Thin yellow-glowed Belgian-styled limited edition tripel brings peppery hop pep to mild lemon-seeded pineapple, white peach, yellow apple, brown pear, cantaloupe, and melon fruiting. Modest phenol spicing coerces biscuit-y honey-glazed malting. Lack of stylistic specificity and deficient candi-sugared sweetness lower appeal.
Crisp light-bodied gold-hazed Czech-styled pilsner places citric-hopped easement next to polite caramel malt shelter. Sour lemon-seeded tranquility, mild grassy-hopped bittering and crushed black pepper snip contrast baguette, baked bread and French bread sustenance. Minor floral illusions seep in. A good, serviceable session beer for America’s lawn-mowing proletariat.
Bustling ruddish-hazed khaki-headed medium body with fruitful pining reminiscent of IPA styling (and biscuit-y caramel roast conjuring Rogue Dead Guy Helles Bock). Dry wet-leafed hops saturate resinous pine sapping and spiced-up lemon-limed peach, apple, orange, grapefruit, pineapple, watermelon and mango tang to cereal-grained baguette-buttered caramel-chocolate malting. Almond, praline, and chestnut augment pasty marzipan sweetness.
Wintry purple-browned 36th anniversary seasonal retains darker spicing and deeper mocha penetration than most previous versions. Gingerbread, nutmeg, cinnamon, and allspice leave loud impression on sarsaparilla wake. Belgian chocolate, cola nut, and cocoa butter illusions peak through mild orange-peeled bittering. Crisp tobacco roast and ashen cigarette remnant waver.
Slick molasses-malted caramel toasting, disruptive metallic astringency, and acetous iodine driblet thankfully outdone by streamlined chocolate-cocoa spicing. Subsidiary tobacco-roasted gingerbread, pecan pie, dehydrated fig, raisin, almond, butternut and hazelnut illusions penetrate dry rye breading. As bottle drains, ample mocha prominence dissuades blunt alkaline acridity of wildly variable, thickheaded, coppery bronzed, medium-bodied dark lager.
Don’t obsess over herbal-spiced peculiarities such as green peppercorn bittering and black-peppered rosemary-thyme-alfalfa seasoning enhancing well-integrated golden-hazed tripel since sweet Clover honey malting overrides every extraneous eccentricity. Mild lemon rind souring, hemp-oiled raspberry vinaigrette tartness and floral zucchini-flowered hibiscus-lotus-jasmine reminder reach zenith at fruitful ginger-snapped mango-peach-pineapple-nectarine midst. Tertiary banana liqueur, brandy wine, and lemon meringue illusions further sweeten busy elixir. Just as advertised, “an ale of mythic proportions” (bottled at Sly Fox Brewery’s Royersford facility.)
Refreshingly straightforward moderate body brings crisp-watered hop-spiced citric intrigue and affable crystal-caramel malting to buttered baguette base. Initial grapefruit peel bittering tails off to misty red apple, peach, and pear sweetness. Unquestionably a fine middle-of-the-road session beer that holds its own against better known fare.
Traditional English pub ale made from “the stripped down second runnings” of Jersey brewery’s excellent Wee Heavy maintains apropos moderate body. Faint orange compote waft emanates from coppery liquid, followed by mild earthen fungi tongue and milder peat-smoked pale-crystal malting. Root vegetable notes line soft Columbus hop bittering.
Scoffing traditional Belgian-styled candi-sugaring for ‘golden sessionable’ witbier (minus the wheat) perfect for sunny day lunchtime boat cruise alongside light dishes such as sautéed whitefish and freshly barbecued scallops. Grassy-hopped white-peppered herbal spicing lingers through rye-malted burnt orange, banana bread, and extracted vanilla illusions given a teasing ethanol burn.
Robust Scotch-styled winter solstice celebration with robust black chocolate urgency and coarse resinous hop roasting brings expectant mesquite-smoked Scotch malting and dewy peat graining to surging fig-dried date-sugared cocoa sweetness. Its backend alcohol burn reinforces sullen whiskey musk, subsidiary stone fruiting, and tertiary dried tobacco roast.
Dependable mahogany-hued chocolate stout maintains soft tone despite sharp roasted hop char and pungent espresso-coffee leanings. A milder alternative, its rich brown-sugared black chocolate opening gets reinforced by oatmeal raisin cookie illusions, gooey anise sapping, and cherry puree undertones contrasting oily tar-like molasses bittering.
Well balanced medium-bodied English-styled brown ale with bold mocha surge. Stove-burnt coffee and dark-spiced brown chocolate sidle coarse peanut-shelled cola-macadamia-hazelnut sharpness and roasted pecan-walnut-tobacco conflux above mild hop char bittering. Cocoa nibs, vanilla bean, black cherry, and soy milk underscore sweet oats-toasted caramel-toffee malting. A tad arid, though that’s nitpicking.