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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
Doable ‘Mexican Hot Chocolate Imperial Stout’ intricately plies gingerbread-cinnamon spicing to cocoa nibs, vanilla bean, dark chocolate, sarsaparilla, licorice root, and most strikingly, chili peppered heat. Lactic acidity tempers peppery spicing.
Momentous espresso-cappuccino rush embittered by coffee bean roast then sweetened by sugary maple molasses mellifluence. Chocolate latte, vanilla and mochaccino illusions contrast tar-like residue. Despite paltry 5% alcohol volume, heavy gravity deepens robust nature of fine porter aged on espresso beans.
Some may quibble, but 2011-bottled version of soapy fruit ale lacked proper blackberry-soured flavoring, coarsening to a phenol citric harshness worsened by carbolic aridity and sulfuric sways. Tart grape, dried fig and vermouth illusions come crashing down haphazardly. Like many lighter fruit beers, its unpredictable nature is cautionary. Drab stuff.
Delicately intricate bourbon-aged strong ale stays soft, fizzy and mildly creamed on the tongue. Almondine, cream soda, oaken vanilla, glazed toffee and butternut squash illusions sidle toasted almond ascension. Subtle bourbon whiskey theme just a tad more striking than similarly styled Innis & Gunn Oak Aged Scottish Ale. Only downside: minor diacetyl aridity briefly outpaces Scotch sweetness. In a can, lilting bourbon sweetness contrasts dry whiskey stead as subtle toasted coconut, praline and pecan illusions file in behind.
Assertive amber-hazed India Pale Ale contrasts sharp piney grapefruit-peeled bittering against tangy pineapple, tangerine, peach and apple medley over dry bark base. Peppery juniper bite increases bitterness above sugary malt fruiting. Hopheads unite!
Nifty pepper-spiced stout makes for solid and approachable adjunct ale. Aged on cocoa nibs and ancho chile peppers, its hot-spiced regalia amiably complements the salient cocoa-dried black chocolate stream. Never profoundly offbeat or weirdly obtuse, this subtly chili-peppered mocha-bound elixir pairs well with spicy southwestern cuisine.
Affluent bourbon whiskey theme of oak-aged wee heavy Scotch ale brings creamy 10% alcohol warmth to ancillary rum-spiced cognac, raisin-pureed fruitcake and red cherry illusions. Molasses-sapped maple syrup, oaken vanilla, crème brulee, marshmallow and butternut niceties abound, rounding out sweet bourbon fervor. Mighty dessert nightcap bourbon-barreled for hearty sippers.
