter brings beechwood-like smokiness to burnt-toasted dark chocolate, cocoa nibs, and coffee bean influence. Tobacco-charred walnut roast and earthen hop oils deplete initial smoked wood surface.
On tap at Barcade, creamy rum-barrel aged strong ale warms up like the finest cognac or brandy. Rum-spiced pumpkin pie entry stays firm against dark cherry, bruised orange and candied apple opulence. Wintry ginger-cinnamon-allspice-nutmeg conflux sidles molasses-sapped caramelized rye breading. Excellent digestif.
On tap at Barcade, interestingly sumptuous Cabernet Sauvignon-regaled ‘quadrupel’ bock brings musty muscatel wining to dried-fruited raisin-plum-fig conflux and sharply hopped spices. Tartly tannic cranberry, raspberry, cherry and Muscat grape musk recedes beneath oaken pinot noir timbre. Lofty winter warmer affords serious fireside relaxation.
Slushy flavor profile confounds bleary 12% alcohol triple bock camouflaged as a premium pale lager on a nasty strong Czech beer bender. Cloy Scotch entry picks up orange-spiced Courvoisier cognac propensity and blatant cotton-candied butterscotch-marzipan-vanilla sweetness undercut by slick honeyed ginger murk. Sugary corn ripple and superfluous rice wine tipple crammed into messy mix.
Aggressive German-styled dunkelweizen not far removed from English Special Bitter with its dryer character. Never short on brevity, its ashen hop char seeps into dark-spiced autumnal foliage, sharp walnut roast, and bread-crusted coffee nuance, deepening Blackstrap molasses bitterness. Brown-sugared cocoa-pecan-praline conflux soaks latent maple sapped sweetening. Confoundedly vanquished plum-raisin-banana confections, stylistically apropos, lack affirmation.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
In the heart of Beantown, this re-renovated chain restaurant-brewery opened as ROCK BOTTOM in 2001 and got renovated April 2011. Formerly Brew Moon, Rock Bottom bought out the company, merged with Gordon Biersch, and is owned as of this December 2011 trip by large conglomerate, CraftWorks Restaurants & Breweries. This eloquent red brick-walled, wood-furnished space attracts vacationing families, businessmen and theatregoers. Special tap tables at right side booths allowed beer drinkers to pour by the ounce each house beer (brewed in Pittsburgh for this faux-pub).
I sat at the blue-slated central bar (with 3 TV’s per side) to taste each stylistically efficient ale. My wife settled on a bottled Wachusett Blueberry while I delved into the lighter fare this late afternoon session (after hitting Faneuil Hall’s shopping district).
Kolsch-Style Ale brought floral-hopped citric spicing to a phenol hop prickle, finishing like bark-dried lemon rot (but ain’t as unpleasant as that seems).
White Ale’s white-peppered, lemon-candied, orange-peeled coriander spicing suited its light effervescence.
IPA’s surprisingly soft tone contrasted wispy peach, apple and tangerine illusions against negligible hop pining.
Caramel-spiced orange and red fruits smudged grassy dry-hopped Red Ale.
The two seasonals on hand had less obvious stylistic guidelines so each benefited from being less regimentally specific. Holiday-styled Winter Wheat brought a nifty peppermint twist to orange-dried coriander-nutmeg-cinnamon spicing.
Better still, Snow Moon Belgian Trippel layered creamy cotton-candied banana over molasses gingerbread cookie sweetness, finishing with pastry-like banana-clove illusions resembling German hefeweizens.
Rock Bottom’s bottled beer selection included Lagunitas, Troegs, Left Hand, Magic Hat, Cisco and several well-known Belgians. Guest draughts were Victory Prima Pils, Ommegang Hennepin, Boulder Mojo IPA and local fave, Mayflower Porter.
Respectable collaborative adjunct ale honors home state Springsteen sax legend, Clarence Clemons, with a winning 8.5% alcohol blend every bit as heavy, rounded, dark and sweet as the ‘Big Man’ himself. Creamy brown chocolate richness, maple-sapped rye graining and oats-sugared cookie dough opulence commingle with less opulent IPA-like bruised fruiting. Raisin-pureed blackberry, cherry and grape undertones graze against hop-charred peat dewiness. Ancillary port, noir and burgundy wining and recessive ashen cocoa powdering fill out backend of thrillingly vigorous full body better labeled a stout.
