What beer are you drinking now? #1897

Good morning BA, have a great Saturday! Got a nice accumulation of snow last night, but nothing too serious. Should be another good day to stay inside and relax. HAd to go out yesterday afternoon to change my cell phone provider. Wish I didn't wipe my phone. At first we thought that the phone was not working because it needed to be reset, later I figured out they did not enter in the correct IMEI code for the sim card. So I lost all my contacts and other things now. Oh well. At least my old S4 has most of them still, so I can transfer them over.

Beer this morning:

Incredible! Aromas and flavors of huge peanut butter, milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, and toasted brown bread; with a touch of herbal hops and vanilla. Light herbal hop and roasted coffee bitterness on the finish. Medium bodied with great bready creaminess in the mouthfeel; touch of chalky roast and sticky hops/PB. Perfect bittersweet balance. Lightly increasing bitter/roasted dryness. Love this even more than the base beer. The PB feels a lot more pronounced in the flavors; and the coffee adds an even deeper level of roasted complexity, to the already complex base malt bill. Very rich flavors for the modest ABV. I really hope DuClaw expands to MI some day, I am addicted to their PB beers. One of my favorites.


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/char dryness. Minimal pepper heat; no acrid roast or spice astringency. Balance is pretty much perfect between spices and stout flavors. Already grabbed 3 packs, but I will definitely get at least 1 more. One of my top seasonal buys every year now; along with Born Yesterday and Death by Coconut.


2017 is tasing amazing as usual. Flavors of big milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, nutty dark roasted coffee, caramel, molasses, vanilla, toffee, bourbon, toasted oak, coconut, and dark bread; hint of smoke. Aromas are pretty muted, but nice and balanced. Bittersweet roast and lightly spicy bourbon/oak tannin finish. Creamy, silky, velvety, rich full body; touch of chalky roast and tannic oak dryness. Mildly warming 11.8%, no barrel booze; though there is a bit in the aromas as it warms. Pretty much perfectly balanced between chocolate, coffee, malt, and barrel character. Glad I grabbed a lot this year. Was much easier to acquire than I remember previously.


My last 2014. This is fantastic! 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 the review 2 years ago on Christmas, same age. 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 more of the most recent batch soon.


Cheers

 

Breakside • Fitzcarraldo 2016 Bourbon Barrel Aged Reserve

 

Dark and rainy day - beer me! Cuvée Alex Le Rouge, a Jurassian Imperial Stout from Swiss brewer Brasserie BFM:



The 10.276%ABV is well hidden by the overwhelming bitterness. Poured at 58 degrees, I was surprised at the strong skunky hops vs. lite bitter sweet dark chocolate and cherries. There is a little sweet malt in here, but almost completely masked. Oh well, live and learn and drink beer - Cheers from Basel!

 

been hittin' some of my cellar dwellers lately. 2009 Old Rasputin. it's got me thinking, i use to knock back a Rasputin probably once a week, yet it's probably been 8 or more months since i'd last opened one. so much beer; so little time.

 

One thing about living on the coast. Inland, where @SawDog505 lives, it's probably 10-15 degrees below zero. Here at my house it's only -5 degrees. I feel much warmer!
Happy Saturday!

 

Late start today. This should get me up and running!

 

Good morning BAs! Got about an inch of snow overnight -BFD! Today's New Breakfast Beer:

 

I’m just about done with all of my leftover beer from these past weeks, including this
.

 

Ba's you've got the love. What day is it?




In food and beer pairing there are challenges. One is to understand styles. The other is to make compliments of food and beer. The brown ale is a pub favorite because of it's easy nature and combines a touch of malty sweetness with a nut like flavor and can range form slightly hoppy to moderately hoppy. The brown ale can also introduce a fruity ester but this should never dominate. The beer should be dry and nutty rather than sweet and tasting like caramel. There are 2 variations on the style the southern English brown and the northern English brown. If we also include the English mild then make that 3. Your first clue as to which style the beer is, is not only the color but also the abv. The mild having the least and the northern brown reaching 5.4%. What the brown ale should not have is coffee flavor, chocolate or burnt flavor. Malt and hops should be balanced almost evenly with malt just edging first.

The other challenge with food and beer pairing is paring different styles of beer together in a flight or over the course of a meal.Today let's try to pair two different beers with the same meal.

My choice for brown ale today is Peak Organic Nut Brown Ale. To take us into dessert I am choosing either the Dusseldorf style altbier with it's brown ale type flavors but assertive hops or the bock style beer! Cheers! New Beer Sunday is coming.

 

Well done sir, if I drank all those beers this morning I would be passed the hell out.

 

I really enjoyed MCHN this year. It was one of the beers I bought for our in-office ugly christmas sweater happy hour.

 

This delicious IPA and beautiful glass are courtesy of @LeperJim. Thank you sir! You certainly do the Great Old Ones proud!

 

Toppling Goliath - King Sue

 

Morning BA

A light dusting of snow on the ground here this morning and it's still falling.





Watching a documentary about the Holy Triumvirate, Rush: The Rise of Kings.



Have a great Saturday.

 

Doc @lordofthewiens it was -11 this morning in central NH, heck in Ellington Connecticut where we are visiting friends it was -2. This local NH coffee Stout will warm me up. Cheers all. Getting ready to go on a Connecticut beer run, any suggestions @connecticutpoet or @PatrickCT ?

 

Took a few drinks before I took the picture, couldn't wait to taste, cheers!