Thread O' Beer!

[Gizmo]

16. Modist Brewing Co.
First Call - Coffee Infused Lager

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I've run into this problem with not-stout coffee beers as well. They push the coffee so much that they forget they've got a style of beer they're supposed to be going for as well. I've only had a couple coffee stouts that were too heavy handed. I'm curious as to if that's a product of the roast grains burying the coffee better, or just the brewer trying to hard to be "coffee" in the other styles.

[bac0n]

@Gizmo - I tend to avoid coffee beers for that same reason, and smoked beers for that same reason too. Smoke and coffee are the tarragon of beers, and it's very rare that I see them used in restraint.

@StayPuft - I see Rosetta in the stores on occasion, but it's always next to Three Phils, so, well, I always end up going with the latter. I may need to try that one instead, tho it's gonna be tough holding off. Kinda like going to a restaurant you really like, going in saying to yourself, "ya know what, i'm gonna try something different off their menu this time", but when you see that menu, there is that favorite dish staring at you and you can't help yourself.

[Gizmo]

18. Superior Dark(Gageleer)


For something called superior dark, it's surprisingly not. It is the second straight cloudy beer due to bottle fermentation. It's a dark take on a blond, and as such, it's pretty smooth and easy drinking. It's high malt, and caramel sweet, some fruit and maybe a hint of honey. It's not the greatest thing, but it's enjoyable, and packs a surprising 8.5% ABV.

6 more beers to go!

[bac0n]

17. Prye's Brewing Company
Miraculum - North American IPA



Up next, we're going up the river just a teeny bit to Prye's Brewing, one of my most anticipated brewery openings of past several years, and the first local brew to really wow me in quite some time. Prye's started out small, doing the nanobrewing thing for 3-4 years and available only on tap in about a half dozen neighborhood watering holes, putting out their IPA Miraculum, and boy was it good. If I saw it on tap, I was gonna get it, to be sure.

So, needless to say, it was pretty big news when they announced that they were finally opening up a tap room, and it was in a pretty sweet spot too, right along the Mississippi River. That was about a year and a half ago, and it was only about a month ago that Miraculum finally made it into cans. It's been a long time coming, but well worth the wait.

On the face of it, it pours a nice copper with good head retention and nice lacing up and down the sides of the glass. The nose evokes mango, dried apricot, a dash of caramel and perhaps even a hint of pepper. When it hits the lips, the citrus kicks in, the sharp effervescence biting my tongue. Orange marmalade is at the forefront, a touch of apple as it mellows out and spreads across the pallet. Then the hops start doing their thing, delivering a nice bitter punch right down the middle, with finally the resin you expect from a NW IPA following closely behind before it finishes on a bitter, rather dry note. An exquisitely layered IPA is this, my friends.

So, all in all, in a town rife with good IPA choices, this one manages to stand out nonetheless. I'd definitely put it in my top 3 IPAs you can get in this neck of the woods. 4.25/5 - quite Ggod.

Lucky 7 breweries to go!

[Stay Puft]

18. London Stout (English Stout)
Moosehead Breweries Ltd. (New Brunswick, Canada)



Moosehead (their lager, specifically) is one of the two beers I can recall in my earliest memories. It was probably the first beer I ever knew about and/or tried. That or Labatt Blue. Those are the beers I always remember my parents drinking while I was growing up. These days, I associate Moosehead with Labatt and Molson and other big breweries. I think cheap, boring, etc. I don't drink Moosehead. But that's a little unfair, as I always forget Moosehead is a proud and fiercely independent Canadian brewery. They're not a craft brewery, obviously, but they're Canada's oldest independent brewery, founded in 1867, and as of 2018, are also Canada's last remaining independent brewery (InBev has basically just... bought Canada at this point, I guess), having passed through six generations of ownership by the Oland family. Respect where respect is due. Moosehead celebrates this legacy with their Heritage Series, digging up and revisiting old recipes.

London Stout was first brewed in 1929. They call it an Export Stout, but I agree with the assessment of other online beer sites calling it an English Stout. It's a straightforward example of the latter. I really don't see an attempt at the export style here. Anyways, London Stout pours an inky black with a massive off-white head. The head retains well, as I'm 3/4 of the way through the pint at the moment of this sentence and there's still a thin layer, and the lacing is more like a thick wall of foam wrapped around the glass, slowly breaking into rings over time. It's super thick and super foamy. The mouthfeel is unsurprisingly creamy, though I'd say it's medium in body. But super soft and creamy. Aromas of roasted malt and dark chocolate and bread/toast and that's about it. Flavor is similarly straightforward, a bit bitter with roasted malt and dark chocolate. The finish is medium, with a lingering sensation of burnt toast. A bit of an odd finish there, not terribly good but not necessarily bad. Overall, this is super average. It's drinkable, approachable, but basically unmemorable.

2.5/5

[bac0n]

18. August Schell Brewing Company
Lunar Interference - Dark Berlinerweiss



Okay, it's time to venture out of town again, this time heading south to the quaint little German town of New Ulm. Just outside of town, nestled in the side of the Minnesota River Valley, is the second oldest continually running brewery in the United States, August Schell Brewing Company, which everybody just calls Schells. Only Yuengling is older, which, if you think about it, makes Schells the oldest brewery in America that makes beer that doesn't taste like shit.

So, while these other fancy-pants breweries on my list have been peddling their fancy-pants beers, Schells has been steadily pounding out classic German beers for well over a century, but with their current head brewer, Jace Marti, Great-Great-Great Grandson of August Schell himself, they've really taken their game to the next level.

As the story goes, every descendant of August Schell who wants to take over the reigns needs to study brewing in Germany for several years, and that's what Jace did. While he was there, he fell in love with the all but forgotten style of Berlinerweiss beers, once the most popular style in Germany, which almost went extinct when virtually all of the berinerweiss breweries were destroyed during the allied bombing campaigns of WW2. All that was left was this outfit called, if memory serves, Berlinermal or some shit like that, and apparently you needed to mix in flavored syrups into their beer to make the shit drinkable. That was the flaccid state of berlinerweiss beers at the time.

Well, Jace pretty much went all Indiana Jones, finding out all he could about the style while in Germany, and brought what he learned back with him to New Ulm, where he recommissioned and restored some old cyprus fermentation tanks that had been out of use and in storage since 1936, and that was the start of this new series of beers called Noble Star, where he was seeking to restore the berlinerweiss style to its rightful place among The Pantheon Of Great German Beer Styles.

And I gotta tell ya man, he's been knocking it out of the park. This has been going on for about five years now, and the releases keep getting better and better. They're pretty pricy, so I don't get them that often, but fuck it, it's Christmas, (right, Scar?) so let's do this.

So this beer, it doesn't exactly pour like you would expect a berlinerweiss to pour. Most berlinerweissen pour a straw color, but look at that: dark as Peter Murphy's mood in a Swedish jail cell. Decent enough head but doesn't stick around. On the nose, there's the expected punch of acidity, quite tart, then raisin turning into blackberry, almost makes me think that there was fruit thrown in, even tho there isn't. Upon tasting, wow, the acidity suggested by the nose was no lie - it's the first thing I notice, but it steps aside after a bit and the black cherries move in and stay for awhile. Currant joins the party and dammit if I don't detect a hint of pepper on the end, reminiscent of a red zinfandel, if you don't mind my saying. But after all is said and done, it is the tartness that lingers.

Now, I've been nursing this beer for awhile, and I must say that it improves as it warms. I would figure it's in the middle 50s now that I drink it, and the acidity has mellowed off a great deal, allowing the cherry to take center stage.

But regardless, it's quite above average for the berlinerweiss beers I've had. Noble Star is the benchmark as far as I am concerned. Still, it's a cut below the other ones I've had. Call me puerile, but the best of this series, or rather, the ones I've enjoyed the most, have always been the most straight forward - the ones where he just stays true to the style without trying to, I dunno, go weird or something, just highlighting the style itself without getting too far off the road, ya know?

Anywho, I'm goinna give this one a 3.5/5 - good/above average. Kinda disappointing for this series, actually.

6 breweries to go?

[Scar]

Fuck it, it’s Christmas....

[Morris Schæffer]

17. Extase(de Dochter van de Korenaar)


Holy mouthful of Brewery name! I actually thought that was the beer name until I was looking it up. Anyway, this is yesterday's beer, a double IPA, and it might be the only IPA offering this year, I honestly don't remember. Those following along know that I'm not a big hop head, but I've grown to appreciate IPAs more and more through the years. In fact, I brewed a dIPA last year or earlier this year that I thought was amazing (and others said they'd have paid for it, which I don't get often of my homebrews). This one is cloudy as hell, and the trub in the bottom of the bottle was quite sizeable. It's quite malty, and looks of a hefeweissen in the glass. The hops are noticeable, but restrained, allowing the malt to take the stage before running them off down the throat. This is quite a solid beer, overall, in it's well roundedness. I think if the hops were more to my liking (this is grapefruit in variety, and i prefer the other citrus blends), I'd probably be inclined to call it great. As it is, I only fault my own tastebuds for not being on the right page, as this is a solid beer.

7(or so) beers until the fat man comes. I'll do a two-fer at some point, I promise!

Hertog Jan, the name on the glass, is a more regular Pils, but I'm a big fan.

[Gizmo]

19. Black Scottish Stout(Belhaven)


I did not know that this was a nitro/draught until I was pouring it, so that was a pleasant surprise. As far as drinking it, I wish I had a Guinness handy for a side by side comparison. This tastes very Guinness-y to me, maybe a bit more on the chocolate notes. It's good, as nitro stouts tend to be to me. I could drink this any time with no problem, but at the same time, much like with Guinness, nothing super substantial about it either.

5 more days of beers remain.

[bac0n]

19. Steel Toe Motherfucking Brewing
Beer



You sitting down? Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit. Yeah. So, Steel Toe, they are my peeps, nad its really rrining convenient they tht it just so happens that I ahppen to be at their brewery tge first day of holuday break, aka the point in my entire year there I am the firhtest away fomr the point where i nest neeed to stare at a motherfucking stran ahd herd xatds. so i'm hippy.

Amuwho, if a fella would feel the urge to vote with their dollars, aka their faovrite beers eget their most munney, then steel tow would def be moey fave and,,,,, who the fuck am i kidding their my fave no matter whut. see that guy in te hat? That's Jason - he run the place. I'm fairly cuertain i am financing his kids;' education.

WHY? WEJUUUUUUY?

These guys are the Stones of the local scene, is why, shithead. Whereas the more, I dunno puttingn on airs folks trh to infuzz their bors with lave ndaer and sjhit like that, Jasn and his cohorts jist dorcus on excecuting the funeamntals. That's why they keep raking up the medals. they're like jeoth richarfs, cept with beards insread of durgs.

The neer imn Scar's roight hand is a DIPA called Sticker fight, it's kinda peach-fuzzy but amaxing. The one in his left it a barly wine from 2012 that Jason was handing out because he's that kinda giy. it tasrts like a warm blanket on January 29th.

Rounding 0t It ouwl give tjem a 78/5.

[Scar]

You speak good.

[Stay Puft]

19. Heir Apparent (Russian Imperial Stout)
Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery (Virginia, USA)



Heir Apparent is an imperial stout with chili peppers, vanilla, cinnamon and cocoa nibs. It clocks in at 11.7% ABV and at only $3.70 a can, that's a damn good deal! I was curious to try this beer because of the alcohol content and price, because of the ingredients (I've had some Mexican spiced beers before and enjoyed them) and because the beer hails from a brewery called Lickinghole Creek, named after the creek on the farm property where the beer is brewed. Lickinghole Creek can be found in Goochland, Virginia. The best part of this beer is that I'm not making any of this up.

Heir Apparent pours a deep, dark, light-absorbing black, with a very thin mocha head. It has good retention and leaves thick rings of lacing. On the nose, I can tell this thing has peppers. I can feel the heat blasting my face. It's hard to get much of anything else. A hint of cinnamon, perhaps. A hint of vanilla, maybe. The body is medium, a bit smooth but with just a bit of chewiness. Pretty nice, actually. And then the heat. It's hot, but not as hot as I was expecting. But there's also not enough flavor to play off the heat. It's honestly hard for me to locate any of the supposed chocolate, or roasted malt or coffee notes typical of the style, or even much of the vanilla. The cinnamon I can get a bit. The problem is not so much that it lacks flavor, but rather that the flavors are muddled. I've had much hotter Mexican spiced beers, but those have also boasted bolder, more complex flavors. This isn't bad, but it's just muddled. I enjoy the novelty of peppers in beer enough to give this a passing grade, but it's certainly on the weaker end of examples of the style. The finish is long, hot and spicy, as expected, and that's good, but again, it's just not great. Enjoyable, but a tad mild and muddled for what I had hoped.

3/5

(Looking back through the thread, I see I reviewed the Viking Chili Stout in 2015 and said I could appreciate the craft while admitting it wasn't totally up my avenue, not being a fan of hot and spicy stuff. Still gave it a 3.5/5 while recognizing its quality. Amusing how things change, as I've been consuming more and more spicy food lately and really building my palate. I've had a few Mexican spiced beers in the interim and enjoy them now, haha.)

[bac0n]

You speak good.

Never before had the words sprung forth from my fingertips with such feverish fluidity.

[Gizmo]

20. Die Schwarze Kuh(Gusswerk)


The black cow, to the best of my knowledge, is not a milk stout. Seems a bit of a miss there. What it is is a strong stout, in alcohol content, but doesn't really feel like it. It is a bit on the thin side, and quite a bit of fruity flavoring going on. Just a bit of a roast, I think. I'm pretty stuffed up, so I'm sure I'm not getting the full experience today, but it's still a decent stout.

4 more beers until Santa.

[Stay Puft]

20. The Blood of Cthulhu (American Imperial Stout)
Sawdust City Brewing Co. (Ontario, Canada)



I've been looking forward to cracking open this one, if only because of the name. The Blood of Cthulhu is an imperial stout brewed with raspberries, cranberries and cherries. And, apparently, a ridiculous amount of malt. It's from Sawdust City, who have made some very good beers (I particularly enjoy Coriolis Effect, a Berliner Weisse they produce), but also some lousy ones (they have a stout called Long Dark Voyage to Uranus, which, again, great name, but I didn't think the beer itself was all that). I wonder if it is perhaps a coincidence that Coriolis Effect, which I enjoy, and this one, The Blood of Cthulhu, which is also quite good, are both collaborations with Bar Hop? Bar Hop is a brewpub (well, there are three locations now) that has long been a favorite spot of mine in Toronto. They have great venues and rotating taps, always showcasing something new and interesting, and their collaborations with other breweries in the area tend to be some of the highlights of the year. The Blood of Cthulhu came highly recommended by my co-workers and lived up to that reputation.

The Blood of Cthulhu pours, according to the can, "as black as the blood of a malevolent demigod" and that really says it all. Thick, bubbly head recedes quickly and leaves uncannily perfect rings in its wake. At first, there's not much fruit in the aroma. I get chocolate, roasted malt, coffee, all the typical things to expect with a stout. There's a faint, musty note like old fruit, but it's a tad indistinct. On the palate, though, the fruit explodes. All the cherry, raspberry and cranberry bounces around in my mouth, sweet and tart and musty and even a tad bitter. The various fruit flavors keep intermingling and creating new sensations. It's actually pretty wild. There's a roasted malt and dark chocolate component still running through everything. The body is full, thick and viscous. The finish is long, smoky, bitter, and quite frankly, dank. In a very good way. Even on the finish, the flavor seems to change. It's an elusive thing to pin down, and the interplay of flavors here is really quite stunning. Not at all muddled, but sharp, slippery and shifting. For a beer called the Blood of Cthulhu, I'd call this a resounding success.

4.5/5

[bac0n]

20. The Blood of Cthulhu (American Imperial Stout)
Sawdust City Brewing Co. (Ontario, Canada)

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!

[Gizmo]

21. Smokey Li(Vliegende Paard)


We were just talking about flavorings in beer the other day, and how they can often be overdone. Well, tonight I have a smoked beer, and it tastes smoked. But unlike some of the smoked beers I've had, this one doesn't taste like I'm drinking an ashtray. I can actually get some of the malt and hops to come through. It's a bit on the smokey side, but it is not too much. In fact, this is pretty darn good, and the head and lacing have lasted the whole glass as well. Maybe my favorite of the style, not that I've had a lot of smoked beers.

3 more days to go!

[bac0n]

20. Summit Brewing Company
Dakota Soul - Czech Style Pilsner



Okay, now that we're a little bit more coherent, let's head from Saint Louis Park to Saint Paul, to Summit, pretty much the godfathers of the local craft brew scene. These guys started up way back in the 80s, and in the mean time have grown to be the largest brewer, volume-wise, in Minnesota, and last I checked in the top five nationally as well, if you count only craft breweries.

Summit has managed the impressive feat of staying relevant in an increasingly saturated market, and they do so by continuing to put out solid beers, while occasionally mixing things up. Probably the best thing they did was about 6-7 years ago they did this series called Unchained, where they said to their brewers (they've got something like six of them) "make something really weird, eat your hearts out" and the brewers had full carte blanche to pull exotic hops and grains and other ingredients from all over, and in some cases resurrecting long dead styles. A new edition came out about every three months, and it always generated some measure of excitement. Curiously, they stopped doing it about two years ago.

Aside from their mad scientist experimentation with the unchained series, the beer Summit is most known for is their EPA, to the point that you can saddle up to any bar in town, say I'll have a Summit, and that's what you will get. It is pretty much a benchmark of the style, but I wanted to avoid it here, as I have reviewed it before - hell, I even sent Gizmo a bottle a few years ago - so here's a recent discovery of theirs that I've really been enjoying.

Dakota Soul I first had this past July when I was camping with my family and another up near the boundary waters, just 10 miles south of the Canadian border, and my buddy Aaron pulled a can out of his backpack when we were taking a break during a day hike. I loved it from the start, and it has since been added to my warm weather beer rotation, you know the kinda easy drinking cool crisp refreshing brews enjoyed best when the temperature gets above 80 degrees Fahrenheit (and yes it does indeed get that warm up here).

Dakota Soul's angle is that it's produced entirely with grain sourced from founder Mark Stutrud's family farm in North Dakota. Pour wise, it's clean, with a nice head that stays around a while. Mouthfeel wise, it's clean and light, the carbonation and the hops lending a bit of pepperiness to it, sorta the same you would expect of arugula, tho make no mistake, there is no vegetable pretense here. The nose has some nice bitter notes, and just a twinge of bread. Tasting it, yes again, light, moderately bitter and clean, just a hint of terroir, hits a slightly sweet note with a hint of apple down the middle, and finishes dry.

All in all a well executed pils: refreshing, best served nice and cold. Makes me yearn to get back into the woods. 4/5 - great.

4 beers to go! Gettin' close!

[Stay Puft]

21. Echo Chamber (American Wild Ale)
Halcyon Barrel House (Ontario, Canada)



Returning to Halcyon now for another sour beer, and this one is a big success. Last year, Halcyon entered the market with a Brett IPA that was probably a Top 5 beer for the whole year. For last year's Christmas list here on Match-Cut, however, I reviewed their first sour, Gravity Well, an Ontario take on the Flanders red ale. It was a good attempt, better than other Ontario craft breweries have fared, but still came up a bit short. With Echo Chamber, Halcyon is delivering a dry-hopped sour with brettanomyces and lactic acid. For the hops, it uses Idaho 7 and cryo ekuanot varieties. For a finish, it was aged in red wine barrels for three to six months. The result is easily the second best beer they've produced so far, just behind their original Brett IPA.

Echo Chamber pours a mostly clear, just slightly foggy, lemon color with a big foamy head that recedes rapidly, leaving pretty much no lacing. The aroma is quite musty, with earthy, almost vegetal notes, as well as hops, grass, and oak. There's also some faint citrus, like peach or lemon. On the palate, there's a lot more citrus, with notes of lemon, peach and apricot. There's a bit of oak again from the aging, and other notes, like wet stone, that make me thing wine. But it doesn't taste like wine. Rather, the aroma/flavor notes hit certain things I often associate with wine (this is my WSET education talking, I'm sure; I kept seeing the tasting guide pop up in my mind), but at no point do I think I'm drinking anything other than beer. The body is medium, juicy and tart. The finish is also medium, tart, crisp and refreshing. As I'm writing this, the finish is also proving a little longer than I initially thought, with waves of juicy tartness sporadically rolling through my mouth. It's quite nice! The oak aging adds some musty notes and complexity that really compliments the dry-hopping. There's a lot going on here, with the wine barrels and hops and brett and lactic acid, but it's all beautifully structured, and super satisfying. This is a great beer. And it clocks in below 5% ABV, making it super easy to drink.

4.5/5

[bac0n]

21. Surly Brewing Co.
Todd the Axeman - American IPA



Next we go from the most established of the local craft breweries to arguably the most popular: Surly. If there is a single brewery that can be credited with the explosion of breweries in Minnesota, it's these guys, and no-one's gonna argue that point with you, nobody.

Started by a couple of metalheads in the early naughts, Surly was rapid to develop a rather rabid fanbase, what with their slightly off the beaten path styles - Furious, their sorta IPA and Bender their sorta porter sorta stout chief among them - and their very distinctive metal branding. It wasn't too long before demand way outpaced the supply, so they were looking to build a new brewery closer to downtown, and not only that, make it a destination brewery replete with a concert space and a full service restaurant or two, and finally a taproom to serve their beer onsite.

Well, it was the latter of those ambitions that ran them afoul of a prohibition era blue law of the time, mainly prohibiting breweries from selling their beer at the same location where they make it. Not to be daunted, Surly sponsored a bill to do away with this old stupid-ass law, and what would eventually be called The Surly Bill passed in May 2011 and was signed into law that same week by Governor Mark Dayton, ironically enough himself a recovering alcoholic.

Suddenly taprooms were everywhere, and with a path to profitability greatly expedited, breweries started popping up like bunnies. And it is all because of the Surly Bill, and all the beer nerds in town know they owe Surly a huge debt of gratitude for being the spark that really lit on fire this flourishing beer scene of ours. And that facility they built? It's an absolute beast. Fabulous brewery with great food and great music. Definitely a must-stop for any self styled beer aficionado visiting the Twin Cities.

These days, however, I gotta wonder of Surly is languishing a bit. Their head brewer, Todd Haug, essentially The Surly Brand Personified, left in a bit of a huff a year and a half ago when his wife was let go as the food director (Todd is now working for 3 Floyds in Indiana), and just a few months ago, the other head brewer Jared left for Fair State. In the mean time, they seem to be just throwing shit out and seeing what will stick, releasing a whole slew of unexciting beers in styles all over the place, to the point where it seems like they are diluting their brand, once the hottest ticket in town.

However, at least they still have Todd the Axeman. Now THIS is how you make a fucking IPA. Named after the aforementioned Todd Haug, who plays guitar for a variety of metal bands on the side, this beer is every bit as badass as you would expect from a beer with as metal of sensibilities as the name would suggest. It pours a nice rich copper, and the head doesn't last long. Probably too scared of the beer. The nose is heavy of malts, coriander, spice and orange peel, almost Belgian in character.

When it hits the tongue, man there is a lot going on. Sweet caramel apple at the front last for only a bit, then the citrus kicks in - tangerine and apricot, bitter but not excessive, the malt balancing it out well - yeah this is a huge hop punch, but it's just as strong in the malt, and the two manage to keep each other in check, and manages to taste rather clean despite all that is going on, even throwing in a slight bit of tartness towards the end before ending juicy and bitter.

There is trouble in Elsinore, but Surly is still the king. And in a town with many contenders vying for the IPA throne, that throne still belongs to Todd the Axeman. You're not gonna find a better IPA in Minnesota. In fact, I'd put this IPA up against anything you can throw at it. 5/5 - best in class.

[Morris Schæffer]

17. Extase(de Dochter van de Korenaar)


Holy mouthful of Brewery name! I actually thought that was the beer name until I was looking it up. Anyway, this is yesterday's beer, a double IPA, and it might be the only IPA offering this year, I honestly don't remember. Those following along know that I'm not a big hop head, but I've grown to appreciate IPAs more and more through the years. In fact, I brewed a dIPA last year or earlier this year that I thought was amazing (and others said they'd have paid for it, which I don't get often of my homebrews). This one is cloudy as hell, and the trub in the bottom of the bottle was quite sizeable. It's quite malty, and looks of a hefeweissen in the glass. The hops are noticeable, but restrained, allowing the malt to take the stage before running them off down the throat. This is quite a solid beer, overall, in it's well roundedness. I think if the hops were more to my liking (this is grapefruit in variety, and i prefer the other citrus blends), I'd probably be inclined to call it great. As it is, I only fault my own tastebuds for not being on the right page, as this is a solid beer.

7(or so) beers until the fat man comes. I'll do a two-fer at some point, I promise!

Went out drinking with some colleagues yesterday in the city of Maastricht (The Netherlands) and I recognized this brewery from your post on their menu. Except it wasn't this one, but rather their "Sans Pardon" which translates to without pity.



It was really great stuff, but with an 11% ABV not to be taken lightly. I'm gonna see if I can find it in my local beer store.

[Gizmo]

22. Scottish Oat Stout(Belhaven)


Nearly a repeat of the other day! That's what happens when you go on 3 or 4 separate beer runs to fill the box. While the other Belhaven stout was the oat free version, and on nitro, this one is oat and standard bottle. This one also does not lack from flavor, as it begins fruity, then roasty, and then just a wee bit of smokeyness in there. Also, this one has a nice bitterness to round it out as well. I knocked the previous Belhaven for not being anything special, and nearly Guinness. This version really stands out, and was a very enjoyable glassful.

2 More days to go. Pretty sure I'm going to double up tomorrow, as I planned on it today, but then got a bit busy and distracted by some mixed drinks.

[Stay Puft]

22. Peach Pi (American Wild Ale)
The Exchange Brewery (Ontario, Canada)



The Exchange Brewery, located in Niagara-on-the-Lake, specializes in sours, Belgian-style brews and barrel aging. They bring craft beer to the heart of wine country, and have produced some fantastic stuff in their first two years. They have a respectable Flanders red ale, an outstanding Oud Bruin, a spectacular barrel-aged saison, and a breakfast stout that rivals the one from Founders. Needless to say, I like their stuff, and for their two year anniversary they produced Peach Pi, a blonde ale aged on peaches with cinnamon bark and vanilla beans. It begins with lactic fermentation before moving to wine barrels, and also has some brettanomyces thrown in there. For the holidays, it has been bottled and distributed through local shops, so I picked one up eager to try it. Alas, this one isn't quite up to snuff. I liked it, but I'd rank it on the lower end of what the Exchange has produced.

Peach Pi pours a murky orange with a thin white head, with decent retention and almost no lacing. The aroma contains peaches, as expected, with some earthy notes and oak, and a dash of cinnamon. It's interesting. On the palate, the peach is again front and center, but otherwise, I'm finding the flavor rather subdued. There's some noticeable oak aging again, but the flavors somehow seem to lack the same complexity of the aroma. I can barely detect the cinnamon. The body is medium, and the mouthfeel is a dash creamy. It's tart, but very mild. The finish is short, which is disappointing, but it's not bad. The peach and oak linger for a bit, with some mild tartness, and this is perhaps the only time I can tell there were vanilla beans in here. It's pretty much the last note before everything evaporates. The journey, as such, is compelling. It's all nice, but it just feels a bit lacking. All of the flavors are here as described, but everything feels too subdued, like the beer is a bit meek or timid. It's a good beer, but it left me wanting.

3/5

[MadMan]

I finally tried a bottle of Three Philosophers. Good stuff, although different from the IPA's I prefer to drink. I drank it from a glass instead of the bottle.

PS: Not sure how to add photo attachments. Anyways still reading, guys.

[Gizmo]

23. Double Hop Monster(Greene King)


Started a bit early today, opening up this one with lunch. It's the rare IPA for this time of the year, and for me. I'm actually pretty impressed with it. It's got a great mix of hops and solid malt coming through. I'm tasting some citrus malts, some fruitiness, and some grassy notes (which are the only turn-off for me). The bitterness is there, but it really is complimentary in this beer, and not in your face as double IPAs tend to be. I really appreciate the malts getting first billing, before the hops take over. This is another beer that I'm lowering the overall rating due to my personal tastes, and not the fault of the beer.


Finally catching up the #16 I skipped last week:
Trappist Holiday Ale(Spencer)


This one features a bunch of spice, so it really feels like an American seasonal. However, it's too much spice, that it pulls away from the beer. Decent, not great.

Tomorrow we finish this off with one last beer before the fat man!