Musty coffee bean sourness, dry Baker’s chocolate prompt, and flimsy vanilla extract fray shun creamy thickness for oily murk. Mismatched oaken grape esters bring leathery acidity to faint soy waver and drab pipe tobacco illusion.
Category Archives: Beers A-Z
ATWATER CHERRY STOUT
Puckering pureed cherry sourness picks up ester-y grape-cranberry tartness above scant coffee-roasted bittering. Citric acerbity negatively affects oaken cherry prop.
(ATLANTIC) MAC FOOCHIE’S SCOTTISH ALE
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mooth moderate-bodied Scottish ale utilizes soft heather tips to provide dark floral nicety above smoked chocolate malting. Subtle brown-sugared dried fruiting picks up creamy vanilla-cocoa waver and tertiary chicory coffee nuance at midst. Thin prune, fig, and grape skin illusions flank ashen peat-tobacco earthiness.
ABITA ANDYGATOR HELLES DOPPELBOCK
Mellow moderate-bodied German-styled bock suspiciously blends white ale fruiting into doughy pilsner inclination. Despite bold 8% alcohol flow, soft fizzy-hopped sourdough persistency and gentle pear-apple-nectar cascade lighten slightly hazed amber body. Minor marzipan sweetness gets lost.
GREEN FLASH LE FREAK EXTREME ALE
Well-balanced saffron-hazed Belgian-styled tripel (with hidden 9.2% alcohol volume) counters up-front piney evergreen freshness with acute floral citric penetration. Bittersweet grapefruit-peach-nectarine tang submerges banana bread illusion to grassy-hopped bottom.
GREEN FLASH SAISON
Polite light-bodied Belgian-styled farmhouse ale retains lemongrass aroma and pepper-spiced herbal-floral emphasis. Perky citric hops create wispy curacao orange tease saddled by gingery cayenne tingle atop raw wheat spine.
GREEN FLASH THIRD ANNIVERSARY ALE
Congenial light-bodied (despite 8.5% alcohol heft) Belgian-styled Tripel released ’07 places wispy coriander-daubed curacao orange nicety above soft spiced hops and candi-sugared yeast. Floral peach-banana-quince whim and cotton-candied vanilla din add subdued nuances.
HAFFENREFFER PRIVATE STOCK MALT LIQUOR
Muted sweet malt aroma, soft-bodied watery consistency, and corn sugar dalliance counter tamped down hop frolic to salted butter finish. Better than all urban-marketed malt liquors.
BROOKLYN OKTOBERFEST
Rich tan-headed golden fall fodder (circa 1999) with aromatic yeast sweetness, creamy caramel malt variance, floral citric waver, and watery texture lacks pizzazz when soft grain finish fades too quickly. Yet pleasant cider notes linger in the midst.
SINEBRYCHOFF PORTER
Black as Texas gold, here’s a fab Finnish porter in a cozy 11-ounce bottle contrasting rich coffee bean affluence, sharp cola nuttiness and creamy sweet-sour chocolate milking against massive oily-hopped Blackstrap molasses bittering. Fudgy burnt caramel snip and recessive anise blot speckle ancillary ashen cedar char. Acidic port notes sneak by mossy bottom. Label accurately insists it’s ‘high gravity, bottle conditioned, strong, aging like fine wine.’ But its soft-tongued effervescence makes it go down easy. Fully formed though a bit abstruse and in need of better flavor specificity.
(SKAGIT RIVER) DUTCH GIRL LAGER
Sterling golden amber bitter provides juicy lemony orange tang to floral-spiced cherry-apple-grapefruit conflux as dry wheat husk folds into sedate perfumed hop comfort. Thanks to its fruity opulence, it’s an unconventional lager bordering on pale ale styling.
SLEEMAN STEAM BEER
Slim barley roast, soft Scotch smokiness and fluffily foamed creaming caress delicate tangerine tang for simple middle of the road amber lacking distinction. Word has it Sapporo Brewery now makes these.