Amped-up Anheuser-Busch hybrid combines Michelob-related Scotch dryness with Budweiser’s beechwood-chipped corn sugaring for stronger 6% alcohol lager. Musky hop astringency addles starchy rice and cardboard-y caramel malts, but sweet spicing saves crisp, clean finish.
Decent amber-hazed, yeast-clouded, soft-bodied citric shandy brings tangy navel orange, mandarin orange and tangerine zest as well as sweet orange peel respite to sharp hop-fizzed coriander spicing, picking up minor astringency along the way. Seltzer-watered orange sherbet tartness and floral orange blossom nip seep in.
Casual light-bodied witbier hastily gets watery as faltering sweet ‘n soured orange peel entry picks up ginger-honeyed orange blossom perfuming and mild grassy hop acridity over soft white wheat bed. Lemon-candied raspberry tartness, latent coriander spicing, tangy tangerine respite and wispy curacao orange smidge drowned out by phenol carbolic fizz. Faded fruit-spiced finish lacks sugary punch.
Despite dropping roasted bull testicles into the mash tun, creamily rich stout retains lovely dark and brown chocolate sweetness. Fudgy chocolate-kissed Nestles Quik cocoa powdering deepened by chocolate mousse caking and oily anise spicing to contrast ashen nuttiness. Tertiary espresso coffee, black cherry and hazelnut undertones fade away. Forget about the advertised bovine nuts, this one’s way closer in taste to malt balls.
Sweet cinnamon apple-spiced pumpkin pie sugaring contrasts less prevalent vegetal gourd acridity. Honey-glazed yam, gingerbread and nutmeg undertones add casual splendor. Creamy vanilla snip further sweetens medium-bodied fall seasonal.
On tap at Shepherd & Knucklehead, richly creamed Belgian dark ale (part of limited edition Game of Thrones series) brings brown chocolate spicing to bitter hop-charred tarring. Molasses-sapped anise and fennel influence deepens dark-roasted mocha malting. Tertiary cocoa, coffee and cola nut illusions override subtle black-peppered dried fruiting and faded whiskey nip.
On tap at Julian’s Restaurant, highly impressive Double Trouble IPA gets aged in bourbon barrels and gains whiskey-daubed oaken vanilla warmth to elevate juicier fruited frontage. Resinous piney hop oiling embitters lemony grapefruit-orange peel briskness while contrasting tropical pineapple, mango, melon, tangerine, peach and apricot tang. Marmalade custard, coconut, almond and butterscotch nuances as well as maple-sugared spruce sapping enhance sweet caramel malting. Corn-sugared bourbon warmth pleasantly infiltrates the bright citric finish.
Utilizing brewers’ Finest Kind IPA recipe for a rich rye malted (instead of wheat) base while amping up the dry-hopped IBU’s, fine hophead delight retains juicy pineapple-peach-mango-cantaloupe-melon tang and bitter grapefruit-peeled orange rind succulence over crisply clean mineral water. Resinous pine-needled juniper berry bite contrasts ancillary perfumed floral sweetness at the honeyed rye spine.
