What beer are you drinking now? #1680

Fremont • Bourbon Barrel Aged Dark Star

 

Good morning BA, have a great Saturday. Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday weekend so far. Kind of running low on beers to review, so I am planning on going hunting today to restock my supplies.

Incredible IPA. Just got some fresh stuff around this month. Flavors of huge passion fruit, papaya, guava, peach, pineapple, mango, melon, berries, lemon, tangerine, grapefruit, orange peel, pepper, and pine hops; with cracker, rye bread, and light honey malt balance; and herbal, floral, grassy hop earthiness. Moderate pine/rind/grassy bitterness and rye spiciness on the finish. Medium bodied; balanced bready/grainy malt and sticky hops in the mouthfeel. Light resin/rinds and quickly increasing dryness, with no hop/rye astringency. Crisp and highly drinkable. Very dank/piney and fairly juicy on hops. The rye really works well with the herbal/peppery background qualities of the hop bill; but doesn't come off overly spicy. Mosaic, Meridian, and Denali hops. Super fruity and tropical. Wonderful stuff. Will keep buying this as long as its freshly available. Glad Bear Republic came back last year, so much awesome beer.


Been over 4 years since I reviewed this, but checking this out again now that we get them. This is just as good as I remember. Flavors of grapfruit, tangerine, lemon zest, orange peel, citrus rind, light pepper, and pine hops; with moderate toasted bread, light caramel malt balance; and herbal, floral, grassy hop earthiness. Good sized pine/rind/spicy bitterness. Medium bodied; balanced bready/grainy creaminess and sticky/resinous hops. Increasing resin/rind dryness, with slight astringency. Very easy drinking. A really nice classic C hopped IPA. Columbus, centennial, and cascade; with pretty strong emphasis on the Columbus hops.


2015 off the singles shelf. This is tasting insane! Flavors of huge milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, toffee, molasses, vanilla, dark bread, toasted biscuit, and nutty malts; with lighter notes of tobacco, herbal, wood, smoke, char, and dark fruits. Light-moderate roast/char and woody hop bitter finish. Very full bodied; very creamy, silky, velvety, and rich mouthfeel. Lightly slick, sticky, and chalky. Lightly increasing roast/char dryness. Super smooth and never acrid/astringent on roast or hops. Welp, I don't know why I don't buy this more often. This is absolutely top tier for the style. I've always thought I only preferred it with very extended age; but after only 18 months, this is perfect. Shouldn't be too difficult to find a 6 pack of this vintage off the shelf right now. I should get some fresh ones to compare.


Incredible as always. Big flavors of milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, espresso beans, fudge, caramel, vanilla, brown sugar, toffee, molasses, toasted dark bread, almond, and light smoke/char. Bittersweet roasted finish; full bodied creamy/silky mouthfeel, light chalky roasted dryness. Super smooth and lightly warming finish. Glad that these are in cans now, much better price point and more accessible. Just got a new supplier in MI last couple months, so the price is 50% cheaper than before. I have been buying this far more often because of that.


Cheers

 

Finishing up this crowler from last night.

DDH Piece of the Action from The Answer

 

Good morning BA! New beer Sunday is coming . ..

Southern Tier why the Helles Not

Pours clear and golden with a fast falling head of white creamy foam. Nose is light and godlen with malt. By light I mean that the malt is not complex. It is golden and breaddy but does not offer any toasted flavor. Hops are just present on the nose but shy. Soft floral shows a bit of grass from hops. As the beer sits it will also show you some pepper and spice. No diacetyl, no fruity esters from yeast, faint dms perfect for the style. Drinks smoothly and imo better than last year. No rough edges on this one it goes down with plenty of satisfaction. Hops remain shy on the palate but they impart their cool breath to the beer. Finishes perfectly. Malty with a crisp bubble and just a little bitterness to linger. Exemplary! In fact I would say put this up against any German import.

 

Great to see @SomethingClever last night. We drank a lot of (maybe too much) beer, and finished the evening with this:



Then my wife drove me home and I went to bed. Looks like Dave soldiered on without me.

Saturday, so far, looks like a nice day. I'm trying to figure out what to do. My golf course is unplayable, due to the 3" of rain we got yesterday. Some morning coffee while I contemplate the day.

 

Good morning BAs! Actually, I finished today's New Breakfast Beer while reading some pages of yesterday's WBAYDN:



An OK wild ale but nothing to write home about.

Guess it's time to move on to some Founders All Day IPA:



Does Founders make a bad beer? That's pretty much a rhetorical question - I haven't found one yet although I like some better than others.

 

Because it was calling to me . . .





Beautiful scarlet red color with white cap.

Aroma of sweet, tart raspberry. That's all but it's a more complex scent that just that. It seems to incorporate the fullness of ripe raspberries without any hint of artificial additives.

Taste is even richer than the aroma implies. Of the raspberry brews I've tried this one comes closest to nailing the essence of the berry somehow capturing both sweetness and tartness in near perfect balance.

 

Happy Saturday! We will make the last leg of our journey home today! Following a big breakfast downstairs, a "coffee" while I pack up:



I take this bottle out of fridge, then I go eat. It warms up to 57 degrees which is just about perfect to bring out the bittersweet dark chocolate and vanilla notes. Plenty of bourbon and coffee present, but I'm more aware of the complexity and balance after the beer has warmed sufficiently. Nice!

Enjoy this long week end, and drink well my BA brethren!

 

Doc you needed to snag that picture after you had a belt or two from the beer in it.

 

I was going to ask what you slipped in his drink last night, it seems to still be working

 

No hype at all. This beer is amazing...

 

Love it!

 

4.8% alcohol. 15 IBU. Introduced in 2017. Summer seasonal. Certified Kosher.

 

Breakfast beer for the wife and I. Pairing it with a cheese & onion omlet, bacon, and banana pancakes. Cheers!

 

A wheatwine for breakfast? You're a badass.

 

Stillwater's Insetto, a refreshing dry-hopped sour after 3 early hours of outdoor work.
Wishing a relaxing weekend to all!

 

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Drinking a Colab. between RAR Brewing, Dogfish Head Brewing and Burial Beer Co.