Originally Posted by
Tripping William
Sporks deserved, and sporks given.
Really, really crowded on a Tuesday evening (happy-hour'ish). That's a good sign. Great tap list. Half of it was for beers served at 45 degrees in temperature, and the other half was for ones served at 55 degrees. They claim a state-of-the-art gas blending system for their kegs that gives them "precise control over every beer."
I started out with Mikkeller's NEIPA (whose name I neglected to record) and some salt-and-pepper fries. Poured in a high-ball glass, it was a nice hazy color. Solid offering for the style, but nothing spectacular about it.
From there, I moved to Mikkeller's Monk's Brew, which is a Belgian-style strong ale. A very good, high-gravity beer at 10% ABV. Nice dark color, with some dark fruit and leather notes on the palate. An excellent rendition of one of my favorite styles, pairing well with the grass-fed beef burger I ordered.
The list of draft beers had a whole bunch of Alvinne offerings on it. I was torn between the Cuvee Mortagne, which is a Belgian quad aged in a bunch of different types of red wine barrels (Pomerol, St. Emilion, and Margaux) and the Kriek van Mortage, which is a sour wild ale with cherries aged in Pomerol barrels (making me think of Deshutes Dissident offering). My server convinced me to go with the Kriek, until moments later when he returned and apologized that all of the lines for the Alvinne kegs were being cleaned tonight, and therefore they had no Alvinne offerings available. Ouch.
It turned out okay, though, because I finished with a cask-conditioned version of Harviestoun's Old Dubh 10th Anniversary BA offering. This is a dark beer, from a Scottish brewery, aged two years in Highland Park Scotch barrels. It was awesome. The cask conditioning imparted a smoothness to it that was amazing, and the barrel aging gave it a nice boozy flavor. Think something like Backwoods Bastard, only better and cask-conditioned. The 8% ABV also seemed low to me, but I'm not complaining. It was a fantastic way to finish a meal.
Well done, Ymmm Beer (and tbyers in particular!).