The Bruery 5 Golden Rings

With the November shipment of the Michael Jackson Rare Beer of the Month Club, I received a bottle of The Bruery 5 Golden Rings. The beer pours a golden color with a bubbly white colored head. The aroma consists of banana, pineapple, Belgian spices, passion fruit, and grass. The taste is sweet and fruity on the front end with banana, pineapple juice, and passion fruit. Some Belgian yeast and spices arrive with grass and pepper arrive on the finish and dry out the tongue by leaving some alcohol burn on the tongue. The alcohol content is 11.5% ABV. 5 Golden Rings is a great Belgian golden ale with a wonderful fruity profile and a nice dry spicy and alcohol finish. I can’t wait to see what a year or two of aging will do to this beer.

The Bruery Smoking Wood

In a beer trade with the Beer Club 4 Men, I received a battle of The Bruery Smoking Wood. The beer pours a black color with a frothy tan colored head that leaves lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of smoke, rye, oak, chocolate, and coffee. The taste is bold and robust with a wonderful rye and whiskey flavor all built upon a solid chocolate and caramel backbone. Hints of coffee and smoke peek through with a dry pepper spice on finish with oak accents. The alcohol content is 10% ABV. The backbone holds up to the whiskey flavor and I was surprised as to how much smoke was on the nose but not on the palate. Overall, this is a wonderful with the perfect amount of all flavors.

The Bruery Tart of Darkness

When I saw Al’s of Hampden had bottles of The Bruery Tart of Darkness, I eagerly grabbed a bottle. The beer pours a black color with a lofty and frothy tan colored head that has a wonderful fizzing sound as it subsides rather rapidly. The aroma consists of chocolate, toasted malts, raspberry, cherry, vanilla, and a light tartness. The taste is tart on the front end that brings a powerful pucker on the first sip. There are cherry and raspberry flavors on the front end before the beer finishes with a toasted malt and chocolate flavor. The alcohol content is 5.6% ABV. What a wonderful deceiving beer this could be to the unsuspecting victim. Most people see dark beers and this strong chocolate, but this had a wonderful tart pucker to it and I would absolutely drink another.

The Bruery Fruet

My buddies Adam, Matt, and I decided to split a bottle The Bruery Fruet. The beer pours a brown color with a bubbly cream colored head that fades pretty quickly. The aroma consists of caramel, bourbon, oak, vanilla, toffee, and raisin. The taste is smooth with caramel, raisin, and toffee on the front end before a nice bourbon flavor hits the tongue and warms the throat. There are oak and vanilla appearances as well. The after taste leaves some oak linger behind with some pepper spices as well. The alcohol content is 15.5% ABV. This was a wonderful beer that hit so many flavors on the tongue. The sweetness was spot on with raisin, toffee, and caramel, but completely balanced with bourbon, vanilla, and oak.

The Bruery Sans Pagaie

A beer that Russ brought to share at The Beer Circle bottle share was The Bruery Sans Pagaie. The beer pours an orange color with no head at all. The aroma consists of funk, vinegar, raspberry, and wheat. The taste is tart, raspberry, vinegar, cherry, and grass. The finish is also tart and very dry with a great funky flavor to it. The alcohol content is 5.8% ABV. I thought this was a nicely tart American Wild Ale that was rather easy to drink. It’s not the most intense sour beer, but was great for a warm summer evening.

The Bruery White Oak

My buddy Matt brought over a bottle of The Bruery White Oak to share. The beer pours a golden color with a thick frothy white colored head that leaves a lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of oak, lemon, caramel, and alcohol. The taste is dry and boozy with a nice lemon flavor and plenty of bourbon on the tongue. A vanilla hint plays with some pepper and papaya. The finish has oak in it and a hint of cherry. The alcohol content is 11.5% ABV. The was a nice beer with plenty of powerful flavors including bourbon, oak, lemon, and papaya. I would absolutely grab another bottle of this if I saw 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.

The Bruery-Dogfish Head Faster, Bigger, Better, Bolder (Gradually, Quietly, Steadily)

I picked up a bottle of The Bruery-Dogfish Head collaboration Faster, Bigger, Better, Bolder (Gradually, Quietly, Steadily). The beer pours a pale golden color with a lively and lofty frothy white head. The aroma consists of lemon, wheat, orange (kumquats?), peppercorn, and grass. The taste is light and citrusy with lemon and grass on the front end with a smooth orange accent, which comes from the kumquats. The finish leaves a dry flavor in the mouth with grass, peppercorn, and some wheat. The alcohol content is 8.25% ABV. I would say that I was a little disappointed in this beer, coming from two brewing giants. It wasn’t bad, but I really didn’t enjoy the finish and thought it reminded of an adjunct lager.

The Bruery Run B.M.C.

As part of a beer trade with the BeerClub4Men, I received a bottle of The Bruery Run B.M.C. This beer is quadruple hopped! The beer pours a pale golden color with a lofty and frothy white head that leaves plenty of lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of lemon, malt, caramel, and grass. The taste is light and dry with plenty of lemon flavor on the front end. There are hints of ruby red grapefruit come out in the finish and are accompanied with grass and earthy hops. The alcohol content is 7.0% ABV. This was a much more enjoyable and flavorful pilsner than anything those big boys can push out, and I really loved the slight fruitiness to it.

The Bruery Cuir

As part of a beer trade with the BeerClub4Men, I received a bottle of The Bruery Cuir. The beer pours a cloudy brown color with a lofty and frothy off-white colored head. The aroma consists of raisin, fig, alcohol, caramel, and grass. The taste is sweet with lots of raisin up front, molasses, caramel, and fig. There is a very boozy finish that warms the back of the mouth, and the after taste leaves some pepper and grassy flavors behind. The alcohol content is 14.5% ABV. This was a very sweet beer that was mostly balanced with an alcohol burn and warmth. I really enjoyed it and thought that it was well balanced and had just the right amount of dark fruits.

The Bruery Batch 300 Tripel

I received a bottle of The Bruery Batch 300 Tripel from the BeerClub4Men in a beer trade. The beer pours a hazy pale golden color with a frothy white head that leaves some lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of passion fruit, fruit cocktail, banana, pepper, candisugar, pineapple, and lemon. The taste is lightly sour with passion fruit flavor, hints of fruit cup oil, with pineapple, tangerine, and lemon. The finish brings out some candisugar and yeast that really sweetens the mouth, before a peppery after taste dries out the mouth and lingers in the throat. The alcohol content is 8.2% ABV. I was amazed at the amount of fruit flavor included in this beer without actually having fruit added to it. It was nice and sweet like a fruit cocktail, but definitely dried out in the finish.

The Bruery 4 Calling Birds

As part of the Michael Jackson Rare Beer of the Month Club, I received a bottle of The Bruery 4 Calling Birds. The beer pours a dark brown color with a tall and frothy beige head. The aroma consists of oak, roasted malts, gingerbread, chocolate, and vanilla. The taste is spicy and robust with a chocolate and caramel base. Plenty of gingerbread comes out and livens up the tongue with some toasted malts rounding out the flavor. Some oak and vanilla linger on the tongue. The alcohol content is 11.0% ABV. I think The Bruery really nailed the spirit of winter and the holiday season in this glass of beer. A lingering sweetness with hints of licorice really sweeten the flavor of this beer and make it an overly enjoyable beer.

The Bruery-Lawson's Finest Liquids Acer Quercus

As part of beer trade with The Beer Club for Men, I received a bottle of The Bruery-Lawson’s Finest Liquids Acer Quercus. The beer pours a a dark brown color with a frothy beige head that leaves a nice lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of smoke, maple syrup, caramel, toasted malts, and oak. The taste is smokier than expected and very dry, nice maple syrup sweetness that comes out. Roasted malts area big factor, and the finish has a nice oak flavor with some maple wood. The alcohol content is 9.5% ABV. The wonderful smoked flavor with wood accents in this beer really played well with the sweet maple syrup flavors. I highly recommend this beer and completely fell in love with it.

The Bruery-Cigar City Marron Acidifie

My buddy Matt brought over a bottle of The Bruery-Cigar City collaboration Marron Acidifie to share with me. The beer pours a dark brown color with a thin filmy beige head that surprisingly leaves some lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of vinegar, sour cherries, and oak. The taste is nicely sour but not too puckering with plenty of vinegar and tart cherry flavors. There is a nice yeasty finish and the beer leaves a very dry and oaky after taste in the mouth. The alcohol content is 8.5% ABV. This is a wonderful sour beer and actually isn’t overly sour, but it is dry and very oaky. After the sour flavor fades, all that is left is the oakiness.

The Bruery Trade Winds

While clearing out his cellar, my friend Deuane pulled out a bottle of The Bruery Trade Winds. The beer pours a golden color with a frothy white head. The aroma consists of wheat, banana, pepper, and plantain. The taste started off with a sweet orange flavor and some banana before a light pepper accent with a spicy yeast came out to play. The finish was dry and spicy as well with some biscuit flavors. The alcohol content is 8.1% ABV. I would say this was an interesting an memorable triple, as it had a different flavor profile than most other triples. The amount of citrus flavors and off-centric spices were a new frontier for the style, and they worked quite well with the banana, pepper, and biscuits.

The Bruery Sour in the Rye

I was able to try a glass of The Bruery Sour in the Rye at a bottle share event. The beer pours an orange-amber color with a bubbly white head. The aroma consists of sour cherry, wheat, rye, and malts. The taste is sour cherry, vinegar, wheat, lemon, apple cider, and Belgian yeast. It has a nice dry rye finish that really bites the tongue. The alcohol content is 8.7% ABV. The amount of Belgian yeast that hits the tongue is what lifts this beer to elite level. It added the right amount of sweetness to the concoction of sour flavors, and was quite memorable.

The Bruery Vitus Series- Pintolambicus

A bottle that was brought to a small bottle share even was The Bruery Vitis Series: Pintolambicus, and I was able to get a glass of it. The beer pours a golden color with barely any head. The aroma is sweet with grapes and a pinch of vinegar. The taste is sour with vinegar, and by that I mean LOTS of vinegar, peach, grapes, and lemon. The is a wine flavor that comes through on the finish. The alcohol content is 8.4% ABV. The was a very fruity beer with a wonderful vinegar pinch in the mouth. I would recommend this beer for someone getting into sours, as it was not too intense and quite enjoyable.

Extreme Beer Fest 2011

On Saturday, March 12, 2011, I attended the evening session of Extreme Beer Fest in Boston, Massachusetts. This was my first time at this beer fest, and I have heard many good things. Prior to going, I was a little disappointed that we were not going to Night of the Barrels on Friday night, but after hearing from several reliable people that it was disappointing, I feel much better about not dropping extra dough on that session.

Below you will find some quick tasting notes and impressions that I took from the beers I tried at the event, as well as a few thoughts about the event itself. As with all of my beer fest posts, the notes below do not reflect a full review, but rather a quick snapshot of the beer, and several of these beers I intend to seek out, try again, and complete a full review.


Lost Abbey Cuvee de Tomme- The beer pours a dark borwn color with a sour cherry and vinegar aroma. The taste is big on sour cherry with a puckering vinegar bite. The alcohol content is 11.0% ABV. This is one amazing wild ale that is sour and puckering, but enjoyably so.


Samuel Adams Chocolate Cherry Bock- The beer pours adark brown color with a bubbly tan head. The aroma is similar to cherry candy. The taste starts out malty and chocolate with a light cherry accent, but all together tastes like cough syrup. The alcohol content is probably aligned with the Chocolate Bock, which is 5.8% ABV. The addition of cherry did not bode well for this beer.


Wormtown Cinnamon Girl- The beer pours a red amber color and the aroma is faint but has some malts and cinnamon. The taste is surprisingly floral with cinnamon, light caramel malts, and pepper. The alcohol content is unknown, but I would guess around 6.0% for the amber ale. The cinnamon was somewhat drying, but not prevalent enough for this beer to don its name.


Dogfish Head Kombucha (aka Fungus Tea’mungus)- The beer pours a golden yellow color with a filmy white head. The aroma has plenty of spices, tea, wheat, and lemon. The taste is lightly sour from the tea, lemon, and wheat. The alcohol content is 4.0% ABV. This Beer Advocate/Dogfish Head collaboration was delicious and should be considered a success. Furthermore, the name of the beer went over really well.


Weyerbacher Zombie Monks- The beer pours a golden color with no head. The aroma consists of banana, bourbon, and oak. The taste surprising kept the banana on the front end before lots of bourbon kicks in, warming the mouth and throat. The alcohol content is 9.3% ABV. The 2007 vintage of this triple aged in bourbon barrels was one of my favorite beers of the festival. Mixing bourbon and a triple was much better than I expected and I look forward to more of these hitting the marketplace.


Dark Horse Plead the 5th Imperial Stout- This beer was a sour Russian Imperial Stout, and I was utterly pumped to try it. The beer pours a black color with a thick foamy tan head. The aroma consists of chocolate, coffee, sour cherry, and bourbon. The taste is big and bold (no way of under-exaggerating this) with sour cherry, wood, licorice, molasses, and chocolate. The alcohol content is 12.0% ABV. Another of my top brews from the festival, the addition of the sourness to the Russian Imperial Stout made for a wicked (using the Boston lingo) brew that worked the palate to its fullest.


Dark Horse Super Juice- This was a quadruple IPA that pours a caramel color with a foamy tan head. The aroma consists of pine, grapefruit, and caramel. The taste is sweet with caramel and grapefruit with sugar. The alcohol content is 16.0% ABV. The Super Juice was quite smooth and delicious, with plenty of caramel sweetness balanced with the grapefruit and pine bitterness.


Sierra Nevada Saison de Haricot- One of the more interesting and intriguing brews due to being brewed with jelly beans, this beer pours a peach color with a foamy white head. The aroma is mostly wheat with some pepper accents. The taste is wheat, slightly sweet with cherry, and terrible. The alcohol content is 4.5% ABV. As much as I love Sierra Nevada and saisons, adding jelly beans as the third component was one too many, and this beer missed the mark big time.


Allagash Big Little Beer- This beer pours a pale yellow color with a bubbly white head. The aroma is big on lemon and meringue, which was quite pleasant. The taste is full of lemon and pepper and plenty of hop bitterness. The finish sweetens with the taste of meringue. The alcohol content is 5.5% ABV. While this beer has the typical lemon and pepper flavors, the addition of the meringue is what hooked me to this beer.


Short’s Bloody Beer- One of the breweries on my “must try” list was Short’s. I really wanted to try the Key Lime Pie, but they did not have it. The Bloody Beer was my first try, a beer made with tomatoes. The beer pours an amber color with red hues and has a tomato and peppercorn aroma. The taste is straight on with tomato, salt, peppercorn, and reminded me of a bloody mary. The alcohol content is 8.5% ABV. The Bloody Beer was not bad, but I can’t see myself seeking this beer out again.

Pistachio Cream- Another Short’s Beer I tried was the Pistachio Cream. The beer pours a golden color with no head. The aroma consists of a sugary cream, is sweet, and has some pistachio accents. The taste is likened to cream soda with light pistachio hints. Overall, it is pretty dry and is built on a wheat base. The alcohol content is 5.0% ABV. While not a terrible beer, I am not a huge fan of cream soda, so I wouldn’t be inclined to try this beer again.


Heavy Seas One Eyed Woody (Plank I)- I was excited to preview this beer, the first in the Plank Series. The beer pours a dark amber color with a bubbly head. The aroma is roasted malts and hints of coffee. The taste is smooth with plenty of sweet and toasted malts, and lots of wood. The alcohol content is 8.0% ABV. The difference in this beer with the yellow poplar is that the wood does not take focus, but rather accents the flavors.


Heavy Seas Two Eyed Woody (Plank II)- As a special preview, the Two Eyed Woody could be the beer that becomes Plank II. This beer is a doppelbock and pours a deep brown color with a bubbly head. The aroma consists of caramel and a sweet wood. The taste is smooth and sweet with raisin, caramel, sweet wood, and vanilla. I enjoyed this beer even more so than the Plank I.


Avery Mephistopheles- This beer pours a dark black color with a thin filmy head. The aroma consists of chocolate, coffee, licorice, and molasses. The taste is big and bold and takes over the tongue with chocolate, coffee, molasses and caramel flavors. The alcohol content is 15.1% ABV. I was extremely impressed with this beer and how bold it was, completely using every part of the tongue during the tasting process.


Hill Farmstead Iced Earl- The beer pours a dark brown color with a thin, filmy, tan head. The aroma consists of coffee, chocolate, and caramel. The taste is dry with coffee, milk, and chocolate. The alcohol content is 15.0% ABV. While drinking this beer, you may think that you are at a Starbucks drinking a frappuccino, but with a nice alcohol content.


Cambridge Banryu Ichi- This beer pours an amber color with no head. The aroma consists of sweet grapes and sake. The taste is wheat, malt, sake, alcohol, and apples. The alcohol content is 15% ABV. This was one of the best beers I had at the festival, and the beer/sake blend was quite an intriguing one.


Bobcat Brick Wall Double IPA- The beer pours an amber color, which I thought was pretty light, with a thin filmy white head. The aroma consists of pine, grapefruit, sugar, and tangerine. The taste is bitter with grapefruit, sugar, tangerine, orange, and pine. The alcohol content is 7.8% ABV. Overall the beer had a great bitterness about it and an interesting Sweet Tarts flavor on the finish.


The Bruery Oude Tart- The beer pours a dark amber color with a filmy head. The aroma is sour cherry and a very invasive vinegar. The taste is puckering with vinegar and a sour cherry accent. The alcohol content is 7.5% ABV. The Oude Tart was another of my favorite beers and was extremely flavorful with a good sweet and sour balance.


Hill Farmstead Ephraim- The beer pours a golden with a foamy head. The aroma consists of lemon, pepper and grape. The taste is grapefruit, lemon, pepper, and meringue. The alcohol content is 10.5% ABV. I continue to be impressed with what Hill Farmstead brews, and I will definitely try this beer again.


Dogfish Head World Wide Stout Randallized with Coffee- The beer pours a dark brown color with a foamy tan head. The aroma consists of chocolate, alcohol, and a wonderful compliment of fresh coffee beans. The taste is big on fresh coffee, cream, chocolate, and toasted malts. The alcohol content is 18.0% ABV. I didn’t think I could like the World Wide Stout anymore than I already do, but the Randallized version with coffee was nothing short of amazing.


He’brew Messiah on Rye- The beer pours a golden color with a bubbly white head. The aroma consists of honey, rye, and wheat. The taste is sweet with wheat, honey, and rye, with a pepper finish. This beer had a great spicy rye flavor balanced with a honey sweetness.

As for my thoughts on the Festival itself, I truly enjoyed the format, the crowds, and the venue. While it may have felt a little crowded, the lines never took as long as they looked and the people running the station filled beers rather quickly. I was disappointed in Firestone-Walker, as they only had one beer for the Saturday evening session, and it was gone about halfway through the session. My favorite brewer had to have been Cambridge, and I would like to go back to Boston just to go there and try more of their beers. If you are thinking about attending Extreme Beer FEst in the future, I highly recommend it.

The Bruery Mischief

While at The Brewhouse Grille in Camp Hill for dinner, I ordered a glass of The Bruery Mischief. The beer pours a golden color with a thin filmy white head. The aroma consists of banana, pepper, and Belgian yeast. The taste is sweet and smooth with banana, apple, and yeast. There is a peppery bite on the finish and the grassy and earthy hops hit on the after taste. The alcohol content is 8.5% ABV. Mischief has a wonderful blend of sweet and spicy flavors from banana and yeast to pepper, which balances very well on the tongue.

The Bruery Autumn Maple

On my last pass through New Jersey, I picked up a bottle of The Bruery Autumn Maple. The beer has a dark brown color with a lofty and bubbly tan head. The aroma is sweet and malty with maple accents. The taste is shock-on-the-tongue sweet at first with maple syrup taste and a bit of molasses and nutmeg. The beer finishes with a raisin and fig bitter taste. It leaves the mouth a little dry due to the nutmeg. The alcohol content is 10% ABV. It took a few sips to get used to the sweetness, but overall it was a really good beer and very enjoyable. I definitely wouldn't recommend drinking more than one of these in one sitting due to the sweetness, but it was an enjoyable beer.