Lusty full-bodied oak-aged stout leaves heavy bourbon mark on sweet brown chocolate and cream-sugared coffee overtones. Fudgy cookie dough yeast sinew melts into dark-roasted mocha malting, acrid hop-charred bittering and back-throated peat smoke. Benevolent vanilla, coconut and cola nut illusions deepen chocolate bourbon truffle finish.
DYCKMAN BREW PILSNER
On tap at Blue Ribbon Tavern, musky moderate-bodied flagship pilsner brings gluey cardboard-like pale malting to raw-honeyed sour lemon putridity. Lusty carbolic citric spritz negates musty vegetal herbage that wispily seeps into roughhewn bruised orange finish.
ELLICOTTVILLE CHOCOLATE CHERRY BOMB
On tap at Blue Ribbon Tavern, richly creamed fruited stout loads fudgy dark chocolate syrup atop pureed black cherry insistence with exceedingly good results. Plush vanilla overtones sweeten black patent malting. Ancillary black cocoa, chocolate cake and cocoa butter illusions settle alongside cherry-dried blackberry, blueberry and boysenberry fruiting.
GREAT SOUTH BAY SNOZBERRY STOUT
Elegantly soft-toned milk stout drapes raspberry puree atop coffee-stained dark chocolate with unique precision. Espresso macchiato milking enhances ancillary blackberry, black cherry and grape jam illusions. Subtle vanilla sweetness seeps inside glorious fruited mocha theme. Perfect dessert fodder.
CROSSROADS MC GINN’S SCOTTISH ALE
Sessionable light-bodied Scottish ale with turbid copper murk offers dewy peat malting to soft caramel-roasted chestnut, buterscotch and Scotch illusions.
SOUTHPORT HYDROPONIC WHITE ALE
Ill-defined pearly-headed yellow-cleared moderation (with aggressive pour) ruined by cloying glutinous yeast, carbolic hop-fizzed desiccation and slick crystal malt sugaring. Candied lemony orange smear too far in the distance. Dreck.
SLOOP THE RED C
‘Bold, aggressive’ amber ale sports brisk India Pale Ale-like piney fruiting. Yellow grapefruit tang and orange-peeled lemon rind bittering settle alongside dry wood sharpness. Resinous hop minerality seeps into ancillary pineapple, mango, peach, red apple and pear illusions. Juicy citric appeal hides earthen vegetal notch.
SINGLECUT 19-33 QUEENS LAGRRR
Musky Czech-styled red lager places Saison-like lemon-grapefruit-orange tartness above raw-honeyed pungency and grassy hop sedation for easygoing likability. Slight butterscotch sweetness contrasts backside vegetal dryness to saltine cracker spine.
SOUTHERN TIER 2XONE
Simpler one hop (Mosaic)/ one malt (pale) profile differs drastically from 2XIPA’s multiple hop-malt billing, but dynamic complexity never wavers for lively 2014 winter seasonal ‘strong pale ale.’ A painterly panache of sunny yellow-orange fruiting assumes parity with floral hop spicing and sharp wood-dried herbage. Mighty yellow grapefruit-peeled bittering contrasts tropical pineapple-juiced mango, guava and papaya tang as well as candi-sugared tangerine, peach, nectarine and melon notions. Mint-fresh black peppering contrasts nutty caramel sweetness underneath.
AMAGER BRYGHUS/ HOPPIN’ FROG FROG HOPS TO AMAGER
Lavishly designed “chocolate wheat Imperial” collaboration between Danish gypsy brewer and respected Akron craftsmen evenly spreads various mocha indulgences above heightened dark-roasted Tomahawk/ Chinook hop bittering and ashen pine embers. Creamy black chocolate, dark coffee, fudge, espresso, cocoa and vanilla overtones pick up smoked oats char at peat-moistened hazelnut bottom. Heavy anise influence tethers light dried fruiting to bustling chocolate-coffee theme. Leaning towards the bitter side, complex full-bodied dark ale never fails to intrigue.
NOGNE O PECULIAR YULE – 2013
Supple updated 2013 version heightens Christmas spicing and wintry peculiarities to amplify overall taste sensation. Chewy caramelized chocolate malts and syrupy molasses sapping perfectly punctuate wintry brown-sugared cinnamon-gingerbread-nutmeg seasoning. Ancillary orange-peeled coriander, clove and cardamom tingle sweetens sticky anise minting as well as dark floral hop earthiness. Plastique black grape nuance slips thru serene holiday spicing.
(KLOSTER BRAUEREI) ANDECHSER DOPPELBOCK DUNKEL
Fantastic ‘velvety’ dark bock spreads brown-sugared fruit spicing and creamy caramel-burnt brown chocolate sweetness across tingly bourbon-sherry wining of complex Bavarian full body (originating way back in 1455). Dewy peat moss drips onto ancillary candied apple, buttered pecan, cherry cordial, marzipan and toffee illusions, providing contrasted earthen mustiness to expressive yeast profile. Tertiary cinnamon molasses cookie sugaring drapes distant raisin-fig-grape conflux.