On tap at Taphouse Grille, complex Belgian strong ale hybridizes mocha stout sweetness with Christmastime fruit caking. Ashen brown chocolate spicing and dark toffee sugaring drape smooth cask-like dry Scotch subtlety. Lemon-dried plum-fig-date conflux overrides latent red-wined cherry peppering, wintry gingerbread snip and relegated plastique nuance.
FISH TALE WINTERFISH
On tap at Taphouse Grille, gritty winter warmer departs from expectant sweet Christmas spicing for muddled IPA fruited sharpness. Bitterest orange-peeled grapefruit juicing and pine-sapped juniper hop resin contrast less prominent mango-papaya-nectarine-peach-tangerine tang to light honey-malted white breaded spine. Slight ethanol burn disturbs herbal snip. In the bottle, nebulous Chinook-hopped seasonal retains less bitterness as tart grapefruit-orange melange gets sweetened by honeyed biscuit malts and scurried sugared spices.
ANCHOR ZYMASTER #2 MARK’S MILD
On tap at Taphouse Grille, vague English dark mild ale’s initial smoky chocolate nuttiness quashed by musty dried-fruited murk, wood-polished turpentine fuming and wet-papered gypsum sulfate. Prune-stewed sugared fig, purple grape and date dot crystal malt restraint. Quite abstruse.
STONE 16th ANNIVERSARY IPA
On tap at Taphouse Grille, celebratory lemon-aided India Pale Ale brings piney hop-oiled lemon verbena frontage to chamomile lemon tea midst, finishing with a plastique sugar-spiced lemon zest. Light rye malting underscores herbaceous citric theme. Tangy pineapple, grapefruit and clementine illusions fill out the fruity Lemon Pledge mix.
CARIB SORREL
Mundane reddish-hued ginger ale-like soda pop with candied watermelon, strawberry and cherry flavors gets increasingly cloy above sticky corn-sugared malting. Slick hop astringency ruins wine cooler aspirations.
NORTH PEAK DIABOLICAL INDIA PALE ALE
Most approachable and least piney of brewers’ stubby brown-bottled IPA’s. Clean-watered mineral grain toasting subsidizes soft yellow fruiting. Lemony grapefruit and pineapple tang picks up sugar-caned sweetness over easygoing hop-oiled bittering.
NORTH PEAK VICIOUS INDIA PALE ALE
Well balanced IPA (in stubby brown bottle) is bitterest of brewers’ three similarly styled offerings, but mild compared to outside competition. Pungent grapefruit-peeled orange rind bittering and lemon-candied tartness recede as piney bark-dried astringency increases. Resinous floral whim hidden beneath salty carbolic briskness. Soft pineapple, peach and melon reminders waver thru silken wheat bed. Sessionable medium body will please lighter thirsts.
NORTH PEAK SIREN AMBER ALE
Basic grain-toasted moderate body serves sinewy sourdough yeast to mild lemon fruiting. Grassy hop dryness contrasts roasted caramel malting to soft wheat-oats backend.
NORTH PEAK WANDERER SESSION INDIA PALE ALE
Mellow ‘winter wheat warmer’ (in stubby brown bottle) less specific and less aggressive than NP’s Vicious IPA maintains slightly grainier influence. Soft citric pining stabilizes above mild herbal-hopped veggie tail. Orange and yellow fruits guide easygoing moderation hopheads might mistake for a fruitier pale ale.
BRUTON MOMUS
Noirish Belgian strong dark ale brings honeyed molasses malting to lightly coriander-spiced dried fruiting. Candi-sugared blood orange, white fig, caramelized apple, black plum, black cherry, peach and praline illusions serenade fruitcake midst. Sherry dots muddled brown-sugared mocha-fruited finish.
BRUTON 10
Well rounded fruit-fronted mocha-malted quad with barleywine aspirations maintains mellower stylistic flow. Red-wined Sangria influence affects luscious fruity palate. Red grape, red apple, bruised cherry, lemon curry, cantaloupe and melon illusions ripen above serene caramel-chocolate malting.
BRUTON LILITH
Inpsired by British bitter styling, mineral-grained pale ale brings earthen wood dryness and reedy hop resin to caramel-malted dried fruiting. Grape-jammed fig, plum and grapefruit undertones recede to weedy bottom.
