Seductive soft-toned winner allows luscious cherry overtones to sway sweet nuttiness above gentle hop sass. Its chewy caramel center picks up a mild fruited warmth, caressing minimal bittering by honey-glazed malt finish of well-established, yellow-headed, golden red-clouded Rocky Mountain mainstay. Quite possibly Colorado and Arizona’s best selling microbrew.
Category Archives: Beers A-Z
NEW GLARUS EDEL-PILS
Shabby soured wheat bounty and putrid cabbage nose flaw citric domain. Mild lemony hop flow slides under carbolic spume. Bavarian yeast, brought in for Edel styling, does nothing to counter buttery astringency or sulfuric sniff.
NEW HOLLAND PALEOOZA AMERICAN PALE ALE
Initial offering by Michigan brewery counters sweet butterscotch caress, dry fruity appeal, and frugal nuttiness with capricious Cascade hop spicing. Pine notes adorn wheat biscuit spine as mild lemon-grapefruit-apricot bittering and herbaceous floral kick rapidly swell.
(NIAGARA) MILLSTONE PREMIUM LAGER
Smooth lemon-limed lightweight offers dulled whiskey malt sweetness to casual dry-hopped bittering. Soft wood smoked tinge leverages buttery finish.
NORTH COAST OLD NO. 38 STOUT
Beautiful sweet mocha fragrance, insistent barley-roasted entry, and sweet caramel-chocolate persistence set up creamy cappuccino milking of syrupy ruby maroon treat. Grain-thickened earthen bottom and tar-like bitterness punctuate espresso finish. Too strong for amateurs, but absolutely essential for the rest.
NUTFIELD AUBURN ALE
First impressions led me to believe rustic-grained lightweight needed tangy citrus boost. Is it a weak copy of an Irish red ale or just a smoothly nebulous ‘auburn’ ale? One thing is certain, it’s not as pure tasting as most New England styled ales. Brewery defunct: 2009.
OASIS ZOSER OATMEAL STOUT
Frothy, creamy, brawny stout pits intriguing blend of burnt coffee sourness and dark chocolate bitterness against counteractive burnt caramel sweetness. Well-developed oatmeal influence overtakes mid-palate, joined succinctly by roasted malt suggestion that seals the deal. Tenaciously robust and quite filling, exceeding expectations on all counts.
OFFSHORE AMBER ALE
Delicately well-balanced rust-orange-hued Martha’s Vineyard brew integrates honeyed caramel malts with floral apple-peach-cherry fruiting and minimal lemony hop-spiced bittering. Barley biscuit-y bottom adds sweet assurance to maple sugared backdrop, though some phenol acridity wanders in.
OLDE BURNSIDE TEN PENNY ALE
OLD WORLD NEW YORK STYLE WINTER WHEAT FEST ALE
Candied chocolate, cola nut, and mild prune sufficiently seduce elegant wheat-wined barleywine luster. Roasted barleymalts fade at creamy finish while waning wintry spices and lack of proper wheat punctuation hurts its ‘style.’ Brewery defunct: 2006.
OREGON RASPBERRY WHEAT ALE
Pronounced raspberry essence, full-bodied malt-hopped swagger, and soft wheat nuance complement nectar nicety to fizzy hop finish. Fruity ale lovers will knock these down instantly. For those disliking fructose-injected brews, this may be peculiar, but grain thickness and teensy spicing may win them over.
OTTER CREEK ALPINE ALE
Piney maple sap and subtle nutmeg-clove spicing indulge softly-hopped off-dry chestnut-hued seasonal amber. Caramel malt thickness intensifies citric grapefruit-tangerine souring as boysenberry, juniper, pear, and cherry hints resonate. ’05 tasting found toasted barley and roasted chocolate taking lead.