Subtle cranberry adjunct guides pinkish amber pale ale hybrid (with billowy white head). Full-blown sour candied citrus assault boasts sharp lemony grapefruit-seeded orange peel entry that bitterly lingers. Tart cranberry juicing lays low alongside unripened papaya-pineapple-guava souring, revealing sourer India Pale Ale comparisons. Setback piney hop oiling contrasts mild oats malting.
Complexities abound as polite cacao-nibbed chili peppering gains autumnal pumpkin spicing over toffee-sugared mocha malts. Delightful pumpkin-daubed cocoa, dark chocolate and cold-press coffee continuance proves prominent as sedate nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice and cardamom seasoning recedes and delicate ancho-serrano-habanero peppering subsides (and mild aridity ensues). A deliriously adventurous dessert treat.
On tap at Ambulance, second edition (2016 vintage) oak-aged sour blonde ale spreads white wine tannins and desiccated apricot-skinned tartness way beyond expectant orange-spiced witbier styling. In the midst, sun-ripened Muscat Blanc grape vinegaring sharpens lemony Granny Smith apple pucker to its hay-dried grain spine.
On tap at Ambulance, homage to Brit singing legend, Scott Walker, features floral-bound yellow grapefruit tang and perfumed lemon spritz given light lactobacillus acidity a la mixed culture wild yeast. Below the polite citric-soured surface, mild white peach, mango and guava illusions pop up alongside dry earthen funk.
On tap at Ambulance (and named after a popular children’s picture book), dewy fig-spiced black lager malting provides fine initial impression for scaled-up German-styled schwarzbier. Bittersweet chocolate-seeded toffee spell quickly conquered by latent coffee-roasted burnt breading. Much neglected black lager category well served by this rangy moderate-medium body.
On tap at Poor Henry’s, “ultraclean” dry-hopped German-styled pilsner flanks light grain musk and brisk lemon-rotted pungency with Hallertau Blanc-hopped lemongrass herbage and white grape tannins. A slightly bitterer pils.
Seemingly unvaried takeoff of brewers’ Illuminati (bottle conditioned at Jolly Pumpkin) tosses wild yeast bacteria into bourbon-aged stout, creating sour-fruited raw molasses template over leathery cocoa musk. Dry whiskey waft consumes the nose as oaken cherry-vanilla tartness nearly conceals tannic red wine vinegaring and dry bourbon-burgundy whir while curdled soy milking gains lactic mocha edge.
On tap at Ambulance, subtle dry bourbon aging creeps into light-roast coffee bean thicket. Serene bourbon coffee continuance enjoined by milk chocolate sweetness, mild espresso trinket and slight vanilla wisp. Benaeth, brown-sugared oats sweeten against ashen hop char.
Tart strawberry, raspberry and blueberry adjuncts leave mildly sour mouth pucker alongside bittersweet cacao-nibbed vanilla bean influence. Subtle Blackstrap molasses tinkle sharpens sour-candied berry tartness.
On tap at Stone & Rail, outstanding Jameson whiskey-barreled Irish Stout layers luscious vanilla and coffee beaning with bittersweet dark chocolate syruping. Tertiary toasted coconut, marshmallow and hazelnut illusions slip behind luxurious mocha-bound bourbon vanilla richness. An Irish coffee alternative.
On tap at Curley’s, richly creamed bourbon-aged chocolate spiciness stays rambunctious above cedar-burnt hop char. Sturdy vanilla-beaned coffee influence and chewy raw molasses gunk deepen mocha resonance. Latent walnut sear contrasts sweet burgundy wisp beneath the bold bourbon chocolate dessert surface.
On tap at Ambulance, dry brown-malted ground coffee nuttiness and wood-burnt hop char regale Irish Stout-like tendencies. Underlying scorched earth soiling seeps inside ancillary black chocolate, espresso and cocoa tones to its barley-flaked mocha bottom.
