Slushy flavor profile confounds bleary 12% alcohol triple bock camouflaged as a premium pale lager on a nasty strong Czech beer bender. Cloy Scotch entry picks up orange-spiced Courvoisier cognac propensity and blatant cotton-candied butterscotch-marzipan-vanilla sweetness undercut by slick honeyed ginger murk. Sugary corn ripple and superfluous rice wine tipple crammed into messy mix.
MAYFLOWER AUTUMN WHEAT ALE
Aggressive German-styled dunkelweizen not far removed from English Special Bitter with its dryer character. Never short on brevity, its ashen hop char seeps into dark-spiced autumnal foliage, sharp walnut roast, and bread-crusted coffee nuance, deepening Blackstrap molasses bitterness. Brown-sugared cocoa-pecan-praline conflux soaks latent maple sapped sweetening. Confoundedly vanquished plum-raisin-banana confections, stylistically apropos, lack affirmation.
ROCK BOTTOM –BOSTON
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
In the heart of Beantown, this re-renovated chain restaurant-brewery opened as ROCK BOTTOM in 2001 and got renovated April 2011. Formerly Brew Moon, Rock Bottom bought out the company, merged with Gordon Biersch, and is owned as of this December 2011 trip by large conglomerate, CraftWorks Restaurants & Breweries. This eloquent red brick-walled, wood-furnished space attracts vacationing families, businessmen and theatregoers. Special tap tables at right side booths allowed beer drinkers to pour by the ounce each house beer (brewed in Pittsburgh for this faux-pub).
I sat at the blue-slated central bar (with 3 TV’s per side) to taste each stylistically efficient ale. My wife settled on a bottled Wachusett Blueberry while I delved into the lighter fare this late afternoon session (after hitting Faneuil Hall’s shopping district).
Kolsch-Style Ale brought floral-hopped citric spicing to a phenol hop prickle, finishing like bark-dried lemon rot (but ain’t as unpleasant as that seems).
White Ale’s white-peppered, lemon-candied, orange-peeled coriander spicing suited its light effervescence.
IPA’s surprisingly soft tone contrasted wispy peach, apple and tangerine illusions against negligible hop pining.
Caramel-spiced orange and red fruits smudged grassy dry-hopped Red Ale.
The two seasonals on hand had less obvious stylistic guidelines so each benefited from being less regimentally specific. Holiday-styled Winter Wheat brought a nifty peppermint twist to orange-dried coriander-nutmeg-cinnamon spicing.
Better still, Snow Moon Belgian Trippel layered creamy cotton-candied banana over molasses gingerbread cookie sweetness, finishing with pastry-like banana-clove illusions resembling German hefeweizens.
Rock Bottom’s bottled beer selection included Lagunitas, Troegs, Left Hand, Magic Hat, Cisco and several well-known Belgians. Guest draughts were Victory Prima Pils, Ommegang Hennepin, Boulder Mojo IPA and local fave, Mayflower Porter.
(NEW JERSEY BEER CO./ BOLERO SNORT) BIG MAN IMPERIAL BLACK RYE I.P.A.
Respectable collaborative adjunct ale honors home state Springsteen sax legend, Clarence Clemons, with a winning 8.5% alcohol blend every bit as heavy, rounded, dark and sweet as the ‘Big Man’ himself. Creamy brown chocolate richness, maple-sapped rye graining and oats-sugared cookie dough opulence commingle with less opulent IPA-like bruised fruiting. Raisin-pureed blackberry, cherry and grape undertones graze against hop-charred peat dewiness. Ancillary port, noir and burgundy wining and recessive ashen cocoa powdering fill out backend of thrillingly vigorous full body better labeled a stout.
BOLERO SNORT SAISON DE BULL
Crassly peculiar Belgian-styled farmhouse ale connects acidic stone-fruited oaken cherry souring and offbeat rhubarb spell to outlandishly curious candy-caned peppermint twist. Eye-squinting orange-dried crabapple, guava, kumquat, papaya, and blueberry nuances increase mouth-puckering brettanomyces funk. A novel sour ale.
BOULDER HOOPLA PALE ALE
Politely soft-tongued with light piney bittering reminiscent of IPA and perfect as crossover fodder. Easygoing lemon-dropped apple, peach, pear, tangerine, mango and grapefruit illusions pick up tingly marzipan sweetness plus minor grassy-hopped herbal-floral spiciness appending wood-dried fruited finish. Chamomile tea, caramelized rye, hop resin, celery, rhubarb and fennel illusions make cameos.
NASHOBA VALLEY WINERY
BOLTON, MASSACHUSETTS
Up a narrow rural road in rustic Bolton at an early Americana compound a few miles outside Worchester, NASHOBA VALLEY WINERY opened for business in 2004. Besides its estate-type vineyards and olden wood edifices, the winery also brews its own beers in one of its on-site dwellings. Visited post-Thanksgiving 2011, this multi-acre site also features several apple and peach trees plus an exquisite food menu paired with Nashoba Valley’s homemade wine and beer.
Past the weather-shaken gray farmhouse (with back deck) and open-air pavilion right down the beaten dirt path lies a manmade lake and the flag-smitten green ranch that houses the winery and restaurant. Samples of beer and wine were available at the back desk and bottles-to-go were available. I bought five different 22-ounce bottles of each available Nashoba Valley brew (reviewed in Beer Index). For those seeking a provocatively cloistered New England manor with debonair elegance and Old World charm, this vintage hilltop farm is king.
Nashoba Valley’s beers ran the gamut from styptic German-styled Bolt 117 (where citric juniper bittering overruns raw-grained herbal spicing); wavering alcohol-burnt Heron Ale (an OK ESB with singed mineral grains and wood-dried herbal tea respite); tart lemon-soured banana-clove hefeweizen Wattaquadock Wheat; oaken maple syrupy autumnal seasonal Oaktoberfest; vibrant pine-needled grapefruit rind-embittered IPA and viscous mocha-bound hop-charred Imperial Stout. Full reviews of these beers are found at Beer Index.
BOLERO SNORT BROWN BAGGED LUNCH
Emulating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, medium-full-bodied brown ale places Concord grape-jellied Muscat wining below an increasingly pervasive walnut-shelled peanut butter mouthfeel. Nutty burnt toast harshness may put off soft-toned drinkers but dark ale hounds will find favor with its ample backend bittering. Pictured below is initial Drewery PB & J label.
BOLERO SNORT WEE HEIFER FRUITCAKE
On tap, accurately dubbed ‘the fruitcake you don’t want to re-gift,’ estimable oak-aged wee heavy places dried red cherries, spiced fig and golden raisins atop citric-tinged Reisling, port and burgundy notes for a fascinatingly peculiar concoction. Oak-soaked in Woodford Reserve small batch bourbon and pleated with oaken vanilla subtleties, its unassuming 9% alcohol volume provides elegant warmth. Bottled version retained livelier fruitcake theme as fig-spiced red wining, ripe raisin rasp and prune-stewed black cherry splat receive capacious ginger snap cookie sugaring.
BOLERO SNORT THERE’S NO RYEING IN BASEBULL
Utilizing a wordy crybaby appellation stolen from Tom Hanks’ famous League Of Their Own character, this here’s a summery soft-toned steppingstone for lighter thirsts. Sessionable mainstreamer with rye-spiced nicety, subtle orange-dried fig acridity, and earthen bottom tagged “a casual slammer for boating.”
BOLERO SNORT BLACKHORN BLACK INDIA PALE ALE
Fine Black IPA, re-branded as Black Horn, brings expectant hop-toasted pine-sapped dried fruiting to rich chocolate-roasted caramel malts. Amplified coffee bean kick, ashen wood-charred sear and lofty grapefruit peel afterburner thicken overall bitterness.
BOLERO SNORT GINGERBULL COWKIE
Well-balanced brown-sugared gingerbread sweetness, black-breaded molasses nuttiness, and nutmeg-clove seasoning stabilize wintry holiday-spiced brown ale. Cookie dough, vanilla and praline fill out backend of impressive Christmastime dessert beer. On tap, gingerbread cookie entry abruptly countered by unexpected perfumed lemon spicing that overrides tertiary vanilla, clove and coriander sweetness.
