Skanky malt sourness, dismal hop bottom, and steely metallic tinge ruin slightly salted fizzy frontage and vague corn nuance of trashy macrobrew.
Category Archives: Beers A-Z
BUZZARDS BAY PALE ALE
Sweet butterscotch, honeyed nut, and toned-down chocolate overlay sour yeast mildness. Subtle barleymalt finish attracts bittersweet quince nuance.
CAMERON’S LONG LEG ENGLISH FUGGLES HOP ALE
Delicate barley-hopped roasting, sugary malt zip, and clean mineral water flow provide ballast for efficient pearly-headed pale-toned dry body. Floral hop continuance, yellow fruited souring, and minor quince-pear-peach coquetry offer contrast but traditional golden ale gets phenol and lacks staying power.
CANTILLON LOU PEPE FRAMBOISE 2001
Vintage-aged ruby-hazed pinkish-headed framboise proffers tart raspberry sourness and tannic white grape pucker as carbolic hop spritz saddles fragrant dry esters. Leathery oak acridity enhances cherry-skinned crabapple-cranberry insinuation, vinous white wine sharpness, and mildewed cork tinge. Grating vinous acidity frustrates harshly bitter finish and exorbitant $28 price for 22-ounce bottle gets steep. Only daring drinkers need apply.
CAPTAIN LAWRENCE SMOKED PORTER
Robust espresso-coffee bitterness informs roasted hop-charred walnut-beechwood dryness and parched black chocolate souring. Sticky anise-tar thicket ambushes Band-Aid-like German smoked malt passage.
CARLSBERG ELEPHANT MALT LIQUOR
Inconsequential foamy-headed golden-cleared strong pilsner suffers from harshly skunked honeyed wheat malting and nasty metallic musk, lacking proper grassy hop bite. Peppy carbolic prickle nearly dissolves dissipating ultra-dry citric mustiness, rotting apple core and irritating cat urine finish. But ultimately, this drearily creamy spume recalls generic American malt liquors.
(CASCO BAY) CARRABASSETT PALE ALE
Fluffy eggshell-headed pale-hazed bone-dry softie drops phenol aromatics into peppery hop-spiced orange peel bitterness juxtaposing sour fruited malt prowl. Melon, kiwi, and tangerine hints echo rising grapefruit tide. Straw wheat and toasted oats backend lithe soft-watered simplicity.
CASTELAIN KORMA BLONDE ALE
Unassertive puffy white-headed, Brussels-laced,crystal-malted blonde with dank-cellared grape souring, musty earthen farmhouse breech, and spicy clove continuance deepening buttery white wine palate. Peachy green apple tartness wavers.
CAULIER SAAZ ALE
Rewarding rocky-headed bottle-conditioned ale pours off-white before revealing hazy bleached yellow hue. Spritzy Saaz-hopped signature picks up wheat biscuit exertion as dried banana, tangerine, apricot, grapefruit, and lemon fruiting enlighten sour-candied honeyed clove finish, revealing latent grassy herbal mint nuance.
CHAPEAU EXOTIC LAMBIC
Fermented with pineapple and matured in oak caskets, sticky sweet citrus-toned malt beverage retains juicy fruit thrust from the start. Softly carbonated, silky, nearly cloy, tartly hard-candied treat is easily the best pineapple-flavored lambic currently available. But it’s predictable after a few swigs and limited in appeal.
CHERNOMOR EXTRA LAGER
Pungent doughy aroma-mouthfeel fits funky malt souring, cracked wheat sweetness, and flaked barley crusting. Barest orange hint aids dry moderation.
CHRISTIAN MOERLEIN BOCK
Bavarian bock more influenced by toasted barley, roasted chestnut, and sweet husked corn than expected full-on creamy malt thickness. Dry mocha and sweet chocolate coat underside, dissipating abruptly by mildly bitter hop finish. As usual, American bock version has less complexity than most Germans.