I thoroughly enjoyed this hopped up Belgian brew. The nose on this thing was spicy, grassy, herbal, with some lemon and a hint of banana. It is big and bold across the palate hitting you with waves of grass, herbs, spice, and a mild fruityness. The finish is dry and bready with a nice lingering hop presence. This is a great take on a Belgian Tripel; adding a bit of character and extra kick to this already robust style.
Category Archives: Destroyed
Destroyed in September
- Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale – Big, malty, hoppy, in your face, and Oaky! Everything that makes an Arrogant Bastard great plus oak! A damn fine beverage.
- Oscar Blues Dales Pale Ale 19.2oz MEGA CAN – It’s like a regular hoppy Dales Pale Ale only better because there is more of it!
- Dog Fish Head 75 Min IPA – Pine, herbal, and earthy hop flavors up front with Maple bringing up the rear. Things get more Mapley as the glass warms up. Nice twist on an IPA.
- Cisco Pumple Drumkin – Really light and watery. A hint of spice and not any pumpkin to speak of… Poor Pumple Drumkin.
- Terrapin Reunion Ale – Lots of coffee on the nose. Flavors of coffee, roast, cocoa up front. The finish is all cinnamon.
- Lagunitas A Little Sumtin’ Wild – A splendid blend of hops and light farmhouse-ish funk.
- Dog Fish Head Burton Baton – Hops and Booze with a whole lotta oak.
- 3 Taverns A Night in Brussels IPA – This Belgian IPA is from a new brewery in Decatur, GA. The nose has some banana and spice to it. It is crisp and hoppy with hints of fig. Refined and tasty and finishes with a bready flavor.
- New Belgium French Aramis IPA – Light, crisp, very dry.
Look Maw It’s a Rhyeno!
This thick skinned IPA is not your typical IPA; it’s been Rye’d! This bottle poured with a strong hop aroma from the heavy amount of dry hopping that features Simcoe and Amarillo hops. This medium to light bodied IPA boasts loads of Rye in the malt bill and it is apparent in the flavor lending subtle hints of Rye peppery-ness throughout the brew. This is a solid and distinct easy drinking Rye IPA.
Now I Can’t Taste Nuttin’
I haven’t had one of these bad boys in about a year until the other day. It is a monster filled with oodles of hop flavor. This thing gets it’s outstanding “I’m sucking on a hop cone” flavor from mashing and sparging with hopped wort and a serious regiment of hopping during the boil. This brew has a pungent resinous pine flavor through out. There is not an over the top bitterness to this beer; with the amount of hop flavor it is kind of surprising. One thing that I found odd is that this beer had no nose to it. Like seriously no smell. I had two other folks give it a whiff and nothing. I don’t recall this being the case last time I tried the beer but the bottle I tried was quite a few months old at least if I am not mistaken. Either way it was delicious, bold, and enjoyable. One tip for drinking this beer: DO NOT DRINK THIS FIRST! If you are going to drink some different beers and are looking to actually taste the hops in them then leave this beer for last cause it truly does wreck your palate.
A Long Time Ago in a Galaxy Hop Far Far Away…
Clown Shoes Galactica IIPA is a hop forward West Coast style IIPA that is heavily dry hopped with Galaxy hops. This big 8% abv hoppy beer hits you with notes of tropical fruit, citrus and pine from the second you smell to the instant you taste it. All those hops are backed up by a solid, crisp and non-intrusive malt backbone. Clown Shoes beers are contract brewed by Mercury Brewing Co. in Ipswich, Massachusetts where they also brew Ipswich and Brash beers.
A Dark One from the Cellar
This is possibly(in my opinion) the best beer that SweetWater makes regularly. While I enjoy most of their beers very few leave me satisfied in such a manor as this beast. I pulled this beer out of the cellar the other day cause I needed a beer that would tell my taste buds to wake the fuck up. This beer kicks ass from every direction. It’s got a wonderful aromatic blend of roast, chocolate, pine, citrus, and spicy hops. This thing has gotten nice and smooth over the past 8 months and it still has some hops intact in the flavor and aroma. This brew has lots of toast, roast, toffee, and coffee all complimented by a west coast style hop profile. You won’t see this on the shelves again till January so you’ll just have to drool over the thought of drinking one till then.
The Price is a Matter of Discrepancy
It’s been a while since I have been really impressed by a SweetWater Dank Tank but this beer brought me back on-board with the series. Going to add this one to my Dank Tank favorites list(it’s imaginary and located in my head not on this site). Other semi-recent favorites have been Fresh Sticky Nuggs and Goulash. This beer is worthy of it’s Dank Tank title cause it is a big, bold, and tasty beer. It is a Belgian Strong Ale with an American twist; a boat load of tasty hops. The Belgian yeast imparts some fruity and citrus notes that are complemented and enhanced by the dry hopping with Simcoe and Amarillo hops. This beer is big at 9% but it goes down smoother and easier then a lot of weaker beers. If you see one of these beers sitting on your local retails shelf please pick it up and pour it in your face. Help control the bad beer population. Have your Macro-Beers spayed or neutered. Goodbye, everybody!
Founders Rübæus
This raspberry ale is outrageously tasty and refreshing. It’s a fruit beer that will have a non-fruit beer drinker questioning the delight of their taste buds. It is freakn’ PURPLE. Don’t worry though, this thing is not sweet. It is tart and full or fruity flavor but not sweet which is why I like it. I’ve been enjoying these beers in the summer heat and they have been goin’ down just right but I think they will be a great treat for the fall. I can definitely see enjoying one of these in the sun on a mountain somewhere in the crisp fall air. These should be kicking around for a few more weeks so snatch some up.
Destroyed in August
August was busy month and most of my beer drinking went un-documented or was on draft but I did manage to scrounge up these beers for the list.
- Uinta Cahoots – Lots of Rye and super smooth. Like really smooth. It hides the 9.4% abv to well.
- Stone 17th Anniversary – They did it again! Another bad ass IPA. This one uses mostly German ingredients but attains an almost west coast flavor.
- Clown Shoes Swagger – This hoppy red lager is bold for a lager. Just enough sweet red malts and bold IPA style hops make this a unique drinkable lager.
- Burnt Hickory Brewery 9353 – If you are going to put fruit in my beer, do it like this! Big Belgian IIPA brewed with peaches. Nice and bitter with a hint of tartness and peaches. Fucking delicious.
- Westbrook IPA – Pungent hoppiness in a can. I highly recommend you try this if your an IPA fan.
- Lagunitas New DogTown Pale Ale – De-fucking-licious. This pale ale is a hoppy son of a bitch and I love it. If you like IPA’s then try this. It falls into the weird “Not sure if its an IPA, Pale Ale, or Session IPA” category that’s been building up lately.
Destroyed in July
- Big Boss Bad Penny – Solid brown ale. Reminds me of Watership Brown by Red Hair
- Big Boss High Roller IPA – What can I say It’s a “balanced” IPA. If that’s your thing you’ll like it.
- Boulevard Single-Wide IPA – Solid relatively hop forward IPA. Kinda reminds me of 60 Min.
- Dogfish Head 60 Min IPA – Solid slightly hop forward IPA.
- Dofgfish Head 90 Min IIPA – It’s big and hoppy. It’s big and malty. It’s a beer you should try if you haven’t. It might have been the first IIPA that I ever tried; many, many beers and years ago.
- Founders Breakfast Stout – I love this fucking beer. One of the best stouts ever created.
- Founders Rübæus – I need to do a real review of this Raspberry wonder bomb. It is fruity as hell. A little tart and a little sweet . Purple. Awesome and refreshing.
- Heavy Seas Siren Noir – Chocolate and Bourbon and Oak. What else do you need?
- Sierra Nevada Hoptimum – Giant, bitter, and hoppy. This badass just drips with pine, citrus, and resiny goodness.
- Sierra Nevada & Boulevard Terra Incognita – Roasty and oaky with a bit of tarty sourness from wild yeast.
- Terrapin Wake and Bake – Awesomeness. Coffee all over this thing. Great way to start your day.
- Bells Two Hearted Ale IPA – Great IPA. It is one of my go to beers. Light, crisp, hoppy, and refreshing.