To Infinium and Beyond!

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Happy Thanksgiving friends!  Wish you were here...

It's no summer shandy, but what is?

Winding down the weekend with Vietnamese brew and mandu.  Dig it!

Again with the pancakes?

More pancakes.  Still delicious.  The key thing is the sauce... for dipping.  Trying different combinations of soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, apple vinegar and wasabi.

Hopsecutioner My Ass

BarrytheBear ( Madison, Wisconsin ) D / 2.2 look: 3.5 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | drink: 2 rDev: -75% Another generous extra from jpmclaug. Thank you, Jason! I had this beer once in a blind tasting and I will attempt to review this with a fresh perspective. The previous results were, shall we say, unimpressive. Near amber pour with loads of fizzy carbonation. I can just sense a malt bomb coming. Ugh, here comes the caramel malt. What is more disconcerting is the unmistakable smell of vomit when swirled vigorously in the glass. Akin to riding past the trash dump while someone blows chunks onto your dashboard. Seriously, what the hell is going on here? Oh Hopsecutioner, if only there were an immediate and swift response by some necessary-at-times-like-these bureaucratic agency that came to your house, gave you a stern lecture, and permanently removed your moniker forever more. I want to be slayed by hops, not gently kissed by tangerine and manhandled by a filthy, groping malt monster. Why???? Argggghhh The mouthfeel is odd and strangely carbonated and this weird cloying sweetness and the feel of being sick pervades the experience. This is a fail for me.

Satyagraha, bitches

12 oz can into my Unibroue tulip. Pours a mega cloudy orange with a steady quarter inch inch that fizzes and pops at the center. When held to the fading daylight, evidence of yellow hues emerge. Legs go on forever and cling to the glass like a Chilean miner to his sanity. Too soon?

Massive tropical fruits on the nose along with unsalted crackers on the initial pass. A secondary swoop reveals something quite medicinal. It smells like a melding of cherry and menthol cough drops. Since the initial smell is quite enticing and the follow up is, um....less so, I'll split the difference.

Soapy pine, citrus, grass, and bitter with a mild though firm cracker backing. Firm cracker backing....sounds like the aspirations of a local politician in his bid for governor. But, I digress. Stupid barrage of campaign commercials! There's a mash of hops here that I wish profiled more of the tropical fruits and less of the soapy bitter grass. By no means unpleasant, but a bit of letdown after the initial olfactory salvo from the pop of the can. Seems somewhat haphazardly thrown together.

Medium bodied, bubbly and well carbonated, pops on the palate. Goes down quickly from the slick feel, but I'm not sure I'd feel compelled to work my way through another can at this time. No freshness date makes me wonder whether I got the true experience of this beer or not. The results are a mixed bag.

B+

Would he be as big a badass if he were Larry Fishburn? Discuss.....

Bomber shared with the wife - Larry pours foggy pale orange with a nice fluffy head. Just shy of what I find my IPA sweet spot for appearance.

Sweet and sour sauce coupled with orange. Slightly lacking in vibrance but not unpleasant.

Resiny and more sweet than bitter though a slight bitter nip pops at the finish. Citrus is fuzzy and present, though doesn't show in any major flavor. Orange would be the most dominant. Something about this profile doesn't fully grab me. Much like the smell, it's not unpleasant, it just tickle my inner IPA fan.

Mouthfeel is light in body and fizzy from the carbonation leaving a tingle on the tongue.

Drinkability is high though my desire to do so is not up to that level. B

What we'd have drank if we'd gone camping

Off to a howlingly unfunny de-b-u-u-u-u

Really wish more breweries released bourbon barrel aged beers in smaller bottles. This one fit the bill tonight. Nagging unpleasant thoughts began seeping into the frontal cortex as I was reminded of the qualms with this vintage. Sadly, we have confirmation.

Slightest hiss as the cork lamely puts up little resistance. Less than sludgy as the bottle proclaims. Quite flacid. Arise, damnit! Still watery look. Less than impressive.

Hot damn the nose is nice. Rich baker's chocolate, massive oak presence, and an inviting bourbon presence. Oozy vanilla and heat follow. So very woody.

Quite a little coquette here. With the appropriate carbonation this could be a real treat. Big league tannins from the oak and vanilla. The bourbon is large but not overwhelming. The heat is present but in check. Again, the wood from the barrel plays a huge role here.

The mouthfeel here is such an enormous letdown. The flavor profile would be well served by even a low, but appropriate, level of carbonation. But this is damn near flat. As a result the flavors just idle, waiting for the engine to drive them through.

Sadly, not very interested to finish this as it stands. What a waste of potential. The Tommie Harris of beers. B-

Breakfast at Northdowns

Backstage at the VMA's.........

22 oz bottle out of a box. Step one, you cut a hole in a box, two you put your junk in that box, three make her open that box, and that's the way you do it.

Crimson pour with a nearly no head and Vega showgirl legs. See I'm wise enough to know when a gift needs givin'

Sweet caramel, some vanilla, more rum than bourbon, and some plum fruitiness. And I got just the one. Somethin' to show you your second to none.

Bottom shelf bourbon here. Hot, hot, heat. The underlying winter warmer base is overwhelmed by the barrel presence and the best parts of the beer are left crushed under a blanket of hot booze. Near room temperature it was akin to taking shots. After a trip back to the fridge, she became more tolerable. However, the margin for error is razor thin. A prime candidate for some quality nap time.

Mouthfeel itself is nice, weighing in as medium bodied with low carbonation.

Drinkability suffers from the aforementioned symptoms. To all the fellas out there with ladies to impress, It's easy to do just follow these three steps.

My Nemesis (and no, I'm not talking about any of you .... or am I?)

Had an '010 Nemesis the other night. Not sure what to make of it. I'm bracing myself for an onslaught of "black _______(fill in the style)" beers in the next couple of years. Black barleywine looks suspiciously like regular barleywine but has a slight burnt toast-ness too it. I think this would have benefitted from a little aging, but wanted to try one while the hops were still hot.

In retrospect, I don't think I drank it at the right time... had it when I got home from being at work from 6am to 8pm and during the brief period before I passed out from exhaustion, thus didn't really so much get to savor it as drink it in a hazy fog. Unfortunately, I only was able to get 2 and kind of want to save the other one for an eventual Nemesis vertical, so the world may never know my true thoughts.

Grade: Incomplete.

Back to Basics

"I'm back."

HopArt

Pours quite hazy medium orange with a nice head and consistent bubbles throughout.

Slightly faint on the nose. Sawdust, bitter tangerine, and plenty of bready malt. Continual agitation reveals the bottom of a Del Monte tin and a fair share of alcohol fumes. Good, but not as vivid as I'd hoped for.

HopArt comes ready to fight. Rough and tumble bitterness and citric rind on a heavy wave of malt that shows itself as caramel and wafer crackers. Finish is slightly boozy, but appropriately so for the abv and never really detracts.

Sticky and slightly chewy body makes this near full bodied. Carbonation is well done and helps carry this pummeling fight through to the finish. A-

Knuckle Sandwich

Burgundy with a consistent quarter inch head and minimal bubbleage

Once opened and even prior to being poured, this beer can be detected from across the room. As odd as it may sound, predominant scents include fresh sliced pineapple and hot oven baked pie. Really it's quite appealing.

Tastes like it smells. Caramel sweet pie, pineapple, whipped cream, and crust. Drinks like a dessert. Minimal heat on the back end is very welcome considering the 10% tag. Certainly not a hop bomb, but all the elements of a solid DIPA are here. solid A

Smooth and viscous; an enjoyable treat.

And the wasabi wasn't bad either

막걸리

Last year's list of what I had at Great Taste

Just to get everyone in the mood...

Tea furious
Hopmouth
Bent river trappist
Diggers 20/20
Shoreline rye curse
Carlyle rauch
Town hall RIS
Desrihl barleywine
J pump roja
Red eye thorn RIS
Tyrenena imp choc st
Shoreline bourbon curse
Thirsty pagan spruce Willis
Kuhnhenn 4th dimensia
Central waters bourbon barleywine
Surly 3
Shoreline boubon barleywine
Distihl hoperation overload
Goose bourbon sherry
Kuhnhenn grand cry
Three floyds vanilla dark lord
Surly bourbon smoke
Flossmore collab evil
Floss anno unum
Blind pig smokey the beer