Double Posting

Today it's time for an unusual event - a double posting. Since these are both beers that it's not terribly likely that I'll get again, I wanted to make sure I got these up. To keep this short I'll just jump into it, but today we have Half Acre Daisy Cutter and Three Floyds Dreadnaught.

Daisy Cutter is a pale ale, a style I normally don't care for all that much as most examples I've seen tend to have very little hop quality. However this one was pretty highly rated, so I wanted to see what it was all about.

The aroma was very similar to pellet hops that I've encountered in home brewing. There was a bunch of citrus, grass, flowers, and spice. I didn't actually get any noticeable malt quality.

It appeared a somewhat cloudy golden color with a thin, white head. As I progressed through the glass, I noticed a ton of lacing.

At first I tasted a bit of caramel and bread. It's a pretty delicate sweetish flavor that is pleasantly drinkable. This is followed up by substantial citrus hop flavor with some pepper. The bitterness lingers a while as well.

It's got a light body in the mouth, combined with a moderate-high carbonation level. It's clean and moderately dry as well.

Overall, this was a very good pale ale. Considering that I normally don't like the style much, I really enjoyed this beer. I'd say this is probably one of the best pale ales I've had yet.

Dreadnaught on the other hand is a Double/Imperial IPA. The aroma is a dense mix of hops,

with citrus and resin. I also thought it was a little woody.

Its appearance is a bit darker than Daisy Cutter, but still within the realm of golden, and again has some haze to it. There is less head though, only a dusting of bubbles that seem to be mor

e off-white.

There's a little sweetness right up front, evoking a memory of honey. I thought I also got a little pine. In the back of the mouth there's a strong bitterness that seems pleasant and fitting for the style. There was some citrus in the middle, but for me at least it seemed obscured by the mix of sweet and bitter. There's just a ton of hops packed into this beer. It's kind of like a mix between an East Coast and West Coast IPA.

The beer has a moderate body, combined with a fairly high level of carbonation. I noticed some stickiness from the resins in my mouth as well. There was also just a little warmth in the throat as it went down.

I enjoyed this DIPA quite a bit. There's just so much hop flavor going on in this beer. In fact, there's a level of bitterness that doesn't really make it into that many beers, even when loaded down with hops. I wouldn't say I prefer it to Hopslam which is fortunate for me since Hopslam is a lot easier to get around here. Still I wouldn't ever turn this beer down.

- Adam

Williamsburg AleWerks Coffeehouse Stout

Every once in a while you just get a craving for a particular style of beer. This longing hit me today in the form of a coffee stout. To tell the truth, what I really wanted was Spring House Planet Bean, but since I had to work earlier today I didn't have the time or inclination to take an hour and a half drive into PA for a single beer. So instead I decided to satiate my desire with a more easily attainable beer that I haven't tried before. My trip over to State Line Liquors yielded the Williamsburg AleWerks Cofeehouse Stout.

To my knowledge I have not tried anything from Williamsburg previously. They're somewhat local I suppose, being from Virginia. However, they don't have a very wide range of offerings. I imagine they are Virginia's equivalent of Twin Lakes brewing for those of us from Delaware - a relatively small brewery with a focus more on the history of beer than the current trends in the craft beer industry.

The beer pours about as dark as one could imagine. It's straight black, with no trace of light coming through even on the sides. A vigorous pour left about a 1 finger head with somewhat poor retention. I felt like I really had to try to get any head to develop on this one.

The aroma at first has a sort of tart roast to it, a decidedly coffee bean oriented smell. It's a bit faint, but it evokes the feeling one would get walking into a coffee shop. Underneath is a hint of smoke, and a touch of caramel sweetness. I do wish the aroma was a bit stronger, as you really have to stick your nose in the glass to get a whiff of this beer. However, everything that does come through is quite pleasant.

At first sip it seems a bit light but pleasant, with a mild vanilla flavor complementing the weak roast. As it's swallowed, it seems to be missing any hint of bitterness though. While it isn't cloying at all, it tastes more like coffee would if you somehow extracted any hint of bitterness, dumped a bunch of cream in, and didn't have much roast at all. Their website has this beer listed as a milk/sweet stout, which seems more appropriate, but that is not how this beer seems to be marketed at all. I went into it expecting a whole different set of flavors. As it warms up a bit I get a little bit more of a coffee roast flavor, but it's still strongly lacking in bitterness.

In the mouth this beer is moderate-light bodied, and has a low but present level of carbonation. The lactose in it leaves a thick coating in the mouth and a slick feeling. Other than that, there's not a lot to the mouthfeel... no warmth, not a ton of substance.

I have to say that I am a little disappointed in this beer. It's not bad, it's not cloying or overly sweet, it's just not what I expected given how it was labeled. If you're being introduced to coffee stouts for the first time or find them to be too bitter or over the top usually, this is probably right up your alley. However, if you're like me and want a coffee stout that's big, bold, and has a little bit of a kick to it, pass this one by.

- Adam

Night of Big Stouts

Dan and I have been collecting/trading beers for a little while now, but haven't had a lot of opportunity to open many of the bigger beers we've gotten in a way that seemed "fitting". We got to talking, and decided that a major tasting night was in order, bringing together some huge stouts and giving us the opportunity to decide if trading for these beers was really worth it.

The lineup included some pretty heavy hitters, and consisted of Jester King Black Metal, Big Black Voodoo Daddy, Three Floyds Dark Lord (2009), Green Flash Silva Stout, Surly Darkness (2010), and Deschutes The Abyss (2010). Dark Lord, Darkness, and Abyss especially have achieved a legendary status among serious beer drinkers, so this was an exciting night. Many thanks go to Jay (beerthursdays) for providing the Darkness and Silva Stout as well.

I didn't have the opportunity to really take notes on all the beers, but I wanted to jot down a few thoughts for future reference.

Black Metal - This beer was surprisingly easy to drink and smooth considering its 10.4% ABV. There were some decent vanilla notes, and we thought this tasted like it might have even been barrel aged. I have another bottle so I'll see how this one ages, but it was darn tasty fresh.

Big Black Voodoo Daddy - more of a classic Imperial Stout. The bitterness was more present on this one than the Black Metal. Lots of chocolate flavors and coffee.

Dark Lord - This one surprised me a bit. I didn't like it nearly as much as I thought I would. Dan and Jay said that 2009 was their least favorite of the years they've had, so I may look to try a different year sometime. However this one was overly sweet, thick, and boozy.

Silva Stout - Very good barrel aged stout. This one had strong notes of bourbon, which mostly dominated all the other flavors. Very enjoyable if you like the taste of bourbon barrel beers.

The Abyss - All the huge, roasty flavors were right up front with this one. What made it really stand out from the rest though was the presence of anise, which provided a black licorice flavor. This one was by far my favorite of the night.

Darkness - I was actually a little disappointed in this one as well. Dan and I both noted some oxidized flavors and aromas that got in the way of really enjoying the beer. I'd be nervous letting this one sit to age, because if it is oxidation those flavors should just get stronger.

All in all though, it was a great night for us. Now I have a much better idea of what I'll be looking to get in the future, and I'm able to say that I've tried these giants among beers.

- Adam

Ballast Point Sculpin IPA

Ballast Point has a fairly intriguing history for a homebrewer like myself. Initially one of the founders, Jack White was a homebrewer, who started his career in beer by opening a homebrew supply shop, mainly because he didn't have a place to buy ingredients and supplies and saw the need for a store that sold those things in his area. Through this store, he met another brewer, and together they started Ballast Point Brewing Company. Of their standard released, Sculpin is the only one I've tried, but they also offer beers like Victory at Sea, and Sea Monster (which I picked up a bottle of recently.) Sculpin is considered one of the quintessential West Coast style IPAs along with Sierra Nevada Torpedo, Stone's IPA, , and of course Green Flash's West Coast IPA. Typically, a West Coast IPA is all about hops and strongly bitter, with every stage of the beer being about the hop quality. This ranges from the initial sip to the lingering flavor, pretty much everything can be expected to have a strong hop character - almost always from the citrusy "C" hops. In comparison, the East Coast IPA can allow malty flavors through, and often focuses more on late hop additions without necessarily having all the bitterness, and broaden to use other hop varieties. So with all that said, on to the beer.

My bottle poured a hazy, slightly red-tinged straw color. It had a one finger pillowy white head, very loosely packed and rocky. Within minutes it had dissipated to a thin coating on top of the beer.

As soon as I started pouring the beer, I said "hello grapefruit" because the citrus hop character grabs the nose immediately. There's also other fruity aromas in there like peach and banana, and maybe a touch of pine. What's decidedly missing though is any sense of malt character to to the smell. Right away this beer wants you to know you're about to get hops, and lots of it.

At the tip of the tongue there's a touch of fruit, but this immediately gives way to a strong bitter backbone. The bitterness hangs around by itself after everything else about the beer has left your memory. There is no malt character at all to this beer though, even at the very front. I thought for a second that I could taste a touch of bread, but I think that was my imagination. I did notice though that after a couple sips, I started to get a metallic flavor in my mouth a little.

The beer has a very light body, feeling almost insubstantial in the mouth. Carbonation is pretty high and almost seems to get in the way a bit. Hop resins completely coat the mouth as well, leaving a slick and slippery feeling.

All in all, it's good, but very different from what I'm used to. There doesn't seem to be a lot of subtlety or balance here, it's just hops all the way through. That isn't necessarily a bad thing though. This could really hit the spot when there's a hop craving, but for the most part I'd rather have at least some malt quality. Maybe it's just a regional thing though. Still very much worth having

- Adam