Avery 5 Monks. Boulder, Colorado. Belgian Style Quintuple Bourbon barrel aged. 19.4% ABV.

Sampled at Upright Brew House in the West Village. Served chilled from a 12 oz bottle and poured into a tulip glass. Pours a dark brown to nearly black color with a thin tan laced head. Smells are of dark fruits, plums, figs, raisins, rock sugar, bourbon, oak, yeast and alcohol. Carbonation is moderate to light with a full body. Taste is sweet and malty, with the dark fruits leading the way. The Bourbon is evident but not overpowering, and all of the flavors meld incredibly well together. The aftertaste is warming, sweet and without any bitterness.

Wow. I was absolutely blown away by this beer. Avery's high ABV beers have always scored highly in my book. This one did not disappoint. It is so hard to brew a beer with an alcohol level this high. To do that, and to mask it in such a complex and flavorful beer is impressive. I would be curious to see how this one would age. I cannot imagine it getting any better. Buy this beer and drink it immediately if you find it.

Will be working on a good post for tomorrow before the Super Bowl. Stay tuned!

99/100
96/100 Beer Advocate

Anderson Valley Blood Orange Gose. Highway Boonville 128 Session Series. Boonville, CA 4.2% ABV.

Served chilled from a 12 oz can and poured into a pint glass. Pours a copper-amber color with a one finger white foam head. Smell is acidic and tart with hints of orange. Carbonation is moderate with a medium to light body. Taste is sweet and sour, with the orange flavors leading. The finish is salty, but not as much as The Kimmie, The Yank and the Holy Gose. 

I actually enjoyed this one more than the aforementioned Kimmie, Yank and Holy Gose, but still not as much as the Westbrook Gose. I have come to absolutely love this style of beer, though most people I have recommended it to have not enjoyed as much. I feel like you would only like this one if you really like sours or flanders oud bruins. In any case, a low cost beer of high quality that is somewhat easy to get.

95/100
$2/can
89/100 Beer Advocate

Mystic Saison Renaud. Chelsea, MA. Saison/Farmhouse Ale 6.5% ABV

Served chilled from a 750 mL bottle and poured into a pint glass. Pours a straw golden color with a frothy three finger white foam head (not my best pour but check out the head extending over the glass). Smells are of citrus peel: orange, grapefruit, pear, and perhaps some banana. Carbonation is high with a medium body. Taste is sweet, yet earthy. Hints of spices like cloves and peppercorn are evident with a yeasty component as well. Aftertaste is crisp and refreshing. Overall a very nice drinkable beer from Mystic.

Farmhouse Ales/ Saisons are a style that continue to grow on me. The first few times I disliked them (except for Allagash Saison). I have never been a big fan of Hefeweizens or Pilsners, and Saisons reminded me too much of these types. However, once I got into sour beers, I began to enjoy these more, and now love a good Saison. Mystic has been putting out some great beers as of late, and I hope they expand distribution. This was my second one of their beers after Hazy Jane which admittedly wasn't my favorite. But I bet if I went back given my new love of Saisons I would enjoy it much more. I look forward to trying some more of their beers next time I'm up in MA.

92/100
90/100 Beer Advocate

Dogfish Head World Wide Stout. American Double/Imperial Stout. Milton, Delaware. 18% ABV

Served semi-chilled from a 12 oz bottle and poured into a wine glass. Pours a dark brown color with a thin tan laced head. Smells are of dark fruits, chocolate and a ton of alcohol. Carbonation is light with a full body. Taste is of heavily roasted malts, bourbon, coffee, chocolate, raisins, plums, figs and perhaps some caramel. Aftertaste is mostly roasted malt and alcohol. Definitely the fullest bodied DFH beer I have had and next to 120 minute the booziest.

This was one of the New Year's Eve beers I brought to a party this year, and everyone who tried it loved it. This is one of the harder to find Dogfish beers, and a typical 12 oz bottle clocks in around $12-15. (remember it is 18% ABV)  I bet aging this would be tremendous as well. I have a few bottles from 2013 in my personal collection and plan on trying them sometime around 2018. By the time I drink it I would expect the beer to be close to 20% and more of a cordial than a beer. 

Two days of DFH beers in a row-what will be next?

98/100
$14/12 oz bottle
100/100 Beer Advocate

Dogfish Head Fort. Ale brewed with Raspberry Juice (Fruit/Vegetable Beer). 2011 edition 18% ABV

Served chilled from a 750 mL bottle and poured into a...what kind of glass would you call this? Let's just call it a modified tumbler...


Anyways, served chilled from a 750 mL bottle and poured into a modified tumbler. Pours a reddish brown color with a one finger, creamy foam head. Head is somewhat pink and brown. Smell is heavily of raspberry, with hints of vanilla and other dark fruits. Carbonation is moderate (thought it would be much lower) with a  medium to full body. Taste is sweet and tart, with raspberry being the main flavor here. There are other subtle notes from the bready malt, which clearly has developed well with 3+ years in the bottle. The 18% ABV is masked extremely well, and better than the other DFH high ABV beers. With 120 minute, World Wide Stout and Raison D'Extra, the high alcohol content was a huge part of the beer, but here it is just complementary. I honestly had no idea the alcohol percentage until I sat down to write this review-personally I would have guessed 7-8%.


Overall this was a solid beer, and one I am glad I had the opportunity to try. As many of my readers know, I have been cellaring beers for a few years now and have a few beers going back to 2012. Given a bit more time and I will be able to do some exciting vertical beer tastings (Bourbon County Regular, Coffee and Barleywine, Bigfoot Barleywine, Allagash Curieux, Pumking, Warlock, Hopslam, Backwoods Bastard, Brown Shugga, Lagunitas Sucks, Creme Brûlée, Choklat, Trader Joes Vintage-surprisingly good beer that I need to review and some of the Trappist Ales). 


Will be trying to go back to about 3 posts per week. Trying to be healthy to start the New Year so I've tried a bit less lately but have plenty in the pipeline going back to about Thanksgiving that I can write about.


Cheers!
Scott


90/100
Beer is retired-no longer available
89/100 Beer Advocate

Westmalle Trappist Ale. Tripel Brouwerij Westmalle. Antwerpsesteenweg 496 Malle, 2390 Belgium. 9.5% ABV.

Served chilled from an 11.2 oz bottle and poured into a snifter. Pours a straw golden color with a frothy two finger white foam head. Smell is of citrus, banana, cloves and other spices and a lot of yeast. Carbonation is moderate to high with a medium body. Taste is sweet and spicy, earthy and yeasty. Such a complex beer that is also incredibly drinkable.

In terms of the Trappist beers, this is my favorite. I love the various Chimays, Orval, Rochefort 6, 8 and 10, Corsendonk and Spencer. But this one stands above those in my opinion.

100/100

$6/11.2 oz bottle

Homebrew 3: Belgian Style Tripel. Upper West Side, NYC 8.1% ABV.

Served chilled from a 12 oz bottle and poured into a goblet. Pours a light brown to amber color with a one finger white foam head. Smells are of yeast, tangerine and sweet malt. Carbonation is light with a medium body. Taste is sweet, with the Pilsner malt adding to a bready backbone. The tangerine peel we used to brew with is subtle yet evident, and the aftertaste is sweet and warming. The 8.1% is completely masked.

I was very excited to review this homebrew. After the last disaster this was a refreshing success. I was a bit disappointed with the carbonation here, and hope some of the subsequent bottles are more regulated. In any case, a solid Tripel and a great first crack at an Abbey Ale.

82/100

The Bruery 7 Swans-a-Swimming Belgian Style Quadrupel Ale. Orange County, CA 11% ABV.

Served semi-chilled from a 750 mL bottle and poured into a stemless wine-glass. I brought this beer to a New Year's Eve tasting and the glass selection was somewhat limited. Normally, I would like to drink this beer out of a snifter, goblet, tulip or wine glass. Pours a dark brown to almost black color with a one finger tan foam head. Smell is of dark fruits, yeast and lots of alcohol. Carbonation is moderate to light with a medium to medium-full body. Taste is of raisins, figs, apricots and a nice, sweet caramel malt. The alcohol is hidden quite well in the taste. Aftertaste is where most of the alcohol is noticeable.

This beer was a wonderful surprise when I picked it up at my local grocery store. I went back and bought 3 more bottles for aging purposes. The bottle says it can be stored for up to 5 years, so perhaps I will drink one  more this, one next, and one in a few more. Beer aging calls for patience!

If you have the opportunity to find this, it is one of The Bruery's more affordable options, and is still of tremendous quality. It is on par with a Three Philosopher's Quad and is just about the same price.

93/100
$14/ 750 mL bottle
91/100 BA

Sierra Nevada Barrel Aged Narwhal Imperial Stout. Chico, CA. Russian Imperial Stout 12.9% ABV

Served semi-chilled from a 750 mL bottle and poured into a snifter. Pours a deep black color with a two finger tan foam head. Smells are of bourbon, coffee, chocolate and vanilla. Carbonation is moderate (more than I expected) with a full body. Taste is of dark, roasted malts, bourbon, coffee, oak, vanilla, chocolate, and a hint of sweetness. The aftertaste lingers on bourbon with a slight bitterness from the espresso/dark chocolate.

I have been a fan of the regular Narwhal beer, but this stuff was absolutely wonderful. A great tasting experience that blew regular Narwhal out of the water. I am sure this stuff would age tremendously, but for the price I would rather spend my money on other age-worthy beers. Still bravo Sierra Nevada!

96/100
$20/750 mL bottle
95/100 BA

De Dolle Stille Nacht. Brouwerij De Dolle Brouwers. Esen, Belgium  Belgian Strong Pale Ale 12% ABV.

Served chilled from a 12 oz bottle and poured into a goblet. Pours a light brown color with an orange hue and a two finger off white frothy foam head. Smells is sweet and spicy with lots of yeast. I would guess cinnamon, cloves, banana, grapes, and apricots are apparent and a definite burst of alcohol. Carbonation is moderate to high with a medium body. Taste is of very sweet malts and lots of alcohol. This is definitely a Belgian-style beer, but heavier alcohol-wise that most I have had. Not much bitterness here, but it complements the sweet sugars and malts at the end of the taste. 

I was mesmerized by the bottle, and admit I had never heard of the beer. However, it was situated on the shelf of my local grocery store in a way that made it stand out, so I immediately went on Beer Advocate to research. I was stunned that it was a 100/100 rating and immediately bought a bottle. They still have several more so I may pick up another bottle before they sell out.

94/100
$6.99/12 oz bottle
100/100 BA