Schlafly Reserve - Imperial Stout Aged in Bourbon Barrels

Schlafly Reserve Imperial Stout Aged in Bourbon Barrels

When popping open this 750 mL bottle, I can smell a faint bourbon aroma. While the beer is still in the bottle I don't get a strong aroma coming from the bottle; it's subdued, yet quite pleasing. Pouring this imperial stout into my glass I see a brown colour (which surprised me) and doesn't look viscous. I think imperial stouts should look like motor oil when pouring, but we'll see how this lives up. There was a time tan head when I poured, but it quickly dissipated into a ring. It appears like there is a fair amount of carbonation as well. The nose out of the glass is almost identical to the nose inside the bottle; there is a slight bourbon character with a bit of roastiness sneaking through. The bourbon is the most prominent aroma by far though.

Remember when I said the beer didn't look thick? Well the first thing that I noticed when taking a sip was a thick and creamy mouthfeel. It's thick, but the carbonation level is enough to make the beer not feel like a syrup. It's flavour is pretty much what you'd expect in a bourbon barrel aged imperial stout; lots of vanilla, oaky woody notes mixed with a roasted character to end. The bitterness comes from the the roasted character the most, which I wasn't expecting because of the bourbon. The flavour of the beer is pretty one dimensional. I was expecting loads of flavours mixed together to make something complex, but it's like a bourbon stout rather than a bourbon imperial stout. At 10.5% I get hints of alcohol that linger on my tongue with the roasted malts, but nothing that isn't pleasing. One thing that is a plus is that the bourbon character is at the perfect level. Where are the chocolate malts or the coffee tones? It's just bourbon, vanilla, woody, then a roasted character. That's it.

The mouthfeel seems to become more aqueous the more I sip on this, but I think it's mostly from the carbonation. Yes this beer is drinkable, but I don't really want a drinkable bourbon aged imperial stout. I want something that bold, complex, and mind numbingly difficult to put words to all the flavours I'm experiencing. I'd say it's just a really well done balanced imperial stout, yet nothing I'd go out of my way to obtain. If you like imperial stouts, then check this out; otherwise, it's not worth the money. You won't be blown away.

B or B+.

Sam Adams Noble Pils [USA]

When opening the beer I get a nice spicy/floral hop aroma with a tad bit of grainy malts. A slight lemon note comes through from the hops as well. The balance from the malts and hops is pretty damn good. I like my pilsners to be more on the hoppy side like Victory Prima Pils and Oskar Blues Mama's Little Yella Pils. This one is definitely up there and quite pleasing to my nose. Sam Adams Noble Pils has a nice straw yellow colour and very very clear. The one disappointment is the lack of head. I poured the beer fairly vigorously, yet the one finger head dissipated faster than I would have liked. However, it looks like there will be a decent lacing to this. After the beer is poured, I get more of a grainy pils flavour coming through in the nose, but that could be because I'm used to the hop aroma already.

When sipping on this yellow fuzzy beer, I get a great balance between the hops and the malts. The malts are perfectly balanced with the hops to to give a crisp bready flavour mixed with a spicy/floral note. I don't get the lemon I smelled in the nose, but there is a slight fruitiness that I can't really pick up. The lager characteristics in the beer are slightly perceivable, but it's pretty much the same thing that Boston Lager has. It's not bad, per se, but something that diverts attention from the great balance. The hops in this beer are just juicy and tasty. I am surprised this has been released in the winter, because this would be absolutely perfect after a hot day or grilling in the summer. One of my favourite things about pilsners is the balance, but this isn't as balance as a Spaten Pils; however, this is better than the Spaten Pils because of this absolutely stunning hop character. As I'm writing this review the hop character shines through the entire time; sometimes with hooppy pilsners the grainy malt starts to comes through, but this is so well hopped that the different hop flavours shine at different times. For example, I wrote earlier that I got mostly floral/spicy notes, but now I'm starting to get and sweet fruity flavour, almost reminiscent of a fruity ester. This mixed with the malt sweetness is simply fantastic. This could possibly be the best Sam Adams beer I've had (excluding the American Pale Ale I had at a beer fest).

The head quickly dissipated after a few sips, and I didn't get much lacing (could have been my glass pint glass); I'm not going to fault the beer because of this, but I'd like to see a bit more head because it doesn't look as appealing as before. Taking a nice drink and the beer's mouthfeel is almost perfect. Enough to be light and refreshing, but creamy enough to make me want to have more sips.

How is the drinkability? It's pretty damn good. I could easily drink this all night and drink many. With the ABV that is probably around five (I couldn't find the exact number, but I've seen 5.2% around), this is a fantastic session beer. I will be purchasing another six pack!

This is an A beer, for sure.

Boulevard Saison-Brett

When I pour this beer into my glass, I get a huge while fluffy head with pretty good lacing. As I hold the glass to the light, I can see through the light copper/slightly orange coloured beer, but it’s slightly hazy. It’s probably from the yeast; there are a lot of small bubbles floating in the glass as well. However, the head has a lot of larger bubbles. Upon smelling the beer, I get the distinct saison notes. An estery floral note, which reminds me a little bit of a sweet orange, comes through at first, but then it’s immediately followed by a spicy/peppery phenol. I like the balance of the nose, especially because it’s more estery than spicy, but where’s the brett? I do not smell any brett, but perhaps the load of esters come form the brett more than the Belgian yeast strain. Anyways, I should probably have a sip instead of smelling it all evening.

Whoa. When taking a sip of this beer, I am completely surprised. There isn’t anything reminiscent of a Saison or a funky barnyard brett character. It’s almost as fruity as an IPA. I get a really sweet citrus note with a slight bit of a grapefruit initially, but then that evolves into a grainy, pilsner malt flavour. If I were drinking this as a blind test, I’d have no idea what style this beer was. There is also a slight bit of alcohol in here, but it probably comes through the beer is dry. The high amount of carbonation in the beer gives a slight acidic note which balances out the citric notes perfectly; its existence even washes the flavours off of your tongue before you have more time to figure out what the flavours are. Since the balance is almost perfect, it’s hard to even figure if there is anything more to the beer besides the fruity/estery flavours and grainy pilsner flavours.

With a fairly light mouthfeel (probably should say it’s aqueous), I’d say this beer is completely drinkable; even though there is a slight alcohol flavour, which I wouldn’t expect from a superior 8.5% abv beer, I don’t find it distracting at all. It’s something that can add to the experience of drinking a Belgian beer. Think about Westmalle Tripel for a perfect example. I really like this beer, and Boulevard Smokestack special limited releases have never ceased to amaze me. So far, I’ve had Saison-Brett, Bourbon Barrel Quad, and the Imperial Stout, and they are all great beers. Not too mention the main smoke stack beers are great as well.

Ommegeddon - Funkhouse Ale with Brettanomyces

I've come to really enjoy brett beers. Perhaps my favorite I've had so far was a combination of two beers, Avery/Russian River's Collaboration Not Litigation Ale. Ever since I've had that, I keep an eye out for the little guys. I've heard a lot about this beer from Ommegang, and as I love their Bière De Mars, I had high hopes for this self described 'funkhouse ale'.

It pours a hazy golden yellow with a big two-three finger head with wonderful retention and lacing that lasts the whole glass. The wild twists here are the brett yeast and a definite blast of dry hopping. It's more like a saison than a wild-brett ale, but an incredibly well made brew. As a big fan of Duchesse, Struisse and other sour ales, I have a higher tolerance for sours than most of my friends.

This is a a real farmhouse ale, cloudy, unfiltered and some barnyard funk in the nose—but the taste isn't as full-on sour as I'd have hoped. The bretts have certainly had time to warm up, too—this batch was bottled in March of 2008. The finish is of ginger and warming alcohol and a little bit of mild pear-like fruit. I bought two bottles hoping it to continue to get funkier with the second, bottle-in fermentation, but it's still not funky enough for my liking. Sweeter than you'd expect based on how they're marketing the brew. It's still tasty, though.

Sasion flavors dominate—spices, pepper, lemon—but not as complex or sour as I would have hoped. I love it, but I am still on search for the best American WIld Ales available here in the midwest. Please sound off and tell me what else to try!

I'd give this an A- overall. Mostly because I had built this up so much in my head, not so much that I didn't like if not downright love it. If it was $9/bottle or less, I would have this all the time. 8% ABV.

Victory Yakima Twilight Ale

This hop monster pours a deep mahogany with a nice, thick head that lingers throughout the session. At 8.9%, this is perhaps closest to an American Pale Ale but can be easily thought of as an American Strong Ale, too. A wonderful, powerful aroma of pine resin and citrus and caramel malts.

The taste is a yin and yang of sorts. A strong base of toffee and chocolate malts but, unsurprisingly, the hops dominate making this not a beer for the feint of heart. So wonderfully unbalanced you might think it to be a Dogfish product, big bitterness and solid mouthfeel make this a winner for me, though it's far from a session beer. This will no doubt come under criticism for not being balanced, but if you love your hops, you can't go wrong with Yakima Twilight, Victory's new Winter seasonal (Hop Wallop is now available year-round). I love the big malt character, but I'm a fan of black IPAs, which this isn't, but the malt profile makes it darn comparable to it in flavor profile. My only complaint is that I only brought a single six pack home to Iowa! I could go for a lot more of these as Winter settles in.

For those curious this has four whole flower Yakima Valley hops and a german malts.

Anchor Christmas Ale / Our Special Ale 2004 Vintage

I’d heard this beer ages well, and for that reason I have sixers dating back through 2006 in my cellar, but Blue Max in MN had individual bottles of 2004 for $2.29 (and 2005 for even less) and I couldn’t resist. The BeerAdvocate reviews led me to think it might be past its prime but it’s drinking mighty fine, with excellent head retention for such a vintage (it helps the brew was kept cold the whole time as per the cellar temp=drink temp golden rule). I was expecting head retention/carbonation to be poor based on recent tastings notes on BA but I had great success. The mouthfeel and flavor have really matured versus the fresher Anchor OSAs I’ve had. I get a lot of egg nog flavor, and the pine tree sap for which it’s best known seems to have taken a back seat (though very noticeable in the nose). The almost milk-like mouthfeel is silky smooth. I had thought three years would be about as long as you’d want to age this beer, as it’s even lower ABV than it’s more recent vintages (a mere 5.25) and while most readers realize this brew is an anomaly among aging craft beers, it really is drinking exceptionally well tonight and I’d urge those in the Twin Cities region to go pick up some bottles from Blue Max, the $2.29/bottle price is a worthwhile taste test. The roasted malt flavor in the middle is fantastic with chocolate, caramel and clove and finishing with plenty of spice and cinnamon. Very glad to have another bottle of those along with one of the 2005 and perhaps this tasting will encourage me to not drink all of my 2006 Anchors this season as I had planned to—I thought 2-3 years was the ideal cellar length for these, but apparently they can go far, far longer!

BTW, for those who haven’t tried it yet, I must say the 2009 Anchor Our Special Ale is a beauty, with the Monterey Cypress lending it its most up-front pine/tree sap flavor in years, easily my favorite I’ve had of the bunch. I need to buy a case or two of it to see how it cellars, but it’s far better than the recent vintages. They use a different tree each year.

Three Floyds - Alpha Klaus Xmas Porter

When pouring this beer, all I see is a pitch black liquid with a off white/slightly tan head. Not much of a head on the beer, but looks fine for a porter.

When I take a whiff of this beer, I get a huge layer of spicy/resiny hops that eventually fade to the background which let a roasty/chocolate nose shine through. The balance of the roasty/hoppy smell is great. I really enjoy the beer, and you will too if you're a hophead. I think the beer would be fairly solid without the hoppiness, but I don't think it'd be as special.

After taking a few sips I can mostly taste a piney/citrus flavour that is slightly upfront, but the malty sweetness is there in the background. I get some roasted notes and some black patent notes, but the flavour in this is almost entirely spicy/resiny hops. If I didn't know it was 'supposed to be a porter' I'd call this a weak Black IPA. The more I drink the beer, the more roastiness and black patent but it's very subtle. I don't get any chocolate that I got in the nose, but that's okay. I bet if you let this beer age about 5 months it'd be a fantastic beer for people that don't love hops as much as me.

The more I taste this beer, the more I see that Three Floyds really know how to hop a beer. They do it enough to have a great balance and superb flavour. Alpha Klaus is really no different.

The mouthfeel is thing and carbonated. The spiciness coupled with the acidic carbonation really help the overall sensation of the beer. I'd say this has everything you'd expect from a porter. Aqueous mouthfeel but full flavoured. It's like a stout, but I could drink as many as my alcohol tolerance would let me.

Rating: A