Washed-out aluminum-hued dry-bodied lightweight ruined by tinny corn-oiled rice wine souring and nasty cider-y finish; leaving tinny aftertaste. Nasty stuff.
All posts by John Fortunato
LAGUNITAS GNARLYWINE
Glorious slow sipping 11% alcohol-fueled dessert treasure (limited ’09 release) dazzles the senses with well-balanced nature and fascinating complexity. Ripe cherry, bruised orange, and brown banana illusions enliven chewy brown chocolate-y molasses creaminess rising above cotton-candied dark-spiced floral-hopped midst. Medicinal cognac-bourbon warmth brings finish to fruition.
HOOK & LADDER NO. 2 LIGHTER
Anyone for salted pretzels or buttery popcorn? This light-bodied lager suffers from doughy nothingness and astringent corn-maize nature. Faintest butterscotch-marzipan flicker saves lightly toasted malt finish. Contract brewed for Maryland’s Hook & Ladder.
HOFSTETTEN KUBELBIER
Spry orange-peach mist and sharp-hopped mineral graining enrich cloudy amber moderate-bodied zwickel (an unfiltered bottom-fermenting German-styled lager). Baked bread-y sourdough finish almost conceals tidy butterscotch sweetness.
HOFSTETTEN GRANITBOCK
Chewy molasses-soaked raisin-pureed stewed prune opening enriches dark-spiced brown-sugared chocolate malt sweetness of robust doppelbock. Honeyed nut, almond, pecan, and hazelnut illusions gather along tertiary port-whiskey slip.
THE BRUERY TRADE WINDS TRIPEL
Elegant beige-headed bronze-hazed bottle-conditioned Belgian-styled tripel drifts in and out of stylistic deluges with mostly positive results. Thai basil and rice provide lightly spiced Southeast Asian appeal to creamy full body. Polite white-peppered orange peel bittering counters sharp prune-fig souring, chewy banana liqueur illusion, and fleeting clove-coriander-allspice wisp at busy midst. Tertiary honeysuckle, peppercorn, and lemongrass influence intertwines tangy tangerine-peach-pear sweetness. Slight alcohol-burnt finish allows cinnamon cider, burgundy, and white wine illusions to seep in softly.
SLY FOX WGV PALE ALE
SOUTHERN TIER IMPERIAL INIQUITY BLACK ALE
OTTER CREEK WORLD TOUR OTTER MON JAMAICAN-STYLE STOUT
Slick ink black milk stout brings stove-burnt coffee souring to light chocolate-caramel roast. Dark spices, vanilla extract, and anise fill out oats-charred backdrop, but peppery hop astringency and harsh nuttiness overwhelm sugar-caned mocha aspect.
SARANAC IRISH RED ALE
Aromatic caramel-toffee sweetness disrupted by faded floral hop astringency that delicately fizzles out. Abbreviated toasted graining, muted mocha wisp, and blah orange-apple-peach tang barely inform ill-defined metallic finish.
OTTER CREEK WORLD TOUR SPHINX MULTIGRAIN ALE
Toot-sweet Egyptain-styled multi-grained pale ale ‘brewed with honey and chamomile’ finds both advertised adjuncts hitting their mark firmly. Anticipatory honey-dripped affluence slowly picks up tea-like subsidy overrun by pasty marzipan-butterscotch creaminess and warm almondine illusion. Astringent hop coarseness and minor diacetyl buttering cut into mild ginger-snapped cinnamon-nutmeg interlude.
DEFIANT BELGIAN-STYLE TRIPEL ALE
Well-defined chartreuse-hazed witbier not far removed from Ommegang’s impressive Abbey ales matches herbaceous farmhouse nature to yellow-fruited souring, dark-spiced sweetness, and earthen mineral graining. Sour lemony banana blitz receives candi-sugared apricot glaze and clove-spearmint-green tea tingle reinforced by mild white-peppered hop bittering.