Fruitful yellow-clouded Belgian strong pale ale contrasts musky white-peppered yeast fungi against rock candied sugaring. Sweet banana ripeness takes hold midway, besting spiced apple pie, vanilla wafer, cantaloupe, honeydew, melon and pear illusions. Bulky 8.3% alcohol volume well hidden.
Inconsistent bronze-hazed India Pale Ale hybrid plies mild lemon-peeled orange rind bittering to sharply-spiced apricot juicing and salty-bottomed honey wheat bed. Carbolic Seltzer fizz cuts into woody Cascade-hopped astringency, subtle coriander spicing, tepid blueberry nip and glutinous viscosity. But the stylishly appropos IPA bittering weakens. Perhaps Belgian witbier fanatics will appreciate its slick citric briskness.
Gritty hybridized bronze-hazed helles bock closer to an India Pale Ale with its sweet fruited spicing and bitter piney hop respite. Grapefruit-peeled orange-peach-pineapple tropicalia supercedes honeyed malting. Disclaimer: Pour slowly or risk over-carbonation.
Boozy pale-malted English-styled barleywine with medicinal 10% alcohol burn coalesces cherry coughdrop astringency with bruised orange splurge, mild Cognac warmth and musty stone-fruited aromatics. Prickly carbolic fizz outlasts tertiary apricot, peach and apple spicing, debunking caramelized vanilla sweetness.
On tap at The Office-Ridgewood, robust Belgian-styled brown ale hybrid brings creamy molasses-malted dark chocolate entry to brown-sugared oats flaking and cocoa-chalked vanilla sweetness. Downplayed hop-spiced Belgian yeast adds dewy cellar dankness to large mocha contingency, but gets skewered. Honeyed chestnut midst allows tertiary hazelnut, maple, tobacco and peat illusions to find a foothold.
Nondescript citric-snipped Kolsch styling envelops minor alcohol burn with sour grape, orange and lemon wisps. Coarse carbolic rigidity depletes initial fruiting and honeyed grain malting. Bland spring seasonal stays uninvolving.
Diverting Belgian strong ale stays light and fizzy on the tongue, but bitter and dry on the backend. Despite brown-sugared Belgian yeast influence, molasses tea caking, earthen grain pungency and dessicated fig-date-plum conflux seem closer to dewy English pale ale. Gingerbread, cinnamon and hazelnut make cameos.
On tap at Cloverleaf, amiable oak barrel-aged dark ale brings acidic brettanomyces funk and pungent sour fruiting to rawest Blackstrap molasses inclination. Oaken cherry, white grape, green grape and cranberry tartness deepens acrid barnyard-horsehide parch. Briny salting saturates ancillary wood burnt hop char, depleting powdered cocoa drift.
An instant breakfast classic with a snickering wake and bake reference. Prominent coffee ground roast lingers through marvelous stylistic hybrid (vintage 2011). Black-tarred hop char embitters Blackstrap molasses sinew, deepening the high powered coffee theme. Milky dark chocolate creaminess and ascending vanilla beaning reach cookie dough thickness, reinforcing ancillary Kahula, cappuccino, caramel latte, mocha latte, espresso, cola nut and hazelnut illusions. 2017 vintage retained rich red berry coffee roast as well as underlying creamy black chocolate, dark cocoa and vanilla sweetness. Amazing!
Nasty gluten-free sorghum-based ale “brewed with strawberries and buckwheat honey” lacks body and character. Slick sorghum syrup slipstream inundates sterile strawberry souring, washed-out oaken cherry tartness and astringent Blackstrap molasses-embittered buckwheat honey dredge. A hint of rhubarb pie found beneath dessicated whiskey malting. As of 2012, the only decent gluten-free beer is De Proef’s Green’s Discovery Amber Ale.
