Angels' Envy
Newport Craft Brewing & Distilling Co.

 

Poured from a 22oz bottle into a mug glass.

A: The beer is a deep black color, with a large off-white head that fades very slowly and leaves a very thick lace on the glass.

S: The aroma contains rum, chocolate, dark fruit, roasted malts and a faint touch of hops.

T: The taste starts out with sweet flavors of chocolate, rum and caramel. The rum flavor is something that I’ve found this brewer does very well at getting into their beers. Then a hearty roasted malt character comes in. There are some flavors of smoke and dark fruit in the background. The hops presence is mild but complementary and brings some balance. The after-taste is slightly sweet.

M: A little smooth and a little crisp but a bit chalky yet watery, medium body, medium carbonation, finish is slightly sticky.

O: A little tasty, goes down easily, not too filling, strong kick, decent representation of style, it’s a good beer to drink for a while.

What are the angels envious of? Probably not this beer. The bottle art is tantalizing. Pouring it out adds to the excitement. Muddy brown and black with a fat frothy head. The angels rejoice. Then they smell the beer and think about that one time in college when they puked after drinking boxed red wine all night. Happy times. Super grapey and acidy. Cherry. Plum. The angels drink it anyway. They vaguely recall the smokey bar they went to after rallying that night. Fig. Smoke. Blueberry. Bourbon booze. Fig. Grape. Feels like it should. Thick

A bit of a cluster fuck. Some neat flavors. Some loudly clashing components. Not really sure what this beer even is. Only the angels know.

 

Sampling a cellar temp bottle poured into a tulip snifter. The beer pours a deep mahogany color with 2 cm of densely packed head that fades to a sturdy edge layer fairly rapidly with just a few wispy islands on the surface.
Aroma is sweet dark fruit, raisins and plums, deep rum notes add to a rich sweetness on the nose.
A little boozy, but rum notes not fusol or heat anywhere. No hops that I can detect. Definitely a nose that portrays a large robust beer.
First sip reveals a fairly thick and full body with fine tingly carbonation. A sticky texture coats my tongue after each sip. The beer is smooth and easy to drink even though it does coat my palate and doesnt hide the robust nature of the beer.
Flavor is sweet malt with brown sugar and dark fruit again with plums and rum soaked raisins. I do get a little dry wood on each swallow. This is accompanied by some warming booze.
I really enjoy this beer, as I get closer to finishing the bomber I can feel the booze a little and Im glad I am staying home tonite.
Am interesting robust beer that is spot on for this cold December evening. WEll made.

Bomber > Mason Pint

A - Dark dark ruby brown, 2 fingers of khaki head, little lacing.
S - Very appealing aroma, rum, cinnamon, vanilla, smoke, light floral notes, some citrus zest, sawdust. Very good barrel traits to it.
T - Taste is very strong up front, alcohol and a really tart acrid bitterness, then it gets very woody, which is good, but it finishes very sour.
M - Too tart, a mild burnt texture to it.
O - Decent ale, complex, interesting brew.

 

Picked up a 22 @ Granite Liquors the other day. Poured into a large Duvel snifter.

Appearance:This beer poured a one finger head that reduced to a thin layer. It is a pitch black color with no clarity or vision of bubbles coming up through the glass. Nice lacing down the glass as the beer was drank.

Smell: Vanilla, spices, oak, coffee, chocolate, and rum.

Taste: Rum barrel, vanilla, spices, smoke, ash, mocha. The rum characteristics hide a lot of the beer flavors I would expect from a BA beer.

Mouthfeel: barrel booziness, watery, a little creamy, medium carbonation, and light to medium bodied.

Overall: The rum barrel is probably the best part of the beer. I just wish there was more to it.

 

 

 

Another foray into rum barrel-aged beer from Newport Storm. 22oz bottle (first time in this format) served in a tulip. Pours the color and clarity of cola with a loose, half-inch, tan-colored head embedded with tiny ringlets. Head eventually disperses into a creamy swirl that coalesces around the edges. Swaths and spots of lacing coat the walls of the glass and linger between quaffs. Nose is interesting - vinous aromas, as well as baker's chocolate, lactose, buttery notes and spirits. Taste is a bit dull - buttery notes from the oak stand out for me but the malt profile is pretty bland - definitely a darker malt backbone, but nothing really speaks to you, making it all come off somewhat watery and dominated by the oak at the front and the rum at the back. Mouthfeel is medium-light in body with an even carbonation, but a somewhat water-downed feel to it all. There is just a kiss of heat that comes out at the finish. Overall, I really want to like this beer, but it falls a bit short in my opinion. I definitely think the brewers are on the right track; however, they're not quite there yet. The rum barrel aging is much more subtle than what was introduced with Quinn, but the malt flavors are too indistinct. That said, Thomas Tew is such a spectacular rum in and off itself that I am hopeful that their next iteration of a rum BA beer will be improved.