New Beer Weekend #237

Courtesy of @Blogjackets Jackie O's vanilla coffee bourbon barrel dark Apparition Imperial Stout; 4.19 overall

My bottle is 13.9%

Pours an effervescent ebony with a pinky of rapidly falling mocha colored head. Traces of head retention & lacing

S: Dark chocolate, Bourbon & vanilla, figs & pipe tobacco show up late to the party

T: Follows the nose, plenty of coffee, some oaky barrel dryness up front. More coffee, Bourbon notes, dark chocolate, barrel dryness, some woody hops as this beer warms up. Finishes with coffee, some booze-soaked vanilla, & more oaky notes

MF: Medium bodied/chewy, slight carbonation, warming. Body thins a touch & the carbonation picks up once warmed up

Super solid BA Imperial Stout that Coffee Fiends will really enjoy; great drinkability for the considerable heft

 

That is a bier America needs more of...

 

Can't argue with that, Jack. But AALs and a few other style typically score low even if they are well-made or "perfect" embodiments of the style. A 1.5 seems extreme, though.

 

Oakshire - Dark Umbra black IPA

16oz can served in a snulip. Can is dated 01/27/25. Bought it Friday at Hop & Hound.

Pours black with a dark brown, big fluffy head, settling slowly and leaving big lumpy mounds of head. Smell is roast and horehound, coffee and bitter pine.

Taste is roast bitterness, burnt nuts, tons of pine resin and grapefruit rind, tons of burnt coffee.

Mouthfeel is light, clean, crisp. Overall, nice, a bit too much on the roasty side, but good enough to make me happy when looking for a black IPA.

 

Good thing this isn’t what beer are you drinking now, I had these earlier but have been too busy to post anything.

Garth and I made it through the snow to Roll Out the Barrel day at Bell’s and two in my first flight were new to me - the BA Kalamazoo Stout Mocha, which was the second from the left (good lacing!) and the beer sported a nice head before I drank it.
The taste was, well, obviously Kalamazoo Stout. The anise just leapt out and rather messed up the rest. If you enjoy Kalamazoo Stout or stout with anise in it, you’d probably really enjoy it. I was glad it was just 4 or 5 oz.
The Double Barrel Expedition though, all the way to the right - not much head and no lacing, but at 15% that’s no surprise.
This one had noticeable bourbon, zero hops presence, and coffee/chocolate/vanilla centric malt notes for days. So smooth and waay too easy to drink. Light viscosity, just enough body to carry the load.
Liked it so much I bought two crowlers of it and one of them will be going to my target in the Stouts and Barleywines BIF that just kicked off.
Cheers!

 

Sexy!

 

Much love to @Blogjackets for this one

Fat Head's Hop Juju Imperial IPA; 9.0% ABV; 4.63 overall

Swear I had this before, probably the brew tap we stopped in Akron about 6 years ago...

Pours an effervescent & bright gold with 2 fingers of ivory colored head. Great head retention & lacing, stays effervescent throughout the pour

S: Cakeyness, pine, some green melon, guava & pink grapefruit late

T: Follows the nose, grapefruit & a bit of dryness up front. Grapefruit, green melon, & pine in spades as this beer warms up. Finishes as a full-on pine & grapefruit assault, some cakey notes, a little more Green Melon, Pineapple & some Orange Marmalade to boot

MF: Medium body dialed back carbonation at first. Carbonation picks up once warm, great balance, a little acidity too

Wowsa, a hop destroyer that brings it! So drinkable for what this is. A world beater DIPA to me

 

I loved Rat Patrol as a kid!

 

Sounds VERY interesting.

 

A nice pint of good old Guinness.
A nice palate reset