Dark Truth

Beer Name: Dark Truth Stout
Brewery: Boulevard Brewing Co.
ABV: 9.7%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a tumbler
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Best by 10/27/13

That is not a typo. The "best by" date on this 4-pack is more than 18 months away. Maybe I'll pick up another and cellar it until I turn 31. By then, I'll probably have forgotten about it, so it will be like a birthday present to myself.

Dark Truth is an imperial stout, and, as such, is a very dark beer. It's almost solid black, although there are very faint hints of light around the edges of the glass. It has about a finger of thin head that faded away after a bit, leaving some lacing that didn't survive the glass. The aroma has some sweet roasted malts, some deep fruitiness, and what seems like a little bit of spicy hops. It seems like there's a lot going on here.

This beer has a very big flavor. There's the roasted flavors from the malt along with some light sweet flavors that are a little bit fruity. It also has some bitterness to keep the malt from being too much. The alcohol is faintly noticeable, as you might expect for something this strong. At the end, there is a roasted aftertaste that hangs on for a bit, giving way to a sensation of sweetness.

Final thought - Under the right circumstances, this beer is delightful. That would be: while relaxing, after letting it warm up slightly, and when you have time to sit back and sip it slowly. This beer has a ton of flavors happening, and you don't want to rush through it. That, and it packs quite the punch. Drink with care.

-Jon

A Little Sumpin' Sumpin' Ale

Beer Name: A Little Sumpin' Sumpin' Ale
Brewery: Lagunitas Brewing Company
ABV: 7.5%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a tumbler
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

Kate and I were excited to find out that Whole Foods Market has a craft beer section. Well, she wasn't that excited, but I was really excited and that was probably enough for both of us. The excitement was dampened a little when we arrived and we found that the selection was smaller than I was hoping for it to be. More beer choices is generally a better thing.

I did end up with a couple new brews to try, one of which was Lagunitas' somewhat ridiculously titled A Little Sumpin' Sumpin' Ale. This is a golden orange beer that poured into my glass with a big fluffy head. This faded away slowly, leaving a nice lacing pattern behind. The aroma here is a big blast of hops, with a major emphasis on the citrus hops. There's also a very noticeable sweet graininess as well.

The sweetness and hops are both present in the taste. Most prevalent to me is a sweet grapefruit flavor along with some other citrusy flavors, mostly lemony. It also has a bready sweetness to it that keeps the bitterness from the hops in check. Actually, this beer is not very bitter at all, unlike most hoppy beers. It finishes with a nice bit of hops and malt, and the aftertaste of hops hangs on for quite a while.

Final thought - This beer is great! It has a bunch of flavor, but it's not quite as bitter as their IPA or Maximus. There's a lot of sweetness here as well, and everything is very enjoyable.

-Jon

Tasman Red IPA

Beer Name: Tasman Red IPA
Brewery: Boston Beer Company
ABV: 6.75%
Serving method: 16-oz draft in a tumbler
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

Tasman Red IPA is from the same series of beers as Third Voyage, at least if the bottle and label style is anything to go by. It has a crazy looking person on the bottle if you're looking for it.

Tasman Red is a very deep ruby colored beer that arrived with about a finger of head. This head was thick and fluffy, and it faded away slowly while leaving a heavy lacing pattern behind. Another plus was that this beer came in a clean glass, so I had nothing to complain about. There is a nice aroma of citrus and pine hops, and there is also some caramel malt to go with it.

This beer has a very big flavor, mostly hops but with some maltiness in there as well. I suppose it would be apt to call it a "bold" beer. The hops are probably the main flavor, but the malt has enough presence to avoid being overshadowed. The beer finishes bitter, with an aftertaste of lingering malt with a bit of hops. I had this on draft, and it seems like it would be much better this way than from the bottle. There's just something about it.

Final thought - I enjoyed this beer, and it was very good with food. It's sort of a mix between a red ale and an IPA, and there's noticeable contributions from both. I would probably be glad to drink this again if I see it out somewhere.

-Jon

Watermelon Ale

Beer Name: Thomas Hooker Watermelon Ale
Brewery: Thomas Hooker Ales & Lager
ABV: 4.5%
Serving method: 16-oz draft in a tumbler
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

How have I never tried a beer from Connecticut before this one? That seems impossible.

Thomas Hooker's Watermelon Ale is a pale golden ale that arrived with a thin head. It left a good lacing pattern, but it doesn't stick for the whole glass. At first, there is a light watermelon aroma and some maltiness in the background. Then, as you drink the glass, the watermelon keeps getting stronger. It's sort of like watermelon candy after a minute or two.

The flavor of this beer is very nice. There's a good watermelon flavor, but it's not over the top and it's not a sickeningly sweet fruit flavor or syrupy. It's very light, and it works very well with the carbonation level of the beer, which is pretty high. The beer finishes with a slightly sweet flavor, but it doesn't linger overly long.

Final thought - Overall, this is a very enjoyable beer. It's probably right there with Hell or High Watermelon as far as fruit beer quality goes. The one thing I did not like, and this has nothing to do with the beer, is that it arrived in a glass that wasn't clean. Or maybe it was clean, but it wasn't rinsed properly. The point is that beer should be served in appropriately treated glasses, and there shouldn't be a patch of bubbles streaming off the side of the glass. Kate told me to send it back, but we hadn't gotten our food yet and I didn't want to be That Guy.

-Jon

Black Marlin Porter

Beer Name: Black Marlin Porter
Brewery: Ballast Point Brewing Company
ABV: 6%
Serving method: 16-oz draft in a tumbler
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

We learned a valuable lesson about Red Bones, which is that if you want to get a seat at Red Bones on a Saturday, go for lunch. A 10-15 minute wait is much more tolerable than an hour or more, especially when you're super-hungry.

There were a lot of beers that I considered, and I finally ended up picking this porter from Ballast Point because it seemed like a good choice to match up with the giant pile of barbecued meat I would soon be enjoying. Black Marlin is a very dark beer, bordering on solid black. It arrived with only a very thin head, but I think that is probably a result of the rookie manning the taps. He seemed a bit overwhelmed by the giant row of unmarked taps. There was still a nice lacing pattern at the end of the glass though. The aroma of the beer is a nice roasty coffee with some chocolate.

All the aromas in this beer come though in the flavor, with the chocolate a little more noticeable now than in the aroma. The roasted flavors are done very nicely, so they don't overpower the tastebuds. There's a nice light carbonation, and it's very drinkable. I think the flavors developed nicely as the beer warmed up a little, so I'd recommend letting it sit for a few minutes.

Final thought - This beer was good when I was drinking it alone, and it was equally good when I was drinking it with my meal. Ballast Point definitely has their brewing act together, so I'll have to keep my eyes open for more of their beers in the future.

-Jon

Simcoe Spring Ale

Beer Name: Simcoe Spring Ale
Brewery: Peak Organic Brewing Company
ABV: 5.4%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Best by Sept 2012

Peak Organic was having a beer tasting over at Ryan & Casey, so I figured I'd return some bottles and check out their wares. The tasting host was a very friendly guy, and I was the only person there are this particular time, so we got to talk about beer, and he got to hear the woeful tale of Kate's and my failure to procure any Peak beer at the 2010 Vermont Brewers Festival due to a thunderstorm. It is a very sad story. Also, I got a free pint glass because I ended up buying some Peak beer. Good times.

Simcoe Spring Ale is one of Peak's seasonal beers, and, despite spring having only just started, is about to be phased out in place of their summer brew. All these calendar shenanigans are a direct result of Sam Adams sending Summer Ale out at the beginning of April, and it's starting to annoy me. It's getting to the point where I need a beer spreadsheet to keep track of what seasonals are available when. Actually, that's not a terrible idea...

I'm getting sidetracked. Simcoe Spring is a slightly hazy copper beer that poured from the bottle with a nice fluffy head nearly two fingers high. (I did not drink the beer from my newly acquired pint glass, as that was hanging out in the packie and probably should be washed before use.) The head faded away fairly slowly, and it left a heavy lacing behind. The aroma is a bit hoppier than I remember it being at the tasting, but that could be because I tried the Hop Noir first, and its intense hoppiness dulled my senses. I'm getting some piney and citrusy hop notes, which makes sense given that this beer probably uses Simcoe hops. Unfortunately, this means that the beer I picked because I thought Kate might like it too is obviously going to fail in that department.

This is a nice citrusy beer, although the hop bitterness isn't nearly as much as the aroma might led you to believe. It's still hoppy, but it's an easily manageable amount of hoppiness. Maybe even someone who avoids hoppy beers would enjoy it. There's not really any maltiness here, so the hops have the whole stage to themselves. It's a fairly carbonated beer, but it's still pretty smooth. The finish is a little bitter, and there's a mild aftertaste of pine.

Final thought - Everything about this beer seems like it would be enjoyable in the gradually warming spring weather, which makes it baffling that it is around in January, February and March. I should probably write myself a note to pick some of this up next year and store it for later, but I am lazy and I won't. I will make a point of saying that this is a nice beer, and I would be glad to drink it again.

-Jon

Double Jack

Beer Name: Double Jack Double IPA
Brewery: Firestone Walker Brewing Co.
ABV: 9.5%
Serving method: 22-oz bottle poured into a tumbler
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

I knew I was doing it wrong, but I was too lazy to do anything about it before. Generally when I say "pint glass," I am talking about the standard tumbler that everyone is used to seeing. However, I should have been making the distinction since it could have been a nonic or becker glass, so in the future I'll be sure to clarify.

Double Jack is a golden orange beer that pours perfectly clear with a good fluffy head almost two fingers high. It faded away fairly slowly and left a very heavy lacing pattern. There's a nice aroma of citrusy hops, but there's also enough sweet malt to predict a balanced flavor later.

Wow. This is a great tasting IPA. There's a bunch of citrus flavors with the bitterness from the hops at first. Then the malt kicks in to keep things from getting too hoppy. It finishes with a light bitter flavor, but the aftertaste is nice and sweet. My only mild complaint is that there could be just a little more carbonation to slow my consumption down a little. Other than that, it's very smooth and easy drinking.

Final thought - This beer is absolutely fantastic. That's all that needs to be said. Go find it, buy it, and drink it.

-Jon

Skull Splitter

Beer Name: Skull Splitter
Brewery: Orkney Brewery
ABV: 8.5%
Serving method: 16.9-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

As if the gods of beer heard my pleas for interestingly named beers, I ended up getting a bottle of Skull Splitter today. Obviously I have some positive karma built up. Now to see if that will carry through to the quality of this beer. Also, the bottle has a pretty no-nonsense looking Viking on it, so I'm guessing this beer means business. Hopefully the fact that this is definitely not the right kind of glass won't be a major issue.

Skull Splitter is a deep coppery beer with reddish hues. There was a little bit of head when I poured it, but most of it faded away pretty quickly while leaving a ring around the edge of the top. It leaves a bit of lacing, but the lacing didn't last for the whole glass. The beer has a very sweet aroma of malts along with something I can only describe as a smooth alcohol scent. There also seem to be some of what is usually called "dark fruit," which is like a sweet fruitiness in the background.

Everything from the aroma is happening in the flavor, and it's very nice. There's almost a scotch-like flavor here, along with lots of malty sweetness and a hint of fruit. It's very smooth as well, with only a slight carbonation. The finish has a very faint bitterness to it, but other than that the malt is the star of the show. There's a sweet aftertaste, sort of a fruity brown sugar.

Final thought - This is a very good beer, but it hits you really hard. There are a lot of interesting things happening in the aroma and the flavor, and it's easy drinking enough that you can get yourself into a bad place very quickly. Enjoy with caution.

-Jon

Avalanche

Beer Name: Avalanche Ale
Brewery: Breckenridge BBQ & Brew Pub
ABV: 5.4%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

I wish all breweries gave all their beers exciting names. I find that Avalanche Ale is a much more exciting name than just calling it Breckenridge Amber Ale. The only downside to giving beers cool names is when you go out to a restaurant and they don't clarify on their menu what type of beer each option is. Sometimes it's pretty obvious (if I'm ordering something called Hop Devil, I'm not expecting a stout), but if I told you a beer's name was Mojo, that doesn't really give you any possible reference point for beer type.* Still, I'd rather have the exciting names. If I end up drinking a Belgian white because of it, that's really my fault for not doing my research properly.

Avalanche Ale is a reddish amber beer that poured with a fluffy head around a finger in width. The head faded away pretty quickly, and it left a very erratic lacing pattern. There is a sweet malt aroma mixed with something fruity smelling. My instinct is to say apples, like a crisp Granny Smith apple aroma. Everything seems light and pleasant here.

This is a pretty malty beer, with really only the faintest hint of any kind of hop. There is a fruitiness to the flavor as well, but nothing dramatic. I think it could use just a little bit more carbonation, but without knowing the age of the beer I probably shouldn't make that a general statement. This particular bottle could use some more oomph though. The beer finishes with a very light bitterness, and it lingers slightly with the malt.

Final thought - While nothing spectacular, there isn't anything I dislike about this beer. It's light and crisp, it has a nice maltiness to it, and it finishes without leaving a heavy flavor behind. This would be an easy beer to make a night of, and a drastic improvement over what generally makes up a long night of drinking.

-Jon

*Mojo is an IPA, which you would have known if you were a dedicated reader.

Vanilla Porter

Beer Name: Vanilla Porter
Brewery: Breckenridge BBQ & Brew Pub
ABV: 4.7%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

This is the 3rd of 4 beers from the Breckenridge pack, and the one I was most excited about. I shouldn't have been though, because my history with vanilla in beers hasn't been great. But I really want it to be, so I'll keep on trying vanilla flavored beers until I find a winner. Come on brewers! You're so successful with chocolate!! Don't leave vanilla out.

Breckenridge's Vanilla Porter is a very dark brown beer, but it's slightly translucent if you hold it up to a light. It poured with a good head, and it held on for a little while before leaving a light lacing pattern. There is a strong aroma of malt here, with vanilla and a bit of fruit mixed in as well. In hindsight, I should have realized that this beer needed to be given a few minutes to warm up, but I was a little too focused on Holmes on Homes to think clearly.

At first, the beer seemed a little lacking in flavors. However, it turns out that I just needed to give it time. By the end of the glass, there was a nice vanilla flavor with each sip. There was also a good amount of malt and sweetness for the whole glass, and nothing really in the hop department for bitterness. The beer finishes mostly clean, with a lightly sweet aftertaste.

Final thought - This was pretty good by the end of the glass, although I'm not about to go out and grab some more. It seems like it would be a good beer for sitting inside on a cold winter night. The vanilla curse is definitely broken.

-Jon

2X Stout

Beer Name: 2X Stout
Brewery: Southern Tier Brewing Company
ABV: 7.5%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: DOB was 1/26/12

In my continually unsuccessful quest to find an elusive beer known as KBS, I often find myself grabbing something else in an attempt to fill the void. Sometimes I just grab whatever has an interesting label on it, but this time I actually spent some time to find something that would hopefully be a winning choice. Since Southern Tier rarely, if ever, lets me down, I figure their version of a stout should be tasty. As a bonus, it turns out that this oddly named beer is a milk stout! Score!!

2X Stout is a solid black beer. With a violent pour, I could get the beer to produce a very light head, but it faded away almost immediately with very little lacing. It's slightly thinner than I was expecting for such a strong beer, but that isn't necessarily a negative. There is a pleasant aroma of malty roasted chocolate. It's combined with some bittersweet chocolate notes in the background.

The flavor of this beer is very roasted. The chocolate from the aroma is here, and there's also a little bit of coffee in there as well, although it's very faint. The beer has a light carbonation that works well with the other flavors. It's sweet at the beginning, with some bitterness at the finish. There is a mostly sweet aftertaste, but it has a stickiness that starts to get overbearing on the second bottle.

Final thought - This is a nice sipping beer, but watch out for that ABV. It doesn't taste like a 7.5% beer, so a few of them will catch up to you quickly.

-Jon

Oatmeal Stout #2

Beer Name: Oatmeal Stout
Brewery: Breckenridge BBQ & Brew Pub
ABV: 4.9%
Serving method: 12-oz bottle in a pint glass
Born/Bottled/Shipped on: Unknown

I have been a little lax on my beer updates in the past week, but instead of blaming it on laziness, I will instead use the excuse of wanting to drink a couple before writing my thoughts. That way my opinions will be a little more focused. Or something like that.

Breckenridge's Oatmeal Stout is a very dark beer, but it's a thin sort of blackness. It poured with basically no head, although there was a very thin ring around the edge. There was a very light lacing, but it tended to slowly fade away rather than last on the glass. The aroma is roasted grains, with some coffee. It actually reminds me of the stout I just put into bottles a couple weeks ago, which might not necessarily be a good thing.

The roasted notes from the aroma are also present in the flavor, although they aren't quite as noticeable as I was expecting. Most of what I'm getting is a bitter roasted coffee, with not much complexity going on. The beer is very carbonated for a stout (which is like a moderate carbonation), and finishes slightly bitter and turns into a bready aftertaste.

Final thought - This beer is not bad, but there are just too many other great stouts out there for it to get a regular place in my fridge. I have to stick to the classics. And try new things, I suppose, since this poor blog will stagnate if I don't.

-Jon