Coaxing amber-hazed medium body, mysteriously labeled a ‘bock,’ balances disparate sweet and sour tones with mixed results. Initially, mouth-puckering grape parch and bone dry gueuze tartness seem at odds with honey-dipped cracked wheat spine and subsequent tobacco-dried caramel chocolate finish. Soggy earthen wood tone and skimpy herbaceous scant waver.
Category Archives: Beers A-Z
STOUDT’S FAT DOG STOUT
Cascading fast-rising tan bubbles create proud lusty head above turbid brown body of creamy mocha-fueled dry stout. Toasted oats and roasted barley underscore responsive nutty coffee sourness, providing depth to latent overripe raisin assertion.
SUGAR HILL GOLDEN ALE
Stark saltwater fizz, sullen malt sweetness, and off-dry hop sass put this in league with musty lagers. Murky sourdough backdrop, bland maple jot, and floral spicing fall short by desolate roasted finish. Too close to inefficient macrobrews despite olden African recipe.
TAJ MAHAL PREMIUM LAGER
Sweet Scotch-liquored burnt wood chip entry fades abruptly, allowing insistent barley roast to contrast dry-hopped maize astringency. Dirty grain murk drags down butterscotch-spiced creaminess and grassy straw-hay backend to dull lull. Dissipating wood-smoked curry-spiced finish lacks resilience.
TESORO PREMIUM LAGER
Musty sour malt waft, spry carbolic fizz, and unspecific hop spicing (reminiscent of some red ales) greet foamy white-headed gold lager. Overt carbonation minimizes cereal graininess to mere backdrop as tepid saltwater finish remains dull like too many simple South of the Border brews.
THIRD COAST OLD ALE
Suspended yeast particles and sunny lemon turbidity welcome sassy spruce-hopped mineral-grained bitter. Molasses-caramel malts and black licorice counter lemony green apple finish to biscuit bottom. Richer and more complex than most easygoing blonde ales.
THREE FLOYDS DREADNAUGHT IMPERIAL I.P.A.
Sugared cereal malts, toasted barley, and honeyed wheat juxtapose bright orange-tangerine-grapefruit bitterness. Subsequently, piney resin and sappy spruce darken sinewy yeast sweetness. Sauntering malt-glazed finish ripens fruity adjuncts well.
(T’IJ) SCHARREL IJWIT
Aggressive alcohol-forward yellow-glowed moderation layers floral peach-nectarine tang and prickly lemon-limed zest above earthen bottom. Spicy maltose zeal and dry white peppering reinforce ancillary mango, guava, kumquat and papaya tropicalia.
TOOHEYS NEW BOHEMIAN DRAUGHT LAGER
Run of the mill light lager forges lemony dryness atop peppery hops and smoky nuance ruined by slick cloy finish and despicable metallic/chemical aftertaste. Doubtlessly better in tapped version.
(TRAVERSE) OLD MISSION LIGHTHOUSE ALE
Straw-hazed pale ale finds tart grapefruit-lemon rind essence gliding above daintily soured orange peel mist befitting acrid citric finish. But earthen mineral-grained mustiness and herbal lemongrass continuance come up lame hemming frail straw wheat backdrop.
TROEGS RUGGED TRAIL NUT BROWN ALE
Ruggedly coarse ruby-marooned tan-headed English-styled full body pushes milk chocolate-y hazelnut sugaring above roasted barley-hop clip, tenuous coffee ground slip, and coarse walnut snip. Dry cocoa finish picks up meager cola nut, tea leaf, and peat illusions.
TROUT RIVER SCOTTISH ALE
Peculiar Scot-styled ale finds early charred wood affluence and Scotch malt waver seized by dull port wining. By thin finish, muted raisin-fig dip gives way to acrid orange-tangerine blotch and spicy cardamom splotch. On second passing, erratic fruited whiskey coarsening and sharp prune-fig pungency undermine musty peat earthiness.