Adequate adjunct brown ale celebrates brewers’ quarter-century mark. Soft-flowing bittersweet vanilla bean entry receives fudge-y milk chocolate embrace above ashen maple-sapped molasses impression. Hop-oiled walnut bittering recedes quickly alongside cocoa dried depletion, caramel-burnt toffee subsidy and wispy bourbon wining, finishing thinner and less creamy than anticipated. On tap at Amazing Grapes, better version featured molasses-sugared chocolate, toffee and vanilla creaming above sharp hop roast, picking up light hazelnut and cola nut influence. Modest fig-date-plum conflux fades away. Try in lieu of Neopolitan Ice Cream.
FULL SAIL SESSION FEST RED LAGER
Mainstream Czech-styled session lager remains just a tad stronger than pale-bodied competition. Easygoing hop-toasted bread crusting and dewy rye persistence sedately affected by superfine sugar-glassed sweetness. Caramel nuttiness cannot overcome bland phenol spicing.
STONE CHERRY CHOCOLATE STOUT
Vigorous Stone/ Troegs collaboration brings lusty dark chocolate richness to enthusiastic Scotch whiskey boozing, picking up ashen charcoal astringency for obsidian-hued dry-bodied milk stout. Ascending vanilla and coffee bean bittering overshadows restrained black cherry-pureed blackberry-blueberry-elderberry dried fruiting. Luscious bourbon easement seeps into bold mocha-bound affluence. Tertiary brandy-wined chocolate-caked cherry jubilee illusions float by. But its murky flavor profile crowds too many wandering adjuncts.
KANE AFTERGLOW RYE PALE ALE
Accurately described as a ‘quasi pale ale,’ robust ESB-like dry body maintains approachable medium-bodied drinkability. Reedy molasses rye breading sops up peat-dried pumpernickel nuttiness and light Vienna-styled Munich malting. Clean eight-grain bread finish picks up tertiary sunflower seed, poppy, and whey illusions.
KANE HEAD HIGH I.P.A.
Acute alcohol burn embeds commencing lemon-peeled orange rind bitterness of invigorating gold-paled medium-to-full body. Tangy yellow grapefruit, mango, peach, pineapple and tangerine tropicalia gains prominence, as does sharply counteractive juniper berry bite. Zesty passion fruit sprinkled through tongue-tingling salt peppered carbolic fizz. Less piney than dryer West Coast-styled India Pale Ales, though some wood remnants underscore fruited frolic.
CARTON PUMPKIN CREAM ALE – 2012
Exhilarating golden-hazed eggshell-headed pumpkin-spiced autumn seasonal retains creamy meringue frothiness and splendid herbal fruiting. Lemony banana wafer pleasantry soaks up cotton-candied sweetness, orange-oiled peppercorn seasoning, ginger rooted supplement and wet-papered nuance above plasticine clay-hopped density. Medicinal 9% alcohol burn contrasts smooth flow.
CARTON 077XX EAST COAST DOUBLE I.P.A.
Easygoing zip-coded Imperial India Pale Ale brings succulent tropicalia to mildly creamed crystal malting and salt-watered mineral graining. Moderate dry-wooded grapefruit peel bittering seeps into candied pineapple, mango, melon, papaya and peach tang. A subtler take on a usually bitterer style.
CARTON LAUNCH GOLDEN ALE
Brisk ‘summer salad’ utilizing fresh-chopped herbs maintains fruity regalia. Tropical pineapple, mango, melon and peach tang inundates sharp lemony orange-peeled grapefruit bittering. Earthen dry-wooded oaken pining seeps into tea-bagged thyme-basil retreat. Ascending alcohol burn deepens ultimate complexity of richly balanced step up from usual moderate-bodied golden ale contenders.
CARTON BOAT BEER SESSION ALE
On tap at Andy’s Corner Bar, straw-hazed Kolsch-styled summer ale balances sour citric zest with pronounced herbal respite. Dry-wooded lemon-bruised grapefruit bittering leads the way as lemongrass, basil and thyme seasoning decorate supple interior. Lip-smacked lemon rind, lemon peel and lemon pit tartness provides mouth-puckering acerbity. A fuller bodied affluence makes this a better bitterer choice than softer stylish competitors.
FLYING FISH OKTOBERFISH
Upgraded 10th anniversary version of ruddy copper autumnal from 2011 stays mild, underscoring caramelized crystal malting and grassy-hopped astringency with wispy gourd spicing. Indifferent orange, apricot and apple fruiting lost alongside fragile oats-toasted breading.
BROOKLYN THE COMPANION
On tap at Andy’s Corner Bar, complex wheat wine (generally a wheat-malted strong ale with less red-wined dried fruiting than kindred barleywine) brings tangy tropicalia and creamy malt spume to alcohol-smitten Scotch dryness. Rich banana-pureed peach, pear, and cherry thrust wavers through oaken vanilla sedation and docile plastique notion to reclining cereal-grained spine. An effervescent stylistic changeup just a few steps removed from headier barleywines.
HARPOON DOCESNA CZECH HOP HARVEST ALE
Indeterminately chameleonic and stylistically evasive; reminiscent of a fluctuant German altbier. Cereal-grained caramel toasting rides alongside red cherry, orange, and tangerine fruiting as well as drier fig-date nuances. Gnarly citric souring gains ground on ginger ale fizz midway. On tap at Andy’s Corner Bar, dry-wooded lemon-rotted bittering works its way into stylized Czech-like pale malt pungency. Peppery hop prickle, earthen vegetal respite and musty herbal tease subsidize orange-dried green apple piquancy, leaving parched mouthfeel.
