Complex bourbon-barreled wheat wine delivers an interesting twist on an oak aged elixir. Lustrous bourbon theme soothes into caramelized butterscotch sweetness, where lovely Almondine-wined praline, pecan and macadamia nuttiness contrasts heady rum-spiced alcohol solvency. Oaken French coffee creaming, pina colada-like coconut milking and frozen banana daiquiri nip join the busy fray, outlasting fleeting brown-sugared cinnamon-gingerbread spicing. Chardonnay, cognac and brandy illusions deepen liquor-stained backend.
EPIC SOUR APPLE SAISON
On tap at Morris Tap & Grill, dry yellow-hazed farmhouse ale brings tart green apple souring to lemony grapefruit bittering, vinous green grape pucker and wafting cinnamon toasting. Prickly peppered hop spicing works its way into gentle oats-flaked earthiness and musty horseblanket musk as herbal tea respite increases. Miniscule ginger, cardamom, grains of paradise, nutmeg, clove and anise reminders tingle serene quince theme. Lovers of Granny Smith apples should come aboard.
SUNNER KOLSCH
Modest pale-toned white-headed springtime dry body retains pungent grain malted musk of countless Dutch beers. Lemony orange-candied green apple tartness fades to faintest banana-clove snip above salty-bottomed French breading. Minor metallic solvency underscores grassy-hopped citric souring.
COTTRELL PERRY’S REVENGE ALE
Harsh Scotch ale (with 8.5% alcohol) needs better distinction. Shrill hop-coarsened cherry-grape conflux seeps into honeyed Scotch malting, caramelized brown sugaring and chocolate-covered raisin smidgen as well as wavered whiskey whir. Sugared fig, purple grape, red cherry and black cherry tones receive syrupy maple molasses lick and minor coffee-stained snip, but gnarly alcohol burn scoffs compromised fruited plain.
MAYFLOWER PORTER
Sludgy full body retains dry schwarzbier acridity and musky Baltic Porter tendencies. Peanut-oiled cocoa bittering picks up Baker’s chocolate chalking, chicory coffee complacency and hop-charred wood burn over peat-malted molasses breading. Cresting walnut sear contrasts tertiary maple-sapped hazelnut sweetness and apprehensive black cherry-fig snip.
NEWPORT STORM RYAN RYE PALE ALE
Unconvincing rye-malted dry body with hop-toasted caraway seeding flattens out by oblivious fruit-spiced finish, garnishing orange-spiced grapefruit peel bittering and negligible cherry tone to earthen wood backbone.
LABATT CLASSIC PORTER
Murkily unfulfilling dark ale with recessive maple-sapped burnt caramel frontage negatively infiltrated by disruptive coffee-oiled walnut astringency and diacetyl chocolate-cocoa souring. Red and black licorice notes waver.
LABATT MARZEN
Uninteresting limited edition autumnal dry body lacks pizzazz and stays bland. Soured fig and grape illusions disrupt caramelized marzipan center as nasty diacetyl buttering depletes cheap Chardonnay snip.
KONA KOKO BROWN ALE
On tap at Morris Tap & Grill, up-front coconut juicing regales toasted almond, praline and pecan riffs above sweet vanilla malting, but watery nature lowers flavor profile. Brown chocolate-y toffee, caramel and fudge illusions drift thorugh sharp hop spicing, but intimidating alcohol burn and coarse charred nuttiness overtake sugary yeast pleasantries by depleted finish.
UINTA BABA BLACK LAGER
Indifferent dark lager brings phenol schwarzbier mustiness and reedy porter acridity to muted stout-like mocha chalking. Baker’s chocolate, dried cocoa and coffee-stained walnut receive musky peat-smoked grain roast, thwarting molasses-sapped gingerbread spicing. An uninterestingly lower-rung hybridized style.
STARR HILL FESTIE AMBER LAGER
Obtuse marzen-styled autumnal seasonal dependent on murky grape-soured apple tartness instead of seasonally spiced hop foliage. Phenol solvency raids lemon-rotted grapefruit bittering to ephemeral sourdough-tinged baked bread backdrop. A stylistically offbeat, lackluster medium body.
(GREAT NEW LONDON) SAFE HARBOR AMERICAN BLONDE ALE
Curious amber-hazed moderate body brings impulsive herbal twist to floral-hopped citric zest and raw-honeyed rye graining. Soft lemony grapefruit bittering and petty orange-oiled snip envelop peppercorn-lemongrass herbage to white-breaded backbone. Minor metallic sheen brings finishing astringency to the ‘Official Beer of the Whaling City’ (bottled by Pawcatuck, Connecticut’s Cottrell Brewery).