What beer are you drinking now? #1856

Good morning BA, have a great Sunday! Just another normal day for me. Got a few errands to run as usual. Getting ready for the holidays later in the week. Got a pretty busy schedule at work with some certification testing, but we should be getting everything done by Tuesday.

Incredible again this year. Flavors of big milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, cinnamon, vanilla, cream, nutmeg, chile pepper, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, and toasted dark/brown bread. Light roast/char/spice bitterness on the finish. Medium-full bodied; great creamy/silky mouthfeel, with some light sticky/chalky roast/spice notes. Lightly increasing bitter/spicy/roast dryness. Zero pepper heat. Balance is pretty much perfect between spices and stout flavors. Already grabbed 2 packs, but I will definitely get at least 1 more. Went through 3 packs of Mocha IPA this year.


This is fantastic! Glad they started canning this one. Flavors of big tangerine, grapefruit, peach, apricot, passion fruit, papaya, mango, melon, berry, lemon/orange peel, light pepper, and pine hops; with moderate caramel, lightly toasted bread malts; and herbal, floral, grassy hops earthiness. Moderate pine, citrus rind, grassy, spicy bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation and medium-full bodied; balanced creamy/bready malts and sticky/resinous/rindy hops in the mouthfeel. Increasing resin/rind dryness, no hop astringency. Super smooth, minimal warming 9.2%. I love Mosaic hops, and this one is a wonderful showcase. Great mix of juicy/dank hop character, and balanced malts without being overly sweet/heavy feeling. Really amazing DIPA all around, more of a sleeper with all of the M-43 hype around here.


Revisit after 3 years, got this in a trade with @RaulMondesi some time ago. 3 years old now. In contrast to the one I reviewed, this has very little carbonation. Awesome American barleywine though! Flavors of big grapefruit, tangerine, raisin, plum, prune, cherry, fig, apricot, red apple, and light pine; with honey, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, molasses, and toasted brown bread malt sweetness; some herbal, floral, grassy hop and yeasty earthiness. Light pine, citrus peel, grassy bitterness on the finish. Mild carbonation and fairly full body; with a very creamy, silky, slick mouthfeel. Some light sticky hops/resins and increasing dryness. Never astringent. This strikes a really great balance between American hops and fruity yeast complexity; with balanced malt sweetness without being cloying. This is a lot less bitter than I remember the 2 year old bottle when I reviewed it, but that purely could be because of the lack of carbonation. Really loved this one.


Another 3 year old bottle. This is fantastic as usual! Flavors of big grapefruit, tangerine, pineapple, peach, apricot, mango, lemon zest, orange peel, and pine hops; with balanced caramel, brown sugar, and lightly toasted bread malts; with herbal, floral, grassy hop earthiness. Light-moderate pine, citrus peel, grassy bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation and medium-full bodied; balanced creamy/slick malts and sticky hops in the mouthfeel. Light-moderate increasing bitter dryness. No cloying/astringent flavors. Dangerously smooth, minimal warming ABV. Just as outstanding as when I revisited this review 2 years ago on Christmas. More recent batches have been better with age then I remember previously(the first time I had it). The Amarillo/Simcoe hop character is very well retained, and it is not overly sweet/heavy on malt character considering the ABV. I buy this every single year for good reason. Will definitely pick up the most recent batch soon.


Cheers