Crassly peculiar Belgian-styled farmhouse ale connects acidic stone-fruited oaken cherry souring and offbeat rhubarb spell to outlandishly curious candy-caned peppermint twist. Eye-squinting orange-dried crabapple, guava, kumquat, papaya, and blueberry nuances increase mouth-puckering brettanomyces funk. A novel sour ale.
All posts by John Fortunato
BOULDER HOOPLA PALE ALE
Politely soft-tongued with light piney bittering reminiscent of IPA and perfect as crossover fodder. Easygoing lemon-dropped apple, peach, pear, tangerine, mango and grapefruit illusions pick up tingly marzipan sweetness plus minor grassy-hopped herbal-floral spiciness appending wood-dried fruited finish. Chamomile tea, caramelized rye, hop resin, celery, rhubarb and fennel illusions make cameos.
NASHOBA VALLEY WINERY
BOLTON, MASSACHUSETTS
Up a narrow rural road in rustic Bolton at an early Americana compound a few miles outside Worchester, NASHOBA VALLEY WINERY opened for business in 2004. Besides its estate-type vineyards and olden wood edifices, the winery also brews its own beers in one of its on-site dwellings. Visited post-Thanksgiving 2011, this multi-acre site also features several apple and peach trees plus an exquisite food menu paired with Nashoba Valley’s homemade wine and beer.
Past the weather-shaken gray farmhouse (with back deck) and open-air pavilion right down the beaten dirt path lies a manmade lake and the flag-smitten green ranch that houses the winery and restaurant. Samples of beer and wine were available at the back desk and bottles-to-go were available. I bought five different 22-ounce bottles of each available Nashoba Valley brew (reviewed in Beer Index). For those seeking a provocatively cloistered New England manor with debonair elegance and Old World charm, this vintage hilltop farm is king.
Nashoba Valley’s beers ran the gamut from styptic German-styled Bolt 117 (where citric juniper bittering overruns raw-grained herbal spicing); wavering alcohol-burnt Heron Ale (an OK ESB with singed mineral grains and wood-dried herbal tea respite); tart lemon-soured banana-clove hefeweizen Wattaquadock Wheat; oaken maple syrupy autumnal seasonal Oaktoberfest; vibrant pine-needled grapefruit rind-embittered IPA and viscous mocha-bound hop-charred Imperial Stout. Full reviews of these beers are found at Beer Index.
BOLERO SNORT BROWN BAGGED LUNCH
Emulating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, medium-full-bodied brown ale places Concord grape-jellied Muscat wining below an increasingly pervasive walnut-shelled peanut butter mouthfeel. Nutty burnt toast harshness may put off soft-toned drinkers but dark ale hounds will find favor with its ample backend bittering. Pictured below is initial Drewery PB & J label.
BOLERO SNORT WEE HEIFER FRUITCAKE
On tap, accurately dubbed ‘the fruitcake you don’t want to re-gift,’ estimable oak-aged wee heavy places dried red cherries, spiced fig and golden raisins atop citric-tinged Reisling, port and burgundy notes for a fascinatingly peculiar concoction. Oak-soaked in Woodford Reserve small batch bourbon and pleated with oaken vanilla subtleties, its unassuming 9% alcohol volume provides elegant warmth. Bottled version retained livelier fruitcake theme as fig-spiced red wining, ripe raisin rasp and prune-stewed black cherry splat receive capacious ginger snap cookie sugaring.
BOLERO SNORT THERE’S NO RYEING IN BASEBULL
Utilizing a wordy crybaby appellation stolen from Tom Hanks’ famous League Of Their Own character, this here’s a summery soft-toned steppingstone for lighter thirsts. Sessionable mainstreamer with rye-spiced nicety, subtle orange-dried fig acridity, and earthen bottom tagged “a casual slammer for boating.”
BOLERO SNORT BLACKHORN BLACK INDIA PALE ALE
Fine Black IPA, re-branded as Black Horn, brings expectant hop-toasted pine-sapped dried fruiting to rich chocolate-roasted caramel malts. Amplified coffee bean kick, ashen wood-charred sear and lofty grapefruit peel afterburner thicken overall bitterness.
BOLERO SNORT GINGERBULL COWKIE
Well-balanced brown-sugared gingerbread sweetness, black-breaded molasses nuttiness, and nutmeg-clove seasoning stabilize wintry holiday-spiced brown ale. Cookie dough, vanilla and praline fill out backend of impressive Christmastime dessert beer. On tap, gingerbread cookie entry abruptly countered by unexpected perfumed lemon spicing that overrides tertiary vanilla, clove and coriander sweetness.
BOLERO SNORT CUADRILLA COCOA
Doable ‘Mexican Hot Chocolate Imperial Stout’ intricately plies gingerbread-cinnamon spicing to cocoa nibs, vanilla bean, dark chocolate, sarsaparilla, licorice root, and most strikingly, chili peppered heat. Lactic acidity tempers peppery spicing.
BOLERO SNORT CALF-ACCINO
Momentous espresso-cappuccino rush embittered by coffee bean roast then sweetened by sugary maple molasses mellifluence. Chocolate latte, vanilla and mochaccino illusions contrast tar-like residue. Despite paltry 5% alcohol volume, heavy gravity deepens robust nature of fine porter aged on espresso beans.
NASHOBA VALLEY BLACKBERRY ALE
Some may quibble, but 2011-bottled version of soapy fruit ale lacked proper blackberry-soured flavoring, coarsening to a phenol citric harshness worsened by carbolic aridity and sulfuric sways. Tart grape, dried fig and vermouth illusions come crashing down haphazardly. Like many lighter fruit beers, its unpredictable nature is cautionary. Drab stuff.
(ALLTECH) KENTUCKY BOURBON BARREL ALE
Delicately intricate bourbon-aged strong ale stays soft, fizzy and mildly creamed on the tongue. Almondine, cream soda, oaken vanilla, glazed toffee and butternut squash illusions sidle toasted almond ascension. Subtle bourbon whiskey theme just a tad more striking than similarly styled Innis & Gunn Oak Aged Scottish Ale. Only downside: minor diacetyl aridity briefly outpaces Scotch sweetness. In a can, lilting bourbon sweetness contrasts dry whiskey stead as subtle toasted coconut, praline and pecan illusions file in behind.