With more than 28 beers sampled that night (over six hours and there were eight of us, don't worry Mom) I'll do a top 20 of what I most enjoyed.
Just missed:
Woodfour Brewing - Quercus Reserve Pyrus
Yuck! This was really disappointing. Quercus Reserve Peche was a delightful peach sour, this tasted like apple cider with no carb.
Arrogant Brewing - Bastard's Midnight Brunch
Night Shift Brewing - Picasso
The Bruery - Bourbon Barrel Aged 7 Swans-A-Swimming
Deschutes Brewing - Jubel (2015)
Night Shift Brewing - Darkling (2016)
Barely missed:
22. AleSmith Brewing - Speedway Stout Mokasida Coffee
Like all Speedway Stout variants, it's good. It was just a little thin for my liking with a lot of coffee.
21. Monkish Brewing - Spock It
This beer has no place beloning on a "just missed" list. It's an all-galaxy hopped bomb from Monkish. Unfortunately we had a lot of good beers that night...
So without further ado the top twenty, right after I drink some Pedialite...
20. OEC Brewing - Zymatore Maledetta Urwaga Project
While it's the lowest on the top twenty, this brew wins for story of the night. This beer is produced (is that even the right word?) by OEC, master blenders hailing from Connecticut. The base beer is Birra del Borgo's Maldetta which is aged for two years in a Zinfandel wine barrel and matured underground in a fermantation pit known as Urwaga, a Kenyan tradition. It created for some interesting aromas and flavor. While it's nice to try for the story, it was probably the worst OEC beer I've had (which is a high bar).
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| Well, it definitely "looks" like it's been aged underground! |
19. Tired Hands Brewing - Punge
Punge is a Tired Hands original that I first had way back in April. It's brewed with a lot of oats in typical Tired Hands fashion, and hopped with New Zealand favorites Motueka and Nelson Sauvin. It's great, but compared to the other IPAs we had that evening it seemed average.
18. Wicked Weed Brewing - White Angel
Wait, I thought the angel series was supposed to be superb? Is this just NC-traders hyping up it's value? This barrel-aged sour ale aged with "wild" grapes is good, but it didn't blow me away. It's a bit funky, some grape must in there, but I've had way better grape-d wild ales from other breweries to think that this stands out.
17. Firestone Walker Brewing - SLOambic (Batch #2)
Maybe it's because I had this right after Jester King's wild ale, Nocturn Chrysalis. Maybe it's because I think Bretta Rose is really damn good. Really funky, just a touch of tart, not as much berry as I'd like. Still really solid and worth seeking out as are all things from Firestone's barrel program.
16. Trillium Brewing - Blueberry Soak
Another relative disappointment, given how much I've heard about Trillium's Soak series. It's quite good, not funky but also not too acidic. I think blueberry is just a soft fruit my palate can't appreciate.
15. de Garde Brewing - Imperial Cherry Bu
"But Eric, you love de Garde!" Is what everyone said when they saw my rating and my face after trying this. I do love my de Gardes and I will praise them every second I get, I think they make the best wild ales in the country. However, I'm not a kriek/cherry guy, and while this was tart & funky, it's got a little earthiness from cherry pits that I just can't get over. Cherry, a fantastic fruit, but I like my wilds to be soaked in tart berries or stone fruits.
14. Cycle Brewing - 3rd Anniversary BA Ethiopia Yirgacheffe
My first Cycle stout! Better than Mokasida, but also thin. I need to try more from these guys. It was good, but I've had better coffee stouts.
13. Monkish Brewing / Veil Brewing - Haazee Guizz
Ah the first IPA to make an appearance! I was super disappointed by my last Monkish/Veil collab, so I was really hesitant with this guy (sorry *guizz). Hopped with mosaic, nelson and galaxy (and no fruit added!) this was quite good.
12. Schramm's Mead - Ginger
Woo boy. I don't even like ginger. You know those little ginger strips you get with sushi (gari)? I don't eat those, not my favorite. This was really good though and an excellent nightcap. I need more Schramm's in my life.
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| Black Agnes > Raspberry > Ginger. But this is still incredible. |
11. Tree House Brewing - Curiosity Twenty Eight
I haven't had a beer from Tree House's curiosity series since a small sip of C26, and I was looking forward to this one. While I really wanted to try C27 (heard it was fantastic and loaded with Amarillo) this was a nice substitute and had a seasonally-appropriate label.
10. Cycle Brewing - 3rd Anniversary BA Jamaica Blue Mountain (Mavis Bank Estate)
My second Cycle stout ever! And it was better than the first! Really great mouthfeel and coffee in this one.
9. Monkish Brewing - Bomb Atomically
Probably the best beer I've had from Monkish. This was bomb, enough said.
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| Hey Scott! |
8. Tree House Brewing - Julius
Y'all know enough about this one already.
7. Jester King Brewing - Nocturn Chrysalis (Blend 3)
I've loved every single Jester King fruited sour I've had (Atrial, Fen Tao, Colour Five, Aurelian Lure, Cerveza de Tempranillo). My first foray into blackberry sours was Tilquin's Oude Mure. Unfortunately, Nocturn didn't live up the the hype of the Tilquin lambic, but it was really great. A sour red ale refermented on blackberries, Nocturn isn't too tart and has some nice fruit in it. While it's not as good as Atrial, and I wasn't expecting it to be, it's really nice. I wonder how good the (really hyped) gin barrel-aged version of this is (particularly because I don't like gin). I need more blackberry beers in my life.
6. Toppling Goliath / Cycle Brewing - BA Chain Smoker
On a night of many firsts, here's my first ever dark beer from TG. Since I'll probably never even get a whiff of Morning Delight, Assassin or KBBS, I was really looking forward to this. This is a collaboration with equally-hyped Florida kings of stout Cycle, unfortunately, they didn't make a stout. Instead, the brewers opted for something different, a smoked porter aged in bourbon barrels. I was expected a lot more smoke than I got, instead I got subtle smoke, lots of chocolate and molasses and a ton of barrel character. Since it's a porter, I thought the mouthfeel was a little thin for my liking, which made the bourbon stand out. It was really well balanced and layered.
5. Jackie O's Brewery - Bourbon Barrel Aged Champion Ground
This was the third best stout of the night and probably the best pure coffee stout which is saying a lot considering some of the breweries it was up against. My second beer ever from Jackie O's, this Ohio brewery seems to be killing the stout game. Champion Ground was damn good, thick mouthfeel, nice bourbon character, great coffee without being too thin or roasty.
4. Bottle Logic Brewing - Ground State (2016)
My first Bottle Logic stout! My buddy just landed an FO, so while we wait to crack that we decided to open Ground State, a stout brewed with chocolate and cocoa nibs and aged in bourbon barrels with vanilla and coffee beans. I was blown away by how thick and flavorful this was.
3. Brasserie Cantillon - Fou Foune (2016)
I went a few years thinking I would never have Fou. I've now had it twice in the last couple months. I reviewed this one back in my birthday roundup post. Check it out there.
2. Goose Island - Rare Bourbon County Brand Stout Rare (2015)
You know, I wanted to hate this beer because how Goose Island sold out and the debacle that was the 2015 BCBS release. I wanted to hate this beer because it sells for $100+ in NYC.
But damn, this is a fine stout. Probably the best barrel character I've ever had in a beer. The Heaven Hill barrels really go along nice with the base BCBS (2013 since this aged for two years before 2015). It was a little hot still, but not boozy. Great mouthfeel and flavor. In fact, it made me want to buy one to age for a couple more years since I know it's probably the last pre-buyout BCBS you can find on the market. I might go do that now...
1. Schramm's Mead - Black Agnes (Batch 6)
It's so good to have friends from Michigan, my friend visiting home picked this up over Thanksgiving. At $32 per 375mL bottle, this ain't cheap. It's worth it though.
I was throughly impressed with Schramm's Raspberry I had just two weeks prior to this. Sure, it was a little sweet, but it was unlike anything I ever tasted. While I couldn't point out to you what a currant is, all I know is that adding it to fermented honey is an excellent idea and it tastes amazing. Not sweet, not tart, just really pleasant mead. I need more Schramm's.
Happy Holidays all! Will get back to you around Christmas when I go home for a share with DC-area friends.
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