Friday, September 30, 2011

Weekend Beer Review!

Right to it

1) Southern Tier - 5 Borough - Belgian Pale Ale - 7.0% - Another NYC Specialty Brew - Nice hazy Orange, get a little spiciness and some peach. Well done. Would like to get to this brewery but I think it is by Lake Erie!

2) North Coast - Grand Cru - 12.9% - Ale brewed with agave aged in bourbon barrels...most likely not a low glycemic beer. Pretty tasty though.

3) Anchorage Brewing - 9% - Bitter Monk - Belgian Style Double IPA - Aged in French Oak Chardonnay Barrels - Wow this is pretty outstanding...Great Belgian IPA from Alaska? Who knew! Classic these guys don't even have a functional website!

4) Allagash Dubbel - Yum!

5) Samuel Adams - BarrelRoom Collection 13th hour 9.0% - Nice beer done!

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Starting Early Beer Review!

A couple of delicasies were on sale at DeCiccos - Ardsley today. Had to work late so went over there at night....here we go.

1) Mission Brewery - Ship Wrecked Double IPA - 9.25% - Big Boozy Double IPA. This is a new brewery for me. There are a bunch of new breweries noted at DeCiccos. This beer is good, not great. May try some more of their items!

2) Cigar City - Big Apple IPA - 7.0% Brewed in conjunction with NYC Beer Week....this is a nice pumpkin ale. Don't really get the hops and the nutmeg and cinnamon dominate. This to me is more of a pumkin ale (and one of the better ones!)

3) Harpoon Docesna - Czech Hop Harvest Ale - 6.1% - done in honor of the Czech Hop Harvest festival....nice! More of a lager to me but i can drink this a bunch!

4 Stone- Cherry Chocolate Stout - 7.5% - Collaboratively brewed with Troegs...really wanted to try this and went out of my way to get it, but it is just a thin stout with some cloying sweetness....dissapointed.

5) Smuttynose - Pumpkin Ale - 6.0% - Actually get a little hop profile with this beer. Hops are not really evident in this style...nice!

Friday, September 23, 2011

The insanity continues

1) Harpoon - Leviathan Imperial Rye - 8.9% - Has to be an old bottle as there are no (or mild) hops present. Nice kind of barleywine though after last night's excursion. This is not a healthy hobby!

Here is a new twist!

2) City Steam - Brussels (I think) 9% (I think) Blew off the city today and picked up a couple of growlers. The City Steam one I think is a Belgian Strong Ale. They do have something with the word Brussels in it that is a refernce to a Belgian IPA. This is an unknown beer review!

3) Hair of the Dog - Cherry Adam from the Wood - 10% - Haven't had a Hair of the Dog in a while. This is the regular Adam brewed with cherries and aged in bourbon barrels. This is insane. I need to get more to age. Outstanding!

4) Jonas Broncks - Pelham Bay IPA - Brewed by someone, have heard several different stories about where this is brewed (it is not yet brewed in the Bronx.) They do though han=ve avery nice facebook campaign. That said this is a very tast IPA. I think it is at about 6.5%

Thursday, September 22, 2011

900!

Oakshire - Hellshire I - 10% - Bourbon Barrel aged barleywine - 10.0% - Wow what a boozy beer! This is pretty damn complex. You get some nice caramel and toffee sweetness up front. Throw in a little vanilla as well. As with the American Barleywine's the hop bite at the end is very pronounced. Theses folks are from Oregon....I need to get back there for a serious beer excursion. If I come across another bottle of this I may let it age to let the hops calm down! Well done....on to 1,000!

899

Cigar City - Good Gourd - 8.5% - Ah well might as well have the first the first pumpkin ale of the season. This does include pumpkin as well as Ceylon cinnamon, Jamaican All Spice and Zanzibar cloves....there is also nutmeg, not sure where that is from. The alcohol is really well hidden here. Kind of a medium bodied beer, nice carbonation. Might pick up again and throw a bottle in the cellar to see what happens to it!

Monday, September 19, 2011

NYC Beer Week Beer review!

All beer, all week, not sure though if any of these brews have anything to do with NYC.

1) Three Floyds - Zombie Dust - 6.2% - American Pale Ale - Gotta like that Citra Hop. This has a dominant sweet orange nose and outstanding taste. The Floyds just basically sold out of this, this is meant to be savored (quickly) so the hop profile doesn't loose steam.

2) Mad River Brewing Company - Serious Madness - American Black Ale - 8.2% - Nice Jet Black, would have expected a little more hops if this was an American Black Ale but it is a very nice porter!

Headed up to the Cigar City Event at DeCicco's Brewster today. CC had brewed an IPA in honor of NYC Craft Beer week called the Big Apple IPA - It was basically Jai Alai with same apple pie type spices. Jai Alai is a very good IPA. I went for this version:

3) Cigar City - Jai Alai - IPA Peach - 7.5% - I have had a peach infused IPA on another occasion and wanted to try another one. I figured the peach and the citrus would be nicely complimentary which they are. Great beer....DeCicco's Brewster has weekly brewers events....uh oh!

4) Maine Beer Company - Lunch IPA - 7,0% American IPA - This has been all the rage on beer advocate so when I saw DeCicco's had some I took a little lunch time (pun intended trip). Nice beer but not worth the hype. A little too bitter. Make mine a Ghandi Bot (yes I know not an amercan IPA)

Need a couple of markers till 900 which should occur tomorrow. Thank god for the Saranac fall pack.

5) Saranac - Black Forest - 5.5% Schwarzbier - Bavarian Black Beer - the BA guys like it. Not really my style but can easily put away a few!

6) Saranac- Caramel Porter - 5.4% - Kind of like a Southern Tier Creme Brulee light. This is sweet, kind of liake a cream soda. Would be better if it was 98% and humid with this one!

7) Saranac - Octoberfest - 5.4% Very nice drinkable beer and thats about it. This gets me to 899 and 900 tomorrow. Friday does not look well!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Weekend Beer Review!

Bookending the end of New Haven Craft Beer week with the beginning of NY Craft Beer week.....great!

1) Stone Brewing - Escodidian Black IPA - 10.8% This is an interesting beer, as it is cold it is more malty, get the chocolate falvor etc. As it warmes you get the hop bitterness. It says not to age but I may throw one in the cellar! This is beer 888!

2) Clipper City (Heavy Seas Series) - 7.0% - Nice cream ale with a kick. No hops to speak of. Nice caramel malt flavor.

3) Widmer Brothers - Hefeweizen - 4.8% Last wheat beer of the season I guess....on to some of the more heavy (and alcoholic brews). No real banana yeast flavor, do get some lemon though. I do like this style.

4) Shmaltz/terrapin - Reunion ale - 8.5% - too much promise too little delivery

5) Full Sail - Elevation - Orange label, orange taste@

Monday, September 12, 2011

Kind of a weird Monday Beer Review

Had obtained through some intereting channels a 2009 version of Deschutes - The Abyss. This is an 11.0% American Imperial Stout, brewed with licorice and molasses and is aged in oak and oak bourbon barrels. The 2009 version is supposedly a waste as it is infected. Well I enjoyed this immensely! If this is the bad version I need to taste a good one!

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Weekend Beer Review!

For the week that is!

1)Blue Point Brewing - Double Blonde - 7.4% - Wow this can be a habit. Nice find at Decicco's Brewster!

By the way renaming as I'm too lazy to repost!

2) Troegs - Perpetual IPA - American IPA - 7.5% - Might be a little high test for an Aemrican IPA. The nose is skunky, but this is a very nice hop bomb!

3) New England Brewing - Galaxy Pale Ale - Brewed in honor of the first (and hopefully annual) New Haven Craft Beer week. Poured into a pint glass. Nice cloudy yellow (not sure if this is unfiltered or not). Minimal head and there is some minor lacing. Starts off sweet, get some grapefruit notes up front and the finish is to me lemon zest. I like the bitterness. At 4.8% you can drink this all day. It's nice to have a beer that is this sessionable but still packs a nice taste. Hopefully they save some for a cask for part of the New Haven Craft Beer Week festivities.

4) Victory - Helios - 7.5% - A nice Saison! Not that much on the funk but there is a beaustiful banana, yeasty taste. I had avoided this for a bit because it took a while for me to warm to the style. I am sure I'll have this again.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Weekend Beer Review

I was going to do something snarky relative to the upcoming Labor Day nonsense but this is dedicated to MC's brother and my downstairs neighbor Joan.

1) Weyerbacher Quad - 11.8% - Enough to start off with. Very nice take on the style. A little too sweet, but dangerously drinkable. There will be a big time quad review coming up shortly!

2) Firestone Walker Double Barrel Ale - 5.0% one of the better breweries in America (IMOHO). This is an English Pale ale so it is a little more maltier than its American cousin. This beer rocks!

3) Thomas Hooker - Blonde Ale - 5.1% - Nice tasty cream ale. Bottle date is 5.17.11. Would like to have this a bit fresher. Nice to know this is a year round offering.

4) Hair of the Dog - Doggie Claws - Barlwywine Style Ale - 11.0% - 2009 vintage - Says on the label that this is brewed with wild flower honey collected from Mount Hood. BA calls this an American Barley Wine. Maybe because this bottle has aged I am only getting a faint note of hops, but I am getting a lot of fruity maltiness. Too me peach flavor seems to really abound. This is a great beer and should take about half an hour to drink!

5) Alaskan Barleywine Ale - 10.4% - Let the insanity continue. This is very tasty. Any hops are long gone. Nice sweet maltiness will take me through to tomorrow!

6) Shipyard - Smashed Blueberry - 9.0% - A nice kind of dry porter jacked up with blueberries, kind of nice!