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).
NARRAGANSETT BOCK
Genial pale-toned moderate-bodied spring bock retains crisp, clean, dry-bodied nature and delicate water flow. Subtle honeyed malt creaminess enhances polite spice-hopped fruiting and leafy floral nuances. Mellow peach, grape and quince illusions prickle biscuit-y cornbread spine and placid nuttiness. A nearly perfect post-prohibition-styled macrobrew reintroduced to the market around 2010.
NEW ENGLAND 668 NEIGHBOR OF THE BEAST BELGIAN-STYLE GOLDEN ALE
Impressive Belgian-styled pale ale in a can. Candi-sugared yeast caresses mild crystal malt creaminess and grassy-hopped tropical fruiting. Subtle grapefruit, pineapple, melon, cantaloupe and tangerine sweetness stormed by resolute clove-spiced banana taffy surge. Chardonnay, ambrosia and lemon custard illusions subsume sharply salted white peppering at alcohol burnt backend of fruitful endeavor.