Grabbed this bottle in preparations for a #gents night out. It ‘accidentally’ got left at home.
Brewery Home: San Diego County, USA
Serving Style: Bomber into pint glass
Beer Style: (Double) stout
Appearance: Dark tan head that smoothed out into a nice thin layer of strong bubbles. Great lacing. The body is opaque. Black.
Aroma: Maybe a little thin when I first poured but as the beer warmed it became wonderfully rich roasts and chocolate. Hints of fruity esters round out the satin-like malt profile (recognize it from my homebrew!). Don’t know if this makes sense but there is almost a big chocolate or coffee wave hidden under the big ‘charcoal’ roasts.
Taste: Excellent excellent mouthfeel. The body is smooth with like bites of carbonation, it feels like the darkness just coats your tongue. The aftertaste is dry, roasty and just the way I like it. As Jenny put it “this one doesn’t taste like soy sauce!” I think she means that this one does not have the high residual sugars that can sometimes mix with the roast to give an almost meaty, salty flavor (although I did get this in the aroma at the bottom of a glass). The dark malts are balanced with clean Target hops and some alcohol bite that all together make a great sip start to finish. Absolutely sublime. Favorite.
ABV: 8.8%
Drink one or all?: One.
Cost: $8/bomber (?)
Overall: 19/20
You feel it coming. It’s so close. October; perhaps the most metal month ever. I am getting a very early (but seasonally acceptable) start with this bomber from one of Beertastic’s favorite breweries, Three Floyds. 
Brewery Home: Munster, Indiana
Serving Style: Bomber into pint glass into my belly
Beer Style: Oktoberfest
Appearance: Minimal white head. The body is a rich golden yellow that’s somewhat hazy.
Aroma: Big, bready pilsner malts in a lovely duet with light, clean noble hops. Sweet finish with maybe a hint of tarty green apple esters. Three Floyds again delivers a big beautiful nose.
Taste: Somewhat sharp carbonation. Flavor begins grassy and hay-like with undertones of dark fruits and caramelized sugars. Rounds off into an almost corn bread finish (lightly sulfury as it warms?). Aftertaste is well rounded and somewhat sweet – as the beer warms it becomes much more grassy. Not one of their more ‘crazy’ brews but nonetheless very easy and enjoyable drinking. Jenny really likes it, maybe even more than I do.
ABV: 6.0%
Drink one or all?: Hurray for bombers
Cost: $8/bomber (?)
Overall: 16/20
Again, it’s been a while. Not that we haven’t been drinking, we’ve just been busy or under/not employed. I was lucky enough to find full time employment beginning last week so I hope to return to more timely posting. This post brings us to the beginning of Fall 2009 so expect more spicy, dark seasonals to follow. It’s definitely our second favorite time of the year (hard to top beers in the pool during the summer).
Brewery Home: Madison, Wisconsin
Serving Style: 12oz into pint glass
Beer Style: Doppelbock
Appearance: Poors with an off-white head that subsides quickly back into the body; foam grips tightly to the side of the glass. The beer itself is copper brown with hints of lighter yellows and oranges around the edges if held up to the light.
Aroma: Rich roasted malty sweetness (some butterscotch or molasses maybe?) with a backbone of noble hop spice. Malts are lightly roasted with big German tones that end almost sourdoughy.
Taste: Big and bold on the tongue. The alcohol is apparent but works well with the spice/hop profile to deliver a lively bite (it almost climbs up my nose!) that settles into a sweet, bready maltastic finish. Smooth mouthfeel – but not overly syrupy – low carbonation. I must emphasize the nice blend of seasonal spice that makes this a near perfect fall beer; the ABV puts a smile on your face right quick too. Lovely profile even as the beer warms too (or as it warms you).
ABV: 7.8%
Drink one or all?: A bottle or two will do you good.
Cost: $10/sixer
Overall: 18/20
Whew! Where have we been?! It’s been a little lull here at Beertastic (some of us maybe have forgotten to post, others have been busy) but regardless we are back with an onslaught of posts. This is a little number I picked up on a good-beer-run with Jim last weekend (hence the following rapid-fire reviews) but ran out of time to drink. This one has again reassured my love affair with Sierra Nevada.
Brewery Home: Chico, CA
Serving Style: Bomber into pint glass
Beer Style: American Pale Ale
Appearance: A dark amber gold or copper, maybe just slightly cloudy. Exceptionally strong off-white head with spiderman-like lacing! I really must again emphasize how beautiful the head is; it billows up creamy and then sticks around clinging to the sides for dear life, leaving rings as you suck it down. Awesome.
Aroma: Woah! A medium but intriguingly spicy aroma. Curious hop spice that I am going to attribute to the wet hopping. Strong citrus-like or spice notes (maybe a hint of pine/sprucetips?) with a light malt in the background. Not as strong as I imagined, but nonetheless a captivating aroma character.
Taste: Dry and well bittered with a sweet malty backbone. I don’t mean to oversimplify the flavor but that last sentence is a good general overview. The hops bring a spicy and earthy charge at the beginning of the sip with the sweet malts peaking out slightly before a clean, dry finish. The mouthfeel is crisp-to-creamy, what a delight. Similar to the aroma, the hop character does seem to have some unique characteristics I have not detected in other pale ales/ipas but the overall profile is smooth and well balanced.
ABV: 6.7%
Drink one or all?: One bomber will definitely make you smile.
Cost: $8?
Overall: 17/20 Ahhhhh this brewery rocks.
Jim and I (Andy) had a whole night of rapid fire reviews drinking great beers. And here they are.
Brewery Home: New York
Serving Style: Bomber into pint glasses
Beer Style: American Barleywine
Appearance: Copper/amber with ‘rustic’ white small head.
Aroma: Rich malty sweetness with alcohol hotness. Some fruity/apple/citrus highlights. Well balanced and hoppy in the backend.
Taste: Malty and sweet with the alcohol bite bleeding through. The malty-ness is nicely complex and the hops give a clean ending. For me (Andy), almost too ‘drinkable’ for a barleywine – more like barelywine!
ABV: 10%
Drink one or all?: One.
Cost: $8?
Overall: 15/20 Good.
Editor: This was a review done on the night of our Dark Lord tasting that somehow never got posted, until now. “BLACK SUN WHAT!?!?!?!” The intensity is strong here in Adam’s basement.
Brewery Home: Munster, Indiana
Serving Style: 650 mL into many tasters
Beer Style: American Stout
Appearance: Thick blackness with creaming dark head. For those that have experienceddddd, it is remarkably close to Dark Lord, maybe slightly more carbonated. Significant carbonation…Andy is totally wrong. Lacing sticks around like one of B’s GFs.
Aroma: The immediate notes are of fruity (raspberry) dark chocolate. It ends with roasted coffee, light and estery notes. Kevin/Brian: “very sugary, almost a brown sugar or molasses.” The fruits join up with the HUGE American hops and smack you across the face. “Can we drink yet?!?”
Taste: WOAH. Hops are huge in the front and then it fades into a massively dry stout. Creamy, dry and roasted. HOPS ARE HUGE. Very well balanced (not bitter) hops that strike in the beginning with a finishing (Kevin) “coffee bitter…not a strong aftertaste”. Andy: “it fades from a hoppy D-Day front into massive dry stout…woah. love this.” It tells a wonderful story in each sip; it’s a color progression.
ABV: 5.25%
Drink one or all?: One 650mL bottle will make you a happy man/woman
Cost: $9/bottle
Overall: (I can’t get everyone’s individual scores, here is who yelled the loudest) 17+/20
