Founders KBS (Kentucky Breakfast Stout) | Grand Rapids, Michigan | Imperial Stout | 11.2% ABV
Served semi-chilled from a 12 oz bottle and poured into a tulip glass. Pours a deep black color with a two finger tan foam head. Smells are of espresso beans, cocoa and bourbon. Carbonation is moderate with a full body. Taste is coffee and chocolate up front, with hints of vanilla and oak in the middle and finishing with bourbon.
The tasting of the 2015 was different than what I remembered. Personally, I thought the beer was a bit unbalanced. Parts of the tastes were very flavorful, with a huge amount of coffee and chocolate. Other parts were heavy on the bourbon. And a few sips tasted really watery. Obviously this was not the intent, an I could have had a "bad batch." Even a bad batch of KBS though sure beats most imperial stouts. I have 3 more bottles from 2015 plus one 2014 left, so perhaps I will revisit this one in the fall.
93/100 (This batch)
100/100 Beer Advocate
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Almanac Farm to Barrel Dogpatch Sour | Almanac Beer Co | San Francisco, CA | American Wild Ale | 7.5% ABV Everyone remember the Orval Vertical from a few weeks ago? Got some nice feedback on that so I figured it was time to do another! Bell's Hopslam is an annual favorite of many. Hailing from Kalamazoo, Michigan, Bell's has a number of excellent selections. Two Hearted, Expedition Stout, and their Porter are three of my favorites (besides this one of course). Last year, when they entered into the NYC market for the first time, I bought a whole case of Hopslam. I ended up trading several to friends who couldn't get it, but saved one bottle to see how it aged. Typically, IPAs do not age well. I had read that Hopslam might however, and due to its honey-sweetness, may create a sort of smooth liqueur-like drink. See below.
Bell's Hopslam Ale | Kalamazoo, MI | American Double IPA | 10% ABV. Bottle on the left: Packaged January 16, 2014 Pours an orange amber color with a hint of brown as well. Head is creamy and retains its shape throughout the tasting of the beer. Smell is sweet and malty, with hop character being very faint. Carbonation is moderate to light with a medium to full body. Taste is bready and malty, with a chewy consistency. The beer tastes much more bitter than I remember, and the honey flavor is nearly gone. Bottle on the right: Packaged January 18, 2015 Pours an orage amber color, much lighter than the 1 year old version. Head is very small and fades to a lacing for the remainder of the pour. Smell is sweet and hoppy, with hints of honey, grapefruit, and some spice. Carbonation is moderate with a medium body. Taste is sweet, yet bit, crisp and smooth. The honey flavor matches perfectly with this hop bomb of a beer. Finishes crisp and keeps you wanting more. From the two above reviews it's pretty obvious which I prefer, right? Even though I didn't care for the aged version, I am glad I tried it out. It is always interesting to see what beer does over time. The moral? Drink your IPAs fresh, or not at all. 2014: 85/100 2015: 98/100 BA: 99/100 Hardcore Chimera Imperial IPA | Finch's Beer Co | Chicago, Illinois | 9% ABV
Served chilled from a 16 oz can and consumed straight from the can (also had it on tap at Beer Authority Friday night.) Very citrusy and hoppy smell, with hints of pine and caramel. Carbonation is moderate to high with a medium to full body. The caramel malt backbone is very bready for a DIPA, and I was surprised how full bodied this was. I would have guessed the IBUs to be over 100, and was surprised it was only 80. It was a very interesting taste, as part was very bitter but at times still creamy. I must say this was a solid beer. I had never heard of Finch's before a few weeks ago-looking forward to trying more! 94/100 $3/16 oz can 92/100 Beer Advocate Stoneface Brewing India Pale Ale | Newington, New Hampshire | American IPA | 7.2% ABV
Served chilled from a 16.9 oz bottle and poured into a pint glass. Pours a light amber with a golden/orange hue and a two finger off white foam head. Smell is piney and citrusy. Carbonation is moderate to high with a medium body. Taste is sweet and crisp, with citrus peel, pine and caramel malt. This is not a very complex IPA, but it is a wonderfully crisp and refreshing beer. If this were available in the NYC area this would be a candidate for an everyday drinking beer. A big thank you to my Uncle Jim for bringing this down to me from his travels in New Hampshire. Wow this beer was a great IPA! Easy to drink, refreshing, and the 7.2% is well masked. I am anxiously awaiting cracking open the Rye India Red Rye Ale by Stoneface. 96/100 97/100 Beer Advocate For over a year I've been storing my 2013 Orval Trappist Ale. I have heard that a little bit of age can do wonders for this highly regarded beer. I recently acquired a 2014 as well, and figured I would transport these back to the cellar to hold onto until the 2015 becomes available towards the end of the year. What I didn't count on was finding a bottle of the 2010 at a craft beer spot up in Westborough, MA (DiVine Wine & Spirits-check them out and tell them Scott sent you!) They had two bottles still of the 2010, so naturally I bought them both! I decided now was the time to do the vertical given the recommended 5 year shelf life of this beer. The picture above contains all three, with the 2010 on the left, 2013 in the middle, and 2014 on the right. Before I delve into the commentary, here are the details about the beer: Orval Trappist Ale| Brasserie d'Orval S.A.| Villers-devand-Orval, Belgium| Belgian Pale Ale| 6.2% ABV See below where I will make some comments about each. I'll start with the newest one, bottled in November of 2014. Orval tends to have a grassy, earthy and citrusy profile with hints of Belgian spices. The yeast strain used here is somewhat uncommon, which apparently adds to the cellaring popularity. This 2014 edition was pretty spicy, with the hop notes being the strongest of the 3 beers sampled (as expected-as beers age the hop characteristics mellow while the malt characteristics come forward). It was not terribly smooth and the citrus notes were subtle. Bottled in September of 2013. Woah! An extra year of age did wonders for this beer. The hop characteristics faded away as expected, though it wasn't overly malty. The beer was very smooth, and the spiciness diminished as well. It was nice and citrusy, and finished clean and crisp. It appears 18-19 months is a perfect time to drink this one. Bottled November of 2010. The head and color were noticeably different on this one. While the others were an orange-amber color, this one was more brown. The others had very frothy, almost soapy heads, while this one was smooth and creamy, and reminded me of a milk stout or Guinness head. The smell on this one was less than desirable, which made me wonder whether it had been stored properly over the past 4.5 years or perhaps the beer had just gone bad. I couldn't just dump it though, so I took a taste and held it my mouth for a while. The middle part of the taste was a bit funky, but it finished surprisingly well. As I took a few more sips the flavor really grew on me, and I was shocked at how creamy, malty, bready and chewy this beer became. It almost tasted like caramel, and was sweet and delicious. What a treat we have here. Two WORLD CLASS DIPAs in back to back posts. A big thank you to Kevin Scott for delivering this behemoth to me in NYC. I've been itching to try anything by Trillium since his first post, and was thrilled to see it listed in the top 3 New England breweries in Boston Magazine this past week. Lawson's Liquids Sip of Sunshine IPA. Warren, Vermont 8% ABV. Thanks to Cathy S. for this awesome treat! Served chilled from a 16 oz can and poured into a tulip glass. Pours a hazy orange-amber color with a big three finger white foam head. Smell is sweet and citrusy, with hints of pineapple, mango and peach. Hop character is incredibly strong even in the aroma. Carbonation is moderate with a medium body. Taste is a tropical medley, with the previously mentioned flavors shining through, and a hop bomb as well. The combination of piney flavors and citrusy hops are rarely practiced this well. I really can only think of Heady and UPPERCASE as others who have done it so well. Finish is crisp and refreshing, with a piney flavor lingering. Honestly one of the best beers I have ever had. There is a reason this is rated so highly on BA and other websites. Such a well balanced DIPA that has it all. 100/100 100/100 BA |
About MeScott is a craft beer lover living in NYC who enjoys sampling new beers and educating friends and family on the diverse and exciting world of beer. Archives
February 2016
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