Pleasant mainstream ale allows sticky malt sweetness and compromised orange-grapefruit-tangerine tang to subsume mild honeyed creaminess.
All posts by John Fortunato
NIAGARA EISBOCK
Clean Niagara water drifts through dry mocha malts, toasted barley, and roasted hops before malleable crustacean barleywine reminder filters into hazelnut-illuminated finish. Affable caramel sweetness picks up maple-rye undertones along the way.
(OB) NEX PILSNER
Fizzy-watered sweet-scented golden pilsner maintains grain-hopped lemon-dropped simplicity. More class and character than mediocre competition. Probably not on market as of 2006.
(YANKEE) NEW YORK HARBOR LIGHT PILSNER
Simple, crisp, neutral alternative to vintage New York competitor Rheingold offers faded sour malt opening, harvest wheat dryness, and silky hop-fizzed bitterness, countering slight caramel sweetness.
(YANKEE) NEW YORK HARBOR AMBER ALE
Eye-catching butterscotch-almond hue beats plain barley drear, dull candy sweetness, and metallic finish conclusively.
NEW RIVER PALE ALE
Bottled version brewed by top shelf Old Dominion wraps toasted barley around bright tangerine-apricot-grapefruit ripeness, piney resin, and brief floral nuance. Anchored by pleasant spruce hop bitterness and mocha malt efficiency, this hazy straw-hued medium body finishes with a resplendent butterscotch-almond linkage.
NEWPORT STORM THUNDERHEAD IRISH RED
Circuitous cola-hazed moderate body with fizzy round-bubbled head and prolonged Cascade hop frisk goes beyond stylistic inclination. Delicate raisin, nutmeg and toffee illusions enhance toasted caramelized barleymalt efficiency to cocoa-buttered finish. Serve as subtle alternative to creamier barleywines. Located afresh chocolate-pecan finesse, earthen dried tobacco regress, cooked vegetable passivity and hemp oil residue while quaffing ’07 Spring Ale version.
NEWPORT STORM RHODE ISLAND BLUEBERRY
Luxuriously perfumed blueberry waft inundates pearly-headed golden straw-bodied fruit ale that’s arguably better than New England’s berry-flavored competitors from Bar Harbor, Sea Dog, or Coddington’s. Sweet candied blueberry essence captured above gently hop-fizzed caramelized cereal malts, biscuit-y wheat, and cornbread. Seltzer-watered blackberry-strawberry nuance teases dry finish.
NEWPORT STORM HURRICANE AMBER ALE
Prickly hop top booms above calm barley roastedness and slick crystal-pale malt sweetness for light-to-medium-bodied ambiance. Subtle nut-grain timidity decorates backdrop.
NEWPORT STORM BLIZZARD PORTER
Efficient short-headed burgundy-hued winter-styled porter with musty fruit aroma and dry piney-hopped sharpness bulking up nutmeg-spiced caramel-burnt mocha chalking and acrid cocoa-chocolate malting. Smooth, well-integrated full-bodied delight.
(NEW HOLLAND) ZOOMER WHEAT ALE
Peppery lemongrass bittering slithers through easygoing Seltzer water flow of lightweight straw-hazed dry body. Trivial herbal spicing careens towards tepid wheat bread finish lacking mineral grain depth.
NEW HOLLAND THE POET STOUT
Robust mahogany-hued lactose stout integrates abundant bittersweet chocolate-milked creaminess with nutty hop-seared espresso-coffee richness. Chewy fudge center procures molasses-thick cookie dough bulwark protecting honey-roasted oats, assuaged dried fruits and zippy cola-hazelnut snip against acrid tobacco-chawed charcoal-tar bittering. Even a hint of anisette sneaks into the mix.