Ymm, Beer

[CameronBornAndBred]

How was it? Have heard it is smoky.

That was actually the predominant favor we tasted. When you sniff the aroma, you'd swear you were about to drink a mouthful of maple syrup, but when you drink it there is no syrup nor donuts on the pallette.

[fuse]

That was actually the predominant favor we tasted. When you sniff the aroma, you'd swear you were about to drink a mouthful of maple syrup, but when you drink it there is no syrup nor donuts on the pallette.

I'll have to thank Tim from the Beer Dispensary in Apex for the comment (which dissuaded me from buying it, I still do want to try it, though) about smokiness.

[devildeac]

Attachment 2960

Devildeac brought the syrup to our tailgate breakfast.

Yea, and "you let the whole team down" by not grilling the pancakes and/or French toast.

On to the reviews...

How was it? Have heard it is smoky.

That was actually the predominant favor we tasted. When you sniff the aroma, you'd swear you were about to drink a mouthful of maple syrup, but when you drink it there is no syrup nor donuts on the pallette.

I'll have to thank Tim from the Beer Dispensary in Apex for the comment (which dissuaded me from buying it, I still do want to try it, though) about smokiness.

Reviewed in order of consumption:

Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Ale-Rogue Brewing

Pass the pancakes! Poured a slightly cloudy amber with a prominent maple syrup aroma and a bit of smokiness. It is brewed with three smoked malts so the taste ended up being a bit different than the scents, though I thought there were some maple syrupy flavors on the palate. Bacon is used in the brewing process but I tasted none. We divided this over-priced $12 or $13 bomber about 5 ways and the general consensus was that it was a nice novelty beverage but none of us would seek it out again. IBU were about 40 and the ABV is about 6% so it was fine for a starter with bagels, doughnuts, an egg frittata, and other breakfast pastries.

Santa's Butt made an appearance next and Ozzie really liked it. Honestly. He even said he'd like to see more of Santa's Butt over the holidays.

[devildeac]

Beer #2 of the morning:

Santa's Butt-Ridgeway Brewing

From the bottle:

"This special holiday porter is made for winter - rich and warming, the way they like it at the North Pole. It was inspired by this famous line from a well-loved children’s storybook:

"And Santa sat on his great butt, enjoying a hardy brew..."

In case you find that amusing, the brewer hastens to point out that in England, "butt" refers to a certain sized barrel, in fact, holding 108 Imperial gallons. Back in the day it was quite a normal thing for a brewery to put its beer up in a large butt for storage. Still snickering, eh? Get your mind out of the gutter, or Santa will be skipping your house entirely this year."

From our lips:

Poured a thin, clear brown with roasted nutty aromas and tastes of the same with hints of unsweetened cocoa. Small tan head which lingered a bit longer than expected. I'd guess IBU about 30 and the ABV was 6%. This was a 500 ml bottle that several of us shared and found it to be a nice match with bagels, salmon and roasted potatoes. We just couldn't stop staring at the label however which depicted a very large Santa possessing a rather generous posterior parked upon about a 108 Imperial gallon barrel.

beer_40414.jpg

I just can't stress enough to folks though how much Ozzie, who is more of a lager and brown ale guy, was impressed with Santa's Butt.

(just kidding, Oz. Love ya, man!)

This is brewed by the same folks who bring you Bad/Very Bad/Seriously Bad/Criminally Bad/Insanely Bad Elf each Christmas/holiday season.

[devildeac]

Reviewed in order of consumption:

Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Ale-Rogue Brewing

Pass the pancakes! Poured a slightly cloudy amber with a prominent maple syrup aroma and a bit of smokiness. It is brewed with three smoked malts so the taste ended up being a bit different than the scents, though I thought there were some maple syrupy flavors on the palate. Bacon is used in the brewing process but I tasted none. We divided this over-priced $12 or $13 bomber about 5 ways and the general consensus was that it was a nice novelty beverage but none of us would seek it out again. IBU were about 40 and the ABV is about 6% so it was fine for a starter with bagels, doughnuts, an egg frittata, and other breakfast pastries.

Santa's Butt made an appearance next and Ozzie really liked it. Honestly. He even said he'd like to see more of Santa's Butt over the holidays.

Forgot to give credits on the two reviews so far. I'll take the blame for this one.

[devildeac]

Beer #2 of the morning:

Santa's Butt-Ridgeway Brewing

From the bottle:

"This special holiday porter is made for winter - rich and warming, the way they like it at the North Pole. It was inspired by this famous line from a well-loved children’s storybook:

"And Santa sat on his great butt, enjoying a hardy brew..."

In case you find that amusing, the brewer hastens to point out that in England, "butt" refers to a certain sized barrel, in fact, holding 108 Imperial gallons. Back in the day it was quite a normal thing for a brewery to put its beer up in a large butt for storage. Still snickering, eh? Get your mind out of the gutter, or Santa will be skipping your house entirely this year."

From our lips:

Poured a thin, clear brown with roasted nutty aromas and tastes of the same with hints of unsweetened cocoa. Small tan head which lingered a bit longer than expected. I'd guess IBU about 30 and the ABV was 6%. This was a 500 ml bottle that several of us shared and found it to be a nice match with bagels, salmon and roasted potatoes. We just couldn't stop staring at the label however which depicted a very large Santa possessing a rather generous posterior parked upon about a 108 Imperial gallon barrel.

beer_40414.jpg

I just can't stress enough to folks though how much Ozzie, who is more of a lager and brown ale guy, was impressed with Santa's Butt.

(just kidding, Oz. Love ya, man!)

This is brewed by the same folks who bring you Bad/Very Bad/Seriously Bad/Criminally Bad/Insanely Bad Elf each Christmas/holiday season.

August West made this selection.

[devildeac]

Big Bear-Bear Republic Brewing

The third beer of the morning was brought to you by CameronBornAndBred and was a nearly black pour with a creamy, tan head with the usual tastes of dark chocolate with a splash of coffee and molasses and aromas of the same. Kinda between a regular stout and imperial stout in body, IBU (55) and ABV at 8.1% but very smooth except for a trace of over-roasted black coffee. Once again, about 5 of us attacked this 22 ounce specimen.

Big-Bear-Black-22oz_small.JPG

[devildeac]

Let My People Go-Clown Shoes/Mercury Brewing

We took a step backward with this one. Not in quality but in color and ABV. This is an English pale ale so it was an orange-amber pour with scents of piney, resinous hops and moderate amounts of caramel malt. Mild bitterness, guessing IBU around 40 and the ABV is 6% so the balance matched well with breakfast/brunch fare. Worthy to include in a tasting session, especially to compare to other pale ales. The heavyweights are up next.

[duketaylor]

Let My People Go-Clown Shoes/Mercury Brewing

We took a step backward with this one. Not in quality but in color and ABV. This is an English pale ale so it was an orange-amber pour with scents of piney, resinous hops and moderate amounts of caramel malt. Mild bitterness, guessing IBU around 40 and the ABV is 6% so the balance matched well with breakfast/brunch fare. Worthy to include in a tasting session, especially to compare to other pale ales. The heavyweights are up next.

Has anyone out there tried/reviewed the AB Brewmasters' Project 12 beers? I bought a 12er tonight and will sample some as soon as it's cooled. My Duketaylor IPA has now been sampled by a few and has received solid reviews......so NOW I must put it in y'alls mouths and get critiqued in public

[fuse]

Has anyone out there tried/reviewed the AB Brewmasters' Project 12 beers? I bought a 12er tonight and will sample some as soon as it's cooled. My Duketaylor IPA has now been sampled by a few and has received solid reviews......so NOW I must put it in y'alls mouths and get critiqued in public

Eager to hear how you liked your IPA (and eager to try a sampel myself!).

I've heard of Project 12, but never seen anything on the shelf. My understanding is the upcoming "Budweiser Black" (and possible Michelob and other AB/InBev labels are getting the black treatement) is based off a Project 12 beer.

[duketaylor]

The Project 12 beers are all lagers brewed by current AB brewmasters across the states. Two of them I like more than the third-I tried one of each late last night. I'll expound further later. As for my own brew, I found it tasty and aromatic. Used 3 hops and 2 malts. I'll find a way to get it into North Carolina before Xmas!!

[devildeac]

The Project 12 beers are all lagers brewed by current AB brewmasters across the states. Two of them I like more than the third-I tried one of each late last night. I'll expound further later. As for my own brew, I found it tasty and aromatic. Used 3 hops and 2 malts. I'll find a way to get it into North Carolina before Xmas!!

Just as long as you don't sneak any budlite lime into my sampler pack. Looking forward to tasting 1 or 2.

[devildeac]

Double Bastard-Stone Brewing

This was graciously contributed bu dpslaw and greatly enjoyed by the usual suspects near the end of our tasting session. Here's an old review from 6/19/2009 plus I'll add a couple modifiers from this year's offering:

Stone Double Bastard. Another new one for me. This was my birthday beer on Wednesday and Thursday. At 10.5% ABV, a bomber was just too much for one evening. I guess this is best described as a traditional strong ale. These folks already make a barleywine so I don't think they duplicated it here. Keeping in the Stone tradition, this has a ton of hops in the nose and on the palate with lots of piney and sprucey tastes and no citrus. Dark caramel and toffee malts in a medium to dark brown pour. I'd guess the IBU's here are 90+. This would make a nice ale with a really spicy rub on pork, ribs or chicken off the grill or a night cap but not as a dessert beer. The second night wasn't much different than the first serving. It might be interesting to cellar one of these for a year and taste again.

Saturday's thoughts: Not much different to add except this year's ABV is a stunning 11.2% and the IBU may well be 100+ but the balance is well done. Some spicy sausage biscuits or Texas Pete laden tacos would be nice food pairings. One of the very few beers you'll see with 100 point ratings on ratebeer.

beer_11243.jpg

[devildeac]

The Dogfather-Laughing Dog Brewing.

(from 9/2012) The original. Licorice, blackstrap molasses, cappucino and mocha all in a nearly black imperial stout with a modest head. 7 malts, 4 hops with an ABV of 11% (only 10.85% on the bottle ) and the IBU are 71 which is a bit low for the style but still well hopped. Serve this at about 55-60 degrees and sip for a while. You could enjoy this with a savory brisket, a spicy bowl of chili or as dessert, with or without a scoop of vanila ice cream. Certainly worth a try at $8 for the bomber but AW's bottle was $9 from a small beer and wine shop in Derm not named Sam's.

The Dogfather 2012 (bourbon barrel aged)-Laughing Dog Brewing


(from 11/24/12) The offspring. Not too much to add to the above except the aging imparts some vanilla and woody notes to the aroma and taste and the bourbon element is rather subtle and manifests itself only near the end of a sip. I think this was $1-2 more for the bomber but it may well have been the same price so, if you see a bomber, add it to your cart and sip and savor now or save until this fall or winter.

Makes me sad there will be no more Brunchgates this year.

[devildeac]

LowRYEder IPA-Sweetwater Brewing

An interesting take on an IPA. 25% rye malt complemented with your usual barley malts make a slightly musty smell and taste balanced by the resinous notes of Mt. Hood and Centennial hops. Poured a pale orange-yellow with a modest head. IBU a bit low for an IPA at 45 but the ABV is pretty standard at 6.2%. Would make a nice beverage with sandwiches and grilled fare and would even stand up to some spicy foods. Rye beverages are not among my favorites and I would not seek this out but it made an interesting trader with one of the usual suspects.

beer_179502.jpg

[devildeac]

Our Special Ale-Anchor Brewing

After 38 years of brewing, this is still one of the better winter brews. It's basically a porter with a dark brown color and slightly cloudy appearance with aromas of cocoa and "spices." Each year is a different "secret" recipe and the varieties of hops, malts and spices are never revealed and I rarely can discern what the special additive/s are. This year, I think it's a blend of allspice and nutmeg but that's just a guess. I sniffed the usual suspects from our spice rack at home and still can't pinpoint the smells and tastes. Thick foamy head with the flavor becoming even more enjoyable as the beer warms. This would be good with fruit or spiced cakes or by itself. I'd guess the IBU about 30 and the ABV is listed at 5.5%. A classic certainly worth a 6er to savor a couple, trade a couple and save a couple for next winter to compare with the 39th edition. I received two of these as traders and thank dpslaw and my drug rep buddy for the bottles.

beer_52930.jpg

[bluebear]

Our Special Ale-Anchor Brewing

After 38 years of brewing, this is still one of the better winter brews. It's basically a porter with a dark brown color and slightly cloudy appearance with aromas of cocoa and "spices." Each year is a different "secret" recipe and the varieties of hops, malts and spices are never revealed and I rarely can discern what the special additive/s are. This year, I think it's a blend of allspice and nutmeg but that's just a guess. I sniffed the usual suspects from our spice rack at home and still can't pinpoint the smells and tastes. Thick foamy head with the flavor becoming even more enjoyable as the beer warms. This would be good with fruit or spiced cakes or by itself. I'd guess the IBU about 30 and the ABV is listed at 5.5%. A classic certainly worth a 6er to savor a couple, trade a couple and save a couple for next winter to compare with the 39th edition. I received two of these as traders and thank dpslaw and my drug rep buddy for the bottles.

beer_52930.jpg

Interesting article on this along with some potentially big news about next year..
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...3684_blog.html

[OldPhiKap]

dd and I were discussing the Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale off-thread. He has a fuller review up thread, but good stuff. Paired well with cooked blue hen from 2:00 to 4:00.

[devildeac]

dd and I were discussing the Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale off-thread. He has a fuller review up thread, but good stuff. Paired well with cooked blue hen from 2:00 to 4:00.

Was your hen roasted or grilled? I thought the pollo azul went well with turnovers, too. Oops, wrong thread.

[OldPhiKap]

Was your hen roasted or grilled? I thought the pollo azul went well with turnovers, too. Oops, wrong thread.

I prefer apple turnovers to hen turnovers on most days, but a few fowl flips this afternoon went well with -- what else -- Wild Turkey.