On tap at Copper Mine, excellent nitro-injected Extra Special Bitter retains peachy orange pekoe tea thrust above mineral-grained inertia and sugary malt sweetness. Billowy foam softens the creamy mouthfeel. Mossy peat earthiness and wispy herbal tinge embrace mild tea leafing.
Understated English Pale Ale retains delicate caramel malting, mild mandarin orange tartness and gentle hop-spiced fizz. Minty herbal tinge detected.
Subtly rewarding Belgian-styled tripel soft enough to be labeled a blond. Billowy-tongued sourdough malting brings baguette, barley biscuit, French bread and buttered crumpet tones to the fore. Carbolic fizz tickles delicate grassy-hopped citric spicing. Lemon-candied peach wisp embeds honeyed wheat base and sweet corn reminder.
Casual sessionable moderate body punctuates dry-wooded Chinook hops with prickly grapefruit-peeled bittering to biscuit-y wheat backdrop. Lemon rind, green grape and apple illusions fade in and out of salty bottom.
Subdued session ale in a can retains dry soft-toned nature. Delicate hop-spiced fruiting stays just beneath helles lager-like honeyed biscuit surface. Effervescent apricot, pink grapefruit, pineapple and orange tang sweetens almond-toasted caramel malting. Metallic twang brings minor astringency to pleasant light body.
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Debatable cherry-soured American Wild Ale with Flemish Red Ale leanings (and labeled a Belgian kriek) lacks efficient carbolic nature but scores points as a brettanomyces-laden Sour Ale. Aged in oak barrels, its tart cherry pucker gets underscored by cork-y cider dryness, vinous green grape tannins, raspberry vinaigrette musk and frisky white-peppered snip. Leathery farmhouse funk saddles oaken cherry theme.
Gruff Eastern European-styled corn-grained malt liquor astringency and burly Dutch-like pungent bitterness softened precipitously by doughy yeast sweetness. Grassy-hopped husked wheat dryness contrasts perfumed citrus mildness and mild floral nuance to biscuit-y bottom. Sessionable lawnmower fodder.
Wayward altbier with ‘crisp German lager’ tendencies and a ‘hoppy pale ale punch’ brings ‘brown ale malt backbone’ to nebulous nutty finish. Acrid phenol astringency overrides any taciturn flavoring. Ashy peanut-shelled oiling negates frail walnut-hazelnut-pecan pinch as mired mocha malting dissipates. Crusty burnt bread reminder seeps into dirty earthen graining.
Everlasting piney-hopped grapefruit rind bittering sticks to spice-malted tongue. Tropical pineapple-mango conflux and apple-peach undertones sweeten resinous hop oils. Wispy floral potpourri serenades citric juicing. A hop-head delight.
Straightforward moderate-bodied English pale ale brings biscuit-y cereal malts, sourdough yeast and toasted almond to orange marmalade midst. Orange-oiled citric undertones contrast helles bock-like bread crusting. Crisply easygoing session beer.
Bettering most in its moderate-bodied class, inviting lawnmower fodder keeps it simple. Silken sourdough yeast frontage is drier than Mayflower’s similarly-styled Pale Ale. Slim citric tease and minimal floral spicing caress buttered baked bread finish. A touch of honeycomb sweetens the delicate wheat spine. Elegant, yet approachable, and worthy of mass appeal.
Ambitious dry stout provides salty oyster-shelled brining to immediate coffee bean roast and lactic cocoa-powdered dark chocolate follow-up. Bittersweet vanilla seeding casually strolls across nutty java efficacy and soft wood-scorched hop char. Tertiary pine tar, charcoal and chewing tobacco undertones simmer beneath creamy mochaccino-espresso dalliance. Initial coffee thrust peters out a tad, but mocha-bound medium-full body stays soothingly robust. On tap at Triton, local Rappahannock oysters brought creamy sedation to medium-roast coffee overtones, dry-hopped cola nuttiness, dark chocolate bittering, dark cherry hints and light Kahlua snips of updated 2016 version.
