Lackluster yellow-hazed light-bodied German pilsner-styled pale lager lacks distinction. Fizzy honey-toasted buttering counters mild grassy-hopped bittering to glutinous wheat backdrop. Deficient sourdough finish gets soapy.
Category Archives: Beers A-Z
MAGIC HAT HOWL WINTER LAGER
Unconventional winter lager better classified as first rate schwarzbier since expectant seasonal spicing lacks penetration. Barley-roasted cocoa-powdered mocha indulgence counters ashy walnut bittering and dry hop-charred astringency to earthen peat bottom. Stove-burnt coffee, chocolate seed, smoked molasses, and fig-date illusions politely sour smooth medium-bodied contrariety.
HARVIESTOUN OLA DUBH (SPECIAL RESERVE 12)
Debonair old ale matured in whiskey barrels brings Scotch-candied sweetness to hickory-charred peat-smoked chocolate roast. Viscous molasses richness coats mild bourbon, port, and Muscat wine illusions as well as ancillary prune, black cherry, and raisin puree nuances. Rich dessert treat, aged in Highland Park single malt whiskey casks for a dozen years, is perfectly suited for dark ale, barleywine, and stout devotees.
LEFT HAND FADE TO BLACK EXPORT STOUT (2009)
Terrific non-traditional mocha-spiced full body with nebulous foreign/export stout labeling offers illusionary plentitude. Molasses-soaked anise, cherry puree and black cardamom lead the charge as nutty chocolate backend gains luster. Cappuccino-frothed espresso-dried coffee bittering enhances subsidiary wood-charred cola, macadamia, and hazelnut coarsening. Tertiary cocoa-buttered licorice, sarsaparilla, and chicory nuances eventually seep into the mix.
PRETTY THINGS SAINT BOTOLPH’S TOWN DARK ALE
‘Rustic’ tan-headed brown-bodied dark ale retains Sugar Daddy appeal above nutty maple malting. Chocolate-y cocoa creaminess lingers through sour-fruited raisin-fig-date tartness and hop-roasted cola-macadamia-hazelnut nuttiness. Frothy molasses-sapped black cherry, blackberry, vanilla, coconut, and coffee ice cream illusions sweeten busy backend to oats-toasted almond-buttered toffee-candied finish.
SOUTHAMPTON SAISON BRUN
Earthen dried fruits abound for maroon-hued ruby-shaded springtime farmhouse ale. Funky Belgian yeast musk consumes pepper-hopped orange rind bittering, yellow grapefruit sourness, black cherry tartness, and tannic purple grape parching of dark saison. Banana chip, pickled fig, and sugar plum undertones drift through recessive schwarzbier-like mocha-smoked malting.
SOUTHAMPTON OATMEAL STOUT
Enduring roasted coffee theme embitters hop-charred oats and chocolate-roasted grains. Dry powdered cocoa, dark chocolate, black cherry, and fig undertones counter acrid tar accrual at smoky mocha-malted finish of robust full body. Serve as a wintry nightcap.
BAIRD KUROFUNE PORTER
Peculiar medium-bodied Baltic porter loses initial black chocolate-kissed coffee roast to oily hop-charred walnut sharpness and trifling dried fruit sourness. Closer to a precarious schwarzbier with its musky caramel-malted creaminess, dry cocoa-powdered piquancy, and tannic black cherry tartness. Ashy cardboard backdrop fades abruptly to buttery soy cocoa finish. Perplexingly meandering.
UNCOMMON SIAMESE TWIN ALE
Truly ‘uncommon’ Belgian-styled dubbel delicately combines spicy herbal fruits for amber-hazed curry-like extravaganza. One of the finest canned libations from the Left Coast, this unfiltered medium body piles plentiful peppery hops atop dry Kaffir lime zest, sour lemongrass tartness, and candi-sugared apple-watermelon sweetness. Coriander and Thai spice flitter through vanilla-butterscotch midst before alcohol-whirred fungi-like Belgian yeast strain commandeers muted orange-bruised anise-backed finish. Pour slowly to avoid risk of over-carbonation.
NEW ENGLAND IMPERIAL STOUT TROOPER
Lactic mocha malt mildness and guarded coffee-espresso bittering unexpectedly contrasted by fruit-dried port intensity of curious Russian Imperial Stout. At midst, brown-sugared chocolate-milked cocoa powdering usurps wood-smoked hop-oiled oats-charred grain roasting, vinous cherry-pureed prune sourness, and molasses-sapped Madagascar bourbon vanilla tease.
NEW ENGLAND GHANDI-BOT DOUBLE I.P.A.
On tap, well-rounded copper-hazed ‘hop-header’ brings resinous piney hop bittering to caramel-malted apple-jacked peach-tangerine-pineapple tang. Creamy vanilla-maple surge counters oncoming grapefruit-peeled juniper bite to damp earthen-grained bottom, becoming more pungently bitter at floral-daubed fruit-sharpened alcohol-burnt finish. Canned version yields juicier tropical fruiting, stickier candy apple sweetness, and sappier spruce-tipped pine bitterness. Possibly the best canned ale on the East Coast.
WEYERBACHER RISERVA ALE
Complex russet-clouded tan-headed oak-aged ‘wild ale’ saddles soured brettanomyces yeast clumps with endless wood-dried raspberry puree tartness. Sharp prickly hop bite reinforces lambic-like raspberry vinaigrette acidity, heightening vinous yellow grape-skin esters, vinegary cider sharpness, and fizzy sparkling champagne lilt. Sour-candied cherry pucker picks up tertiary rosé, burgundy, and bourbon illusions as well as eye-squinting lemon liming. Solvent vinegar-like astringency and mossy barnyard musk deepen funky sour ale disposition.