Short's Peaches & Cream

My friend Deuane pulled out a bottle of Short’s Peaches & Cream while sharing some selection from his cellar. The bottle is vintage 2007 and marked number 290/820. The beer pours an amber color with a foamy off-white head. The aroma consists of peaches and cream (expected!) with some milk, apricot, caramel, and malts. The taste is smooth and sweet with lots of peach flavor. There is a slight pepper spice that accents the peaches nicely, and a creamy and milky finish. The best part is the lingering caramel after taste that also contains hints of apricot. The alcohol content is 9.5% ABV. This was a wonderful fruit-induced beer that didn’t carry along the bad stigma of fruit beers in that it was too sweet; the lactose really kept the fruit in check, but made it a wonderful dessert beer.

Stoudt's Black Eye PA

A beer that my friend Deuane pulled out of his cellar to share was Stoudt's Black Eye PA. The beer pours a cloudy caramel color with a frothy off-white colored head. The aroma consists of caramel, lemon, and pine. The taste is sweet and malty with a caramel sweetness, licorice, and molasses. As far as spices, there is a large pepper profile, which creates a dry finish. The alcohol content is 6.0% ABV. This was a spicy black IPA, and I really enjoyed the entire profile of it. It had a great sweet base to build off of, so the added spices were not overwhelming.

Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Coffee Stout

My friend Deuane pulled out a bottle of Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Coffee Stout while clearing some bottles out of his cellar and shared it with some friends. The beer pours a black color with a thin bubbly tan head. The aroma consists of bourbon, vanilla, chocolate, oak, and coffee. Right off the bat, there is an overwhelming flavor of bourbon, making the taste biting and dry on the tongue. Once the bourbon settles, there is plenty of chocolate, vanilla and roasted coffee grounds to sweeten up the tongue and apologize for hitting it so hard with the bourbon. There is a warming finish which reminds you of the bourbon that you just imbibed. The alcohol content is 13.0% ABV. This beer is a wonderful beer for anyone who likes bourbon (me) and the taste of fresh coffee (also me). Despite my description of the bourbon above and its intensity, it is not overpowering in anyway. It makes is presence known, hides in the shadows, and then returns for one last meet ‘n’ greet.

Cantillon Fou' Foune

One of the best beers I tried the night that my friend Deuane pulled out of his cellar to share with friends was the Cantillon Fou’ Foune, a 2009 vintage. The beer pours a cloudy straw-yellow color with a bubbly white head. The aroma consists of vinegar, lemon, apricot, oak, and yeast. The taste is very sour with lots of bitterness and funk that was reminiscent of sour patch kids. There is a yeast base that sweetens the beer a bit, but the focus here is on the plenty apricot and vinegar that make the mouth pucker and are in the spotlight. Some lemon also comes out in the finish. The alcohol content is 5.0% ABV. This sour was a wonderful blend of apricot, lemon, and vinegar, obviously making the mouth puck a bit, but the amount of fruit flavor, especially after two years, was quite enjoyable.

Jackie O's Vanilla Bean Rum Barrel Dark Apparition

A beer that I was very excited that my buddy Deuane pulled out during his cellar clearing party was Jackie O’s Vanilla Bean Rum Barrel Dark Apparition. This bottle was labeled 41/225. The beer pours a black color with a thin tan bubbly head. The aroma consists of vanilla, rum, milk chocolate, and also had the smell of a packed of hot chocolate. The taste is silky smooth with a sweet chocolate flavor, vanilla, and finished up with a nice warming rum finish. The after taste is where the caramel shines through and the vanilla comes back to sweeten things up a little bit. The alcohol content is 10.5% ABV. The smoothness of this beer was top notch and made it easy drinking despite the high alcohol content. It was nice and sweet, but not too much, and the rum gave off enough warmth to make you forget life’s problems.

Surly Darkness 2008

My friend Deuane was clearing out some beers from his cellar and brought of some Surly Darkness, vintage 2008, to share with friends. The beer pours a black color with a tan bubbly head. The aroma consists of chocolate, toasted malts, vanilla, oak, and coffee. The taste is smooth, silky, and chocolaty, mostly consisting of dark chocolate, with vanilla, oak, and caramel flavors mixed in as well. The finish is a little dry with toasted malts and another taste of vanilla and oak. The alcohol content is 10.3% ABV. This beer is home to a flavor profile that is large and in charge on the tongue, but comes with an unmistakable smoothness. The alcohol doesn’t really make its presence knows due to the smoothness, making it really easy to drink.

Krebs Signature Biere De Garde

I was able to sample part of a bottle of Krebs Signature Biere De Garde when my friend Deuane was clearing out his cellar. The beer pours a caramel color with a bubbly off-white color. The aroma consists of caramel, toffee, and pine. The taste is smooth and malty with lots of caramel and toffee, some apple, biscuit, and Belgian spices. The was some grassy and earthy hops balancing out the sweetness, and a slightly watery finish. This beer also had a very bubbly mouth feel. The alcohol content is 7.0% ABV. I must say I was left neither satisfied nor unsatisfied with this beer. I think it was more malty and had a lot more caramel that most Biere de Garde beers, and I wasn’t a big fan of the finish. However, it was quite refreshing and an interesting take on the style.

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.

Bullfrog Brewery El Rojo Diablo

As part of a cellar clearing/tasting, my friend Deuane pulled out a bottle of Bullfrog Brewing El Rojo Diablo to share with everyone there. There beer pours an amber color with an bubbly off-white head. The aroma consists of vinegar, caramel, flowers, and a hint of cherry. The taste hits the tongue right up front with rose petals. There is an alcohol taste, caramel, grass, slight vinegar, and a warming Bourbon finish. The mouth feel is very bubbly on the tongue. The alcohol content is 8.0% ABV. The El Rojo Diablo was a really intense beer with a wonderful blend of flavors, especially the rose petal that greets you as you open the door to this excellent beer.

Three Floyds-Mikkeller Hvedegoop

My friend Deuane pulled out a bottle of Three Floyds-Mikkeller Hvedegoop while clearing out his cellar and shared it with friends. The beer pours an amber color with a bubbly tan head. The aroma consists of caramel, bubble gum, and toffee. The taste is sweet with plenty of caramel for the tongue and has accents of toffee, and bubble gum. Some grassy hops come out in the finish, but I would think that some of the hops have faded over time with this beer. The alcohol content is 10.4% ABV. Having been aged for about three years, this beer was sweet and wonderful. I enjoyed the slight bubble gum aroma and flavor, but the caramel and toffee are what made this a solid beer.

Sly Fox Odyssey

On the cellar bottle list of Harris Grill in Pittsburgh, they had the Sly Fox Odyssey and I decided to order a bottle. The beer pours a caramel color with a bubbly off-white colored head. The aroma consists of pine, lemon, caramel, and pepper. The taste is both bitter and sweet, starting off with toasted caramel, lemon, and pine. The finish dries the mouth with pepper and the after taste leaves some apricot to pair with extreme bitterness. The alcohol content is 8.4% ABV. The nice addition of apricot on the finish to sweeten everything out made this beer, as it complimented the citrus bitterness very well.

Great Lakes Burning River Pale Ale

While out at dinner on Mount Washington in Pittsburgh at the Grandview Saloon, I ordered a Great Lakes Burning River Pale Ale to go with dinner. The beer pours an amber color with a frothy white head. The aroma consists of caramel, lemon, and pine hops. The taste is sweet with caramel making a great base for the beer. There is a good pine and lemon citrus accent with some orange and tangerine mixed in as well. The alcohol content is 6.0% ABV. This was a wonderful pale ale and I would definitely order it again. It goes very well with crab meat, which was part of the meal that I ordered. It has a great bitters and a complimentary sweetness that was much better that I had expected.

Dark Horse Double Crooked Tree IPA

I ordered a glass of Dark Horse Double Crooked Tree IPA at Harris Grill in Pittsburgh. The beer pours a dark amber color with a frothy white head. The aroma consists of pine, grapefruit, tangerine, and lemon. The taste is bitter with lots of grapefruit, lemon, tangerine, and orange all built upon a sweet caramel base. There is a bitter pine finish with pepper, and a warming alcohol bite. The alcohol content is 13.6% ABV. The bitterness of this beer is top notch and has plenty of refreshing citrus flavors, but the caramel base is strong enough to hold up all of those flavors. This is a high quality Double IPA and a must try for hop heads.

Cantillon Classic Gueuze

I picked up a bottle of Cantillon Classic Gueuze from Al’s of Hampden and decided to open it for Belgian National Day. The beer pours a orange-gold color with a bubbly white head that rapid fades away with the hissing sound of carbonation. The aroma consists of lots of vinegar, Belgian yeast, lemon, orange, hay, and barnyard funk. The taste is smooth at first with a solid yeast base before a very funky sour takes over the tongue. There isn’t too much vinegar associated with this beer, but I picked up a lot of hay, barnyard funk, lemon peel, and orange. The finish brings out a peppery spice that hits the back of the mouth and lingers for a while. The after taste is a sour lemon, but not a fruity lemon taste, and slight oaky remains. The alcohol content is 5.0% ABV. Overall, I liked the Classic Gueuze, but I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite Belgian lambic. It really has a barnyard taste to it which takes some getting used to, but the citrus notes make up for it.

Weyerbacher Blasphemy Ale

I had my buddy Jeff pick up three bottles of Weyerbacher Blasphemy Ale in New Jersey for me since they haven’t seemed to make their way into the Central Pennsylvania area. The beer pours a orange-tinted, dark amber color with a thin filmy white head. The aroma consists of raisin, orange, malts, alcohol, brown sugar, fig, and cherry. The mouth feel of this beer is smooth and rounded with a slight creaminess to it and tiny carbonation bubbles that tickle the tongue. The taste is sweet and malty with lots of raisin, fig, and brown sugar on the front end. A sharp alcohol bite transitions into the finish with a slight sweetness of orange. The after taste brings out a quick cherry flavor before dry malts, chocolate, and biscuit flavors come out. The alcohol content is 11.8% ABV. The smoothness of this beer was impeccable, but the alcohol bite really makes its presence known. I like the brown sugar and raisin malt sweetness, all with a light orange twist. If you can locate this beer (I had to get it outside of PA, go figure), I recommend it, and I really look forward to the two bottles I placed in my cellar.