On tap at 381 Main, domineering brown-sugared gingerbread cookie theme gets lift from nitrogen gassing as chewy molasses-soaked cookie dough creaminess, supportive cinnamon spicing and dark-roasted chocolate malting underscore wintry full-bodied dessert treat. In the bottle, mischievous winter warmer loses some luster. Gargantuan gingerbread pinnacle fades a tad as vanilla, anise, nutmeg and clove illusions embellish brown chocolate midst and teasing bourbon nip.
Extremely ambitious full-bodied Oatmeal Stout brings creamy dark chocolate, fresh-roasted Sumatra-Kona coffee and oats-charred hops to the fore. Resounding mocha vibe enriched by fudgy vanilla, toffee, caramel and maple licks. Ashen chicory sops up tertiary Brazil nut, walnut, hazelnut and cola nut slack. An immensely complex and luxurious treasure not just for breakfast.
Unspecific medium-bodied Irish Red Ale immediately goes askew as no prominent flavor profile shines through. Mild hop-spiced honeyed tea entry picks up musty fig-soured dried fruiting, grape-stemmed cherry stone remnant and wispy orange oiling. Dry grain-toasted bottom and ethereal mossy peat leathering mired by coarse astringency.
Soily 7% alcohol strong ale (a.k.a. Braonblasta or ‘tasty drop’) may be nebulous stylistically or flavorwise, but it remains fulsome and robust. Mossy peat earthiness spreads across barley-flaked mineral graining, unsweetened baking chocolate bittering and fig-juiced black tea souring. Oily Fuggle hops drape ancillary marble rye breading and charcoal tarring contrasting sweet maple malt sinew. Alkaline-like alcohol astringency may preclude softer thirsts.
Malleable ‘wee heavy’ brings peaty molasses-smoked Scotch malting to sharp-hopped dried fruiting. Fig-spiced cherry, plum and prune illusions cluster next to dim tobacco-roasted chocolate-vanilla conflux. Buttered pecan, vinous grape and caramel apple undertones fill out smooth medium body. On tap at Growler & Gill ’18, bold Scotch ale soaks peat-smoked cherrywood into brown-sugared toffee, dewy moss earthiness and uneasy perfume hop splotch, leaving dried fruiting in the rear view mirror.
Coarse phenol hop astringency wearies tart Montmorency cherry rasp and darting lemon-soured spoilage of bland medium body. Muted raspberry, blackberry, black cherry and fig murk fails to register properly. Better than hard-candied cherry-flavored Lifesavers.
Indistinct German-styled altbier lacks sufficient conditioning to be stylistically up to snuff. Mushy flavor profile meshes toasted cereal graining with mildewed cherry, orange, apple and apricot fruiting over phenol hop-spiced astringency. Muted chestnut, praline and almond undertones in deep recess. Could pass for a decent red ale.
Brisk citric-spiced yellow-hazed Czech-styled dry body pleats compost-wafted lemon-rotted souring with cardboard-like toasted white breading and pungent grassy-hopped lemongrass herbage. Astringent vegetal fungi earthiness and parched maize stalkings never overwhelm sun-dried lemon spoilage.
