The Drunken Polack

Boulevard Brewing Saison-Brett - Happy Super Bowl day people.  I hope you all are drinking some fantastic beer with friends.  Here is part two of my snowed in beer drinking journey.  I didn’t mess around with busting out the good stuff.  First up is Saison-Brett from Boulevard Brewing and their Smokestack Series.  They make a regular version of this beer without the Brettanomyces.  I still haven’t tried that one but when I got trading I made sure this version was one of the first beers I traded for.  Who doesn’t like some funk thrown into their beer?  You can’t tell me you don’t!

Saison-Brett pours a huge huge head.  Everytime i poured a new glass of this stuff all I got mostly was head.  Huge foamy, bubble filled head like the one you see in the glass.  Lacing everywhere.  The color is a very hazy light orange color.  The aroma on this Saison is really really nice and inviting.  A tiny of bit of funk.  Not overwhelming like some other beers dosed with Brett.  Actually everything in the smell was light.  Small amount of lemon peel and spice.  Nice background of yeast and an slight earthy aroma.  Really nice.

Now what I didn’t pick up with the smell was a nice fruity presense.  It’s here in the taste though.  Lemon, citrus, and mango.  The tartness and funk are there but like in the smell it’s very smell.  It just adds to the taste and doesn’t try to take over.  I actually wish it was would of had a little bit more of a role in the taste.  Yeasty with a pale malt background.  The taste is nice but it’s also very light.

The mouthfeel is nicely carbonated.  Light to medium bodied.  Crisp with a dry finish.

While this is an excellent beer, I wish it would of had a little bit more of a punch when it comes to the flavor.  Good but not great.

Found: Beer Trade
Price: Not to sure on this one.
Website: http://www.blvdbeer.com/
What the company says: Nothing about their Brett version of this beer on their site.
ABV%: 8.50%
Other beers to try from this brewery: Boulevard Brewing Imperial Stout, Bouelvard Brewing Seeyoulator
Other beers to try within the same style: The Bruery Saison Rue, Ommegang Hennepin
Rating: B+

Founders Imperial Stout - It really looks like Founders has an endless supply of beer.  It’s like I go into my local beer place every week and there is another Founders beer sitting on the shelves.  OK maybe not every week but you get the picture.  This time around it’s their Winter seasonal release, their Imperial Stout.  I heard awesome things about this beer so I picked up a few.  One to drink now and a few to cellar.  Can’t try to try one a year from now since I loved it fresh.

Founder’s Imperial Stout pours pitch black.  Pours thick like motor oil.  A small tan head is poured and pretty much disappears to nothing except lacing around the glass.  At first the smell of this brew will not blow you away.  When I first poured it I had to sit there to pick some stuff up but as it warms the flavor pops more and more.  Chocolate, roasted malt, molasses, and a smokey aroma.  As it warms it becomes almost like a mocha.  It makes you want to dive right in.  For being 10.50% there is no sign of alcohol in the nose.  Very nicely done.

For the taste the roasted malt comes in first with a nice bit chocolate coming in next.  To me it tasted like chocolate malt ball.  The alcohol makes a little bit more of an appearance then it did in the aroma.  It won’t smack you in the face though.  Coffee is also there and adds a little bit of a bitter taste.  The beer ends with some molasses and dark fruits.  The taste isn’t big like a lot of imperial stouts out there.  But it’s nice and rich.  Really wanted another one after I was done with the bottle I had.

The mouthfeel on this brew is really a one of the stars of the show.  It’s full bodied, smooth, and it coats the mouth nicely.  Really well done.  If you see this brew pick it up.

Found: Grape and Gourmet, Virginia Beach, VA
Price: Around 3 dollars a bottle
Website: http://foundersbrewing.com
What the company says: Brewed with ten varieties of malted barley, this stout is smooth as silk yet complex and rich in body. Serve this guy at cellar temperature. Put another log on the fire and sit back and enjoy the friendship of this ultimate winter warmer.
ABV%: 10.50%
Other beers to try from this brewery: Founders Breakfast Stout, Founders Porter
Other beers to try within the same style: Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast, Southern Tier Mokah
Rating: A-

Avery Brabant -Brabant is the first in the line of Barrel Aged beers from Avery.  I believe they are on their third in the line.  These beers are very limited and hard to find for the most part.  They are made once and are gone forever.

Brabant is a American Wild Ale.  Wild Ales are starting to become very big in the craft beer industry.  Some say it’s the new IPA in terms of popularity.  I don’t see it getting there just yet but you do see a lot of breweries starting to make Wild Ales.  Some of the best come from Russian River and The Lost Abbey.

Brabants color looks like a cola.  It’s dark brown.  Two finger head is poured.  The head is full of craters and had good retention.  The smell is big and complex.  First up is a vinegar aroma you pick up in a lot of Flanders Red Ales.  Fighting for the top spot is a leather aroma and wood.  There is also a good amount of a barnyard funk and sourness that stings the nostrils.  A very nice and big aroma.

Up front in the taste is definitely the leather type of taste mixed in with the wood.  As it fades away the other tastes come in.  Sour cherries, funk, and a very tannic taste.  Definitely one of the most complex and unique flavors I’ve had from any beer.  Mouthfeel is medium bodied and nicely carbonated.  Sourness sticks on your tongue and the smokiness from the barrels lingers in your mouth.

Loved trying this beer.  I’ll make sure to report on how my other bottle ends up  a year from now.

Found: Grape and Gourmet, Virginia Beach, VA
Price: Around 10 dollars a bottle
Website: http://www.averybrewing.com/
What the company says: Beer Style: Barrel-Aged Wild Ale, not brewed to any known style
Malt Variety: Two-row barley, dehusked carafa, honey malt, carafa 3, chocolate malt
OG: 1.074   ABV: 8.7%   IBUs: 25
Barrels: Red Zinfandel barrels from Norman Vineyards in Paso Robles, CA.
Color: Dark brown with ruby corners
Availability: One and done.  694 cases produced. Bottled February 10th, 2009.  Grab it if you can find it!
ABV%: 8.70%
Other beers to try from this brewery: Avery Karma, Avery Hog Heaven
Other beers to try within the same style: Russian River Temptation, Ommegang Ommegeddon
Rating: A-

Last Summer the girlfriend and I took a trip to San Diego.  She wanted to go to Disney, the zoo, and the wild animal park.  Well  guess what I wanted to do?  Yeah you guessed it, visit the breweries in the area.  As soon as we landed, we got settled into the rental car and took the 40 minute drive to The Lost Abbey.  Usually I wouldn’t mind waiting to go to the brewery but it just happen to be the Christmas in July celebration.  Oh and it was Duck Duck Gooze release day too =)  The first beer I tried that day was this beer you see right here.  But I believe on tap.  Yeah I probably should of started with something a little lighter then a 12% beast of a beer but I was so looking forward to trying it.  The beer blew my mind.  Huge on taste and aroma this was one of the better beers I tried that week.  I say that because well I was in beer mecca know as San Diego. 

Last night I popped open my bottled version of this beer.  The one I got from belonging to the sinners club.  Now if you read the Beer Advocate forums or maybe even the Rate Beer forums you’ll know the issues with Lost Abbey/Port Brewing brews and the lack of carbonation.  It seems a lot of the higher ABV beers from last years batches have zero carbonation.  I experienced it first hand last year when I opened up a bottle of Older Viscosity and was greeted with basically nothing when it came to carbonation.  The beer was still amazing but would of blown my mind if it had some carbonation.  I felt sorta of the same with this beer but not to the same degree. 

When I pulled the cork on this brew I was actually greeted with a nice “pop”.  A good sign of some carbonation.  I was even more surprised that when I poured it some head came out with some fizzy bubbles.  But that was very short lived.  In a matter of like 3 seconds everything was gone.  Just what I expected really.  So no surprises.  A dead beer.  The color of the beer is a deep dark brown with lighter brown highlights around the glass. 

The smell of this beer is just simply amazing.  It’s a assault on your nose.  Huge amounts of bourbon, caramel, toffee, dark fruits, vanilla, and oak.  I really can’t describe this smell.  I mean I just did but it’s something that needs to be experienced first hand.  Simply awesome.

The taste is world class too but a little bit muted compared to the aroma.  Maybe it’s the little bit of age I put on the brew.  I don’t know but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a fantastic taste.  The bourbon flavor is king here.  It lingers in your mouth.  Every other flavor is balanced perfectly between the caramel, toffee, dark fruits ,etc.  Alcohol burn plays a big factor in the mouthfeel on this beer.  It burns the mouth, throat, and stomach.   Need a great beer on a cold night, here it is.  It will keep you warm.  The mouthfeel is also thick, syrupy, and coats the mouth. 

This is a big, complex, and flavorful beer.  The lack of carbonation doesn’t hurt this beer that much.  Not like it would hurt a lot of beers.  Don’t be afraid to pick up the 2009 version of this brew.  Oh and keep the lookout for Angel’s Share Grand Cru this year.  It’s a mixture of 6 different barrels of AS.  Some brandy, some bourbon, one mixed in with grapes, and from different years.  I think the earliest barrel is from 06 or 07.  It’s sure to be awesome.  I got my 4 bottles on order.

Found: The Lost Abbey Sinners Club
Price: 15 dollars a bottle
Website: http://www.lostabbey.com/
What the company says: Story on this one is way to long.  You can check out the full story here
ABV%: 12.00%
Other beers to try from this brewery:The Lost Abbey 10 Commandments, The Lost Abbey Avant Garde
Other beers to try within the same style: New Holland  Dragons Milk,  Stone Double Bastard
Rating: A+

Captain Lawrence Nor’ Easter - So there’s this little problem when it snows in Virginia Beach and surrounding areas.  Nothing happens.  This area is so unprepared for snow that when it snows like it did on Friday (7 inches to be exact) the whole area shuts down.  Roads remain undriveable for days.  It’s Monday as I’m writing this review from my home, work is closed, schools are closed.  Oh yeah it snowed on Saturday.  Hey I can’t complain, it might seem like I am but I’m not really.  I got to stay inside, play videogames, watch movies, and more importantly, drink beer!  So the last 2 days I got to try 6 different beers.  I’m to lazy to write 6 reviews right now so I’ll throw three at you today and three tomorrow.  Heck I need to get back to playing games and taking advantage of the situation

First beer on the list matches the weather outside perfectly.  Nor’Easter is a Winter Warmer from Captain Lawrence.  They call it a Winter Warmer while BA calls it a Belgian Strong Dark Ale.  I’ll call it the Belgian Dark Strong Ale.  It didn’t have the spiciness that a lot of the Winter Warmers out there.   It also left me a little disappointed.  While this beer was good, I really wanted it to blow me away.  It has a lot going for it but kind of fell short for me.  Read on!

Nor’ Easter pours a little bit like a stout.  It’s dark.  A very dark brown.  A nice frothy 2 finger head is poured and has nice retention.  Now I was expecting to get wow’ed by the smell of this beer for some reason.  The mixture that it says on the front of the bottle got me ready for something awesome.  Ale with elderberries aged in bourbon barrels.  Yum sounds fantastic but what I got was very muted.  The Elderberries gave off the biggest smell.  They were sweet.  But everything else like the ripe dark fruit, caramel, and bourbon was lingering there but just small.

Taste was more of the same for me.  Muted.  That doesn’t mean it wasn’t good though.  The bourbon woody flavor definitely came through more on the taste.  The berries are there and make for a kind of sour and bitter combination.  Under all of that caramel and dark fruits sit on the bottom.  Mouthfeel was really nice.  Thick and smooth.  Silky and sits in your mouth.

In the end I liked this brew more then the first couple sips I took.  The flavors started to add up.  Thanks for trading me a bottle of this stuff Aaron.  I’ve been looking forward to trying this beer for a while now.

Found: Beer Trade
Price: Not to sure on this one.
Website: http://www.captainlawrencebrewing.com/
What the company says: This is a truly unique brew, combining some unusual elements to create a powerful, yet flavorful brew. I brewed a similar beer to this one back in 1998, while I was home brewing out in California. Only this time around I decided to age it in bourbon barrels to add a new element to the already rich sensory profile. The combination of dark malt, elderberries and bourbon barrels makes for an interesting tasting experience. This is a sippin’ beer, so sit back by the fire and enjoy. 12% alcohol by volume.
ABV%: 12.00%
Other beers to try from this brewery: Captain Lawrence Captain’s Reserve IPA
Other beers to try within the same style: Allagash Odyssey, The Lost Abbey 10 Commandments
Rating: B+

Cigar City Jai Alai with Juniper Berries - A couple of weeks ago I got this message out of the blue in my Beer Advocate inbox.  It was a gentlemen who spotted a post I put up months ago.  In the post I was pretty much begging for anyone to trade me some Cigar City brews.  Since then I’ve been able to try a few and have been blown away.  We’ll he spotted my message and out of the blue he offers me a growler of their Jai Alai IPA mixed with Juniper berries.  Heck I couldn’t say no.  When was I going to see this again.  So the package came in a few days ago.  To my surprise this little growler arrived.  It’s small.  About enough for a few pints.  Perfect size if you ask me.  I then remembered that Florida has some weird rule about the sizes of growlers.  I guess this is as big as it gets there.  Didn’t matter.  I was hyped to try this one off beer.

This brew pours a dark amber color with a white two finger fluffy head that quickly disappears.  At first the Juniper berries aren’t to noticeable.  But as you let the beer warm up a bit the more you’ll notice the berries.  The smell was more of a malt bomb then a hop bomb.  But mixed in with the malt is nice citrus and piney hops and some other fruits.  The taste up front is more of the same.  Really nice amount of malt, citrus, pine, and what I believed to pick up as some peaches.  The Juniper is there and it gives a bit of a bitter taste.  Mouthfeel is medium bodied with a good amount of carbonation.  A little bit rough on the tongue.

I still haven’t tried the regular version of this beer but in due time.  I’m must glad I got to try an one off beer that I’ll never probably see again.

Found: Beer Trade
Price: No idea on this one
Website: http://www.cigarcitybeer.com/
What the company says: Nothing about this version of Jai Alai on the site but here’s info about the regular version.  Jai Alai IPA is a monster interpretation of an American IPA. In fact, it is so big that it equals the alcohol of some double IPAs on the market. Our IPA uses 6 different hop varietals, with Simcoe hops only being used for dry hopping. The rest of the hop additions are blended at different IBU’s (International Bittering Units) in groups of three hops per addition in order to create more hop complexity. At CCB, we love hops but also feel that balance is important for IPAs. So Jai Alai features a sturday caramel malt component which helps to create balance, staving off hop astringency. Ultimately, Jai Alai is a very strong interpretation of a single American IPA. We hope that it makes Tampa Bay natives happy because this is head brewer Wayne Wamble’s favorite Cigar City beer and he’d love to share one with you!
ABV%: 7.50%
Other beers to try from this brewery: Cigar City Warmer Winter Winter Warmer, Cigar City Hunahpu Imperial Stout
Other beers to try within the same style: Ballast Point Sculpin, Alesmith IPA
Rating: B+

The Bruery Saison Rue - With The Bruery becoming one of my favorite breweries of all time you’ll be seeing a lot more reviews from these guys.  This time around it’s their year round Saison and Saturday nights beverage of choice.

Saison Rue pours a cloudy light orange color.  Head that pours is huge.  Everytime I poured a new glass of this stuff the head would almost go over the top of the glass.  Great pour.  At first I didn’t pick up much of anything other then lemon and Belgian yeast.  But as this got warmer the flavors just started to pop!  A great musty, earthiness came through with spices, lemon, citrus, and apple.  Fantastic smelling Saison.

In the taste the lemon which I smelled a lot of in the smell takes a bit of a back seat to tart apples.  A bit of sourness comes in.  A bit of the barnyard funk as they say.  Spicy and bitter notes come in next with a great yeasty flavor.   A nice complex Saison.  One of my favorites really.  The mixture of the fruit (lemon, apple, and citrus) earthiness and funk really hit the spot.  Mouthfeel is dry, crisp and light.  One thing I did notice though is that in the beginning the mouthfeel is all of those three things I mentioned.  But maybe half way through the bottle the mouthfeel changed a bit to more of a dead kind of beer.  Less carbonation.  Not that it ruined the beer at all for me.  A little bit of heat comes through from the alcohol but not even close to enough to complain about.

It’s great to have such a good Saison available year around.  Another winner from these guys.

Found: Grape and Gourmet, Virginia Beach, VA
Price: Not to sure on this one.  I believe it was about 11 dollars a bottle
Website: http://www.thebruery.com/
What the company says: Saison Rue is an unfiltered, bottle conditioned, Belgian/French-style farmhouse ale. This is a beer of subtlety and complexity, with malted rye, spicy, fruity yeast notes, biscuit-like malt backbone, and a slight citrus hop character. With age, this beer will dry out and will become more complex with rustic notes of leather and earth from the contribution of a wild yeast strain. Being a Saison, Saison Rue is ambiguous unto itself as it is a different beer when fresh and when aged. We hope you enjoy it in all of its incarnations.
ABV%: 8.50%
Other beers to try from this brewery: The Bruery Black Tuesday, The Bruery Orchard White, The Bruery White Oak
Other beers to try within the same style: Goose Island Sofie, Victory V-Saison
Rating: A

Surly Hell - Before I get started with any kind of reviews, I’d like to thanks Aaron over at The Captains Chair for providing both of these beers.  It’s great try beers I normally couldn’t get a hold of.  Thanks bud.

Surly Hell is one of the newest brews from Surly out of Minnesota.  The brewery who loves to can all their stuff!  Except Darkness of course.  This time around they went with a sessionable brew.  A Helles lager to be exact.  Since I’m not really a lager drinker I had to look up what to expect fromt his style of beer.  Straight from Beer Advocate I got this description.

“When the golden and clean lagers of Plzen (Bohemia) became all the rage in the mid-1800’s, München brewers feared that Germans would start drinking the Czech beer vs. their own. Munich Helles Lager was their answer to meet the demand. A bit more malty, they often share the same spicy hop characters of Czech Pils, but are a bit more subdued and in balance with malts. “Helles” is German for “bright.”

Ok so now I have an idea of what to expect?  Well what did I get?  Read on.

Surly Hell pours clear golden color.  Nice fluffy white two finger head.  Great retention and minimal lacing.  Smell is what you usually expect from a lager.  Well most lagers, Southern Tier Krampus is a exception to the rule =)  The smell is grainy, malty, and grassy.  I also picked up a bit of a fruity aroma.  Very sweet aroma and very malty.

Taste really isn’t much to write home about.  Don’t expect a huge flavorful ale kind of taste here.  Because well that’s not what they were trying to do here.  They tried to create a nice sessionable and enjoyable brew and they did a hell of a job doing so.  Up front from me what the grassy hoppy flavor followed by the nice little fruity taste.  The ending is mostly a yeasty and bready grainy taste.   The mouthfeel is light and crisp.  Like I said sessionable.  I could pound down a six pack of this stuff and not even blink.

I like what Surly did here.  They made a nice drinkable beer available during the Summer.  For those hot days.  How hot does Summer in Minnesota get anyway?

Found: Beer Trade
Price: Not to sure on this one.
Website: http://www.surlybrewing.com/
What the company says: Finally, a Surly beer my German mother will drink. She says this one tastes like a bier from back home. Not unlike a Zwickel Bier from Germany, Hell is our filtered and fermented with lager yeast, American hops takes a back seat to the Pils malt sweetness and fresh bread aroma. The color is well… hell (Deutsch for light). It’s fiendishly drinkable, and you don’t have to sell your soul to get another.
ABV%: 4.50%
Other beers to try from this brewery: Surly Furious, Surly Bender
Other beers to try within the same style: First time I’ve had a beer in this style
Rating: B

New Glarus Unplugged Cran-bic Ale - Oh New Glarus.  What you do with fruit just makes me a happy camper.  I was blown away by their Wisconsin Belgian Red and Raspberry Tart.  This time around they are working with Cranberries.  This time they made a Lambic that has been pitched with cranberries and aged outside in oak barrels.  It’s light, funky, tart and just a beautiful beer.

Cranic pours a mixture of light red and amber.  Really a beautiful color that you can see in the pic.  A small head forms but quickly fizzes away like a champagne.  First thing I noticed in the smell is a light fresh dose of Cranberries.  Mixed in their is a small amount of acidity and tartness that makes your nose sting just a tad.  In the end is a hint of malt and oak.  It’s just a very light smelling beer.  Heck if you can even call it a beer.  To me it’s more like a mixture of a beer and wine.

The taste came in three parts for me.  The first part was definitely tart and slightly funky on the palette.  As the ale hits the middle of your mouth it starts getting richer.  The cranberries start to really come in.  Mix that in with the oak and it’s a nice rich deep taste.  Then in the end the tartness comes back a tad mixed in with some bitterness.  Just a beautiful beer.  Mouthfeel is on the lighter side with the perfect amount of carbonation.  Just a joy to drink.  This beer blurs the line between a lambic and a wine for me.  It’s just amazing.  Pick it up soon folks, it’s a limited brew and might only be brewed once.

Found: Beer Trade
Price: No idea on this one
Website: http://www.newglarusbrewing.com/
What the company says: A few times a year we will cut Dan loose to brew whatever he chooses, uncensored, uncut, unplugged. Always handcrafted, the bottle you hold is brewed for the adventurous soul. This is a very limited edition and we make no promises to ever brew this style again.

Sparkling and bright this is a Wisconsin original created for you in the traditional method employed by the Lambic Brewers of Belgium including five months of outdoor resting in oak barrels. Indigenous yeast and cranberries from the “wilds” of Wisconsin flawlessly pair to dance on your palette. You have discovered a rare and delightful treasure to be served cold in a fluted glass.
ABV%: 6.00%
Other beers to try from this brewery: New Glarus Belgian Red, New Glarus Spotted Cow
Other beers to try within the same style: First time I’ve had a beer in this style
Rating: A

I picked up this brew a while ago but for some reason I’ve been holding off giving it a try.  Maybe it’s because I find regular Yeti to be a tad bit overrated?  Don’t get me wrong, it’s good stuff but doesn’t blow my mind like I thought it might of.  So the other night I pulled out the Chocolate Oak Aged version only because I couldn’t fit anyone brews in my chest freezer.  All I gotta say is that this version blew my mind.  This beer is a doozy.  So many big flavors coming at you at once.  By the time I hit the bottom of the second glass I wanted more, then I realized how damn buzzed I was.

Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti pours thick and oily.  Black as night.  Oil like.  A two finger head forms.  Very dark tan head with great retention.  The smell is fantastic.  Sweet chocolate aroma.  Roasted malt character and a little bit of a hoppy aroma.  Lingering is the smell of hotness.  Chilis and peppers.  To top it off the nice smokiness from the Oak.  Just a pleasure to drink but even better to taste.

Like in the the smell the chocolate flavor is up front.  It’s sweet and rich.  The oak comes in next and lingers on the tongue.  Brown sugar then comes in next followed by the pepper.  Now at first this beer might not wow you but as you drink this brew everything starts to add up, especially the pepper.  It ends up burning in the end.  Alcohol and the smokey oak flavor just sits in your mouth, mixed in with chocolate you get every sip it’s just an awesome combination.  I would revisit this beer over and over again if I could find some more.  You bet when I see this again I’ll be buying as many bottles as I can.  The last star of the show is definitely the mouthfeel.  Thick, smooth, oily.  Goes down really nice.  Maybe to nice because before you know it, this beer is gone and you’re buzzed out of your mind and the pepper is just sitting in your mouth.  But you’re still begging for more.

Found: Grape and Gourmet, Virginia Beach, VA
Price: 7 dollars a bottle
Website: http://www.greatdivide.com/
What the company says: Welcome to the newest incarnation of our revered imperial stout. We toned down the hops a bit to allow cocoa nibs to contribute some pleasing bitterness, while vanilla notes from the oak combine with the cocoa to create an aroma and flavor akin to a gourmet chocolate bar. A dash of cayenne keeps things lively, adding just a bit of heat to the finish. A Yeti for summer? Hell yes. 9.5% ABV.
ABV%: 9.50%
Other beers to try from this brewery: Great Divide Belgica, Great Divide Titan IPA
Other beers to try within the same style: The Bruery Black Tuesday, Cigar City Hunahpus Imperial Stout
Rating: A

Almost Happy Weekend to everyone.  I figured I’d get at least one more review in before it started. 

I picked up this beer a long time ago.  It’s been sitting in my fridge, sitting up front, begging me to just give it a try.  Finally last night I did.  Now I’m sad.  Why?  Because the beer is friggin fantastic.  But why be sad?  Well when I bought this beer, the gentlemen who I bought it from said that this beer is going the way of the Dodo bird.  Never to been seen again and that this is the last batch they will ever make.  At that time I didn’t care.  It was just another beer that I threw in my basket and moved on.  But now that I tried this beer, I wish I had a fridge full of it.  This brew just hit the spot for me.  It’s a sour beer, a style of beer people have to be get used to, but this beer might be one of the more perfect mixtures of sour but just not to sour.  It’s easily sessionable and just wowed me after every sip.  I just wish I had more.

This one poured a brownish red color.  When held up to the light you can see ruby red highlights.  A two finger head first appeared but quickly, like it just stole something, it disappeared.  Fizzed away into a small lacing. 

The aroma of this beer started off just like I thought it would.  The acidic and tart vinegar.  A smell like this used to scare me away but these days I welcome it.  You gotta learn to love it =)  Mixed in their was ripe cherries.  The vinegar was up front though. 

The taste is why this beer is just world class to me.  The vinegar takes a bad seat here.  Still very noticeable but the cherries come in and it gives a rich, sweet flavor.  Earthiness, oak, and a little bit of funk add in with the cherries and cut through the acid like taste.  The mixture of the cherries and the woody oak flavors just took over for me.  Maybe it was the little bit of age I put on the beer, I don’t know but every sip was just better then the one before it. 

Mouthfeel is medium bodied and a little syrupy.  Of course there is a slight acidic feel to it and it leaves a nice tartness sitting on your tongue when you’re done.

It’s sad to see this beer gone.  I hope it’s still around or at least I hope I can find some laying around somethere.  Instead of just throwing one in my basket, I’ll be throwing as many as I can find in my basket.  A great low abv sour/fruit and vegetable beer that I could drink over and over again.

Found: Grape and Gourmet, Virginia Beach, VA
Price: 7 dollars a bottle
Website: http://www.liefmans.be/
What the company says: I didn’t see this particular beer on their site.
ABV%: 6.00%
Other beers to try from this brewery: First beer I’ve had from these guys
Other beers to try within the same style:New Glarus Wisconsin Belgian Red, Founders Cerise
Rating: A

The boys over at Brewdog are making quite the noise in the Beer Industry lately.  First they announced their Equity for Punks campaign.  A way for you, the beer drinker, to own a piece of the brewery by buying stock in them.  Then they announced the strongest beer in the world, Tactical Nuclear Penguin (I really want a bottle of this by the way =) But more importantly to me anyway is that their stuff is finally hitting Virginia!  Cheers all around.  I’ve had a few of their collaboration beers.  One from Stone and one from Mikkeller come to mind.  I really enjoyed both.  But this time I got a chance to try one of their own beers.  Hardcore IPA.  Before I drank this brew I stopped by Beer Advocate to check out the reviews.  B- is it’s overall grade.  This honestly made me want to try this even more.  I usually agree with the BA ratings and if you go back in my reviews you’ll see that a lot of the times they match grade wise.  This time though I think they’re a little bit off.

Hardcore pours a hazy light colored orange.  Barely any head at all is poured and what is poured quickly fizzes away and leaves a slight lacing around the glass.  Now what I liked about this DIPA was the different smells and taste I got out of it.  It has some stuff in it that you don’t usually get in a lot of normal DIPAs and maybe that’s why it got such a low score.  The aroma of course has a nice dose of hops.  Both citrus and piney.  The malt is nicely balanced with the hops.  Earthy.  It also has what I don’t find in a lot of DIPAs.  A nice kick of spice. Thrown in there is a nice slight aroma of melon.  Definitely a different smell.

The taste on this one is more of the same for the most part.  But the taste definitely had more of a sweetness to it.  Like a Candi sugar taste.  Citrus and piney hops are there as well as the spice and earthiness from the malt but what I picked up in the taste that I didn’t pick up in the smell was something like a tobacco taste.  Not huge at all but it was there.  The mouthfeel is medium bodied but chewy and sticky on the palette.  A nice bitterness lingers on the tongue.

This isn’t the most balanced DIPA out there and it’s not the best but I really enjoyed experincing my first real Brewdog brew.  Will this make me buy some stock?  Don’t think so =)

Found: Grape and Gourmet, Virginia Beach, VA
Price: Around 8 dollars a bottle
Website: http://www.brewdog.com
What the company says:This little bottle has a grandiloquent story to tell. 2,204 malted Maris Otter grains gave all they had to offer the world to provide the robustly delicate toffee malt canvas for the ensuing epic. 6 Hop Cones willingly sacrificed themselves in fiery cauldron that is our brew kettle to ensure your mouth is left feeling punished and puckering for more. 9,900,000,000 yeast cells frantically fermented their little hearts out as the sugars were magically turned into alcohol in the dark depths of our fermentation tanks. This explicit ale has more hops and bitterness that any other beer brewed in the UK. This is an extreme beer rollercoaster for freaks, gypsies and international chess superstars.
ABV%: 9.00%
Other beers to try from this brewery:Brewdog/Stone Bashah,  Brewdog Devine Rebel
Other beers to try within the same style: Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, Russian River Pliny the Elder
Rating: B+

First off I’m sorry for the lack of reviews. It’s been a busy week fighting a diet and exercise program I’ve started (P90x) It’s drained my energy and heck writing a post takes a lot out of me! I promise some tomorrow.

Anyway this post was written to show what winning a fantasy football league will get you. A beer cellar! Well sorta. In Virginia Beach we aren’t allowed basements because of the water level. So I had to cheat and buy one with the money I won in my fantasy league. I took the money and bought a chest freezer and temperature regulator. Both seem to be doing a stellar job in keeping the beer at around 53-55 degrees. I’ve fit a few stacks of beer in the freezer and now all the beer that I have that will age well is finally doing that in it’s snazzy new home.

Before.....

and after

Keeping that beer at a nice aging temp

Oh and it helped me buy these too. Cantillon Blabaer, The Lost Abbey Cable Car and Veritas Ale 004

This damn turtle is showing up on my site more and more =)  It just seems that Terrapin has an endless supply of beer for me to try and heck I know I have two more of their brews sitting in my house right now.  A while back I reviewed the collaboration between Terrapin and Left Hand. I loved that beer.  Both of these beers have a lot of coffee in it, but I treat Wake N’ Bake as Depth Charges little brother.  It not as big in coffee taste and aroma but damn it’s just as good.

Wake N’ Bake pours just what you see to the right.  Black as night.  A nice frothy one finger head is poured but quickly disappeared.  The aroma isn’t straight up coffee like Depth Charge but it’s more of a mixture of fresh coffee grounds, chocolate, roasted malt, and the slightest hint of alcohol.  Great smell and made me want to dive right in. 

The taste is just as good.  You’re blasted by coffee grounds up front.  Raw and strong.  That’s followed by the chocolate and in the end you get a nice amount of oats.  This brew is not as one dimensional as Depth Charge.  There’s more of a balance between all the ingredients that makes this beer stand out.  The mouthfeel is good but I found it to be a little bit thin and make a little bit to carbonated but still it doesn’t ruin this awesome beer.

Just when I thought Terrapin let me down with their IPA I discover this fantastic stout.  I’ll be picking this up again. 

Found: Grape and Gourmet, Virginia Beach, VA
Price: Around 3 dollars a bottle
Website: http://www.terrapinbeer.com
What the company says: Black as night, this coffee stout is thick, rich and full of real coffee flavor. Brewed with the Terrapin Wake-n-Bake coffee blend created by Terrapin & Jittery Joe’s Coffee.
ABV%: 8.60%
Other beers to try from this brewery: Terrapin Gamma Ray, Terrapin Big Hoppy Monster
Other beers to try within the same style:Mikkeller Beer Geek Breakfast, Southern Tier Mokah
Rating: A-