Particularly peculiar soured stout (contentiously listed as a Belgian dark ale) provides cocoa-powdered chocolate chalking to wood-burnt molasses sapping, ashen nuttiness and dingy basement funk. Ancillary chicory, carob and ice coffee illusions and distant lemony tartness fill out mocha finish.
Solid Baltic Porter/ India Pale Ale hybrid (not far removed from a Cascadian dark ale) brings pine-fruited hop spicing, latent wood burnt bittering and earthen herbal respite to sweet mocha molasses sugaring. At its center, tangy grapefruit-pineapple-melon-cherry conflux contrasts dark chocolate malting. Clandestine hazelnut-chestnut-walnut conflux and mild maple molasses nuance fill out backend. Well-balanced medium-full body introduced in 2012 just after trendy Black IPA fad settled down a tad.
Heavenly IPA-like bitter in a can will please hearty hopheads. More robust than a stylistically typical pale ale, allowing its sharp piney citric bite to criss-cross tangy apricot, tangerine, pineapple and quince sweetness. Increasingly effective grapefruit rind and orange peel bittering enhances resinous wood dryness and spicy tropical fruiting above saltine base.
Fine canned version streamlines baked-breaded sourdough malting with resinous hop bittering, coarse grain-husked minerality and wafting cologne musk. Herbal snips and vegetal wisps glide through the salt-watered briskness as well. Serve to anyone intrigued by Heineken’s pungent hop bitterness or to less aggressive Dortmunder lager imbibers. Betters any marketed cream ale.
On tap at Andy’s Corner Bar, luxurious limited edition 2012 farmhouse ale (brewed with French yeast ale) surges forth with tart red cherry, sour red grape and sweet red peach overtones securing buttery white oak aging. Musty papier-mached clay hops contrast maple-honeyed wheat bed. Tertiary cantaloupe, mango, blackberry, raspberry and lemon meringue undertones deepen floral-tinged stone fruiting. On tap at Taphouse Grill, honeyed Scotch whiskey nuance appeared.
On tap at Andy’s Corner Bar, muscle-bound draught-only 2012 witbier offers profound lime-peeled sourness and spiffy coriander dash to brazen juniper berry bittering. Wood lacquered ethanol whir, perfumed hop swerve and plasticene grouting saturate crisp citric-splashed finish. Seasoned hopheads will delight in its brash bitterness and boozy buildup.
Presumptuous amber-hazed pilsner (with heightened 8.3% alcohol burn) scatters coarse juniper-grapefruit bittering across hard-candied lemon tartness and obverse creamy crystal malting. Sweet apricot, peach, tangerine, marmalade and strawberry undertones register below grassy-hopped floral aspect. On tap at Doherty’s, sharp juniper hop bittering crisply backs lemony grapefruit-peeled peach, pineapple and orange fruiting.
Revelatory hybridized full body brings expressive espresso coffee theme to the forefront. Persistent bitter coffee bean rampage pleasantly relegates sweet caramel roast and toasted hop levy. Charcoal afterburner reinforces plentiful java rush. Tertiary cappuccino, vanilla bean, caramel latte and chocolate hazelnut biscotti illusions slide by. An ambitious amber ale easily mistaken for a stout. Betters all Peak Organic offerings (though I haven’t tried one since ’09).
Impressive lactic farmhouse ale gathers wild yeast aged in unlined wood barrels, blending Hollandish oud broun with musty Dortmunder bock for richer Flanders red ale offshoot. Tannic red-white-green grape dryness receives leathery oaken cherry pucker and light balsamic vinegaring to counter infiltrating brown-sugared honey malting. Tart green apple, cranberry, raspberry and plum undertones settle in the midst.
Feisty 10% alcohol-fueled ‘ale brewed with spices’ (from French-bordered fishing town brewhouse) gets major lift from gooey black licorice resonation. Heavy anise influence takes full control ahead of rich Belgian chocolate spicing, noirish red grape wining and distant plum-raisin-prune snip, bringing tongue-coating black licorice uplift to the forefront. Strangely, the wafting compost pungency never consumes tertiary hazelnut coffee and chocolate liqueur illusions. Betters annisette as an after dinner relaxer.
On tap at Copper Mine, mildly creamed stove-burnt coffee persistence and astringent carbolic fizz outdistance anticipated peanut-shelled hazelnut-walnut roast. Brown-sugared burnt caramel, vanilla latte, toffee and almond untertones envelop grain-charred hop roast. Tertiary cedar snip and dried fig-cherry nip waver through peaty backend of resilient medium body.