Ymm, Beer

[devildeac]

You're through about 6 of 11(?).

Some pretty good notes from memory.

I tasted 8/11, not sampling either c*rolina Mountain Monster as I'd had the 2015 and 2016 previously, though I was really tempted to have a couple ounces of each, just because. No Wig Splitter either for the above mentioned reason in a prior post . Still have the Symzonia and Speedway that I'm pondering and will post about after a walk and a pear cider tonight.

That was a helluva lotta fun last evening.

[devildeac]

From 11/4/16:

Speedway Stout (draft)-Alesmith Brewing Company

Almost pitch black, thick/viscous. Coffee and dark chocolate scents. Espresso, toasted pumpernickel, semi-sweet chocolate, dark caramel, dried dark fruits, moderate alcohol burn, oily and chewy flavors and sensations that intensified as my $5 half pint warmed over 20-30 minutes. IBUs 70 and ABV 12%. Forget dessert. Well, maybe a small triple chocolate brownie square would be good with this . I'm glad ricks68 didn't want the second 750 ml corked and caged bottle I bought today in his holiday gift pack .

From last PM:

Speedway Stout (750 ml bottle)-Alesmith Brewing Company

Midnight. Dark, dark roast Vietnamese coffee-almost burnt. Melted Ghirardelli dark chocolate morsels. Alcohol heat. This was ricks68's bottle he didn't want .
I still have another bottle. Thinking it'll be part of a coffee-imperial stout tasting in a couple weeks.

[devildeac]

And, the final sample for me on the night:

Symzonia-Omnipollo Brewing Company (Denmark) or is it Crazy Mountain Brewing Company (Edwards, CO)?

Flourless, chocolate spiced/winter cake with a large, stiff cup of cappuchino!

A potent, thick, chewy, viscous pour with seductive scents and alluring tastes of Ethiopian coffee, Madagascar vanilla, Brazilian cocoa nibs and cinnamon (no country of origin listed). I'll guess IBUs about 70 and the ABV was a stunning 13%. The only thing this concoction was missing was 90-180 days in an old bourbon barrel but honestly, was incredibly smooth and sippable without any barrel aging. Round up the usual suspects for dessert pairings or, serve alone, near room temperature in a snifter.

[devildeac]

First annual (?) Naughty or Nice party.

Great crowd/company, lots of fun.

Three Floyds Wig Splitter Coffee Stout may have been the surprise best in show.

Appearances by:

2016/15/14 Mother Earth Silent Night
2016/15 Brueprint Midnight Brue
2016/15 ABV Carolina Mountain Monster
2016 RBC The Toll
3F Wig Splitter
Speedway Stout


and maybe some other beers here and there.

Quite a holiday bash!

Now, for the credits:

Silent Night-all 3-fuse
Midnight Brue-both-fuse-I think
Mountain Monster-fuse, via devildeac, via ricks68
The Toll-fuse
Wig Splitter-fuse, via devildeac's Midwest Beer Odyssey
Speedway-yours truly after ricks68's "refusal"
Symzonia-Joe, friend/?neighbor of fuse

What a line-up!

And, once again, a huge thanks and tilt of the snifter to fuse and the charming/vivacious LoveNinja for hosting the event and including us on the guest list.

[duketaylor]

Tony Romo will play very soon, IMO. Dallas' offense is bogged down in a bad way. I know this appears a strange thing, just a feeling as I'm a longtime fan,

[luburch]

Picked up a six-pack of Zombie Dust and Space Station Middle Finger over the weekend. Never had ZD from the bottle, so I'm excited to see how it compares to the draft version. Middle Finger was a fine selection as well.

[devildeac]

Tony Romo will play very soon, IMO. Dallas' offense is bogged down in a bad way. I know this appears a strange thing, just a feeling as I'm a longtime fan,

Yea, but did you make a visit to Hardywood recently?

[devildeac]

Picked up a six-pack of Zombie Dust and Space Station Middle Finger over the weekend. Never had ZD from the bottle, so I'm excited to see how it compares to the draft version. Middle Finger was a fine selection as well.

Never had Zombie Dust bottle or draft. I had Space Station Middle Finger last summer after ricks68 brought back a couple bombers from In The Annapolis after the 2015 National Championship. Very tasty.

[ricks68]

Unfortunately, this year's Mountain Monster is even better than last year's. I say that because I have been drinking it at ABC on draft and it is more than wonderful. But, because I waited too long to get it in bombers, there is no more available for me to obtain for a Durham beer delivery. Drats!

ricks

[devildeac]

Unfortunately, this year's Mountain Monster is even better than last year's. I say that because I have been drinking it at ABC on draft and it is more than wonderful. But, because I waited too long to get it in bombers, there is no more available for me to obtain for a Durham beer delivery. Drats!

ricks

Can this poster's status be changed from Member to On Holiday?

[fuse]

Wicked Weed Metatropics

And now for something completely different...

Brett with tropical fruit

Smells of orange, mango, peach, and pineapple.

Really tart and sharp up front with a delightfully fruity finish.
Quite a bit of fruit salad, and a good thing at that.

Really tasty!

[fuse]

Unfortunately, this year's Mountain Monster is even better than last year's. I say that because I have been drinking it at ABC on draft and it is more than wonderful. But, because I waited too long to get it in bombers, there is no more available for me to obtain for a Durham beer delivery. Drats!

ricks

While I would not say either were bad, Carolina Mountain Monster didn't stand up to the other stouts.

I was particularly impressed with RBC The Toll, and the Brueprint offerings. The good news is all 11 stouts were an embarrassment of riches. Not a bad one in the bunch.

[Tripping William]

While I would not say either were bad, Carolina Mountain Monster didn't stand up to the other stouts.

I was particularly impressed with RBC The Toll, and the Brueprint offerings. The good news is all 11 stouts were an embarrassment of riches. Not a bad one in the bunch.

Sounds like K's recent recruiting...

[devildeac]

Orchard's Edge Knotty Pear-Angry Orchard Cider Company, An Affiliate of the Boston Beer Company

For a brief respite from the stoutfest, I found this as a leftover in the fridge from some guests and shared 3 ounces of it with Mrs. dd who found it tasty but wasn't interested in any more . Basically, a pear cider with some cardamom aged on white oak. Poured a very light straw color with no head. Aromas of pears and apples (d'oh!) with a hint of spice (mint?) from the cardamom and a bit of vanilla from the oak aging. No IBUs cuz it ain't beer . ABV of 6.5%. Less sweet than the other (limited numbers of) ciders I've tried but don't think I'll become a fan. What to do with the other 2 bottles? Not worthy of a drain pour. Perhaps they'll be gifted over the Christmas holiday to some unsuspecting family member .

[devildeac]

Bonfire Blonde-The Boston Beer Company

Another leftover in the fridge from some guests. This is actually part of the SA Winter Sampler 12 pack that I considered buying.

Like drinking gouda cheese or a smoked turkey sandwich .

This is a smoked blonde ale, not a smokin' hot blonde however. Pour was a light, sunshine hue with a small head. Aromas reminiscent of standing next to the grill a bit too long at a tailgate while the TrueBlue'CueCrew finished off their smoking of several turkeys this past season. Tastes like described above. I'll guess IBUs around 10 and the ABV on the bottle is 5.5%. Pair with some deli meat and cheese sammiches or a Philly roast pork special on a Kaiser roll and some spicy brown mustard. An interesting side-by-side would be this and the classic German smoke bier, Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier. Not one I'd re-visit but happy to have tasted it.

[devildeac]

From 11/21/14:

Cold Mountain Winter Ale-Highland Brewing Company

Many thanks to ricks 68 for standing in line at the brewery on release date last week to procure 6 bottles of this for me, donating 3 more to the Saturday Brunchgate and finding any additional hour or three for consuming several samples of brewery-release only iterations of this. Poured a clear ruby-tinged dark brown with a somewhat small fizzy head. Aromas of vanilla and nuts with well-blended tastes of the same accompanied by a bit of brown sugar, toffee and baking spices. I couldn't place the other tastes as a shared a 12 ounce bottle with my younger daughter Wednesday night but the label also lists raspberry and cranberry extracts along with cinnamon. Grains are 2-Row Brewers Malt, Pilsen, Vienna, Chocolate, Wheat, Caramel 40, Caramel 60 with the hops being Cascade and Mount Hood, IBUs listed at 28 and ABV is 5.2%. The bitterness is minimal as I'd expect from this style but the ABV is a bit low for a winter warmer ale. A very flavorful concoction that should be sought out if known to be available in your area.

From 2/12/16:

Cold Mountain Winter Ale (filled 11/5/14):

Ricks68 was kind enough to save one of these from last year to accompany the delivery of the 2015 version last weekend so I could side-by-side them last PM.

I liked this one better than the current edition. I thought the hazelnut flavor was a bit more prominent last PM followed closely by cinnamon and dark berries. The vanilla was less pronounced to me after 15 months of storage and the beer was still quite quaffable.

From tonight:

Cold Mountain Winter Ale-Highland Brewing Company

I think this one "turned." Lighter brown that 10 months ago and a somewhat "off" taste. Still hazelnutty with some vanilla and cinnamon but the berries are pretty much all gone. There was a bit of chunk in the last 10-15 ml, too.

I'm still grateful to August West for saving/finding this bottle for me (I think fuse got one, too.) but a year of aging for this beer is probably the limit.

[ricks68]

From 11/21/14:

Cold Mountain Winter Ale-Highland Brewing Company

Many thanks to ricks 68 for standing in line at the brewery on release date last week to procure 6 bottles of this for me, donating 3 more to the Saturday Brunchgate and finding any additional hour or three for consuming several samples of brewery-release only iterations of this. Poured a clear ruby-tinged dark brown with a somewhat small fizzy head. Aromas of vanilla and nuts with well-blended tastes of the same accompanied by a bit of brown sugar, toffee and baking spices. I couldn't place the other tastes as a shared a 12 ounce bottle with my younger daughter Wednesday night but the label also lists raspberry and cranberry extracts along with cinnamon. Grains are 2-Row Brewers Malt, Pilsen, Vienna, Chocolate, Wheat, Caramel 40, Caramel 60 with the hops being Cascade and Mount Hood, IBUs listed at 28 and ABV is 5.2%. The bitterness is minimal as I'd expect from this style but the ABV is a bit low for a winter warmer ale. A very flavorful concoction that should be sought out if known to be available in your area.

From 2/12/16:

Cold Mountain Winter Ale (filled 11/5/14):

Ricks68 was kind enough to save one of these from last year to accompany the delivery of the 2015 version last weekend so I could side-by-side them last PM.

I liked this one better than the current edition. I thought the hazelnut flavor was a bit more prominent last PM followed closely by cinnamon and dark berries. The vanilla was less pronounced to me after 15 months of storage and the beer was still quite quaffable.

From tonight:

Cold Mountain Winter Ale-Highland Brewing Company

I think this one "turned." Lighter brown that 10 months ago and a somewhat "off" taste. Still hazelnutty with some vanilla and cinnamon but the berries are pretty much all gone. There was a bit of chunk in the last 10-15 ml, too.

I'm still grateful to August West for saving/finding this bottle for me (I think fuse got one, too.) but a year of aging for this beer is probably the limit.

Well, I would venture that it was still better than this year's version. Yuk. And this year's version of Mountain Monster is much better than the past two years, and outperformed my last year's bottle of RBC's the Toll I had the other day. Again, sorry that I couldn't procure any for you guys. Now, I will have to go by ABC to see if any is left on draft before I drop by Burial for the Skillet that is finally out in draft over there.

ricks

[luburch]

I was able to break into the Zombie Dust last night. Not quite as good as it was on draft, but still wonderful. Surprisingly got better as it got a little warmer.

May try to find Alpha Klaus next since it is the season for it. Always an adventure tracking down 3 Floyd's.

[devildeac]

And the beers keep getting "bigger":

Victory Brewing Company

Java Cask

BA Imperial Stout w/ Coffee​ 14.3% ABV​

Pint: $8.00​ Half Pint: $4.00​

[mattman91]

I was able to break into the Zombie Dust last night. Not quite as good as it was on draft, but still wonderful. Surprisingly got better as it got a little warmer.

May try to find Alpha Klaus next since it is the season for it. Always an adventure tracking down 3 Floyd's.

I'd do anything to get my lips on one of those.