Category Archives: Beers A-Z

RIVER HORSE HIPP-O LANTERN IMPERIAL PUMPKIN

Beers A-Z

Splendid sharp-hopped mulling spices bring autumnal seasoning to smashingly rich, creamy, full-bodied dessert beer (arguably as indispensable as Buffalo Bill’s Pumpkin Ale used to be). Ripened pumpkin theme envelops large cinnamon-nutmeg-allspice-gingerbread contingent and tertiary banana-bruised apple-candied black cherry tang. Syrupy medicinal thickness outlasts vegetal gourd sway at expansive pumpkin-spiced finish. 2012 version gained pumpkin pureed sweetness as lilting bourbon and red cherry nuances added further dimension. 2016 version contrasted brown-sugared pumpkin spicing with sharper lemondrop tartness (and earthen gourd remnant).

Image result for river horse hippo lantern

COLD SPRING MOONLIGHT ALE

Beers A-Z

Enormous 32-ounce can brings tinny metallic derision to slick caramel malting and phenol-hopped acridity of understated, lackluster porter-bock mix. Despite boasting ‘glacial mineral water,’ crispness lacks. Obliging brown-sugared cocoa-powdered chocolate roast overrides ashen cola-walnut singe consuming astringent purple grape, prune, and cherry whimper, weakening to chalky mocha tartness. Slight barleywine lick detected at blah dried-fruit finish. Serve to less discriminating brown ale consumers.

BROWN’S WHISKEY BARREL AGED PORTER

Beers A-Z

Enormous whiskey-dried warmth muted by dark-roasted caramel malting and hop-charred oaken vanilla nicety. Shockingly low 5.7% alcohol makes presence felt as cherry jubilee, chocolate cake, and buttered cocoa illusions reach boozy bourbon finish. Nutty restraint softens coffee-burnt plum-anise latency. Perfect for softhearted slow-sipping snifter snobs as well as light porter aficionados.

DOGFISH HEAD MY ANTONIA PILS

Beers A-Z

Originally brewed in collaboration with Italy’s Birra Del Borgo, this busy adjunct pilsner may seem pricey but it’s enticingly original. Immediate candi-sugared yellow-fruited impetus receives herbaceous floridity above grain-roasted spunk. Bitter grapefruit rind tartness lingers through resinous black-peppered juniper slipstream countering honey-glazed peach-nectarine-pineapple tang. Wafting dark floral seduction accentuates herbal fruit-spiced theme.

My Antonia (2010) - Dogfish Head Craft Brewery - Untappd

BARON RAUCHBIER

Beers A-Z

Seattle’s Pillagers Pub offered satiny fresh-watered beechwood-smoked kiln-malted German-styled moderation. Fizzy hop-pepped lemon twist underscores evaporative salami-smoked cedar-charred maple-cindered soot. But ‘baron’ smoky resilience upended by sudsy soapiness as the bottle drains. Too soft and unassuming, but never offensive. Crisp, clean springtime session beer may be under-whelming for true traditionalists, but eminently approachable to others.

ANCHOR STEAM HUMMING ALE

Beers A-Z

Celebrating sensational microbrewer’s milestone anniversary with bold hoppy pale ale, this voluptuous full body offers luxurious fruited sweetness, buttery caramel creaminess, and expansive floral potpourri. Lemony grapefruit-peeled apple-peach-pear tang usurps earthen herbage and grassy-hopped pining to cereal grained bottom. Crisp clean-fruited finish retains bright zest.

Anchor Humming Ale

(CLIPPER CITY) HEAVY SEAS SIREN NOIRE IMPERIAL CHOCOLATE STOUT

Beers A-Z

Robust English-styled Imperial Stout fermented by Belgian chocolate nibs retains dark-fruited cocoa-malted pungency. Creamy chocolate-smoked vanilla sweetness and fig-dried cherry-pureed black grape midst deepened by counteractive deep-grained hop-charred coffee-roasted bittering. Increasingly ascending anise adhesion gains prominence above dry burgundy whir. But sharp alcohol harshness and minor oxidation seeps into the mix, depleting tertiary chocolate bombe, chocolate éclair, espresso, and cola nut splendor.

TERRAPIN GAMMA RAY WHEAT WINE

Beers A-Z

Luxuriant 10.8% alcohol-lacquered golden-hazed German weiss nearly perfect as strong summer seasonal. Honey-soaked clove-spiced banana liqueur opening picks up bright lemon-candied blueberry perk for prickly floral-hopped white rum sedation and sweet butterscotch-vanilla creaminess. Banana taffy finish and tertiary pineapple-apricot fruiting knock back sharp alcohol whir.

DOGFISH HEAD SAISON DU BUFF

Beers A-Z

Brewed in conjunction with established microbrewers Stone and Victory, heady yellow-hazed Saison salutes Simon & Garfunkle’s popular ’66 album with parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme herbage. Creamy caramelized rye breading reaches herbaceous black-peppered rosemary summit above lemon-seeded grapefruit-peeled bittering that lingers to caraway-seeded harsh-grained finish. Dry earthen barnyard blanch, dark floral potpourri, and fennel-like respite add depth to everlasting tangerine tang of interesting 2010 sidestep. 2012 tapped version brought lemon-rotted orange peel tang to candi-sugared saffron, oats-dried minerality and grassy-hopped spicing.

Dogfish Head kicks Off a Second Round of Saison du BUFF