5.10 - The End of Winter

All that remains of winter...

Saranac - 4059* Porter
a 5.2% ABV 43 IBU  -  the height of Porter Mountain in the Adirondacks, one of the highest peaks.. let's see if this lives up to it's namesake.  Great chocolate brown pour with roasty and chocolate malts off the nose.. faint coffee, English-style hops.   It's mildly sweet and smooth, a nice mix of milk and bitter chocolate with some sweeter toffee and caramel.  There's some faint smokey malts lingering towards the end.  This is roasty and earthy.. not overly sweet as some Porters can tend to be, more true-to-it's-roots than most

- - 8 Hops!

Saranac - Chocolate Lager

6.0% ABV and 15 IBU Lager.  Incredibly light.. this caught me off guard, more like a traditional Lager pour than you'd expect from anything with 'chocolate' in the name.  Malty nose similar to a typical Lager with just hints of cacao and hops.  Surprisingly crisp and slightly creamy, the lighter malts actually work well the hints of chocolate.  A decent citrus hop profile towards the finish that balances out this brew.. unique, but they kept it simple.  Very nice

- - 7 Hops!

5.9 - More Winter Saranac

We've been over this a million times.. get off my junk when it comes to drinking/posting on time.  Here's more from the Saranac Winter Sampler

5.8 - The Shadows and The Light

So Cambridge Brewing Company just released a beer that they've been aging for 8 years.. but not in normal fashion.. it's a blend of 3 different beers, barrel-aged, with samples placed in various sized and shaped glass carboys and left in the sun for random amounts of time, then brought back to the cellar.. over and over.. FOR EIGHT YEARS!  That shit ain't 'sposed ta be good for ya beeah!  Let's see what it did!

5.3 - Yard's pt II

so it's a while after the first Yard's post.. and a very long while since I was there.  Read the last post, asshole.  Life happens, I post accordingly.  Not like this is CNN or something.. deal with it

This is the 3 remaining from the 6er I brought back from Philly.. you better be OK with briefs again, cause that's all ya get

5.1 - Lebanese

Happy May!  On a not-so-happy note, I'm realizing life and all it includes is getting a bit consuming.. I'm falling behind on updating this..  I'm keeping my twitter, untappd and instagram rather up-to-date, as those only take moments to update..  so if you want instantaneous beers and such, search for @BacklashJesse on all of those.. if you can't find me, ask and we can talk.  What this means for here, is I'll be a bit delayed (but still tag the correct date) and a bit more direct/succinct posts on here.  Deal with it folks, life happens

961 Beer - 961 Lebanese Pale Ale
961 is actually the first craft/micro brewery to arise in Lebanon and is available in the US.  A 6.3% ABV pale ale brewed with thyme, sumac, chamomile, sage, anise, and mint.. this is certainly not your typical Pale Ale.  This pours similar to a lighter IPA and has basically no head.  A very unique nose on this one.. very herbal and earthy, somewhat spicy.  Taste follows suit with spicy, hoppy herbal profile.. the thyme, sage and mint really come through here.  There's a slight malt profile but the major players are definitely the herbs.  A great take on the Pale Ale style, it's reminiscent of the DFH/Stone/Victory Saison du Buff.  Excited to try the other beers in the 961 lineup!

- - 7 Hops!

4.30 - Corruption

aaaand just like that April is over.  Seriously?  1/3 of 2013 is done already.. this is insane.  Well.. back to the beer!  I had a good beer buddy go down to DC about 7 or 8 weeks ago and he offered one of his last cans of this to me in a trade.. can't say no to that!

DC Brau - The Corruption IPA

at 6.5% ABV and 85 IBUs, DC Brau themselves list this as straddling the IPA/DIPA line.  Apparently "In 1824, Speaker of the House Henry Clay forged a coalition that secured the White House for John Quincy Adams. In return, Adams named Clay as his secretary of state in what became known as 'The Corrupt Bargain'."  Thaks DC Brau website! #HISTORY!   

This pours a surprisingly dark orange/brown with a slight off-white head.  Bright citrusy fruit, orange and grapefruit pulp, resins, and some caramel malts..  I'm almost getting an orange jam/marmalade aroma off of this.  Definitely a rather unique take on an IPA.. never smelled one as juicy and fruity as this.  It's thick and resin-y, even at 6.5%, with more pine than the nose would suggest.  For a single-hop IPA, this is nicely complex.  There's more citrus..pulpy and chewy, with some refreshing spice.  It's sweetly bitter on the finish, dry but juicy.. there's a lot going on and this is just downright tasty!

- - 8 Hops!

4.22 - Enjoy By? More like Enjoy AFTER

yeah..by now everyone's heard of the Stone Enjoy By IPA.. if you haven't, get ya head outta ya ass and drink a goddamn beeaaahhhh.  The most recent batch came to MA in very late February with a date of Enjoy By 4.01.13.. and NO that's not an April Fool's joke.

Stone - Enjoy By 04.01.13

a 9.4% DIPA with probably an insanely crazy amount of IBUs.  A great golden orange pour with a perfect white head.. the nose coming off of this batch is still crazy good, but a notch beneath the first one to hit MA.  Tons of citrus, pine, grapefruit, floral, resins... they just flow out of the bottle and glass.  The first batch was a bit more..I'm not sure, pungent? powerful? aromatic?  That being said, this stands up there with the best DIPAs aroma-wise.  For such a high ABV DIPA.. this is still incredibly light and drinks all-too-easy.  The heavier resins from the nose don't really come into play until the finish.  The body is citrus and grassy, more sharp bitterness than before.  This isn't supposed to be a balanced brew by any means, but even this seems a little out-of-whack..  It's juicy, it's sharp, it's bitter.. it's still damned good!  Incredible lingering hop profile with just a hint of malt.  Even 3 weeks later this is still incredible.  (and in case you're wondering if the 'age' affected my opinion of this.. I had it immediately upon release as well and it's barely changed since then).  Still worthy of a 9!

- - 9 Hops!

4.19 & 4.20 - Yard's pt I

yeah...yeah.. I went to Philly months ago.. shut it, OK?  I'm busy and I got too much damn beer.

These have clearly aged a bit.. but none are IPAs..and it's been a little over 6 months, not too much outside the realm of safe drinking..

4.15 - 100 Barrel Black IPA

I think I happened to miss a few of the Harpoon 100 Barrel Series beers.. but hey, I'm only human and there's far too many beers out there!

So without further ado!

Harpoon 100 Barrel Series #40 - Black IPA
A 7.0% ABV 67 IBU well.. Black IPA clearly.  Stupidly waited a bit long on this one.. I'm already forecasting faded flavors.  There's some decent "Harpoon-y" hops coming off the nose..  yeah, we all know a lot of the Harpoon brews have a particular note - most of the big brewers exhibit this.  And, unsurprisingly, it's got an almost pure black pour.  There's touches of roasty malts, coffee, chocolate.. but mainly it's wheat and that floral/piney/grassy/mild citrus Harpoon IPA hop profile.  It's got a decent body, but is fairly light considering the ABV and hue/aromas.  There's a certain crisp-ness that comes from the brighter citrus and piney hops that fades to the roasty, smooth, bold malts.  I can't tell if the finishing bitterness is due to the hops or the boozy bitter black chocolate coming from the malts.  There's sadly a slight metallic note near the finish and I'm sensing faded hop flavors due to the age and the fact that the hops just simply don't shine...unless this was intended.  The finish is a combination of the malts and hops that have carried through from the nose to the body to here.. as well as a touch of sweetness.  It was good.. but for a special brew it could have been better

- - 6 Hops!

4.13 - The Kiwi Rises

A few months old.. want to drink this before it fades too much!

Jack's Abby - Kiwi Rising

a Double IPL (India Pale Lager) at 8.5% ABV and 105 IBUs  Jack's Abby out of Framingham, MA is a lager-only brewery.. very damn cool.  So you'll never see an IPA from them.. only IPLs.  This was brewed using NZ Kiwi hops.. with a ton of additions, hopback and dry-hopping.  A golden yellow pour with a fairly large head.  Wonderful citrus/tropical hop notes rise (no pun intended.. OK, maybe there was) out of the glass.. touches of fresh wheat..  straight-forward hops here for sure.  This is sorta medium-full-bodied for an India Pale whatever.. tons of hops here, not hugely bitter which is a very nice departure from the hugely hoppy India Pales..  Tropical, citrus, grapefruit.. somewhat chewy but smooth.  Tough to describe this one.. but damn is it sexy!  Still very bright flavors.. only a slight malt backbone to offset the wonderful hop notes.  For the sake of the naming.. this is just delicious.. who cares if a lager or ale, I taste no difference.  Not really a bitter aftertaste here with is terrific.. sort of tart and bright.  Simply a great beer.  Comparison to their most recent Double IPL to come soon!

- - 8 Hops!