Impressive Scottish Ale coalesces stylish barley-roasted Maris Otter malts, dark-roasted chocolate scamper, dewy peat earthiness and sharp hop spicing. Brown-sugared molasses sweetness contrasts mildly bitter walnut astringency beneath the surface.
AMAZING GRAPES CELEBRATES JERSEY BREWER ANGRY ERIK IN AUGUST HEAT
Increasingly popular Pompton Lakes-based craft beer and wine store, AMAZING GRAPES (now BEEF TRUST as of June 2017), now serves wings and other finger foods as well as other ‘modern American comfort food’ (such as pastrami, roast beef and pizzas) to go with its exquisite selection of tapped, bottled and canned beer.
This August ’16, Lafayette, New Jersey’s amazing ANGRY ERIK BREWING showed off its wares on tap as magically delicious bourbon-barreled Vanagandr, richly rye-spiced Hel Crow Imperial Red, maple-syruped King Knut Brown, juicy fruited Troll Baby Pale and key lime-pied coconut eccentricity American Limey (all reviewed below) led a terrific Tap Takeover enjoyed on an early Thursday eve while watching the Olympics.
ANGRY ERIK VANAGANDR (BOURBON BARREL AGED)
On tap at Amazing Grapes, impressive bourbon-aged brown ale picks up rum-spiced sweetness over chewy caramel malting and fig-sugared dried fruiting. Syrupy brown-sugared Belgian yeast influence resonates alongside soothing bourbon vanilla exquisiteness.
ANGRY ERIK KING KNUT BROWN ALE
On tap at Amazing Grapes, sinewy rum-spiced maple syruping drapes dried orange-cherry-apple fruiting, sugary toffee malting and crisp tobacco roast. One maple-glazed step beyond standard brown ale fare.
ANGRY ERIK HEL CROW IMPERIAL RED ALE
On tap at Amazing Grapes, stylishly rich rye-influenced red ale utilizes citric Mosaic hops and toasted caramel-chocolate malts to deepen its conviction. Mild nut-spiced glaze, crisp tobacco roast and latent alcohol-burnt astringency fill the gaps behind rye-dried orange, tangerine and tangelo tang.
ANGRY ERIK TROLL BABY
On tap at Amazing Grapes, juicily fruited pale ale squeezes out moderate grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering and mild peach-pineapple-mango tang as wood-dried grassy hop astringency stays atop toasted caramel malting. Crisp summertime splendor.
ANGRY ERIK AMERICAN LIMEY
On tap at Amazing Grapes, eccentric key lime pied IPA hybrid proves worthy as toasted coconut sweetness contrasts wood-dried Amarillo hop bittering and zesty lemon pucker in winning manner. Salty lime acidity picks up moderate astringency at citric-dried coconut milk finish.
MAGNIFY WHOA NELLY FARMHOUSE IMPERIAL INDIA PALE ALE
On tap at Amazing Grapes, soft-toned saison-influenced citrus souring and farmhouse-dried barnyard leathering affect lemony IPA-like yellow grapefruit and orange rind bittering above polite honeyed malt sweetness. Tropical Nelson Sauvin hop influence reaches fruition at the brisk mineral-watered citric finish.
BOLERO SNORT BULLPOP
On tap at Amazing Grapes, tart pink-hued Berliner Weisse retains limey red cherry and raspberry pucker alongside heightened pink grapefruit-sweetened orange and tangerine juiciness plus nifty passionfruit-pineapple-guava-pomegranate daub, recalling citric-candied lollipop. A slick salt-licked summertime sucker shandy and radler fans need to embrace post-haste.
KANE PORT OMNA: KREAMSICLE
On tap at Amazing Grapes, easygoing dessert treat knocks off sweet orange-peeled vanilla creamsicle while retaining dark-roasted chocolate and coffee affluence. Beneath mocha-daubed citric vanilla sugaring, mild flaked coconut toasting embraces fig-spiced black cherry, blackberry and boysenberry illusions.
EVIL TWIN LIQUID DOUBLE FUDGE IMPERIAL STOUT
Creamily fudged black chocolate richness overridden by molasses-smoked anise goo (that sticks to the tongue). Syrupy chocolate chewiness picks up ancillary coffee, vanilla and coca illusions. So thick you could almost cut it with a knife, though its fudgy aspect seems a tad understated when compared to ample anise assertion.
URBAN FAMILY DEATH TO CEREAL
Starting off richer and creamier than it finishes, sweet milk stout brings radiant oats-sugared Sumatran coffee bean affluence to ascending brown chocolate roast. Caffeinated milk-sugared coffee frontage jolts the system as caramel-burnt cookie dough chewiness and dark-roasted nuttiness deepen conviction while oily hop bittering settles below.
