Coveted black velvety medium-to-full body maintains lingering dark chocolate richness and everlasting black coffee roast, balancing bitter hop-charred nuttiness with sweet mocha-molasses malting quite efficiently. Fluffy carbolic froth nearly prohibits creamy eclair subsidy, mild cocoa bean niche and fleeting vanilla variance. Try for dessert instead of Hershey’s Chocolate.
CARTON MONKEY CHASED THE WEASEL
Awesome mulberry-soured Berliner Weiss brings lemon-limed champagne vinegaring to hop-prickled barnyard musk as eye-squinting citric tartness gains strength over white-breaded spine. Lemony green apple ‘accentuation’ tingles its wispy mulberry essence. Serve to nurtured sour ale lovers.
ROCK ART STUMP JUMPER GNARLY STOUT
Relaxing creamed coffee mellowness flutters across dark-roasted chocolate malting and hop-charred cola-hazelnut bittering of fine dry-bodied stout. Ashen peat-smoked burnt wood undertone and fluctuant dark cherry fruiting gain footing at espresso-milked center. Less adventurous dark ale newcomers will find its easygoing appeal most delightful.
CLOWN SHOES BLAECORN UNIDRAGON RUSSIAN IMPERIAL STOUT
Domineering full-bodied Imperial Stout with impressive 12.5% alcohol range, gooey anise spicing and indelible vanilla-creamed mocha malting given hop-charred wood burn. Chewy caramel-sugared cookie dough yeast, bittersweet dark-roasted chocolate serenade and coconut buttering saturate ascending coffee bean bitterness. Aggressive bourbon-burgundy rush, syrupy Scotch motif and chocolate liqueur nip linger through illustrious maple-syrupy Blackstrap molasses richness.
FLYING DOG SINGLE HOP CHINOOK IMPERIAL I.P.A.
Rangy upscale IPA will endear affluent hop-heads while scaring away softer palates. Elegant piney hopped fruiting cascades above creamy crystal malting, receiving an efficient alcohol burn. Apricot, peach, pineapple and pear sweetness contrasts gin-like juniper-hopped bittering. Well balanced, highly expressive, full-bodied nirvana.
(DU BOCQ) LACU
Debonair Belgian pale ale ‘brewed with spices’ and ‘based on an ancient recipe’ emulates from Moscufo, Italy’s Biere D’Abbaye Lacu. Exquisite golden-hazed ‘blonde bier’ brings spring-watered lightness to sweet sourdough breading and honeyed citrus effervescence. Tart lemon-dried orange peel fruiting stays soft-toned placating polite grassy-hopped bittering and peppery coriander-clove spicing, remaining lively on the tongue. Fluctuant banana, apple and orange illusions sneak by for cameos.
BUD LIGHT PLATINUM
‘A bolder light-bodied lager’ redefining inoffensively pallid ‘lite’ category due to higher alcohol content (6%) and less calories than Budweiser (137). In a translucent cobalt blue bottle, aluminum-cleared softie brings pastry-sugared crystal malting to unspecific fruiting as delicate hops trickle through. Thankfully, avoids musty corn-dried astringency and nasty alkaloid oiling of Bud Light. Trendy 2012-originated triple-filtered offering is better, sweeter alternative to mass marketed gunk.
KEUKA RUSSIAN IMPERIAL STOUT
Anomalous (limited edition) 2011 Imperial Stout (from Adirondack Mountains’ Finger Lakes region) forgoes stylistic sweet mocha malting for sourer varietal. Vinous dried fruiting secures dank cocoa-powdered Baker’s chocolate bittering as sour cherry, prune, plum and raisin undertones find space next to burnt coffee remnant. Even the black currant reminder beats out any noticeable brown chocolate sweetness.
SOUTHERN TIER BOURBON BARREL BACKBURNER IMPERIAL BARLEYWINE
On tap at Copper Mine, glorious bourbon-aged version of standard barleywine (14% alcohol volume) perfect as slow sipping nightcap. Creamy Belgian chocolate-spiced entry enjoins brown-sugared vanilla, butterscotch, toffee and coconut sweetness as well as rum-soaked cherry, fig, prune and banana niche. Oaken remnant seeps into mocha influence. A terrific step up from original ‘back burner.’
SIXPOINT OYSTER STOUT
On tap at Copper Mine, adamant coffee bean roast and resilient cocoa-powdered dark chocolate backup engage briny salt-watered oyster shelling. Ashen nuttiness reinforces rich mocha frontage but only the slightest dried fruiting emerges.
DOGFISH HEAD POSITIVE CONTACT
On tap at Copper Mine, outlandishly hybridized witbier adds peculiar cider-spiced whimsicality to candi-sugared citric mix. Ripe red apple riff echoes through peach-lacquered lemon custard sweetness, wavering orange-candied pineapple tartness and cayenne-peppered cilantro herbage, picking up tertiary marshmallow, banana and cotton candy illusions to enlighten presumed crystal malt base.
RAMSTEIN SUMMER BOCK
On tap at Copper Mine, likable soft-toned helles bock brings polite citric-spiced lemon-limed tartness and ancillary banana sweetness to buttery white-breaded spine. Resinous herbal-hopped respite fills out delicate backend of easygoing summertime session beer.
