Pleasing rye-toasted pale malting picks up residual sugaring over moderate Citra-Chinnok hop dryness. Light wood tones fade alongside nutty caramel tinge.
HI-WIRE BED OF NAILS BROWN ALE
Fine Asheville, North Carolina-based microbrewery initially allowed Mississippi’s Lazy Magnolia to brew and bottle its traditional ‘delicate bodied’ English Brown Ale. Mildly creamed toffee-caramel sweetness and wispy brown chocolate snip stay muted as surging walnut, cola nut, hazelnut, chestnut and butternut illusions gain prominence. Asheville’s Three Ring Brewery then took over bottling in 2016, bringing cocoa-dried cola nuttiness to chocolate hazelnut-breaded molasses sweetness and caramel-burnt coffee tones over earthen soiling.
STRANGEWAYS GOURD OF THUNDER IMPERIAL PUMPKIN PORTER
Deliriously dynamic medium-bodied autumnal dessert drapes brown-sugared pumpkin spice with bourbon-soaked vanilla beans and sweet milk chocolate. Pumpkin-pied cinnamon, ginger, clove and nutmeg seasoning as well as dark-roasted mocha malting (and delicate perfumed hop whiff) contrast recessive pumpkin-roasted butternut squash, gourd and zucchini snips. Arguably the best beer at Virginia Craft Beer Festival 2015.
OLD OX BLACK OX RYE PORTER
Robust full body loads massive mocha malting atop charcoal nuttiness and charred hop bittering. Bittersweet rye-toasted black chocolate frontage, light-roasted coffee surge and dried cocoa cadence gain mildly wood-smoked walnut, cola and Brazil nut influence.
STRANGEWAYS BOOM! CHOC-O-LOTTA CHOCOLATE LAGER
‘Luscious’ chocolate-roasted märzen lager aged over ‘gobs of cocoa nibs and vanilla beans’ imparts milk chocolate sweetness above Octoberfest-related dark roasted barley malting and leafy Noble hop astringency. Splendid dried cocoa finish may benefit from richer vanilla influence.
OLD BUST HEAD NITRO OATMEAL STOUT
Mildly creamed nitro-injected oatmeal stout offers silken coffee-roasted milk chocolate soothe to oats-honeyed Cafe Vanilla Porter appeasement and mellowly caramelized Chestnut Porter nuttiness. Subsidiary vanilla, chestnut, espresso, caffè latte and macchiato illusions fade quickly.
TERRAPIN PUMPKINFEST – 2015
Aggressive lager-aged autumnal offering (in a can) lacquers pumpkin pie spicing with lightly perfumed hops and tart white grape esters. Sugary pumpkin frontage sweetened by cinnamon, nutmeg and coriander seasoning. Serene caramel malting tingles soft honeyed wheat spine.
SIXPOINT 4BEANS
Delightfully rich, creamy, full-bodied dessert elixir brings intriguing coffee-infused Madagascar vanilla theme to dark-roasted mocha malt setting. Nutty cocoa bean affluence, ascending anise stickiness, syrupy chocolate sweetness and subtle burgundy-bourbon boozing coat the intense vanilla center. Variable fudged brownie, Yoo-Hoo, espresso, creme brulee and creme de cocoa illusions deepen sweet-toothed back end.
MIDNIGHT SUN MONK’S MISTRESS BELGIAN-STYLE DARK ALE
On tap at Ambulance, majestic Belgian-styled dark ale (with hefty 11.5% ABV) saddles ripe dried fruiting with brown-sugared maple molasses sweetness and sugary brown chocolate malting. Fig, raisin, plum and black cherry illusions come to the fore. Tertiary chocolate cake, pecan pie, toffee, vanilla, rum, bruised banana and blackberry undertones deepen complex strong ale.
HILL FARMSTEAD GEORGE
On tap at Ambulance, amplified brown ale brings black chocolate malt linger to light-roasted nuttiness and brown-sugared molasses sweetness. Fudgy hazelnut, pecan and chestnut illusions delicately drift into dusty cocoa chalking. Wispy vanilla creaming and subtle dried fruiting caress backend of compelling ‘imperial’-like dark ale.
DU CLAW FOUNDATION SERIES KOLSCH
Humdrum moderation lets sour lemon appeasement, barnyard hay astringency and floral hop whim fade to light French-breaded spine. Could use firmer body and crisper citric snap.
HEAVY SEAS CROSS BONES SESSION IPA
Murky moderate-bodied India Pale Ale (Heavy Seas’ first new year-round offering since 2003) offers dry rye wheat malting to musty orange rind bittering, tart lemon zing and ephemeral floral nip. Wispy straw-dried grassy hop astringency wavers beneath. Serve to leftover macrobrew fanatics as an alternative to blander BudMillerCoors suds.
