Captivating Cascadian dark ale contrasts prodigious hop-charred piney citric bittering against cocoa-powdered smoked chocolate malting. Sharp grapefruit-peeled orange rind sting envelops rich mocha roast. Baker’s chocolate, roasted coffee, espresso and cacao nibs commingle with black grape, black currant and brown apple undertones.
Complacent autumnal Bavarian moderation lacks depth and gets soapy. Checkered cherrywood-smoked mocha malts and Band-Aid aromatics fade into oblivion. Washed-out beechwood char and musty hickory-singed cured meat snip lost amongst brisk carbolic fizz to sooty backend.
Murky English Bitter-like moderation meanders aimlessly as musky rice-caked Vienna malting and tepid caramel toasting fail to properly materialize. Nutty nip, earthen slip and vegetal dip negated by dismal sulfuric acridity. Bland, underwheling and nearly tasteless.
Placid medium body offers brisk orange-peeled grapefruit rind bittering and sharp wood-toned hop dryness to wispy peach-apple-tangerine-melon tang. Piney citric bittering deepened by ascending juniper bite over polite caramel malting and resinous minerality. After initial blunt bitterness recedes, West Coast IPA becomes too stylistically tame for hazing hopheads (yet efficient as crossover fodder for lighter pale ale thirsts).
Zesty pink grapefruit frontage picks up lemon-peeled orange, tangerine, apricot, pineapple and melon tang as raw-wooded pining saturates dry rye-breaded backend. Grassy Nelson Sauvin hops add slight white grape snip as sugary crystal malting begins to ascend over citric stead. A simple, yet effective, toned-down IPA perfect as crossover fodder for lighter thirsts.
Persuasive full-bodied limited edition (winter ’13) herbal stout layers smoky dark-roasted chocolate malts above dry-spiced green tea notions. In the midst, ashen hop-charred bittering contrasts maple-sugared pine sapping. Musty black grape, blackberry, black cherry and fig nuances drift below.
“Luscious yet piquant,” correctly states the label for this well-rounded dark ale. Ample dark chocolate bittering and light cacao nibs powdering contrast creamy brown chocolate sweetness above reserved hop-charred chile habanero peppering. Musky bourbon, burgundy and Muscat wining seep into the backdrop alongside tertiary red cherry and anise snips, sidewinding its massive mocha-milked conviction.
