Oskar Blues Deviant Dale's IPA

I went to Al’s of Hampden on a Friday night with some friends and I ordered a glass of Oskar Blues Deviant Dale’s IPA. The beer pours an amber color with a frothy white colored head. The aroma consists of pine, resin, skunk (the animal), sticky oil, and lemon. The taste is sticky and bitter with lots of hop oils and resins, lemon, orange, and a peppery dry finish. The alcohol content is 8.0% ABV. I thought this was a really good beer and I would go back to this in a heartbeat. For comparison, my buddy ordered the cask version of this beer, and I thought the cask killed the bitterness and hid the resinous nature of the beer, so I’d recommend sticking with the original.

Southern Tier 2X Stout

Another beer I ordered at Al’s of Hampden on a recent visit was the Southern Tier 2X Stout. The beer pours a black color with a bubbly tan head. The the aroma consists of milk chocolate, lactose, toasted malts, caramel, and vanilla. The taste is smooth with dry and bitter chocolate, hints of milk chocolate, lactose, and a toasted malt finish. The alcohol content is 7.5% ABV. This was a decent beer and it fits well within the Southern Tier stout family, as it is on the sweet side. However, I expected it to be sweeter, as it is a milk stout.

Samuel Adams Thirteenth Hour Stout

I picked up a bottle of Samuel Adams Thirteenth Hour Stout from DiCicco’s in New York and opened to share with some buddies. The beer pours a black color with a frothy beige colored head that barely leaves any lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of chocolate, raisins, oak, coffee, nutmeg, and cinnamon. The taste is chocolaty and thick with plenty of coffee notes on the front end. There are cherry, raisin, and fig flavors that come through before a spicy nutmeg and cinnamon finish. Oak and rum peeks out in the finish and dries out the mouth a little bit. The alcohol content is 9.0% ABV. This is a nice quiet and mellow stout that doesn’t scream with any flavors, but all are nicely balanced. The spiciness in here are quite interesting, but very enjoyable.

Upright Brewing Five

As part of my March shipment from the Michael Jackson Rare Beer of the Month Club, I received a bottle of Upright Brewing Five. This was my first beer from this brewery, so I was excited to try it. The beer pours a an orange-tinted golden color with a lofty and frothy white head that leaves a nice patterned lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of grass, lemon, funk, pine, orange, and tangerine. The taste is hoppy and bitter with a strong injection of citrus flavors including tangerine, orange, and lemon. A light body sits behind the hops and has a bit of caramel flavors. On the finish, plenty of pepper and grass complement the beer, and some toffee is left behind on the tongue. The alcohol content is 5.5% ABV. I enjoyed this beer as a hopped up version of a farmhouse ale, as it brought along some funk and grassy flavors, but really drove home the citrus flavors.

Clown Shoes Supa Hero India Pale Ale

I picked up a bottle of Clown Shoes Supa Hero India Pale Ale from Al’s of Hampden. The beer pours an amber color with a lofty and frothy off-white colored head that leaves plenty of lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of tangerine, orange, grapefruit, passion fruit, and pepper. The taste is bitter and dry with lots of citrus flavors including tangerine, grapefruit, passion fruit, and orange. An undertone of caramel peeks through before plenty of pepper and lemon hops come out on the finish with some hop oils that leaves some film on the tongue. The alcohol content is 8.0% ABV. This was solid dry and citrusy IPA with a nice bitterness and hop oils presence. I was quite impressed with this as an IPA and would definitely drink it again.

Schlafly Biere de Garde

My buddy Matt opened a bottle of Schlafly Biere de Garde while I was at his house. The beer pours a beautiful amber color with a bubbly off-white colored head. The aroma consists of caramel, toffee, grass, earth, dew, and butterscotch. The taste is dry and grassy with a dew-like flavor. Toffee, caramel, and butterscotch come out in force with this beer and give it some sweetness. The finish leaves a bit of earthiness behind. The alcohol content is 7.0% ABV. I liked the sweet flavors in this beer, but they were also the reason I didn’t love it. They were great but a little too present for me in a Biere de Garde.

Dogfish Head 75 Minute IPA (2012 Bottle)

I picked up a bottle of Dogfish Head 75 Minute IPA from DiCicco’s in New York. The beer pours a golden color with an extremely lofty and frothy white head that leaves some lacing on the glass. I was extremely surprised at the amount of head associated with this beer, having had both the blended 75 Minute IPA and the draft-only brewed 75 Minute IPA before. The aroma consists of caramel, lemon, pine, tangerine, and orange. There is lots of bitterness in here, but no maple. The taste is bitter with lemon and orange sitting on top of a solid caramel base. Hints of maple do poke through on the finish, and it leaves notes of oak and grass behind. The alcohol content is 7.5% ABV. This was quite a delicious brew and slightly different than I remember from having both the blended and brewed version of this beer. The maple syrup was a nice touch, but this definitely had a great bitterness to it.

The Bruery Filmishmish

One final beer my buddy Josh brought over to share was The Bruery Filmishmish. The beer pours an orange-yellow color with a thin white colored head. The aroma consists of apricots, vinegar, hay, barnyard funk, and oak. The taste is puckering with plenty of apricot flavor on the front end. A bit of vinegar comes out with hay, grass, and some funkiness. The alcohol content is 5.8% ABV. The lightly sour flavors played extremely well with the apricot flavors and gave a well balanced, yet nicely sour beer. I would highly recommend this beer to anyone.

Duclaw Double Naked Fish

Another beer my buddy Josh brought over was Duclaw Double Naked Fish. The beer pours a black color with a thin bubbly tan head. The aroma consists of chocolate, cardboard, raspberry, and toasted malts. The taste is raspberry forward and truffle-like with a nice chocolate background. There is toasted malts, caramel, and vanilla hints on the background. On the finish, a sugary raspberry comes out again, just like a chocolate candy. The alcohol content is 7.6% ABV. While I can’t say I was a fan of the aroma, I really loved the flavors in this beer. The raspberry was very complimentary of the chocolate and made for a delicious truffle-like flavor.

Epic Brewing (USA) Big Bad Baptist Imperial Stout

My buddy Josh brought over a bottle of Epic Brewing (USA) Big Bad Baptist Imperial Stout. The bottles was marked as Release #2. The beer pours a black color with a frothy tan head that leaves some lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of strong cocoa flavor, vanilla, whiskey, toasted malts, and caramel. The taste is smooth and chocolaty at first with lots of roasted malts. A large coffee profile comes out to play, and vanilla and caramel have a solid presence before whisky and oak take over the mouth. It is a warming finish, as the whiskey takes over the beer. The alcohol content is 11.3% ABV. For the large whiskey presence in this beer, it was very well balanced with coffee and cocoa. It went down pretty smooth, but was also very warming.

Troegs Scratch 60- Spring Fest Lager

I picked up a case of Troegs Scratch 60- Spring Fest Lager from the brewery on release day. The beer pours a golden color with a frothy beige colored head that leaves some speckles on the glass. The aroma consists of lemon, caramel, grass, and toffee. The taste is easy and smooth with a large caramel base. Hints of lemon and some grassy hops touch the sides of the mouth to provide some variety, and a touch of pepper is available on the finish. As it warms, some toasted malts peek their way through the sweetness. The alcohol content is 5.1% ABV. This is a very easy drinking beer with a great flavor profile. It doesn’t try to be something it’s not and too intense, but just right. In a way, kind of like Spring.

Lincoln Abbey All Minced Up

I opened a bottle of my second homebrew called All Minced Up. It started with a Raison d’etre base, and I added in molasses to attempt to make it like mince pie. The beer pours a dark brown color with a very lofty and frothy beige colored head. The aroma consists of lots of raisin, caramel, brown sugar, and molasses. The taste is biting with lots of raisin flavor right up front. There is also a light grape sweetness to it with caramel, molasses, and sugar. A bit of the yeast comes out on the finish with a bit of breadiness to it, and a spicy bit of pepper is left behind on the palate. The alcohol content is 8.0% ABV. I would say I achieved the flavor profile I was going for, although it was overly pie-like. The molasses and raisin did provide the filling of the pie flavors, but if I were to do this again, I would attempt to add a crust flavor as well.