Dry chocolate-scented water-thinned porter brings mild nuttiness and delicate vanilla touch to smoothed-out mocha-coffee frontage that’ll appease lighter thirsts. Tidy black chocolate finish hoists placid roasted grain spine.
Category Archives: Beers A-Z
ARCADIA INDIA PALE ALE
Durable bronze-hued, spruce-hopped, English-styled medium body splashes gleaming berry, melon, cantaloupe and tangerine fruiting across intimate floral bouquet, peppery spicing, and prim pop fizz. Black currant finish enforces coarse piney bitterness. On tap at Blue Ribbon Tavern (2015), latest version lacked fruitiness and picked up dryer, earthier Brit-styled Goldings hop graining and murkier pale malting over mild lemon-peeled bittering.
ASPEN MEADOW NUT BROWN ALE
Chestnut-hued medium body gets early tamped down hop spicing, sweet malt sequel, maple molasses surge, and mellowed nut finish. Dim chocolate echo needs creamier chewiness.
AUGUST SCHELL CARAMEL BOCK
Facile fizzy bock needs better distinction as sour malt astringency, dull honey midriff, and palest caramel splurge fail to ignite. Listless mocha finish turns quickly acidic.
AVERY 14’ER E.S.B. ALE
Chaotic fizzy grained sweetness merely gets in the way of off-dry mild hop bittering and thin berry afterburner, becoming too predictable by dissolving cracked wheat finish. Grapefruit-orange peel souring needs sharper identity.
AVERY WHITE RASCAL BELGIAN-STYLE WHEAT ALE
Clear, straw-hued, billowy white-headed Belgian ‘wit’ reaches sour yellow-fruited wheat plateau before unripe banana-gourd climax tempts middling lemony coriander-clove finish meagerly donning candied orange tartness. Fruit-spiced fodder suits lighthearted drinkers.
BACK ROAD BROWN ALE
Fizzy hop frisk picks up faintest mocha-caramel insinuation as dry wheat contour builds to smooth nutty finish.
BALLAST POINT BLACK MARLIN PORTER
Creamy crimsoned mahogany lactose porter guides honeyed oats waft towards creamy black chocolate frontage and buttery vanilla backdrop. Oily hops embitter roasted barleymalts, securing receded blackstrap molasses, burnt toast, charred wood, and earthen peat illusions. Sweet milky lactose texture, chewy chocolate liqueuer spell, and sinister cappuccino finish are saving grace.
BAMBERGER MAHR’S CHRISTMAS BOCK
Indistinct spice-hopped wheat-backed amber-cleared lightweight closer to weak dirty-grained pilsner, lacking expected wintry floral accents and firm bock strength. Earthy rye constraint, sugarplum vestige, and gooey malt souring lack resolution.
BARLEY CREEK ANTLER BROWN ALE
Out front, toasted barley and dry rye caress butterscotch sweetness of wood-charred sienna-auburn medium body. Spicy citric hop fizz nips fulsome wheat backbone, but phenol astringency undermining chestnut-walnut finish hinders subsidiary herbal tea sedation, dried tobacco pinch, and faded mocha tones.
BATEMAN’S SALEM PORTER
Dark brown dank-scented mocha-smoked porter coaxes burgundy finish from bittersweet plum-prune-raisin adjuncts. Despite nut-roasted black chocolate urging, rising wine-spiced twist puts this closer to lively Belgian ale.
BEAR REPUBLIC BIG BEAR BLACK STOUT
Impressively agile blend of Imperial and Cream Stout complexities perfectly captured for frothy tan-headed burgundy-bodied milk-creamed humdinger. Burnt caramel, black molasses, powdered cocoa, and toffee support toasted oat spine as roasted nuttiness enlivens oncoming floral hop insistence. Robust chocolate theme forms, mellowing out to ester-y maltose finish juxtaposing bitter espresso dryness.