Cantillon Zwanze 2010 Blanche de Quenast

While at Monk’s Cafe in Philadelphia for the Pliny the Younger event, my buddy Matt and I decided to order a bottle of Cantillon Zwanze 2010 Blanche de Quenast and share it (the $50 price tag helped encourage sharing). The beer pours a pale and cloudy straw yellow color with a thin bubbly white head. The aroma consists of hay, barnyard funk, grass, lemon, and wheat grass. The taste is funky and dry with bits of hay, straw, and barnyard funk. Hints of lemon and vinegar peek through from the background, and there is an oat and grassy spice on the finish. The alcohol content is 4.0% ABV. This was a wonderfully dry and grassy beer and it feels like drinking while on a farm. I loved its funkiness, and the light citrus accents were well balanced.

Millbock Brewing Company Black

My friend Tierney won a mixed pack of Millbock Brewing Company beers, and brought them over, so I decided to try the Black, a Russian Imperial Stout. The beer pours a black color with a frothy tan head that leaves some lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of coffee, chocolate, vanilla, caramel, and toasted malts. The taste is dry and toasted malts with a dark chocolate flavor, caramel, mocha, and coffee. There is a really dry finish with roasted malts. The alcohol content is 9.5% ABV. This was a very roasted Russian Imperial Stout, and if you like dark chocolate flavors and toasted malts, this is the beer for you. I liked the mocha accents that provided a nice accent.

Odell Saboteur

My buddy Jason brought me back a bottle of Odell Saboteur from Denver when he was visiting home recently. The beer pours a dark brown color with a very lofty and bubbly head that leaves a hint of lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of a light funkiness, toasted malts, caramel, and a hint of coffee. The taste is dry and toasted with some malts up front with coffee and caramel. There is a very faint funk to it, but the brett isn’t as prevalent as I expected. The alcohol content is 10.0% ABV. I can’t say I was overly impressed with this beer, despite the fact I really wanted to love it. I think it’s because I was really expecting a huge brett appearance, and it was very subdued. Overall it was a good beer, but it wasn’t what I was expecting.

Old Schoolhouse Uncle Big's Brown

My buddy Matt brought over a bottle of Old Schoolhouse Uncle Big’s Brown to share with me. The beer pours a dark brown color with a frothy off-white colored head that leaves some lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of toasted malts, caramel, and coffee. The taste is dry and full of roasted malt flavor. There are hints of coffee in the background with a light caramel sweetness on the finish, but it is somewhat subdued. The alcohol content is 6.0% ABV. This was a rather dry brown ale with a decent compliment of coffee flavors. It wasn’t my favorite brown ale, but it was pretty good overall.

Founders Curmudgeon's Better Half

Al’s of Hampden recently held a Founders Curmudgeon’s Better Half event where he poured the bottles from a case so more people got to try the beer, rather than simply sell the 12 bottles. The beer pours an amber color with floating yeast flakes and a thin bubbly white head. The aroma consists of maple, plenty of caramel, oak, and grass. The taste is sweet and smooth with plenty of maple and bourbon om the front end. Caramel has a big presence in this beer, and vanilla and oak come out on the finish with hints of grass. The alcohol content is 11.9% ABV. Bourbon, maple, and vanilla stand tall in this beer, and I thought it provided more maple and bourbon accents than CBS. Overall it wasn’t quite as good of a beers as CBS, but it was really enjoyable.

Mikkeller Belgian Triple

I ordered a glass of Mikkeller Belgian Triple at Al’s of Hampden. The beer pours a golden color with a bubbly white head. The aroma is faint but has some banana and pepper that are slightly detectable. The taste is pretty fruity with banana all over the front end of the beer. Pepper and grass take up a large part of the profile, and it has a dry yeasty finish. The alcohol content is 9% ABV. While I wouldn’t say this was a world-breaker of a Triple, it was a decent beer and is probably a good introductory sample of the style. I wouldn't seek it out again, but if someone offered it to me, I wouldn't turn it down either.

Green Flash Rayon Vert Belgian-style Pale Ale

Another bottle I received in a beer trade with Beer Club 4 Men was Green Flash Rayon Vert Belgian-style Pale Ale. The beer pours an amber color with an extremely lofty and frothy white head that leaves some lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of lemon, barnyard funk, grass, pepper, and hay. The taste is light and dry with plenty of pepper and hay on the front end. It has a bit of lemon flavor to it with some funkiness on the finish. The alcohol content is 7.0% ABV. I really enjoyed this Belgian-style Pale Ale with a wonderful dry finish and a good funkiness to it.

Brasserie Dubuisson Bush Ambree

As part of a beer trade with the Beer Club 4 Men, I received a bottle of Brasserie Dubuisson Bush Ambree, dubbed The Strongest Belgian Beer. I found that to be a bit tacky of a slogan, but I won’t judge the beer based on that. The beer pours an amber color with a frothy off-white colored head. The aroma consists of raisin, caramel, biscuit, alcohol, and yeast. The taste is sweet and smooth with caramel, yeast, raisin, and fig up front. Some alcohol burn warms the back of the throat. The finish has a nice earthiness to it, and caramel and toffee linger on the tongue. The alcohol content is 12.0% ABV. I was quite impressed with the flavors of this beer, and it completely stood up to the alcohol content. It had a nice warming burn, but is not overwhelming.

Sly Fox Ichor Abbey Style Quad

I received a bottle of Sly Fox Ichor Abbey Style Quad from the Michael Jackson Rare Beer of the Month Club, even though Sly Fox is not that far away from me and I hadn’t picked up a bottle of it previously. The beer pours a murky dark brown color with a lofty and foamy tan head that leaves a small trace of lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of raisin, chocolate, fig, sweet malts, and toffee. The taste is smooth and sweet with plenty of caramel and raisin flavor malts up front. Hints of chocolate and toffee peek through before the carbonation settles in and brings some grassy and earthy hops with it. The alcohol content is 10.0% ABV. This was quite an enjoyable quadruple, and I’d say it ranks up there with some of the finer Belgian quads. It had a great smoothness with just a touch of chocolate.

Samuel Adams Dark Depths Baltic IPA

I picked up a bottle of Samuel Adams Dark Depths Baltic IPA from Al’s of Hampden. I wasn’t exactly sure what a Baltic IPA was, but I assumed a hopped-up version of a Baltic Porter. The beer pours a black color with a frothy beige colored head that leaves plenty of speckled lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of pine, lemon, toasted malts, chocolate, coffee, and caramel. The taste is smooth and creamy with a lightly bitter lemon flavor to it. A pine spiciness stands above the chocolate and toasted malts that make up the base of the beer. The finish allows some caramel to come out before a dryness lingers on the tongue. The alcohol content is 7.6% ABV. It seems my assumption was correct in thinking it was a hoppy Baltic Porter, and it was quite delicious. It had plenty of hops, but built upon strong dark and roasty flavors.

Samuel Adams Cinder Bock

I picked up a bottle of Samuel Adams Cinder Bock from Al’s of Hampden.  The beer pours a dark amber color with a lofty and frothy off-white colored head. The aroma consists of smoke, caramel, malts, bacon, and charcoal. The taste is smoky and dry with plenty of charcoal and bacon flavors on the front end. There is a nice caramel sweetness that lies underneath the smoke to balance it out well enough that it isn’t overpowering with smoke. It taste almost like a cookout. The alcohol content is 9.4% ABV. I thorough enjoyed this. While the smoke could have been a little more intense, it was balanced rather well with the sweet caramel base of the beer.

Anchorage Brewing Galaxy White IPA

I received a bottle of Anchorage Brewing Galaxy White IPA as part of the Michael Jackson Rare Beer of the Month Club. The beer pours a pale yellow color with an extremely lofty and frothy white head that leaves a few speckles of lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of lemon, barnyard funk, pine, grass, and hay. The taste is funky and lightly tart with plenty of dry grassy flavors with earthy tones and a large profile of lemon. Pepper and pine come out on the sides of the mouth, and add to the dryness. The after tastes lends to the french oak that the beer was aged in, and leaves a woody flavor in the mouth. The alcohol content is 7.0% ABV. I was quite impressed with this beer. It was mostly funk because Brett is so dominant, but there was a nice bit of lemon and pine in the background that gave it somewhat of an IPA feel.

Pizza Boy Brewing Arck Angel 4IPA

I stopped in to Al’s of Hampden to try the Pizza Boy Brewing Arck Angel 4IPA. A quad-IPA is a new experience for me, and I was really excited to try it. The beer pours an orange-amber collection with a bubbly white head. The aroma is huge on tangerine and sweet pink grapefruit with orange, apricot, passion fruit, caramel, and pepper. The taste is bold and citrusy. Lots of tangerine, grapefruit, orange, and apricot compile the flavors on the front end. Sweet caramel and orange candy flavor are hidden in the background and a hint of alcohol burn comes out on the finish, but nowhere near the expected burn for the 13.0% ABV that it is. There is a lightly dry after taste with a hint of bitterness that lingers around. I still cannot get over the fact that this beer had very little alcohol burn at 13% and how the bitter hops and sweet orange and caramel hid that content. If you get a chance to drive to Enola, you must try this beer!

Beach Brewing Company Hoptopus

I received a bottle of Beach Brewing Company Hoptopus in a beer trade with the Beer Club 4 Men. The beer pours an amber color with filmy white head. The aroma consists of tangerine, grapefruit, orange, and pepper. The taste is very bitter and dry with grapefruit, tangerine, and orange all providing a citrus flavor. The finish has pepper and hints of caramel that are not subtle. Pine and spruce compile the after taste and orange hangs around well after the beer is gone. The alcohol content is 8.8% ABV. This was my first offering from Beach Brewing Company, and I was quite impressed, especially in the ultra-competitive Double IPA category. All the right flavors were there, and it had the perfect bitterness to it as well.

Boulevard Smokestack Series Saison Brett

My friend and fellow blogger Russ Beck brought a bottle of Boulevard Smokestack Series Saison Brett over to share with a few friends and me. The beer pours a golden color with a frothy white head. The aroma is funky with hay, barnyard funk, and lemon, mostly as expected. The taste is very funky (more so than the aroma!) and dry and provides plenty of hay, lemon, and pepper. Finishing out the experience, coriander and orange come out, which were pleasant but unexpected. The alcohol content is 8.5% ABV. This beer was right in line with the quality I’ve experienced from Boulevard in their Smokestack Series. I was plenty funky and had all of the right flavors, and completely impressed me with the light orange and coriander flavors on the finish.