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Barley
Wine Style Ale
Shipyard
Brewing, Maine
Dark mahogany color with a good creamy head. Astringency
on palate with roasty notes in finish. Lighter body, more
like an imperial brown. Great new package. Restrained,
with some tartness. 8.5% abv. Recommended. |
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Doppelbock,
21st Anniversary
Full
Sail Brewing, Oregon
Sweet, malty nose. Lacks big malt aroma but has nice,
clean caramel malt flavors. Good hop balance with uncharacteristic
bitter finish. Heading toward barley wine or possibly
imperial brown? 8% abv. Recommended. |
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Firestone
Walker XII
Firestone
Walker Brewing, California
Complex nose of malt, barrel-aged wood and anise. Delightful
dark chocolate flavors. This extraordinary beer was thoroughly
enjoyed by our panel. Long jammy finish on the palate.
A classic sipping beer. Viscous and rich. Snifter required,
along with several friends. This beer will benefit from
additional aging. 12% abv. Outstanding. |
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Hopfen
Weisse
Schneider Weisse,
Kelheim, Germany
A cooperative effort between brewers Peter Hans Drexler
(Schneider) and Garrett Oliver (Brooklyn). Muddy orange-golden
color; beautiful head with great conditioning. Orange
blossoms and lemongrass aromas. Delicate effervescence.
Creamy richness in the texture and a jasmine-like note
in the finish. Remarkably delicate yet full-bodied. A
great food beer, unbelievably silky on the palate at 8.2%
abv. Outstanding. |
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Imperial
Porter
Shipyard Brewing,
Maine
Beautiful color, good head, strong notes of coffee and
roast in nose. Pronounced diacetyl and firm bittering.
Mild body for imperial designation. 7.1% abv. Recommended. |
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Obovoid
Oak-Aged Oatmeal Stout
Boulder
Beer Company, Colorado
Caramel malt aromas, some anise character. Complexity
of malt is obvious, with drying in the finish. Good feel
in mid-palate. Some vanilla character from the oak flavoring.
Recommended. |
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Terra-rye’zd
Black Rye Lager
Left
Hand Brewing, Colorado
Light nose, rye with lemon notes. Bitterness. Rye and
coffee with citrus notes. Interesting experiment with
the rye grain. A weird beer; not for everyone but interesting
and different. A cooperative effort with Terrapin Beer
Company in Georgia. Recommended for the adventurous
palate. |
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The
Abyss
Deschutes Brewery,
Oregon
Black on black, roasty brown head, engine oil viscosity.
Creamy coffee molasses, some hop character and wonderful
licorice notes along with roast and black patent malts.
Slight bourbon and vanilla in background. Dry on palate.
Big, rich mouthfeel. Dry finish with a hint of oak. We’d
like to see more contribution from the oak. Highly
Recommended. |
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The
Dissident
Deschutes
Brewery, Oregon
Delightful sour aroma with cherry fruit. Sour, slightly
lactic notes on the palate. Malt and sweet/sour character
should be more complex, affording more depth of flavors.
Great intro beer to the world of sour Flemish-style beers.
Highly Recommended. |
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Theobroma
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Delaware
Chile pepper notes in the nose. Chocolate hints in the
mouth. Peppery zip in the finish. This beer is yet another
re-creation of historical beer ingredients. This unusual
combination of flavors could work with some foods that
match the component parts. For some tasters, the flavors
didn’t quite come together. 9% abv. Recommended
for the off-centered beer drinker. |
