ALERAISERS

The Beer Of the Week for the week of 03/03/2011 is:

Dogfish Head’s My Antonia

Much like Jim Burden, I have an infatuation…one that keeps drawing me back.  Fortunately for me, my infatuation is one that my wife will allow, and so I dont have to wonder “what if”; Dogfish Head.  Time and time again, Im drawn back to their fun boundary-breaking brews, and time and time again I am rewarded.  My Antiona is a bit of a boundary breaker for Dogfish.  Its a journey outside their wheel hose of ale-centric brewing, down the road of “old world tradition” in a wolderfully “lagerific departure.”

My Antonia pours a crystal-clear golden wheat color, with bright white, foamy head that leaves its mark.  The beer smells great.  Refreshing, sweet, and hoppy–it has a honey sweet smell, with fresh fruit notes, and a citrusy, hoppy aroma that leaves you wanting more.  The taste is elegant, and simple; a crisp clean fruity upfront taste that fades beautifully into a dry, aromatically bitter, hoppy finish.  There is a crisp, creamy medium-bodied mouthfeel with perfectly light-ish carbonation.  Another job well done for Sam and the boys.  Thanks!

4.0/5.0

Purchased at Twenty-Nine Package on Lawrenceville, Hwy in Lilburn

The Beer Of the Week for the week of 2/17/2011 is:

Lagunitas’ Hop Stoopid

From their site:  ”For those mornings when you have to cut right to the chase, this is the one. Sure to blast through just about anything still lingering from the night before, this mouthful of Hops and huge rich Malt has a gaurantee built right into the name!”

Something about the name HOP STOOPID appeals to me when placed inside the context of beer. After having a Lagunitas (pronounced lah-goo-KNEE-tuss) IPA at a local Taco Mac awhile back I knew this brewery could handle its hops. At 102 IBU this beer called out to me from behind the cooler glass like a window girl in the red light district of Amsterdam. I can’t really describe the character of this beer, after some research I found that Lagunitas used as many different types of hops as possible to create this brew. I can only image the horror on the faces of professional beer judges as they tried to untangle this complex web of… damn… well… Let me just say this beer scared me for life. It pours a sun bunny bronze to warm copper color… clear as crystal. The carbonation leaves a finger sized head of stringy, bubbly, fast to retreat lacing. Hops are the main attraction to the other senses. There is a warm, earthy bitterness that pours across the palate hiding a sweet surprise in the after taste. The coating on the inside of the mouth remains for several minutes… begging for another sip to absolve the palate of such carnal pleasures. If malt liquor was ale, this would be it.

3.1/5.0

The Beer Of the Week for the week of 02-10-2011 is:

The Stone Brewing Company’s Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale

I dont know about the rest of you guys, but I am a devout follower of Punxsutawney Phil, and according to PP Spring is on its way!  Along with Spring, my desire for pungent and bitter slowly staggers out of hibernation and the HOPS(the plant not the contributor) love train gets back on track.  Beers like this one(and the 90min I had last week) help to spur that movement on.

From their site: “We’re brewers whose substantial mettle and idiomatic approach to brewing allows us to consistently create works of art such as this justifiably self-righteous ale. Its bitterness hits our sweet spot. Its blackness lightens our hearts. Its liquid dichotomy pulls it all together in this sublimely sacrosanct ale. Yes, we damn well know our stuff here at Stone, and it would be irresponsible of us not to acknowledge how remarkable this heavenly creation of ours is. Thus the name we are compelled to give it — Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale — serves as a reminder of just how good we are, in both liquid and verbal form.”

The Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale beer pours pretty dark, a Coke-a-Cola black with a few good fingers of beige, foamy head.  The aroma is wonderful; strong floral, citrus notes upfront, but a surprising balance by burnt maltiness emerges and is followed up by the slightest hint of alcohol heat.  The taste goes pretty much the same way.  Strong aromatic, bitter hops dominate first sip, and that is met with a dark-roasted malt return volley that slowly gives way to a crisp bitter finish.  It is medium to full bodied with with medium to low carbonation.  This is an excellent dark but hoppy beer; in the vein of my favorite emerging style of beer, Cascadian Ales.  Do your self a favor and give this one a try…its good, just ask Stone.

4.2/5.0

Purchased at Twenty-Nine Package on Lawrenceville Hwy in Lilburn, GA

The Beer Of the Week for the week of 2/3/2011 is:

BrewDog’s Parodox Isle of Arran(Batch #016)

If you saw what Santa brought me, you’ll know that BrewDog has been on my radar for a while.  For the most part Id assumed we just didn’t get their beer here in the US outside of special order from the land of Kings and Queens, so you can only imagine the haste with which I grabbed this little guy up, placed him gently in my overflowing beer basket at Green’s,and subsequently scared the bejeezus out of my wife(thats another story).  This beer is the evil offspring of a “friends with benefits” relationship between Brewdog and The Arran Whisky distillery.  Brewdog made the stout, Arran loaned ‘em some primo whiskey barrels for maturation.  The result…YuhMe!

The beer pours near-black.  It has an awesome creamy, root beer float head, in both consistency and color, that leaves substantial lacing as it lives out its life.  The aroma is roasty, smoky, and complex.  There are hints of chocolate and molasses with subtleties of vanilla and whisky.  Upfront the taste is of chocolate and chocolate-roasted malts.  That transitions to a smoky, peaty, molassesy sweetness that finishes dry and charred.  The feel is not incredibly substantial, as you might expect from and imperial stout, and the carbonation is light to low.  Overall, Im excited to try my other two BrewDogs.  This is an excellent stout, and the whisky barrel aging adds that little extra that makes you want more….be careful though at 10% it’ll put you to bed.

4.2/5.0

Purchased at Green’s Beverage on Ponce de Leon in Decatur, Ga

The Beer Of the Week for the week of 01/27/2011 is:

Abbaye de Notre-Dame de Saint-Rémy’s Trappistes Rochefort 10

This weeks BOW comes as a result of my being in the saving stages of a trip to Belgium to tour the Abbeys.  Due to my last couple trips to “The Brick Store”, Ive really been diggin’ the Belgian beers lately; thus reviving  plans for a European beer-lovers vacation and renewed interest in everything Trappist.

The Trappistes Rochefort 10 pours dark brown in color with typical Belgian off-white head that dissipates much quicker then most Belgian ale head.  The aroma is intensely sweet with definitive dark fruit aromas and hints of vanilla, candy sugar and Belgian yeast.  The tastes is complex.  Strong and sweet.  Dominated by dark fruits and caramels with a candi-sugar sweet tranistion that mellows into a slightly less sweet, less fruity, dry finish.  It is thick and smooth across your tounge and has moderate to high carbonation.  This ones on the sweeter side of Belgian Ales that Im into, but still is an excellent, must try beer.  At 11.3%, it makes a nice night cap or “sip by the chiminea on a cool night” beer.

3.9/5.0

Purchased at Twenty-nine Package on Lawrenceville Hwy in Lilburn, Ga

The Beer of the Week for the week of 1/20/2010 is:

Brewery Ommegang’s Cup O Kyndnes

HAPPY NEW YEAR!?  SO….Im a little late.  My new found affection for Scotch Ales, my appreciation for everything Ommegang and the fun little quotation on the side of this bottle had Brewery Ommegang’s Cup o Kyndnes all lined up for the perfect New Year’s BOW, but….well I got distracted.  So pull up your kilt, strap on your gillies and lets get it done now.

“An wil tak a cup o kyndnes yet, fir ald lang syn“

(A traditional new years toast)

–Robert Burns

From the Bottle: “The Belgian-Scotch brewing connection dates to World War I when thousands of Scotsmen spent years in Belgium.  To satisfy their new customers, Belgium brewers learned to brew Scotch-style ales, and the style became a new and significant part of the Belgian brewing tradition.  This fine Ommegang ale users heather tips and a wee bit of smoked malt to bring the taste and aroma of Scotland to the forefront.”

Cup o Kyndness pours an opaque brownish color with great offwhite head that laces your glass as it slowly rescinds.  The nose is mostly malty, dark fruit aromas with hints of smokiness and belgian yeast.  The taste begins much like you’d expect from a Scotch Ale, malty and molasses-y sweet, but it quickly develops into firewood smokey, sweet and finishes kinda earthy, herbal well-balanced sweet.  This beer is light to medium bodied with so, so carbonation.  This isn’t your typical big, malty Scotch Ae, but you can definitely hear the bagpipes warming up in the background…and its exactly what you might thing a Belgian-Style Scotch Ale might taste like.  It is an excellent beer to start off the year with, and one I recommend grabbing if you see(LIMITED RELEASE).

3.9/5.0

Purchased at Green’s Beverage on Ponce  de Leon in Decatur, GA

The Beer Of the Week for the week of 12/18/2010 is:

Wells Bombardier

This beer pours a nice, clean reddish-orange with one finger of tan head that doesnt hang, but does leave decent lacing.  Its aroma is faint, mostly fruity with subtle hints of caramel sweetness.  The taste is a very balanced malty sweet that transitions to a faint rasiny, dark fruitiness and finishes with nice bitter tang.  This beer is crisp and clean with medium to light body and low carbonation.  This beer is simple but incredibly “drinkable,” to steal a term from those wannabe beer makers out of South Africa.  I can easily imagine sitting down in an English Pub, downing these bad boys all day and catching the latest soc….er football match?  Great beer.

3.5/5.0

Purchased at Green’s Beverage on Ponce de Leon in Decatur, GA

The Beer Of the Week for the week of 12/29/09 is:

Allagash Brewing’s Black

“…Well, I’m back
Yes, I’m back
Well, I’m back, back
(Well) I’m back…”

…with Black, a Belgian Style Stout by Allagash Brewing.

From the site:  ”Allagash Black, our new Belgian style stout, is brewed with German 2 row barley, Torrified wheat and oats, balanced by a large addition of Belgian dark candi to give the Black a full and silky mouthfeel. Roasted malts give this stout its classic chocolate, toast and malty taste, and contribute to chocolate notes and a hint of roasted coffee in the aroma. The Black is fermented with a Belgian yeast strain and refermented in the bottle with the methode champenoise to make this beer truly unique.”

This beer pours a few shades short of midnight, with foamy cream head that lasts.  It smells of charred malts, belgian yeast with hints of dark pitted fruits and coffee. Up front it tastes of dark roastedchocolate malts and Belgian yeast; with a chocolaty, not so much hoppy, bitter, dry middle; and a sweet , dark coffee finish.  It has a silky smooth feel across you tongue and good carbonation.  This is a great dark, wintery beer.  Its not super sweet and syrupy like a lot of malt forward beers; nicely balanced for scratching dark beer itch.

3.9/5.0

Purchased at Twenty-nine package on Lawrenceville, Hwy. in Lilburn, GA

The Beer Of the Week for the week of 12/02/10 is:

Bell’s Special Double Cream Stout

Alright, alright…please forgive for the last few weeks.  Life has been a little hectic and Aleraisers took the brunt of it.  Two weeks ago I started a new job…yeah, thats right Im not hip enough to sit at home, live off the man, and blog all day; last week was Thanksgiving, and I was busy…well, giving thanks; so this week I was ready to get back on track…until I realized I left my camera at work.  SO…Id like to apologize to Bell’s for not giving them them the same artistic treatment the BOWs normally get and to all three of my readers for failing.  Ill do better next week.  So…on to the review…

From the bottle: “Brewed with a blend of 10 different malts, Double Cream is an incredibly rich stout composed of dark, sweet, and smooth tones intermingled with a soft, roasty finish.”

The Bell’s Special Double Cream Stout pours obsidian dark with thick foamy brown head.  Its aroma is of coffee and bittersweet chocolate with notes both smokey and nutty and a slightest hint of burnt toast.  There are obviously some dark complex malts at work here.  The taste is very malt forward.  Bitter chocolate and coffee jump out, and then dark roasted malts carry you to a chocolaty bitter sweet, vanilla finish.  It has a medium mouthfeel, not quite what I expected from this super dark, malty stout, but definitely smooth and creamy with good carbonation.

This is yet another excellent beer from Bell’s Brewery, great for the holiday season.

3.9/5.0

Purchased at Package Twenty-Nine on Lawrenceville, Hwy in Lilburn

The Beer Of the Week for the week of 11/11/2010 is:

Oskar Blues Brewery’s Ten Fidy Imperial Stout

This weeks BOW comes from my favorite brewery at the moment, Oskar Blues.  Ive had my eyeballs on this big malty bad boy for a little while now, and since Ive been on a big malty kick lately I decided to pull the trigger.

From their site:  ”Ten FIDY Imperial Stout – This titanic, immensely viscous stout is loaded with inimitable flavors of chocolate-covered caramel and coffee and hide a hefty 98 IBUs underneath the smooth blanket of malt.  Ten FIDY (10.5% ABV) is made with enormous amounts of two-row malt, chocolate malt, roasted barley, flaked oats and hops. Ten FIDY is the ultimate celebration of dark malts and boundary-stretching beer.”

This beer pours dark….we’re talking motor oil from suburbia teenage girls car, ace of spades, or maybe even black hole…dark!  It has a small chocolaty brown head that quickly faded into the darkness.  The aroma is of dark roasted coffee and chocolate.  It is definitely a little hot at 10.50%, but I like that in the big maltys.  It tastes YUUU-MEE.  Some seriously dark and chocolate malts impart their corresponding that parallel a molasses-like sweeness, but the 98IBUs leave a nicely balanced and dry finish.  The mouthfeel is thick and smooth; you might think that if you flung it at the wall it would stick and slowly drip to the floor like syrup.  This is a real beer drinkers stout, not for the faint of heart, but one you’re gonna wanna try!

4.4/5.0

Purchased at Package Twenty-Nine on Lawrenceville, Hwy in Lilburn, GA