Creamy full-bodied slow-sipping oak-aged wee heavy brings wafting peat-smoked single-malt Scotch sweetness to brown-sugared fruit-candied affluence. Chunky yeast sediment settles near bottom of turbid brown body, thickening syrupy molasses richness, chewy raisin-pureed cherry-bruised fig-honeyed fruiting and warming port-bourbon illusions. Butterscotch, oaken vanilla, and cinnamon-spiced apple upsurge round out alcohol-whirred paragon.
Category Archives: Beers A-Z
BAIRD RED ROSE AMBER ALE
Brewed at the foot of Mount Fuji, excellent citric-fruited medium body retains sharp grassy-hopped fizz, dark floral bouquet, and understated nuttiness to contrast creamy caramel malting. Graham cracker spine holds up tart orange-dried cherry-pied apple-jacked souring and sweet apricot-peach-strawberry nuance. Almond, praline, and cashew fill out busy backend.
ITHACA GROUND BREAK AMERICAN-STYLE SAISON ALE
Expectant musty farmhouse funk and tart lemon-dried bittering bring Belgian-like sour ale nature to rocky beige-headed saffron-hazed medium body. Phenol raw-honeyed nectarine, pineapple, banana, and curacao orange fruiting receives resinous hop-dried barnyard-horsehide astringency. Too harshly metallic and weirdly herbal to capture crossover attention.
SIERRA NEVADA KELLERWEIS HEFEWEIZEN
Cordial moderate-bodied golden-hazed German-styled wheat ale features usual suspects. Ripe banana seeps into clove-spiced grassy-hopped lemon-dried midst of fizzy soft-watered fodder. Casual banana bread finish enlivened by wheat biscuit spine. On tap, dryer Berliner wiess qualities emerge, such as saltier lemon-seeded souring and raw-honeyed wheat breading. Plus, its body is a hazier yellowed beige.
KLEIN DUIMPJE KERSTBIER CHRISTMAS ALE
Nearly spectacular Belgian-candied winter seasonal retains sharp-spiced dry-fruited cocoa-malted blitzkrieg to heavenly rich red-wined finish. Brown-sugared cinnamon-allspice-nutmeg-gingerbread spicing drifts into chewy nougat center alongside equally affluent prune-soured raisin-pureed plum-dried fervor. Pecan, macadamia, and almond illusions squeak through grape-purpled burgundy, bourbon, and sherry subsidy. Whiskeyed cherry nuance reinforces boozy depth.
TERRAPIN HOPSECUTIONER INDIA PALE ALE
Dynamic amber-hazed hop-head delight never lets floral-pined bite put a crimp on honey-fruited sweetness. Brisk pine-needled orange-peeled bitterness seeps through tangy lemon-sugared apple-ripened pineapple, apricot, and tangerine tropicalia to soft nutty underbelly. Chocolate-covered cherry illusion seeps into midst. Brisk mineral-watered mountain-dewed freshness and resinous hop-oiled prickle prompt esteemed West Coast IPA styling.
SAMUEL SMITH YORKSHIRE STINGO
Engrossing burnished copper English strong ale, aged in oak casks and matured for over a year, retains creamy Samuel Smith-defined molasses malt trait above soothing Newcastle Brown Ale-like almond buttering. Terrific whiskey-soaked Maraschino cherry frontage gains chewy vanilla-butterscotch sweetness alongside honeyed rye-pumpernickel caking to complement midrange apricot, tangerine and red grape tang. Tertiary chestnut, macadamia, and pecan illusions emboss dry-fruited rum raisin, stewed prune and bourbon nuances at earthen fungi bottom.
VICTORY YAKIMA TWILIGHT ALE
Well-attenuated strong ale (recalibrated as Yakima Glory by 2011) celebrates West Coast IPA ‘hopping’ with luscious caramel-malted full-fruited tang. Loud wood-dried piney-hopped grapefruit rind bittering nearly overwhelms ripe peach-apple-berry conflux and vinous white grape esters. Brown leafs, green grass, and earthen minerals fill out citric-parched backdrop.
MIKKELLER ALL OTHERS PALE ALE
Rich rocky-headed copper-hazed full-bodied pale ale closer to complex IPA styling. Resinous wood-chipped pine-needled bittering spreads across spice-hopped citric tang. Pine-sapped maple and spruce lacquer tart grapefruit peel souring and floral jasmine-rosebud bouquet to flaked oats bottom. Orange zest, tangerine, apple and grape illusions surface alongside tropical melon, nectarine, pineapple, and mango fruiting. A true hophead’s delight.
(TWO BROTHERS) MOATEN OAK-AGED SOUR FLEMISH-STYLE RED ALE
Seemly ‘Flanders meets Chicago’ collaboration between America’s Two Brothers and Belgian’s Urthel Brewery places up-front hard cider sharpness next to Flemish-styled cherry sourness. Beet-sugared cranberry tartness seeps into funky fungi-molded wildflower yeast midst while tart hard-candied green apple backdrop fortifies lemon-dried white grape piquancy and dehydrated orange lull.
SCHONRAMER PILS
Boggling diacetyl buttering, phenolic hop fizz and gnarly vegetal astringency plague musty sour-malted straw-hued moderate body. After modest barley-rice sweetness counters mild lemon bittering and grassy-hopped repose, coarsened corn-oiled finish impedes progress. Withered white bread spine collapses and wavered herbal nuances barely register.
BREWDOG BASHAH BLACK BELGIAN-STYLE DOUBLE I.P.A.
Bold ‘ultra rare’ ’09 collaboration between California’s Stone Brewery and UK’s Brewdog could peculiarly pass for a creamy black chocolate-y oyster stout. Magnificent full-bodied cola-hued IPA brings bitter pine-sapped resin-hopped dry-fruited expectancy to chocolate-roasted coffee-soured burnt sugar malting. Citric cherry-plum illusions drape peat-smoked molasses, alleviating ashy charcoal acridity invading pine-sapped anise-stained mocha finish. In a class by itself.