Pedestrian India Pale Ale/ amber lager mix stays too muted to truly entice. Dry lemon-limed tartness elevates ancillary orange, peach and grapefruit tang, but loses momentum to restrictive floral herbage. Cereal-grained cracked wheat spine slides into the grassy hop abyss.
Highly approachable Imperial India Pale Ale brings manageable piney hop bittering to lively pineapple-grapefruit juicing and misty orange peel tang. Sugared spruce tones and creamy crystal malts brighten ancillary peach, red apple, pear, mango and apricot fruiting. ‘Subtle’ alcohol burn restricted by ripe fruiting.
Nifty chocolate mint dessert beer spreads peppermint herbage across black cocoa and dark chocolate creaminess. Black patent malting and oats-flaked hop toasting mildly embitter rich mocha theme. Chewy cookie dough backdrop picks up ancillary black coffee, cappuccino, mocha latte and vanilla undertones. Wispy ginger and cinnamon nuances sprinkle minty chocolate-milked finish.
Delightfully silken coffee-roasted amber ale with mild oaken vanilla influence and brown-sugared maple glaze entrenching crisp soft-watered flow. Though spice-hopped coffee frontage gets neutralized by roasted chestnut-hazelnut-pecan pleasantries and recessive bourbon-port-sherry wining, its mocha-derived caramel latte, whipped cream espresso, creme brulee, toffee and coconut undertones prove amiable.
Modest bourbon-dried dark ale (part of the Clay Street Series) seems overly reliant on soured dark-roasted coffee frontage, soy-sauced chocolate malting and latent vanilla bean bittering. Any lasting oaken bourbon licks perish as cocoa powdered tartness gains momentum and fig-dried dark cherry nuances arrive.
Masterful oak-aged stout (with well-disguised 12% ABV) drapes awesome fresh-roasted Black Satin coffee bean intensity above bitterly roasted cocoa nibs and sweet vanilla-fudged dark chocolate. Subtle whiskey-barreled oak char seeps into milky espresso-cappuccino respite, wispy bourbon-rum stead and mild coconut whims. Chewy anise presence slides off the tongue. A creamy coffee-flavored chocolate milkshake alternative worthy of highest praise.
Sensational soft-toned dry body offers mild cocoa-powdered chocolate creaming to subtle dark-roasted coffee bean theme. Veiled almond-milked vanilla, espresso, chicory, cocoa and molasses undertones given dry-hopped desiccation. Though thin on the palate, its wondrous coffee flavoring really hits home. On tap at River Of Beer, delightful dark-roast Cafe Moto coffee bean essence gains milk-sugared sweetness in efficient manner.
Resembling a West Coast India Pale Ale with its resinous piney fruiting and candi-sugared caramel malting, summery maibock-like barleywine will please less aggressive hop heads. Black-peppered hop spicing inundates juicy grapefruit-peeled navel orange, pineapple, mango, nectarine, red apple, pear and peach tones to its cracked wheat spine.
Richly balanced unfiltered holiday ale spreads candi-sugared gooseberry tang across spicy dried fruiting and syrupy liqueur-like sugaring. Bittersweet damson plum, stewed prune, green raisin, dark cherry and fig illusions gain prominence over lightly creamed caramel malting. Wintry cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger seasoning softly fluctuates.
