Imperial Stout
Laurelwood Brewing, Portland, OR
8.6%abv, 22oz bottle
Pours black and opaque with a dark tan head
Aroma is coffee and lightly roasty.
Flavor is roast malt and some alcohol. Simple, but good.
Mouthfeel is moderately full and rich, but balanced and finishes fairly clean with substantial warmth.
A nice, simple American style imperial stout. Tasty.
Can't believe it's over!
And of course the last beer is Samichlaus. Maybe now I'll get around to drinking the one from last year...
Lambic brewed with apricots and aged in oak barrels
Brasserie Cantillon, Brussels, Belgium
5% abv, 750ml bottle
A rare and hard to get Belgian sour beer. This is pretty much perfect -- super sour, very dry, only subtle hints of fruit and oak that blend perfectly and don't overpower the underlying lambic.
Yum!
...have been seen in the vicinity stealing beer and martinis. Keep an eye on your alcohol!
The Great Imperial Stout -- Beer Advent day 18
De Regenboog brewery, Brugge, Belgium
11.2oz bottle, 10%abv
Pours clear and dark brown -- not black as expected -- with a moderate tan head.
Flavor is rich and roasty with lots of nutty hints. A tiny bit of Belgian funk is apparent as well, but a very mild amount. Some alcohol is also noted. While it's a flavorful beer, its very different and considerably lighter than most imperial stouts I've ever had, and much more so than traditional American ones.
Mouthfeel is well balanced. Warming, but with a crisp hint of bitterness and a bit of astringency.
Different than expected, but very, very nice.
Deschutes Dissident
This has a "best after" date of 8/20/2013 so goes straight to the cellar.
(This was beer advent day 9)
Barrel aged imperial special bitter
Firestone Walker Brewing, Paso Robles, CA
22oz bottle, 12%abv
Pours dark amber with a small amount of white head.
Aroma is light chocolate and toffee -- very much like Almond Roca. Some alcohol as well. Quite nice.
Flavor is similar -- rich, malty, with toffee/chocolate notes. Balanced, not too sweet. A hint of alcohol, but not overpowering. A little wood and vanilla from the barrel.Really, really good.
Mouthfeel is rich without being too big. Good alcohol heat, but not enough to be overpowering. Finish is a little sweet, but still balanced.
This is how a big malty beer should be. The recent Avery and North Coast offerings are pretty awful in comparison.
Just a quick update whit some final thoughts while last night's great meal is still fairly fresh in my mind:
Overall another great event put on by great people. Thanks Joel, Nick, Kristen, Drew and everybody else involved in organizing, preparing and serving such a great meal.
De Ranke Pere Noel
Gouden Carolus Noel
English Stilton and Willamette Valley gouda cheese.
This was beer advent day 14
Oak aged ale
Avery brewing, Boulder Colorado
14.9% abv, 12 oz bottle
Pours brown, cloudy, with a tiny head.
Aroma is alcohol, port/sherry like oxidation, and kind of a weird date-like fruit thing with a hint of unpleasant vegetation.
Flavor is too sweet, with big notes of raisins. Very remniscent of prune juice.
Mouthfeel is thick and super sweet, but finishes with a bit of bitterness that helps a little.
Overall not something I like at all. Maybe 5 more years in the bottle would help, but I'm not particularly optimistic. Disappointing, since I've had aged Avery beers that were great.
Stopped by the brew shop for a vintage holiday ale tasting today, and this group of "carolers" (the community band) showed up:
Samael's oak aged ale, 2007 vintage.
Looking forward to this one -- a properly aged 14.7% beer...
(today's advent beer)
English ale
Boulevard Brewing (Kansas City, MO) and Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project (Somerville, MA ) collaboration
750ml bottle, 8.5%abv
Pours dark brown with a thick lingering tan head.
Aroma is malty and rich with lots of complex spicy chocolate and toffee notes. A slight hint of alcohol as well.
Flavor is likewise malty and rich, but balanced. Definitely all about the malt. A teensy bit of pleasant sourness too.
Mouthfeel is medium and surprisingly crisp and sharp with a really nice balance. Clean slightly bitter finish with a moderate lingering astringency.
Really, really nice beer. Super tasty.
Ale brewed with molasses, lemon peel, and peach juice -- with brettanomyces.
New Belgium Brewing, Lips Of Faith series
22oz bottle, 9.4%abv
Pours golden with a white head that fades quickly.
Aroma is light malt and sour fruit. Quite mild.
Flavor is a bit more complex than the aroma. An initial hit of malt, followed immediately by some sourness, a tiny hint of fruit, and some great brett funk. Not really sensing much molasses.
Mouthfeel is medium light and creamy. Finishes cleanly with good bitterness and a small amount of warmth that is deceptive considering the strength.
Nice beer -- I'm consistently impressed with the "Eric's Ale" and "Lips Of Faith" beers from New Belgium. With that said, I'm very disappointed that their "Fat Tire" has given so many people a terrible impression of what Belgian beer is. C'mon guys, just make good beer all the time!
This was Advent day 6
Old Stock Ale, 2009 vintage
North Coast Brewing, Fort Bragg, CA
12.5%abv, 12oz bottle
Pours brown and cloudy with essentially no head.
Aroma is sweet malt and lots of alcohol.
Flavor is sweet malt with some light roasted character and significant alcohol.
Mouthfeel is thick and very rich with lots of heat from alcohol. There is a good hit of bitterness in the finish to help the balance, but it still finishes a bit on the sweet side.
Overall I'd like this to be a bit more balanced, but it's still a decent beer.
Update: I let this warm up for quite a while to see if it changed at all. It cleared up, but the flavor didn't change much. Really not something I like -- needs more carbonation and/or hops or something. Too sweet for me. I mixed the last few ounces with a bit of my standard draft English brown ale, and that was a pretty yummy combo.
There's a tree inside the house for some reason. Weird. Solstice must be coming up soon or something.
Along with the Advent calendar, my beer-of-the-month club this month is pretty great: the last six years of Stone's Vertical Epic series. I should probably hang on to these for a while and have a tasting of all of them with friends. We'll see...
Belgian Raspberry Stout
Elysian Brewing, Seattle, WA
22oz bottle, 7.2%abv
Pours black with a lingering tan head.
Aroma is roast malt and light raspberries.
Flavor is balanced -- berries are present but not overpowering. There is a bit of Belgian yeast funk as well, and that's a good thing.
Mouthfeel is dry and clean with balanced bitterness and a mild roasty astringency.
A really, really nice beer.
Block 15 usually sells out of their bottle releases instantly, so it is extra cool to get one! Looking forward to trying this one.
Advent day 1.
Avery Brewing Company, Boulder, Colorado
12 oz bottle, 8.3%abv
Pours dark brown and clear with little head.
Aroma is rich and malty with some yeasty/bready notes.
Flavor is also malty, but with a great spiciness and a nice hop balance.
Mouthfeel is medium-thick with some warmth. A lingering astringency and moderate bitterness balance out the finish.
A darn good way to start the calendar.
Since we were in Vegas, I missed the start of Advent. Here are the first two beers. Tasting notes for these later this week...
The race is over, time for booze! Vegas still offers nothing in the way of real beer, but a Tanqueray martini or three will do in a pinch.
Or rather "a suite" -- after spending a couple nights with friends, we just checked into our 27th floor spa suite at MGM. The newly redesigned rooms are very nice.
Ale with apricots and peppers.
Burnside Brewing, Portland, OR
22oz bottle, 4.9%abv
Pours cloudy with little head. Aroma is light malt and some spice.
And that's as far as we get because it tastes like burning. With a side of flame. And some more burning.
Why people insist on putting peppers in beer, I will never understand. Do. Not. Want.
(Note that I would not have voluntarily purchased a beer like this, it was included in my beer-of-the-month case. Down the drain it goes.)
Imperial stout
Epic Brewing, Salt Lake City, Utah
22oz bottle, 11%abv
This delightfully named strong beer from Mitt "I'm a big stupid shitheaded loser" Romney's state pours black with a lingering tan head.
Aroma is chocolate and roast malt.
Flavor is espresso, dark chocolate and alcohol.
Mouthfeel is surprisingly thin, but almost hot with alcohol in the finish. Some lingering bitterness and astringency shows as well.
Overall a tasty big stout. Or is that a big tasty stout? Regardless, I prefer this one over the Narwhal reviewed recently.
It's that wonderful time of the year, and once again Tracie comes through with the perfect Xmas gift!
Thanks Trace!
The calendar officially starts on Sunday the 2nd, but with only 23 days in advent this year there's a bonus beer in there too. Stay tuned for the usual beer posts soon...
Imperial Stout
Sierra Nevada Brewing, Chico, CA
10.2%abv, 12oz bottle
Pours black and thick with a small amount of brown head that doesn't last long.
Aroma is bitter chocolate with hints of coffee.
Flavor is rich with lots of dark chocolate, coffee and some alcohol warmth.
Mouthfeel is initially creamy and warm with an astringency that comes in later. Finishes clean and dry with a solid lingering bitterness.
Very tasty.
