Lively golden-hazed Belgian-styled tripel (with unassuming 8.5% alcohol volume) brings pilsner-malted candi-sugaring to its pertinent banana-clove sweetness and creamy wheat-honeyed vanilla wafer follow-through. Minor white peppering and herbaceous notion contrast ancillary nectarine-melon-pineapple tropicalia. It’s like a banana cream pie with a fizzy saltine kicker.
TIMMERMANS FRAMBOISE LAMBIC
Syrupy pinkish ruby-hued malt beverage gains chewy raspberry rasp above mouth-puckering cherry-cranberry tartness, vinous green grape wining and cloy saccharine sugaring. Compared to Timmermans Kriek, this soda-like framboise retains a coarser hop sizzle and sourer tannic grape musk.
TIMMERMANS STRAWBERRY LAMBIC
Abundant strawberry-jammed sweetness provides natural flavor straight from the fruit. Rich strawberry-seeded mouthfeel and sugary gum tongue make fruity malt beverage taste like a tart springtime strawberry that’s been freshly picked. White-wined cider snip, light lemon pucker and minute cranberry-cherry souring found in saccharine soda pop recess. Try in lieu of a strawberry daiquiri.
TIMMERMANS KRIEK LAMBIC
Intensely sweet rosy amber-hued malt beverage with natural flavoring retains syrupy cherry soda pop sugaring. Maraschino cherry ripeness contrasts mouth-puckering Grenadine souring, tannic red-green grape tartness and minor medicinal murk. Tertiary strawberry, cranberry, watermelon, tangerine and red apple illusions peak through cherry-bound Jolly Rancher sway of sweet-toothed 4% dessert treat.
SMUTTYNOSE VUNDERBAR PILS
Dependable Czech-styled pilsner tosses brisk lemon-seeded tartness and muted lemongrass spicing at mild grassy hop bittering. Dark floral notions, muted vegetal herbing and doughy fresh breading get spread across the buttery saltine backbone.
POINT WHOLE HOG PUMPKIN ALE
Compelling autumnal full body tastes like a scrumptious pumpkin-spiced gingerbread cookie with whipped cream topping. Sweet mulling-spiced pumpkin pie midst never relents as nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice rush to the top alongside the ancillary Marachino cherry uprising, pushing this 2012 limited release to great heights. Bawdy boozers will welcome its sharp grain alcohol snip.
RUSSIAN RIVER & SIERRA NEVADA BRUX DOMESTICATED SOUR ALE
Approachably smooth golden-coppered ‘mild sour ale’ will please lighter thirsts looking to crossover. Musky horseblanketed barnyard leathering and brettanomyces funk from a wild yeast strain dig into floral-dried citric frontage. Loud champagne-like carbolic fizz enjoins lemon-juiced mango, pineapple and melon illusions as well as vinous green grape, tart Granny Smith apple and oaken cherry undertones. Pickled ginger souring and mustard dill saucing add depth. Honeyed herbal whim brings tertiary lemongrass, parsley, sage and honeysuckle notions to the rye malted backend. Like a zesty lemon spritz, only much busier and complex.
RUSHING DUCK BEANHEAD COFFEE PORTER
On tap at Cable Beverage, rich black coffee roast inundates wood-burnt hop bittering and oats-charred dark chocolate malting. Green coffee bean extract sweetens by the time Blackstrap molasses, pine sap, hickory smoke, cocoa and espresso undertones deepen its lusty resolve.
RUSHING DUCK NAYSAYER PALE ALE
On tap at Cable Beverage, well-rounded medium-bodied pale ale utilizes brisk West Coast-styled IPA fruiting to louden its resolve. Piquant grapefruit peel bittering, dry wood tone and grassy hop grounding contrast floral-bound orange, cherry, peach, pineapple, grape, apple and tangerine fruiting. Nearly exquisite.
LONG TRAIL IMPERIAL PUMPKIN ALE
Dryer and more alcohol burnt (8%) than most stylistic competitors, 2012 autumnal seasonal takes sinewy gourd-spiced bittering to whiskey-licked medicinal candied finish. Metallic astringency absorbs nutmeg, allspice, ginger and cinnamon spicing plus red cherry, orange and tangerine snip, leaving slight vegetal whim at the backend. Serve to open-minded British bitter imbibers during Octoberfest as a musky alternative.
TERRAPIN/ SHMALTZ REUNION ALE (2012)
Invitingly diverted cinnamon-toasted Graham cracker frontage picks up huge dextrose-sugared cocoa nibs/ vanilla conflux for uniquely hybridized brown ale. Beneath, soft liquor-stained vodka smoothing cuts through sharp dried fruited spell and Cafe Du Mond chicory coffee niche. In deep recess, almondine, chestnut, toffee and milky Yoo-Hoo chocolate illusions add further richness.
CLOWN SHOES VAMPIRE SLAYER SMOKED IMPERIAL STOUT
Broad-ranging lactic full body allows ‘vampire killing stakes,’ malt-smoked hickory and ashen resin to promulgate wood-burnt bittering contrasted by everlasting milk-sugared dark chocolate theme. Relaxing bourbon vanilla and Jack Daniels whiskey tones waver beside dried-fruited black cherry, raisin and fig snip as well as wispy anise, cardomom and black currant nuances. Mild espresso tinge fortifies rich molasses-sweetened mocha finish.