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Next up from The Bruery is the fabled White Chocolate…
This wheat wine pours a lovely orange color with nice white foam. I find it is better drunk a little warmer. Both velvet smooth and spiky with carbonation. Lovely spirit aroma to this. Mellow but easily evident. It is a nice interplay between bourbon and light chocolate notes. Sometimes simplicity is the best avenue. ABV is masked extremely efficiently. Zero burn.
Happy 11th birthday (a little belated) to trailblazing LA brewery Eagle Rock and now let’s check out their celebration of 11…
Elevensies pours a close to dark orange. This is a cheek warmer for sure. 11 hops including the new Altus were used for this anniversary Triple IPA that tops the scales at not 11 IBUs but 111 of them. Initially a little hot and that ABV obscures a dark cherry type of flavor that I am getting. Maybe caramelized pineapple? Either way it is nicely sharp at the beginning of the sip and then glides into the slight burn.
Angel City sent a nice care package with a nice variety of beers so let’s taste through this trio and see which is victorious….
Pinot Grisette pours a bright yellow color. Has that hybrid beer / wine flavor nailed down. I certainly get white grape flavor but not in that fakey candy way. The Belgian yeast is working hard here. Lots of esters on the nose and palate. This is a substantial beer for something so refreshing.
B.O.S.S. beer is a pretty orange color. A lot of ingredients listed on the can and the Saison part is a bit buried but I like the flavor profile overall. Citrus leads but there is a little spice and a rough edge to it.
Dollarydoo Aussie IPA has pine up front on the nose. This is kinda aggressive. No juicy notes that I can find. More old school hoppiness here. The hops stick to the palate. Some menthol notes for me. The label is very well done has a currency look to it.
Next up in the dual Bruery reviews are a Sticky Bun and chocolate and strawberry.
Bakery: Sticky Bun – Starts with a creamy foam at top. Loads of maple syrup with the cinnamon coming in right behind it. More like pancake syrup to me. Does not taste over 10% abv. The bourbon barrel flavor aspect is far in the back. The beer isn’t creamy but there is a nice viscosity.
Love Bites – Big foamy tan head with a glint of red in the pour with loads of chocolate covered strawberry aroma and that berry note continues hard into the beer. As it warms up some of the stout comes into play but nary a smidge of bourbon barrel to be found. Almost tastes like a sour stout if it weren’t for the milk chocolate that is the second lead on this beer.
Both beers basically deliver the main flavors advertised but the Sticky Bun worked better for me, which might be due to maple being more in tune with imperial stout than strawberry.
Barrels aplenty today as I dive into the 25 year old DBA and then the brand new 2021 Double Barrel Parabola Imperial Stout from Firestone Walker.
Starting with the slightly smaller ABV’d DBA (Double Barrel Ale) which pours a lovely dark orange color. First flavor is minerality, a slight salt hit. There is a corresponding sweet aspect to the beer as well. A bit of apple and oak finish the profile.
10.5% higher is the Double Barrel Parabola Imperial Stout. A combo of bourbon and wheated whiskey barrels were used on this stout. It is super smooth and there is not much burn at all on this. It is a quick cheek warmer though. The dominant flavor is toasted coconut.
Let’s dive into three beers that venerable San Diego brewery AleSmith sent me recently….
Starting with Cloud Stream Hazy IPA, I would label this as medium hazy in appearance. A dark orange color. The can describes it as red currant, mango and passion fruit. I see the last two tropical descriptors frequently but red currant is a new one. But I do get that flavor front and center even though the aroma is fairly muted. Fruit punch plays a minor background chord.
LimeBerry Twist pours with a big pink foam. Lovely red color. Beginners level of tartness. Raspberry and lime flavors mix together really well. Refreshing with a touch of wheat at the back.
KickBackRelax Session IPA really bright light pine aroma to near dankness. 4.2% is super duper low. I was expecting watery but this avoids that trap. Not super hoppy tasting as the focus turns to the malt flavor. Perfect for watching sports without losing yourself before halftime.
Ranking the three would start with KBR move to LBT and in third CS.
The Bruery have a couple Tiki inspired beers out now and here are my thoughts on them….
Seahorse – right out of the gate, this beer is great. Big, juicy pineapple aroma and flavor. Super tropical. Light malt taste slides in for a second. Quite tart but that fades a notch not less acidic territory as it warms. The only minus is that the bourbon barrel character is missing as is the citrus for me. Those two added would have made for an even more complex sour.
Mai Zombie – pours an amber red color. Quite a multitude of ingredients here and boy is it almond dominated to me. The orange flower water adds a twist but the spices, lime and grapefruit are not to be found. Tastes a bit hot as well. Maybe dialed back in ABV would soften that edge. No sugary rum texture found either. More cocktail oriented.
The clear winner was Seahorse. Both beers could have delivered more of the flavors on the labels but the sour was more balanced and maybe the Zombie cocktail is not for me.
Before I dive in to this 2002 first edition of Utopias, read on about the history of the beer from noted beer writer, Jay Brooks right HERE.
Reviewing a beer like this is hard. It is not a new release and more museum piece. New Utopias are not done in the same manner and barrel-aging is totally different now than in 2002. Even the naming convention was abandoned after this beer.
But, the beer was due to be opened after nearly twenty years and I need to talk about it. First off, the top is twist off and then there was a bottle cap as well. Was kinda of expecting cork but this was much easier. The first aroma was a bit on the soy sauce side which had me concerned but then wave after wave of maple started hitting the air. The kitchen smelled like a pancake breakfast.
The three main words I would use to describes Utopias is maple, sweet and viscous. At first you get a big hit of alcohol heat but that really fades as the beer warms up. I have had much more hot, cheek warming beers at lower ABV’s.
I gave samples to two other gutsy drinkers and got descriptions such as vanilla extract, molasses, syrupy and caramel.
I now want to compare a newer version to do the whole compare and contrast thing.
2021 (and 2020) has been the Year + of the Strata hop, so my choice is….
…a fancy bottle of The Frais from de Garde Brewing in Oregon.
Got to practice my cork removal skills. Pours a bright orange / yellow color. Brett wild funk is quite evident. That just opened the barn door smell. Tart punch of acidity. Fairly simple past that. Some barrel wood. There is a navel orange note underneath the barnyard that is quite pleasant.
We have reached the final fun beer from The Bruery. Still Black Tuesday a “plain” barrel-aged version of the classic. This is literally a still beer while definitely in the realm of Black Tuesday. More wine in character. A fascinating counterpart to the bourbon barrel-aged version. Wood and oak are not particularly present but the beer is still very layered. Almost to the point of soured stout. A vinous near licorice flavor profile. It is a beer that doesn’t reveal the very high alcohol content until you have been drinking a bit.