the australian pale ale fest continues...

quick rundown:

murray's angry man is a solid pale ale, only surpassed by little creatures and stone & wood pacific ale. hop aroma is decent. maybe a bit over-carbed

vale ale is pretty average. nothing stands out about it. 

endevour sounds great when you read the label, but there isn't enough hop presence. not terrible, but not great.

murrays angry man

not a typical brown ale. good hop aroma, bitter hop flavors, very nutty with some caramel. not something i'd like every day, but very solid.

stone & wood pacific ale

disclaimer: picture is from our deck in st louis, not byron bay

purchased from a bottle-o in byron bay, so about as fresh as  i can imagine it being. amazing aroma. passionfruit heavy. very light and refreshing. the galaxy hops shine in this beer. great for the summer in QLD/northern NSW. reminds me somewhat of yards philadelphia pale ale. great beer.

note: i got some a couple of days later from dan murphy's that i can only imagine is a fair bit older, since the hops had faded compared to the fresher batch. still solid, but fresh was fantastic.

perennial artisinal ales abraxas

Billed as a 'exican chocolate stout', it's made with chili's cinnamon and cacao nibs. It is delicious, the chocolate and cinnamon notes are up front and the chili creeps up on you, but isn't as noticeable as in Mikkeller's chipotle porter. The cinnamon blends nicely with the rest of the flavors. definitely worth seeking out if you can find it on draft, at $18.99 a bottle it's pretty expensive.

mikkeller to via from (barrel aged)

Nicely spiced, dark fruits and bourbon up front. The barrel flavors aren't overpowering, though. A solid beer, I enjoyed it.

odell friek

I had thought this was long gone from the area, but saw it at Whole Foods and decided to pick it up. It hits most of the right notes for a sour/wild, but the mouth feel is a bit thin. not bad, but a bit too expensive for what it is.

mikkeller santa's little helper

chocolatey, alcohol is warming, but not overpowering. some nice fruit flavors. one of my favorite christmas beers.

allagash curieux

really nice. it's a trippel aged in oak bourbon barrels and that's what it tastes like. i haven't particularly enjoyed trippels  for the last couple of years. dubbels either, for that matter. i like this, though.

goose island 2011 bourbon county stout

pretty much perfect. you wouldn't know it's 14.5%. love this beer. one of the best barrel aged beers i've ever had.

stone vertical epic 11.11.11

belgian golden ale brewed with ancho chili's and cinnamon. i had high hopes for this one, but it ended up kind of a mess. only made it through less than half of the bomber before pouring the rest out. stone is usually a a solid bet, so it was kind of a bummer. the only other stone beer i was this disappointed in was the belgo imperial stout,

mikkeller hoppy lovin' christmas

a really nice IPA. citrusy, resiny, fantastic. might try and get another one of these before hitting australia next week.

dogfish head burton baton

amazingly smooth given the 10% abv. nice flavours from the hops and oak aging. a top notch beer.

mikkeller barrel aged chipotle porter

the speyside barrels served this beer well. i already liked the base beer, but the barrels add a subtle wood flavor. the smokiness and heat is still there and so are the chocolate notes. excellent.

port brewing high tide fresh hop IPA

resiny and floral hops everywhere. have yet to be disappointed by a port IPA. some of the best in the business.

haandbryggeriet bestefar

reminds me of the local christmas beers i had last year in sweden. dark and complex. roasted malts and chocolate flavors. good for a cold winter night.

twisted pine reilley's oak whiskey red ale

bourbon off that bat. it's a bit thin tasting and some vanilla from the bourbon barrels. there is a tartness that doesn't seem right and it gets stronger as the beer warms. near the end it was almost like a flemish sour. i'm guessing this is the result of an infection. kind of a bummer.

la citrueille celeste de citracado

very complex, could easily be 8%. the nose is heavily fenugreek and is a bit like curry. yams and pumpkin in the back. interesting beer.

bruery autumn maple

nose is definitely belgian. yams flavors, molasses finish. maple and vanilla is covered by the molasses. outstanding beer.

abita 25th anniversary vanilla doubledog

strong vanilla flavors, luckily i like vanilla. i like this better than regular turbodog and it's one of the better abita beers i've had, but it's just decent.

seasonal beers

of these, celebration is by far my favourite. just so good. I will be picking up alot more of this before it disappears again. euphoria is no slouch and snow day is a hoppy dark ale that was a nice surprise. in my opinion it's the best time of the year for beer lovers.

national stout day

celebrating national stout day with a 2010 black chocolate stout. really nice. a great imperial stout, the year in the basement mellowed the alcohol out a bit.

sierra nevada/dogfish head life & limb

not bad, it's still a bit hot. nice maple and birch flavors. going to sit on the other bottle for another year or so.

port brewing midnight sessions

less of a black lager and more of a porter. still delicious, though. port has yet to disappoint.

woo

thanks, heidi!

three floyds pride & joy

they call it a mild ale, but there isn't anything mild about it. nice and hoppy. much closer to a paddle ale. another great beer from three floyds.

backwoods bastard

one of my favorites. the scotch ale does well in the bourbon barrels. quite a but easier to track down than some of founders other  barrel aged beers.  

3 floyds broo doo

awesome. piney, citrus hop flavors. everything a fresh hopped ale can't wait to have it again.

new belgium kick

i wasn't sure about this one, but since new belgium has made some of my favorite sours i gave it a shot. it's a pumpkin and cranberry ale blended with a barrel aged ale. definitely my favorite pumpkin beer ever. a little sour, hint of pumpkin, not much cranberry. for the price i will definitely be picking up a couple more.

route 113 ipa

had to dig into my dwindling  pennsylvania beer stash to support the owls. it's a little malty and sweet for my taste in ipa's. not my favorite offering from sly fox, but still decent. i wish more brewery's canned.

new belgium belgo

opened this to watch the temple v. penn state game. a nice belgian style ipa, i never had it in the bombers as a lips of faith release but i'm glad it's in six packs and under 8 bucks. it's safe to say this will probably make it into my regular rotation. 

rauch geek breakfast

it's my second time with this beer and i was debating between this and an expedition stout. i'd forgotten how smoky this was. not as much smoke as a schlenkerla, but it's definitely smoky. it's a little sweet and the coffee is just in there. as a smoked stout i like it, but i do prefer the mikkeller's other beers under the 'breakfast' moniker.

blind pig

nice piney bitterness and very well balanced. i may actually prefer this to pliny the elder. looking forward to my next one, whenever that may be.

deschutes obsidian stout

poured nice and dark. tastes like a good stout should. can't wait for this to be available in missouri.

surly hell

a great example of how american lagers should be made. nice hop presence and just a real delight. i'm enjoying lagers and pilsners a whole lot at the moment, i just wish there were more readily available in missouri.

that's it. caught up. now i have no excuses to not keep on top of this.

various things

had the pleasure of sharing some fine beers with colin as he passed through here on the way back to pennsylvania. new glarus's unplugged smoked rye ale, surly cynicale, mikkeller nelson sauvin and a 2011 founders imperial stout.

the new glarus was a great smoked beer, but i didn't pick up a lot of rye in there. the surly was a very nice american saison, dry and not too bready. the mikkeller was a nice wild ale. it had the aroma of passionfruit, which i'm told is a characteristic of brett c. a bit pricey, but i'd get it again to sit on for a while. the founders imperial stout was great as always, the only bummer is that it was my last one.

mikkeller yeast series

did a little tasting with my friend jon last week. these are billed as strong pale ales made with different strains of yeast. an interesting idea. the lager, american and hefeweizen were all interesting, but nothing spectacular. the belgian was fruity and very typical of a strong belgian pale. unsurprisingly the brett was the hi-light of the bunch. definitely glad i tried these, you do get a nice clear sense of what the yeasts bring to the table.

mikkeller chipotle porter

i wish it was called 'texas ranger' over here. a fantastic porter, roasty, a bit of chocolate in there and the most incredible finish. it takes a few sips, but you definitely get that heat. love this beer.

russian river supplication

what can i say? it's a sour from russian river. one of, if not the best american brewers of sours and wild ales. this certainly did not disappoint. specific details are lacking since it has been a few weeks since i had it.  i do have a well traveled bottle of sanctification in the basement waiting for a special occasion courtesy of colin.

end of the summer

there was a backlog of beers from the end of the summer that i forgot to put on here, so i'm going to run through the most memorable. this is one of my all time favorites. it had a couple of years on it and was absolute perfection. everything a gueuze should be. i just wish it was a bit easier to get nowadays.

soulard firkin fest

green flash imperial ipa. pretty good. too much malt character for me, i think.