Happy Thanksgiving/Port Brewing Shark Attack

Good morning and Happy Thanksgiving! We are ready for the holiday season and I just wanted to post a quick review from last night before today's festivities begin.
Aside from last nights growler of Goose Island Bourbon County Stout which was still on tap at New Beer yesterday, there was a beer I had not had before from a brewery that's earned quite a reputation. That brewery is Port Brewing/Lost Abbey. I've had a few of their beers whenever I've been out of NY. The seem to be distributed everywhere and around NYC, but this is the first time I've seen them here.
I was hoping this beer was going to have some good hop flavors in it having finished off the last of my BCS, and I was not disappointed. Needing a good "palette cleanser," Port Brewing Shark Attack is a Double Red Ale clocking in at 9% ABV and displays all of the right characteristics of an American Strong Ale. It pours out almost no carbonation with strong hop aromas from the start -- good resinous citrus infused malt notes. Lots of honey malt scent and the citrus earthiness of the hops. I'm actually kinda surprised with this one. I've tried a few Port/Lost Abbey beers before and this one is probably the best I've had. No, unfortunately I have never had Angel's Share -- their most highly acclaimed and one of the rarest in their Lost Abbey line. But I have had Santa's Little Helper, I have had Old Viscosity and Wipeout IPA, but always felt unimpressed and slightly less wealthy. This one on the other hand is a completely different story. Beautiful very soft carbonation, with good crispy hop bite developing into a resinous citrusy flavor at one lock of the lips. The alcohol is incredibly well hidden by a toasty malt flavor developing three quarters of the way through the flavor. Big presiding honey-dipped fruit flavor and it's just so soft. The more I drink it, the more I enjoy the carbonation: rich, full and satisfying. Instead of the hops bittering up from the carbonation your tongue just gets matted with a good pineapple flavor. This beer was quite good, but still up in the air about its almost $10 price tag. I would have to grab it if I saw it again, but not so sure that would happen.
So today we will be having some nice beers with the meal and after. I grabbed a bottle of Great Divide Fresh Hop, which is just so good if you've never had it. We will then likely move onto Brooklyn Local 1 to balance the more heavy mid-meal offerings. Followed by Southern Tier Krampus to strengthen up for dessert. Whatever happens after that is any one's guess. Happy Thanksgiving -- drink some absurd beers with the meal please.

Southern Tier Krampus

It seems like I'm always opening a new type of Southern Tier. They are just constantly releasing new beers and styles and it seems even if its not a new beer, I'm still waiting for something to come out i.e. Choklat. Anyways, this beer is one I'm excited for -- an Imperial Helles Lager? Don't think I've ever had an imperial lager, but hey, there is a first for everything. I tend to take a certain enjoyment from these types of beers, these types being very standard sessionable styles but imperializing them. Just something about Imperial Pilsner being the same style of beer as Bud or Coors but it actually is flavorful and tastes good. It's almost like alright Bud sucks, but Pilsners aren't a foregone style of beer. So an imperial lager, lager being a rather sessionable and limiting type of yeast, seems like something right up my alley....Let's get to the beer.
Pours beautiful with a nice sticky lacing and beautiful ruby golden color. Smell is immediately one of malt, serious malt bill. But wet malt, cold and muted. The taste is actually alittle surprising. Very dry up front with good spicy and herbal hop qualities. Mouthfeel is slick and rich and carbonation is perfect for the flavor it needs. Allows your tongue the appropriate time to coat and get the full range of flavors, but then fizzles out to a nice dry and crisp citrusy hop finish. It's good and very unique, you can taste the certain lagerness to it. It is definitely a spicy beer and appropriate of its holiday designation. The hops tend to dominate this beer in their very spicy nature and suppose that its hard to imperialize this style without so much hops. And I say bring it on. This beer is quality, definitely a good one to eat with some nice food, particularly of the Asian variety. It is an easy drinker and finishes with quite a lasting bitterness, but dry leaving you yearning for the next sip. The bitterness does get slightly overbearing at one point, calling for a refresher of water, but this beer is still great.
Of course, I expect nothing less from Southern Tier and the Krampus is no exception. The ability to pull such "under-dog" styles of beer into imperialized, exceptional monsters is one thing that keeps bringing me back to Southern Tier... can not wait for the Choklat

Great Beer Weekend Lies Ahead

Well folks, it looks like we have another great beer weekend lined up for us. I noticed that Barcade, my local favorite had Ithaca Ten on tap. This beer is just fantastic on tap, so different than the bottles and I tend to like Ithaca beers. They have this great fruity hoppyness to them which I tend to appreciate a lot. I suggest stopping by if you are in the area. Also happening this weekend is an email from New Beer Distributors telling me to bring my growler and head there first thing tomorrow morning. Is it possible to have BCS glut? The beer that I might call my favorite in the world. Is it possible to have this on tap two times in one month and wait, bring home a growler of it? Yes that's right people, Goose Island Bourbon County Stout is on tap at New Beer, and i'm betting it won't last. Stay tuned for other treats that my have come in this weekend. I'm eyeing two particular Southern Tier beers...

Saturday Morning Round-up: Goose Island Night and Other Fine Tastings

Good morning, its time for the Saturday round-up. This is where I get to write about all the great stuff that happened over the past few days but I have yet to report on. Well there is lots to write about today so let's get started.
Goose Island Night was great, the Blind Tiger just manages to score some of the best and rarest kegs and this was no exception (Looking forward to VSK next Wednesday -- same place, same time). I started things off with an obvious choice of Bourbon County Stout 2008, which much to my expectation tasted very similar to the bottle. Do I dare say I actually like it in the bottle better? I do, I think it has a slightly more enjoyable carbonation for me, which I think more effectively coats your tongue. The draft has sort of a good almost sherryness to it, personifying a much more fruity than usual flavor, but with that signature toasted marshmallow finish that I love so much. But, I'll tell you what they don't have in the bottle, especially over here in the NYC area, is the Blue Czar, which was fantastic! This beer essentially seemed to be a version of the BCS but aged shorter and with the addition of...blueberries! This was excellent. When done right, fruit flavors are some of the greatest addition to the beefiest biggest imperial stouts out there. But done poorly to a weak and inappropriate stout can just end up in disaster... a Goose Island bourbon barrel aged stout certainly does not fall into this category. This beer took on an almost fluffiness and I really enjoyed how the blueberry flavors danced on my tongue in the lightest and most complex way. Other notable beers from the night included Pappy Van Sherry which was their Imperial Red Ale aged in Pappy Van Winkle Barrels. Somewhat disappointing....smelled like Pappy Van Winkle, a whiskey I love and is one of the highest regarded bourbons in the world, but flavor didn't do it for me. I love the taste of fresh hops and this beer possessed the opposite, sort of a sour cloying taste personified by stale hops. But hey this beer was good, I just had higher expectations. There were great flavors of dry butterscotch developing in this one.
The Goose Island night was a huge success and one in which I took great pride in participating in. I'm always excited to try the great beers of a brewery with an incredible reputation.
In other news, some more treats from the package will now be revealed.

Three Floyds Dreadnaught anybody? Surprised that was in the package? I'm not. This is considered one of the best American craft IPAs there are out there, and the beer does not disappoint. It pours with a cloudy golden orange body with a nice dissipating fluffy white head. This beer just smells hops in all varietals. Spicy, herbal, earthy, piney, fruity, citrusy...all the great flavors of hops. But the taste is the same thing. You get it all with a beautiful golden malt flavor backing it up and making this Imperial IPA what? Yes, balanced. Malt flavors draw a similarity to Dogfish Head, but never this smooth. It has this incredible carbonation that just puts everything in its place. Makes this monster smooth, and incredibly drinkable. It finishes clean and the palette, yearning for the next sip. It's a delicious beer of an incredibly rare nature, one that will certainly become a part of all future orders from Chicago.
Southern Tier recently came out with a run of Oak Aged Ales called the Cuvee series. Cuvee #1 is the first foray into this series. The packaging is beautiful. The individual boxing, the foil label. But most importantly, what does the beer taste like? Its a beer of incredible deception cloaked in the mystery of oak aging. This beer is a monster, at 11% ABV, it is huge, but you'd never know. Such is the nature of this oak aged beast. It tastes great, just incredibly smooth. Yes smooth, is the word I'd use to describe it. Not honey, not vanilla, not even fruity or spicy. Although this beer possesses all those flavors, the most dominant flavor is yes, smooth. Such is the nature of a beer that melds its flavors so well, that hides its alcohol as almost imperceptible. This is an incredibly complex piece of brewers art. Its slightly Belgiany, yes I just made that up, and I could go without that, but it works well here, balancing the honey malt flavors with a certain dry spiciness. It's a great beer and a definite adder to the cellar.

What Saturday treats await tonight's palette?