Very dark for a pumpkin ale, deep red orange in the light. Thicker head than the other pumpkin ales I've been having, slightly persistent. Nose is fruity, pumpkin-y, followed by some cinnamon. First taste was really nondescript. Second taste had a hot flash in it for a moment but turned into spice.
Generally, it tastes very generic. Mostly clove and nutmeg. I like the mouth feel, but there's not much to go with it. Actually. Kind of disappointed. I expected a lot more from Weyerbacher.
Brewed by Brooklyn. Nose is spiced, but the head dies off quickly. Initial sip had a metallic taste to it. A little too much carbing. Finished a little bitter, like too much raw spice, specifically cinnamon, on the tongue. Creamier than the Shipyard Pumpkin Ale, but still kinda mediocre and not something I might want to drink on its own. Might be good with a slice of pumpkin pie. But milk or coffee (or egg nog and bourbon) would be better.
From Elise. Finally got around to trying this since I had some Guinness Extra stouts on hand. Used Boss Monster (zin blend) for the wine. Forgot to salt the beef before cooking so it came out a little bland. First bowls were too watery, I think, so I spent some time a few days later reducing the stock. Smelled good. Leftovers in the freezer.
Light color, thin head, fades fast. Hard to get anything in the nose. Thin carbing, no lacing. The taste is pretty bleh. I can get the pumpkin. In fact, it's very pumpkin pie-ish. If it were a pumpkin creme pie. And it was fat free. It's like that. There's a touch of watery sweetness at the end with a clear nutmeg. But this does not bode well for my desire to try other Shipyard beers (interested in the Pugsley's).
Shipyard seems to be a B-average brewery. This particular one got a C (and an F from "the Bros") on BA. That's pretty harsh. The average for the style in general seems to be about a B-, so I guess take all those ratings with a grain of salt.
Man, sometimes, I really like soda. Though, it's really too bad that the second ingredient is HFCS and not sugar.
First occasion: I found the whole thing just overpowering and hot.
Second occasion: Mega barley, sweet malt, raisin, fruity, finish smoother than I remember. Less hot as it goes on. Barley wine resemblance towards the end.
Overall, it's worth having at least once. But at $9 per bottle and at 18%ABV, there's just not much to do with it.
Thick, creamy head, a bit of caramel color. Reddish copper body. Very bright, fresh nose, grassy and crisp. Tastes a little like rye, fairly mild hop flavor, very pleasantly bitter. Fairly clean, almost watery (in a mineral water, not watered-down kind of way) finish. Pretty drinkable at a leisurely pace.
Kinda surprised this is actually classed as an APA. As an APA, not very good. As a beer, not bad. As a novelty, pretty interesting.
Translucent with an opaque core, goblet edges glow when held up to the light. Nose is fresh, hoppy, strongly citrus, mostly orange. Taste is also citrus, creamy bitter rather than crisp. Long finish. Mouthfeel, a very ale-y IPA in terms of perceived volume but not heavily carbed. I'm not as nuts about the taste as I am about the smell.
I don't remember how much the bomber was, but I don't think I'd buy it regularly. I might buy an extra or two if I still see it at the store since the label says that it can be aged "in the hull of a seafaring vessel for a year or more", as IPAs were historically.
An aside: So this is classified as an English IPA by BA. I'm wondering if I should add labels to distinguish between American and English styles. The Americans tend to be dominated by the west coast hop-bombs which figures. GI falls under English.
Not the real Empire Brewfest which is in Syracuse. The whole thing was weird. It wasn't a traditional brewfest. Instead, it was a distributor hosting rather than the breweries themselves. So everything was served by volunteers, mostly from bottles, and no brewery swag. I had been pretty excited since the list had Stone, Dogfish Head, Abita along with a few other respectable out-of-staters, but it was a bit of a let down. The tasting glass was also plastic. And it came with a magnet that said "Syracuse Beer Week". "2009". What.
Things of note:
From Cinnamon Spice. I'm not really sure what makes it Greek, but it looked good so I tried it. The bechamel (not vegetarian?) is seasoned with cinnamon and nutmeg while the spinach just takes some salt and pepper. I didn't have any shallots or green onions, so I just used yellow onions which I always have. I don't think I can really taste the difference between shallots and yellow onions anyway. I used frozen spinach which might have been a mistake. It turned out a little stringy, but the taste was ok. Could have used more salt.
Looking to do a pumpkin ale tasting this fall so I'm sending out some feelers. The nose is earthy with a slight sweetness and nutmeg aroma. Little carb but not too thin, solid "ale" body. I think it holds itself well. Pumpkin taste is very mild, some complementary pumpkin spice flavors as one might expect in a pumpkin ale.
It's not as ostentatious as ST's Pumking or Dogfish Head's Punkin. Very mild and unassuming. If you were eating something spicy (hot) or even just something spice-intensive with this, it'd get drowned out. I think it'd be really good with simple roasted or broiled meats (top rounds, turkeys, etc). Could be a solid session/meal beer for the fall season.
Opaque, creamy tan head. Doesn't foam up much even with a few extra gurgles in the pour. Nose is predominantly chocolate. Toasted malt, actually fairly mild, milky chocolate though finishes with a bit of black coffee bitterness. Body is heavier but not viscous, feels a little once it's in the mouth.
I've been pretty happy with all the Bear Republic I've ever had.
From Elise. Forgot picture. But still good.
The ones I defrosted came out a bit dry and gave me gas.
Been a while since I've had a tripel or anything remotely Belgian. Delicious. Golden straw color, pretty luscious, creamy consistent head. Really nice spice profile, nutmeg, clove, and a lot of others, I'm sure. Mild effervescence, smooth, very drinkable.
Been a long time since I last opened a bottle of wine. Not very tannic. A little sweeter than I would expect. So these days, I wonder if this is where PSes are supposed to be in their funk. It's a smooth drinker, but I didn't feel there was a lot to pick out, maybe some leather. It's not as in-your-face as I like. But I've been disappointed in my PSes lately, for some reason. Maybe because I'm really craving cab?
I always thought etouffee was a more involved process, but apparently, it's pretty quick and easy. Holy trinity sauteed in butter, turn into roux, add shrimp or chicken stock, spices, add in fried sausage, fold in shrimp. Awesome.
I used the spice mix from here. Every place more or less has the same basic ingredients and process. Paula Deen uses oil instead butter for her roux (lolwut).
I am continually impressed by Green Flash. Toasty nose, kind of hazelnut; persistent, but thin, mossy head (Second pour was a little rougher, produced a thicker head that died down but still capped). Taste is dark chocolate more than coffee, a little tobacco all around. Body is decent weight, not overly viscous, notably smooth and homogeneous. Definitely a great sipper, and I like to try it in a side-by-side.
Released under the Chatoe Rogue label and brewed using exactly four ingredients: free range coastal water (wut), Pacman yeast, homegrown Dare malt, and homegrown Revolution hops. Cool concept. Result is bright pale blonde ale with some nice maltiness and a clear hop character. It's only 35 IBU but with no balancing of hops, the bitterness of the Revolution really comes through cleanly with a nice bite. Also has a crazy, frothy head like a root beer float.
There are three other Chatoe Rogue beers that I'd like to try, but I haven't seen them around.
Malty, a bit bitter, a bit hot just before the finish? Not the most drinkable quad I've had.
The first Smuttynose I've bought. Can't say I'm too impressed. I've had Smuttynose on previous occasions and wasn't too impressed then either. Everything seemed a bit thin. I expected a little more effervescence from this one, which is what I like in my dubbels and tripels. It's almost barley wine-ish in its utter flatness. Meh. Also, this is 12%ABV. When I read it, I said, "Whoaaaaaa."
Very tart, a little sour, picked up a lot of white grape, refined malt. Not too heavy-bodied. Couldn't get much in the nose either. Just wasn't into it. I wonder if this seals the deal for me on English barley wines. And that wax seal was fucking annoying.
I went to the store the other day to pick up two specific bombers. I ended up with eight (new releases, sale, low shelf stock, etc.). I'm going to try to go on a beer-buying hiatus for a while so I figured I should take a picture of my bomber 'fleet' before I run down my stock. Fleet. GET IT?
From left to right:
Opaque pour, nice dark head, though thin and died off rather quickly. Get a bit of a metallic whiff in the nose but mellowed into milk chocolate and coffee. Taste is strongly coffee and very toasted malt. Mouthfeel is actually really good. Sips fill the mouth; I can feel the weight but don't feel like I have to chew through it. Lingering finish, a little bit sticky.
First thoughts were of Old Rasputin. I think it's comparable, a little less bitter and somewhat smoother, and I'd like to try them side by side. For a volume-quality:price ratio, I think it could be a really good buy.
Went to Buffalo Brewfest. It's a pretty strong regional showing and heavily Buffalo locals, though I have to say, I was a little disappointed that most breweries didn't bring out the new stuff, just the standards. Southern Tier was there with Mokah which was awesome to have on tap though the program said they'd have the Oak Aged Unearthly which they didn't (also didn't have the Backburner). For out-of-staters, Stone was there with Smoked Porter and Arrogant Bastard (not Self-Righteous as indicated) and Dogfish Head brought Raison D'Etre and 60 Minute. Victory broke their St. Boisterous tap early on and then tapped out early so I still haven't had a chance to try it. I suppose I'll just have to buy it one of these days. CBC brought a cool beer, Fat Ox; I think it was probably the most exciting thing there.
I didn't pick up much swag as there just wasn't much interesting swag/swag I was interested in. It was also on the ticket system, which, I guess, is now state law. 20 tickets over four hours may not sound like much, but I didn't end up using all of my tickets. For starters, we got in about half an hour after doors which didn't make much of a difference. Two, there just wasn't a whole that I was super interesting in; I've either had it or I don't consider the brewery that impressive. Three, I had to be able to be sober enough to drive home afterward. Four, a couple older folks unloaded their unspent tickets on me and my friend as they made their exits. In comparison, Flour City last year was way better, so I'm looking forward next years (none this year), but this one was also a pretty decent time. It's still a pretty young one, from what I gathered talking to some people, but I'm told it's grown a lot since it's inception. There were also roller derby girls and some older dude's wife dressed as a beer maid.
A recipe from Elise that I've been wanting to try for a while. It's really good. Probably because it has heavy creme in it. And I baked the chicken with the skin on.
I chopped up a whole chicken for the parts instead of getting a tray of chicken thighs. In retrospect, I should have gotten the tray or bought a butcher knife first.
I let the sauce get too hot, and it started to boil and then the sour cream curdled so the consistency is not right. But it was still pretty good.
Super creamy, persistent head with nice lacing all the way down. For being a double, it's very mild and unassuming. Not much else to say other than it's rather nondescript. Nothing outstanding or terribly bad either. If the price is right, I'd pick up some more, but...why?
Fruity, earthy, malty. Singly-hopped with Delta. I like ESBs but this was a little dark but not necessarily bad. I have another bottle of it so sometime I'll try to give more detailed/sober impressions.
