goose island night stalker

this seems to be  a polarizing beer of late. some forum talk mentioned that this batch was infected, but the bottle i had definitely was not. i personally loved this beer, it had such a strong piney hop flavor that works well with the char. recently, i have realized that i very much enjoy super hopped imperial stouts and this certainly fits the bill.

a wild new years eve

it's a month late, but here it is anyway. on new years i opened some beers, one i'd never had before and two that i'd had a bunch. the monomoy kriek was so good. a great american wild ale. nice sourness, cherry and oak. i enjoyed this immensely. 

the nøgne ø tyttbaer, which sadly was my last bottle was also great. this beer was a collaboration with mikkeller and is made with lingonberries. a bit sour, funky and interesting. wish i had more.

the cuvee renee is a good, easily available gueuze. it's a great, somewhat affordable way to get into the style.

indra kunindra

My first post in what seems like forever. This beer is something else. I'm back in the Philadelphia area for the holidays and happened to find this beer. It's been something I was dying to try ever since I had first heard about it.
Indra Kunindra is a stout made with curry, cayenne pepper, toasted coconut and kaffir lime leaves. It sounds like a disaster, but Ballast Point pulled it off. The curry hits you before the first sip, the coconut and lime are the first things I tasted. The spiciness is subtle at first, but builds on the back end. This is a beer you must try at least once, the flavors are very well integrated, but it's definitely not a beer for everyone. I loved it.

sierra nevada/russian river brux

a decent enough belgian with hints of brett. reminded me a lot of sofie with about a year on it. glad i got two bottles, the second one will be aging for at least a year or so. if you go into this one expecting an '_____ation' style you may be disappointed, but it's a very solid beer and i'm sure it will only improve with age.

i did get to try exportation during philly beer week, which was sierra nevada's previous collaboration with russian river. it was their beer camp exPorter aged in russian rivers pinot noir barrels. that was pretty fantastic. sour, vinous, but with all the best qualities of a baltic porter.

the real limitation on brux was that i understand it was made at sierra nevada's facilities, making the possibility of infections a very real issue.

de molen heaven & hell

enjoyed this one with kenny on the day of final reviews. sweet and chocolaty, this is a great imperial stout. it's very rich and thick like any good RIS should be. every de molen beer i've had has been excellent and this is no exception.

sixpoint resin

a good piney, citrus flavors. a good double ipa. very smooth, with little alcohol taste for a 10% beer. great packaging, too, like all of the sixpoint beers. 

santa fe brewing company chicken killer barleywine

brought this back with me from a spring 2010 trip to new mexico. i left my passport at the liquor store i bought this at and had to push back dinner reservations to go get it, so it has some memories attached. this held up remarkably well. there was still a little hop bitterness two years later, but it was mostly very smooth and sweet with little detectable alcohol. very good barleywine and i hope to try some more santa fe brewing beers soon.

sixpoint diesel

a great hoppy stout, almost approaching a 'black ipa'. good piney flavors. very enjoyable. cannot wait to be back in the distribution area for these guys. 

mission st 2012 anniversary ale

for the price, you can't beat this firestone walker brewed 'imperial brown ale' it's not parabola or abacus, but it doesn't claim to be. it's a bit hot at the moment, but i have two more bottles put away to see how it goes. overall, at $3.49 you can't go wrong.

mikkeller barrel aged big worst cognac edition

this is very sweet and you notice the cognac immediately. there's a lot of carbonation and heat from the alcohol is definitely present, but it's very smooth for 18.7% abv. very glad i got to try this. i'd like to seek out the bourbon barrel version, too. 

tallgrass 8-bit pale ale

i've been looking forward to this for a while. i first got to try it last week, but had had a couple of palate killing ipa's before hand so i couldn't get a proper read on it. the galaxy hops are the big draw for me. i swear it's not patriotism, they are just so good.

this is a great use of the galaxy hops and i'm glad that this appears to be a year round release from tallgrass, because it will be a fixture in my fridge. i still may prefer stone & wood's pacific ale, but since i'm half a world away this is a great substitute. the tropical/passionfruit flavors of the hops are really what make galaxy do it for me. i also have to mention the excellent artwork on the can. really stellar. this is the first mention of tallgrass brewing on here, but it won't be the last. their (canned!) tripel, velvet rooster will be the next one from them i check out.

nøgne ø red horizon

very sweet. very viscous and nearly no carbonation. at 17% it is almost a liqueur, but still pretty smooth. the strong flavors from the sake yeast dominate. it's an interesting beer for sure. of the 'horizon' series i've had, i definitely prefer 'dark horizon'.

hitachino nest nipponia

hard to classify this beer with a specific style. the sorachi ace hops are the star here. it's light, peppery and very refreshing. it's a beer you could enjoy on a hot summers day. another excellent beer from hitachino nest.

hitachino nest xh

this was a beer that i first had a long time ago when i started getting into beer. it still stands up very well. the aging in skae casks gives it a very interesting quality. add that to an excellent belgian strong dark ale base and you get a delicious and interesting beer. it's one that i definitely keep coming back to.

cigar city guava grove

my first cigar city beer. pretty tart. a nice amount of sourness. belgian yeast and tropical fruit as well. i really enjoyed this. looking forward to being somewhere i have access to cigar city's beers.