Well-balanced soft-watered mahogany-hued medium body brings bitter black coffee, creamy dark chocolate, and maple-sugared caramel-burnt vanilla symmetry to viscous molasses-sapped anise center. Tertiary cocoa powder, roasted espresso, and cappuccino illusions ride along descending prune-plum trail. Further sips revealed lilting bourbon-burgundy wining and black cherry nuance in deepest recess. Despite heightened 9.1% alcohol range, lighter flavor profile than most Imperial Stouts.
Category Archives: Beers A-Z
(STEENBERGE) BORNEM TRIPEL ALE
Subtly expressive blanched golden Abbey ale segues crisp pineapple-pear-mango tang into mild bubblegum-sugared banana-clove midst. Reservedly bitter floral-hopped honey-glazed lemony orange finish enhances coriander-cinnamon-spiced rosebud-sunflower illusions. Solvent 9% alcohol piquancy may appease stronger ale heads but it’ll burn lighter thirsts.
SMUTTYNOSE GRAVITATION BELGIAN-STYLE QUADRUPEL ALE
Engrossing terrycloth-textured full-bodied Belgian knockoff maintains chewy chocolate-caramel-molasses malting. Candi-sugared Sugar Daddy sweetness echoes through cohesive hop-spiced raisin-dried cherry-grape-berry souring raiding medicinal orange-bruised pumpkin-pureed cognac persuasion and mild bourbon boozing. Tertiary sweet-corned fennel, anise, and caraway illusions also aid complex doppelbock-like quad.
SAMUEL ADAMS IMPERIAL WHITE (2010)
Updated and bettered 2010 Imperial White recipe of glutinous golden-browned ‘wheat ale brewed with spices’ takes unlikely stylistic route, forgoing rudiment banana-clove-coriander expectancy for boozy malt-driven tropical-fruited 10% alcohol elixir. Bright hop-spiced, peach-brandied, nectarine-pineapple tang picks up bittersweet cherry-pureed bruised orange viscosity and minty tingle as whiskey-tinted caramel creaminess thickens.
SAMUEL ADAMS IMPERIAL STOUT
Well balanced Russian Imperial Stout with mahogany-hued motor oil-like viscosity places bittersweet cedar-smoked oats-charred dark chocolate frontage and sticky anise resonance ahead of rich vanilla-tousled coffee-roasted espresso bittering. Bourbon and sherry illusions pick up steam for 9.2% alcohol-infused heavyweight.
ROCK ART THE VERMONSTER
Advertised as ‘Ridge Runner’s Big Brother,’ sharp spice-hopped brown-sugared mocha-bound barleywine betters lighter-bodied sibling. Viscously caramel malted and heavily dry-hopped, its black cherry-pureed buildup overwhelms coffee-stained cola nutttiness, fig-raisin latency and resinous pine sapping.
ROCK ART EXTREME I.P.A. (II)
Viscous bronze-bodied ‘hop’ celebrant with sinewy yeast sediment places candy apple-glazed peach-pear-honeydew sweetness inside bitterly piney floral-hopped orange-peeled deluge. Tangy papaya, mango, pineapple, grapefruit, and honeydew tropicalia connects sedate spruce sprawl to super dry finish that perpetually lingers.
ROCK ART MAGNUMUS ETE TOMAHAWKUS ESB
Alluring ‘Extreme’ ale with emboldened 80 IBU hop measurement, viscous saffron body, and thick yeast sediment perfect for bitter hopheads. Herbaceous floral fruiting fronts wood-chipped grapefruit-peeled orange rind bitterness and sufficient hop-oiled juniper berry bite to candi-sugared caramel malt base. Tropical pineapple, nectarine, apricot, guava and tangerine tang counters ascending alcohol-burnt piney brashness.
OTRO MUNDO STRONG RED ALE
(HARPOON) CATAMOUNT MAPLE WHEAT (2009)
(CARLOW) O’HARA’S CELEBRATION STOUT
Middling dry stout celebrates 10th anniversary of Irish brewery with inefficient moderation. Oily astringency knocks back hop-charred coffee bean bitterness topping sugared oats spine and tertiary licorice-currant remnant. At espresso finish, black tar, charcoal, and pipe tobacco harshness take back seat to peat-smoked black chocolate-vanilla-molasses surge (bereft of requisite nuttiness).