BeerAdvocate Big Beer Box Tasting! (2024)

No photo, but I'm enjoying some Supermassive Café Deth. This is my first beer from this Revolution Brewing. The bottom of the can says "14.8%ABV 04-04-2024 08:30:01"

The aroma is mostly bourbon and it manages to fill the room up with its scent as soon as it is poured. Some aromas of wet oak and chocolate join in when the glass is closer to the nose. It has some light flavors of cocoa and coffee which comes across like a mocha at first, but that shoots up to a much stronger character in the middle of the palate where it takes on the character of a well-made espresso. The bourbon character is always present but it hovers around the other flavors. Everything blends together very well in this beer and it is very smooth and easy drinking.

Bitterness was noticeably low in the beer and it seems to work out because the beer also does not feel sweet. Components in this beer seem to lend more to flavor than to bitterness. It is one of the best uses of coffee that I've had in a beer. To that end, the can states that it is a collaboration with Dark Matter Coffee.

 

Got my box on Thursday. Started that night with FW Imperial Reserve. While i do like Porters, generally not a Smoked Porter fan. This was better than most but still not a fan.

Following that up, right now sitting outside on a chilly Center City Philadelphia evening, with the Casita Brewing stout. The spice & mild heat from the chillies and cinnamon is perfect for a nice, fall Northeast evening.

 

Drinking Poet's Walk from the Big Beer Box.

It is a very flavorful and aromatic full bodied Barleywine with notes of date, brown sugar, burnt caramel, molasses, and black tea. It has a lot of sweet and earthy qualities but there is a pleasant fruitiness to the beer with plum and a bit of pear with honeydew melon towards the back of the palate. It is enjoyable and complex.

 

Got my box today (packing was a little haphazard, and the cans ended up everywhere in the box, but thankfully nothing breached!) … kicking things off with Great Notion Haze Division. It’s a pretty solid hazy DIPA, although it has some kinda rough-around-the-edges hop character to the flavor. It definitely seems to elicit some mixed responses in the reviews, though!



Egészségedre!

 

Jeez, this box … gonna have to limit myself to one or two a night. Next up is Evil Twin’s Molotov Cocktail (NYC’s Version). It’s an interesting one — I get more melon and passionfruit than stone fruit, and I like it, but for a 12% beer it doesn’t pack a massive flavor punch. It’s good, for sure, but I feel like at its size it should be more … juicy? I guess? Like the Haze Division above, reviews are mixed, but I do tend to like this one.



Egészségedre!

 

First one from the box.
Extra Extra Ghosty Bits


Manifested 09/27/24
Fairly hazy muted gold in hue. Bountiful head. Solid retention for a few minutes. Scattered clumpy lacing.
Nose sends tangerine and orange zest along with some melon rind and honey malt. Some nice hints of green pine.
Flavor is smooth in its balanced delivery of firm citrus rind, mildly sweet grain, some honey, along with some pineapple, mango, almost vegetal.
Mouthfeel is medium heft with a slightly grist like texture-in a good way.
3.78/5 rDev -6.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

 

As my buddy Pete always says when we’re playing cribbage, “see one, play one!” So I’m also going in for the Extra Extra Ghosty Bits.



It’s quite citrusy to me, especially in the aroma. The sweetness works here, but the hop character has a certain “sharpness” or something that isn’t quite as smooth as it could be. Overall still a darn tasty beer, but I feel like there’s room for improvement here.

Egészségedre!

 

Get Thicker Skin
Gold to peach in hue, hazy, with a fluffy white foam that exceeds 2 fingers and slowly settles into a thin layer. Lithe curtain of lacing.
Nose pops with mango and pineapple. Soon thereafter, grass, peach, orange, and hints of berry.These notes eventually waiver and the rest of the ride is more of a subtle orange creamsicle meets "green."
Flavor is more of a smooth, sauntering trail of orange, peach, tangerine zest, with a tinge of grass. A slightly herbal hop note brings a tad of bitterness.
Mouthfeel is medium, a bit fluffy, and has a respectable carb level.
3.81/5 rDev -5.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75

 

This is better than each IPA on its own. Really liked it. Hoppy, citrusy, no hop burn. Well done.

 

Going with the Anchorage Get Thicker Skin today. The aroma has a great Orange Julius-meets-Sunny D kind of thing going on that really appeals to me; I just wish the flavor tracked the aroma a little more. Kind of a little bit of harshness to the hops in the flavor, but overall pretty solid.



Egészségedre!

 

3 Sons - The Red Tape is up next. Definitely my least favorite of the box so far; it’s super sweet for my taste and, while the hop character is actually kinda tasty (lemon-juicy, but in a good way), it is not enough to stand up to the sweet. The color is also kinda wild



Egészségedre!

 

I agree, this one did not grab me.

 

Next up is Finback Centurion ... in contrast to last night, this one is so far my favorite of the box! Super good tropical passionfruit character in the flavor, with some citrus added into the mix in the aroma. I really dig tropical hazies, and while this one is pretty damn sweet, it still works for me.



Egészségedre!

 

OK, I broke into the non-IPAs! Poet’s Walk is my first beer from Suarez Family Brewery. It’s a lovely, dark, rich, complex, and contemplative beer; date, tobacco, leather … all my favorite stuff in a big dark beer like a barleywine, old ale, Belgian quad, and what-have-you. I’m normally an IPA guy, but this is a nice, solid sipper, and one of my favorites from the box so far.



Egészségedre!

 

Centurion
Pretty, hazy golden hue. Solid fluff, two fingers high. Solid retention with sticky lacing.
Nose begins with a pithy pop of grapefruit zest, slightly spicy onion, and a smooth oat malt sweetness.
Flavor starts with orange zest, creamy oats, pineapple, and herbal notes.
Mouthfeel is mildly pillowy with active carbonation.
3.79/5 rDev -6.7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75

 

This is the Hudson Valley Brewery Glycerin (Pineapple + Raspberry). They call it a "sour DIPA" on the label, but it's in the DB as a fruited kettle sour -- a much more apt description of the beer. Basically any and all hops get lost in the sourness and the fruit ... it's actually still a pretty good fruited lactose sour, but the hops are just kind of pointless here.



Egészségedre!