Approachable medium-bodied sweet milk stout retains mildly creamed lactic chocolate resonance over oats-roasted hop toasting and fizzy carbolic aridity. Fudgy burnt caramel spell underscores ancillary black cherry, raisin and fig hints.
Category Archives: Beers A-Z
HARPOON CELTIC ALE
Messy Irish-styled red ale tries blending too many disparate elements. Pasty Scotch-licked entry tersely abandoned for wavered orange-dried cherry souring and cardboard-like caramel malting. Spiced apple respite adds pleasantry. But scattered vegetal snip downgrades initial pulse and acrid tea-like herbal spell comes undone.
BROOKLYN MARY’S MAPLE PORTER
Underwhelming milk chocolate creaming and diffident coffee-dried cocoa powdering too thin for hybrid porter. Syrupy maple molasses glaze falters alongside hop-charred coarsening. Ancillary vanilla bean, black cherry, chicory, cola nut and walnut illusions fade fast.
CLOWN SHOES PECAN PIE PORTER
Superb stylistic hybrid with opulent pecan pie entry and chewy cookie dough richness truly rules the roost. Brown-sugared caramel malting saturates oats-toasted hop char, ashen walnut bittering and dried-fruited raisin-plum-cherry conflux. Praline, hazelnut and almond reinforce peanut-buttered brown chocolate finish. A sensational dessert treat.
PAPER CITY RAPSCALLION HONEY
On tap at Ebenezer’s Bar in Sturbridge’s historic Publick House, gelatinous soft-toned ‘extra pale ale’ brings local wildflower honey creaming to sugary wheat setting. Subtle citric easement leads to floral-dried grassy hop meadow. Lemon custard, vanilla and butterscotch illusions waver.
BLUE HILLS PUB DRAUGHT I.P.A.
Busily aggressive draught version of Blue Hill’s India Pale Ale may be too rangy for its own good. Unexpected herbal whim (ginger-chamomile-mentholyptus) slips into honey-spiced fruiting contrasting lemon-soured grapefruit bittering. Dry pine and sweet spruce peak through leafy hop resin as lemon-sugared peach-pineapple-tangerine-nectarine tang and ancillary apple-spiced pumpkin pie regalia reach fruition.
ABITA SELECT BARLEYWINE
On tap at Shepherd & Knucklehead, mild helles lager-like barleywine ups the spice-hopped sugaring and honey roasted caramel malting, leaving behind any true ‘winey’ conviction. Butterscotch-candied praline, almondine, and chestnut illusions enrapture zesty citric snip. But it’s too toned down for exalted style.
BEAVER BIG RED I.P.A.
Crossover for English India Pale Ale fans readied for hickory-smoked earthen peat dewiness and grassy-hopped vegetal snip crowding the usual Americanized piney grapefruit rind bittering. Sugar-caned crystal malting, honeyed cereal graining and toasted oats base contrast lemon-pitted dry spicing. A toned-down East Coast IPA best served to compromised Saranac fans.
BEER WORKS BUNKER HILL BLUEBEERY
Sweet and sour blueberry lacquering affects candi-sugared Belgian-like yeast influence to white wheat backdrop. Minty herbal freshness sneaks inside blueberry pancake-like dessert option.
LOST ABBEY DEVOTION
Iconic citrus-fueled Belgian pale ale brings saison-like white wining to grassy-hopped herbal peppering. Dried lemon, unripe peach and green apple tartness secures tannic grape souring. Chamomile, hibiscus and honeysuckle illusions underscore funky barnyard-like brettanomyces funk and twiggy tinder dryness. Unsweetened vanilla dalliance pleats yellow-fruited splendor.
LOST ABBEY SERPENT’S IMPERIAL STOUT
Wonderfully robust dessert treat places creamy molasses-like dark chocolate richness, chewy burnt caramel sweetness, vanilla bean bittering and variable cocoa-dried dusting above moderate tarry cedar-charred hop roast. French-roasted coffee, milked cappuccino and espresso underscore rich mocha theme. Ancillary black cherry puree, bourbon, annisette, black licorice and cookie dough illusions keep viscous full body even more interesting. Chocolate brownie finish seals the deal.
SIXPOINT RESIN DOUBLE I.P.A.
On tap at Shepherd & Knucklehead, resinous hop-embittered ‘double’ IPA hybrid stays mild despite exalted ‘big beer’ tag. Moderated grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering contrasts tangy nectar-mango-pineapple tropicalia and sweet-honeyed caramel malting. Minor herbal tease sneaks in.