Complex 8.6% alcohol-doused full body celebrates 40th anniversary of ’69 Frank Zappa album. Chewy molasses-soaked cookie-doughy chocolate malts pick up raisin, black cherry, and raspberry puree sweetness above wintry nutmeg-cinnamon-allspice holiday spicing. Vanilla-soaked bourbon-burgundy-whiskey boozing enriches coffee-roasted barleywine finish.
Category Archives: Beers A-Z
KIRIN LIGHT LAGER
Palest straw-hued 95-calorie softie with dry popcorn-maize acridity maintains sugar-fizzed rice cake sweetness that betters most boring chemically augmented light beers.
(ERIE) FALLENBOCK
Simply too light and arid for prestigious doppelbock class. Smoked chocolate malting and dried cocoa dusting, reminiscent of black ale styling, fades into wispy raisin-plum-fig spell to earthen dry-hopped barley-toasted bottom.
CISCO THE GREY LADY (WIT)
Peculiarly refreshing yellow-hazed Belgian-styled witbier blends spices, herbs, and fruit nuances in silkily bizarre manner. Musty raw-honeyed banana souring grazes white-peppered spearmint-jasmine-ginger freshness and clove-coriander-chamomile-anise spicing, but advertised tropical fruiting is overrated. Quirky champagne-fizzed bruised apple, rotted apricot, white peach, and putrefied lemon illusions not as unpleasant as it sounds. Photo courtesy of www.halftimebeverage.com
TROEGS FLYING MOUFLAN BARLEYWINE
Closer to a fruity IPA (or Troegs Nugget Nectar Red Ale) than its barleywine style indicates. Sturdy 9.3% alcohol surge has calming affect on nerves as ‘candi-sugared hops’ blend into bright cherry-peach-pear-apple tang and spiced raisin-date conflux. At midst, piney grapefruit rind bitterness counterbalances sweet melon-cantaloupe-mango melange, chewy rum-soaked caramel-toasted molasses malting, and syrupy spruce sash. On tap, mild hop-charred ice coffee bittering seeps into oats-toasted fruit-dried cherry-blueberry conflux.
(MAD RIVER) STEELHEAD EXTRA PALE ALE
Doughy yellow-hazed moderate-body with dry-hopped lemony sorghum apprehension retains vapid Seltzer fizz. Toasted wheat bottom falls out. Second passing: floral cotton-candied caramel malting overrides apricot-grapefruit tartness to white-breaded backend. LONG TRAIL COFFEE STOUT
Rich jet black java stout with 8% alcohol allows oily hop-charred wood-burnt astringency to mask dark-roasted coffee-espresso theme. Black chocolate-y anise-licorice subsidy picks up minor rum raisin, vanilla bean, cola nut, and molasses nuances.
(LICORNE) KASTEEL CRU FINE LAGER
Elegant light-bodied aluminum-cleared white wine crossover, made with champagne yeast, threads mild hop-fizzed white breading and frail grassy barnyard wisp into unripe white-yellow grape esters. Tart Belgian-bound witbier likeness is too distant for wispy aperitif.
(LAUGHING DOG) ALPHA DOG IMPERIAL I.P.A.
Brusque butterscotch-hazed full body plies piney dry-hopped grapefruit rind bittering to floral-tinted peach-apple-tangerine-nectarine tang. Zesty lemon tartness further embitters underlying black currant persuasion creeping through buttered wheat base.
EASTERN SHORE ST. MICHAELS ALE
Frustratingly busy amber ale has lots of uncannily offshoot idiosyncrasies, blending earthen barnyard-wafted Belgian farmhouse ale qualities into cider-sharpened orange-soured tartness, floral-hopped herbal tea respite, and dirty-grained vegetal tail.
EASTERN SHORE LIGHTHAUSE ALE
Wayward golden ale with acetous lemon-soured Seltzer fizz inundated by spoiled orange-grapefruit compote, pungent sulfuric funk, and vegetal carrot-maize-asparagus slunk. Bottled version needs to get vinegar-y yeast-contaminating brettanomytes under control.
EASTERN SHORE KNOT SO PALE ALE
Unbalanced medium-bodied pale ale with cascading tan head and syrupy yeast sinew places herbaceous dry-hopped impetus above rotted orange-grapefruit tangent.