Archive for the tag “3.5-4 Toasts”

27 Aug 2015

Paradox – Skully Barrel No. 26

paradox8.0% ABV
Purchased at Capitol Beer and Tap Room (16.9 oz. bottle) and poured into tulip glasses.

This “sour golden ale brewed with mango, chili, sea salt, and natural flavors and aged in oak barrels” from Colorado-based Paradox pours a dark burnt orange with a big-bubbled, hazy sliver of foam that all but disappears upon impact with the glass.  The nose offers a sour-y aroma of tart fruits, melons, Pixie Stix, and just a whiff of heat from the chili.  I got a lot more than a whiff of chili on the first swallow, although the lingering burn is balanced well by a salty finish.  More tequila-like lime and cantaloupe and green apple come through than the promised mango flavors, but it’s all nicely rounded out by mouth-coating wine tannins, with the salt continually beckoning you back for another sip.  As is the case with most “hot” beers, a little bit of Skully Barrel No. 26 goes a long way, so splitting a 16.9 oz. bottle between two people is just about perfect.

  3.5 Toasts

 

Parradox

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Posted in 3-4 Toasts, Beer Review, Golden Ale, Sour Ale, Spiced Beer and tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
09 Apr 2015

Bokonon – Shady Oak Barrel House

 

bokonon_bttl6.75% ABV
Purchased at Taylor’s Market in Sacramento ($12.49/25.4 oz. bottle) and poured into tulip glasses.

This inaugural offering from Santa Rosa-based Shady Oak Barrel House pours a gorgeous light gold with a foamy, bright white head.  Inspired by the works of Kurt Vonnegut, the brettanomyces-heavy Bokonon exudes tart and earthy farmhouse aromas – lemons, grass, barnyard funk, Belgian yeast, and minerals dominate the nose.  It’s also a little bit metallic, on the nose and on the first swallow, but it’s brimming with Belgian complexity, with mellow citrus and freshly mowed lawn holding the front line while the more tart and aggressive flavors guard the rear.  Bokonon offers a whole lot of funk and must, not all of it entirely pleasing, and yet I kept going back to discover more about this fascinating and challenging beer.

  3.5 Toasts

Bokonon

   4 Toasts

 

Posted in 3-4 Toasts, Beer Review, Farmhouse Ale and tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
23 Oct 2014

Sourtooth Tiger – The Rare Barrel

sourtooth_bttl5.2% ABV
Purchased at The Rare Barrel and poured into tulip glasses.

This “golden sour beer aged in oak barrels with ginger” pours a pineapple-juice gold with a bright white head, and it boasts a lovely nose of candied ginger, alongside touches of grapefruit and oak.  The first swallow is extremely ginger-heavy, and while that may not be to everyone’s taste, the flavor is strangely unoppressive and the beer finishes clean.  A grapefruit- and lemon-heavy citrus pulp flavor puckers the tongue on the finish, and the beer remains delicious and even throughout, with an overall taste similar to sucking on a lemon drop and a ginger hard candy at the same time.  It should be noted that although the portions were poured evenly, the beer in Darcey’s glass, in addition to being darker, murkier, and less carbonated, was more citrus-forward and less ginger-y than my pour.

toasts-3.5   3.5 Toasts

 

RareBarrel

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Posted in 3-4 Toasts, Beer Review, Sour Ale and tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment
18 Apr 2014

Tart Attack – NoDa Brewing Company

noda-tart-attack-bttl4.3% ABV
Purchased through Rare Beer Club and poured into tulip glasses.

This blackberry-aged Berliner Weisse from Charlotte-based NoDa Brewing pours a clear, light gold with a filmy, bright white head.  The Rare Beer Club notes suggested aging Tart Attack for a maximum of 6 to 7 months, and this bottle fit right within that timeframe.  It offered a berry patch nose of blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, and a little mineral water, with some white wine grapes and honeydew melon on the periphery.  There is a succulent tartness on the first swallow dominated by berries and other fruits, including green apple and cantaloupe, but it finishes clean and crisp, without a significant amount of mouth pucker.  Some dusty funk asserts its presence on the nose and tongue, and a lemon-like tartness appears on the finish, giving Tart Attack the feel of a North Carolina terroir brew.

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TartAttack

 

 

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Posted in 3-4 Toasts, Beer Review, Berliner Weisse and tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
30 Jan 2014

Scotch Silly Barrel Aged – Brasserie de Silly

ScotchSillyBarrelAged9% ABV
Purchased at Pangaea Bottle Shoppe ($15.49/25.4 oz. bottle) and poured into tulip glasses.

This barrel-aged Scotch ale from the Belgium-based Brasserie de Silly pours a prune-ish brown with a tight, off-white head.  The boozy nose offers alcohol-doused caramel chews, plums and other dark fruits, as well as raisins and other dried fruits.  Barrel Aged Scotch Silly has a relatively light mouthfeel for the style, with some woody bitterness on the aftertaste, and an alcohol flavor reminiscent of apple brandy.  There is a bit more toffee on later swallows, with slightly more nuanced raisin and dried apricot flavors coming to the fore as it warms in the glass, at which point the alcohol taste begins to resemble dark rum.  It is quite tasty if you’re in the mood for a big beer, with flavors that get progressively better.

toasts-4   4 Toasts

ScotchSilly

toasts-3.5   3.5 Toasts

Posted in 3-4 Toasts, Barrel-Aged, Beer Review, Scotch Ale and tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment
19 Dec 2013

Burnt Fog – Track 7 Brewing Company

7.6% ABV
Purchased at Track 7 Tap Room ($3/8 oz. pour) and served in pint glasses.

This smoked porter pours a murky dark brown-black with a mid-sized, white sand head, and boasts a delectable aroma of pan grease, hickory smoke, and blackened bacon.  True to its name, Burnt Fog is filled with charred and smoky flavors on the first swallow, most notably in the form of burnt leaves, bacon, and mild tobacco.  It remains pretty sweet and drinkable throughout, never too heavy or smoke-choked, with some walnut-like bitterness on the finish.  Track 7 Brewing’s take on the smoked porter doesn’t offer the fleshy flavors of BBQ-ed meats so much as the char, smoke, and grease residuals, with coffee grounds, candied nuts, and English-style malts also making appearances.

toasts-4   4 Toasts

BurntFog_Track7

toasts-3.5   3.5 Toasts

Posted in 3-4 Toasts, Beer Review, Smoked Beer, Stout and tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
05 Dec 2013

Dogma – BrewDog

dogmabttl7.8% ABV
Purchased at City Beer Store ($xx/22 oz. bottle) and poured into oversized wine glasses.

This “ale brewed with honey, kola nuts, poppy seed and guarana” from Scottish brewing legends BrewDog pours a brackish brown-black with a vaporous sandalwood head.  Dogma has an aroma that is surprisingly sweet, with some chocolate-covered macadamia nuts, caramel, and rustic bread grains – ultimately, it smells like chocolate pumpernickel bread.  The first swallow is powerful and perplexing, with an unusual mix of chocolate, thistles, seeds and rye, but it finishes clean with light, flowered honey flavors.  Less chocolate and more nuts enter the picture on subsequent sips, with a taste similar to Coca-Cola liberally spiked with honey and spices settling on the tongue. It’s a very odd beer, but also quite tasty as a cold-weather curiosity.

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Dogma

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Posted in 3-4 Toasts, Beer Review, Scotch Ale and tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment
26 Nov 2013
1 Comment

Groupe G Belgian RyePA – Headlands Brewing Co.

headlands37.6% ABV, 65 IBUs
Purchased at City Beer Store ($xx /16 oz. can) and poured into tulip glasses.

Groupe G pours a dirty orange with a mid-sized, pillow-y, off-white head.  Belgian aromas jump out of the can on the crack; in the glass, you get bubblegum, tropical fruit esters, banana, peach, a sharp spice bite, and hint of farmhouse funk.  The first swallow is beautiful – sweet tropical flavors of guava and berry play off the spice snap of the rye, and the hop bitterness is fairly restrained.  It gets more flower-y on subsequent swallows, almost like a Belgian hibiscus IPA with rye, while kumquat and bubblegum flavors come to dominate the finish.  This beer goes in a lot of different directions at once, but it’s all pretty cohesive and original, not to mention delicious.

toasts-4   4 Toasts

Headlands

toasts-3.5   3.5 Toasts

Posted in 3-4 Toasts, Beer Review, Belgian, Belgian IPA, Rye and tagged , , , , ,
06 Sep 2013
1 Comment

Hercules Double IPA – Great Divide Brewing Company

hercules_doubleipa_bttl10.0% ABV, 85 IBUs
Purchased at Best Damn Beer Shop in San Diego ($8.00/22 oz. bottle) and poured into tulip glasses

This award-winning beer from Denver-based Great Divide pours an opaque apricot orange with a tight ivory head.  Even though Hercules is a double-digit Double IPA, the most prominent aroma here is the caramel malt backbone, along with some blood orange zest, wet grass, and butterscotch.  The first swallow is pretty smooth, with the spice and citrus-heavy hop character breaking through on the second wave of flavor.  Alcohol-soaked citrus owns the finish, and Hercules is prominently boozy overall, with an omnipresent but never annoying caramel sweetness and a fair amount of grassy hops and cracker spice.

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Hercules

toasts-3.5   3.5 Toasts

Posted in Beer Review, Double IPA and tagged , , , , ,
18 Jun 2013

Stone Ruin-Ten IPA

ruinten_bttl10.8% ABV 
Purchased at Pangaea Bottle Shoppe ($7.50/10 oz. serving) and poured into globe glasses.

This super-hopped, 10th-anniversary version of Stone’s popular Ruination Double IPA was intended as a one-off, but has now become part of their seasonal rotation.  Ruin-Ten pours a bruised peach with a tight, off-white head and a delicious nose of candied citrus, snowy pine, and butter crackers.  I’m not a big fan of the standard, diesel-hop iteration of Ruination, but this version tastes both stronger and cleaner, giving caramel and pine resin nuances to the crushing hoppiness.  Alcohol-soaked oranges and a moderated sweetness give way to the expected palate-smashing resin bitterness.  Slight hints of fresh peppermint, burnt caramel, and spicy hops come and go on the tongue, but there is a lasting and consistent impression of pine needles.

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StoneRuin10

toasts-3.5   3.5 Toasts

Posted in Anniversary, Beer Review, IPA and tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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