Thoroughly expressive barrel-aged barleywine takes dry-fruited pomegranate, fig, date and Concord grape adjuncts on an illustrious trip through sweet red-wined brandy-bourbon concourse and creamy Scotch malted chocolate liqueur (or Kahlua) promenade to smoky hop-roasted bittering. Simply divine.
SHMALTZ GEEKTOBERFEST ’11
Wonderfully expressive ‘Extreme Beer’ combining Shmaltz’s Jewbelation, Rejewvenation and Coney Island Human Blockhead Lager with a barrel-aged version of Ithaca Nut Brown and Captain Lawrence’s port-barreled Sour Brown Ale. On tap, busy brown-hazed sour ale merges vinous grape funk, tart cherry slunk and acidic brettanomyces gunk with oaken vanilla dryness, picking up high octane bourbon whir by dried fruited finish. Caramel, cocoa, and chocolate malting create gingerbread-marzipan sweetness to underscore ascending fig, prune, and date illusions. Wispy brandied burgundy wining adds subtle elegance.
GREENPORT HARBOR LEAF PILE PUMPKIN ALE
Though no pumpkin is used, creamy cinnamon-toasted pumpkin pie entry offers resoundingly sweet autumnal flavoring. Cardamom, nutmeg and allspice vie for ancillary attention over hop-oiled leafy foliage to rye-breaded spine.
(GREENPORT HARBOR) HARBOR ALE
Easygoing copper-cleared blue collar American pale ale retains crisp grassy-hopped citric-sliced mineral graining. Wood-dried Amarillo hop bittering tethers light mandarin orange, grapefruit, and tangerine tang to delicate cracked wheat spine.
GREENPORT HARBOR BLACK DUCK PORTER
Co
ngenial English-style porter brings dark-roasted hop bittering to soy-milked black chocolate assault, brown-sugared molasses cookie creaminess, and cocoa-powdered toffee remnant. Residual wood-burnt char deepens penetrative coffee-oiled espresso arrival. Easygoing appeal will delight dark lager heads looking to take a step up to porter-stout styling.
EMPIRE GOLDEN DRAGON
Easygoing Belgian-style golden ale made with garden-grown Thai basil retains peppery hop spicing and marinated citric pleasantries. Mild orange rind bittering, zesty lemon tartness, piquant mandarin orange dalliance and herbal lemongrass fodder provide quaint citron motif. Perfect as a crossover for light ale and fruited pilsner admirers.
CAPE ANN FISHERMANS TEA PARTY BARLEYWINE
Eccentric Extra Special Bitter-like deviation forgoes stylistic sweet barleywine fruiting for subtly smoked black-green tea bittering and ample fig-dried sugaring. Mild earthen hop toasting and Band-Aid-scented beechwood motif contrast glazed caramel malting of smooth departure. Tertiary tobacco, peat, and resin affinities further catapult unique Boston Tea Party reenactment.
(CHARLES WELLS) WELLS BOMBARDIER ENGLISH PREMIUM BITTER
Widely acclaimed traditional English-styled bitter plies delicate mineral water to lightly creamed caramel malting and gentle Fuggle hop bittering. Smoothly robust considering moderate 4.3% alcohol flow, allowing phenol-spiced marzipan, raisin bread, black cherry, dried fig, and pecan illusions to sway resinous peat backdrop. The nebulous Copper Ale style owes a debt of gratitude to this proudly British Extra Special Bitter. Holds up to scrutiny.
MENDOCINO IMPERIAL STOUT
Abrasively complex tan-headed obsidian-bodied dry stout too assertively bitter to be lumped in with sweeter Imperial style. Harshly pine-charred, hot-tarred, nut-seared Blackstrap molasses theme and dark roasted hop bittering override crowded black cherry puree, raspberry, red grape, dried prune, and blueberry undertones. Dark ale lovers may be put off by its ashy charcoal harshness so move cautiously with trepidation.
HOPPIN’ FROG FROG’S HOLLOW DOUBLE PUMPKIN ALE
Amazingly detailed and perfectly balanced autumnal seasonal shows off an impressive entourage of flavors. Seductively soft-tongued (despite heady 8% alcohol whir), bringing luscious maple-sugared pumpkin-pied spicing to chewy caramelized marzipan center. Apple-glazed, orange-candied, cherry coughdrop opulence coats gingerbread-toasted cinnamon-nutmeg-allspice piquancy and onrushing rum-spiced whiskey kick. Sweet vanilla-banana dalliance adds further splendor.
(RIDGEWAY) REINDEERS REVOLT ENGLISH CHRISTMAS ALE
Muddled rust-corroded winter seasonal lacks resolve. Harsh ethanol-laced diacetyl propensity outweighs musty orange spicing and barren seasonal spicing. Remote fig-dried apple-skinned musk, distant almond-toasted caramel malting, and slight mineral-grained leafiness barely make a wave amidst agonizingly astringent parameters.
OTTER CREEK OKTOBERFEST
Indistinct 2011 autumnal offering (with copper-cleared hue) fatigued by overriding phenol astringency and buttery diacetyl waver. Pumpkin-seeded gourd spicing and musty orange-dried coarsening lost amidst leafy foliage. Toasted honey nut spine and sweet chestnut egress need better resilience.