3.29 - Marooned

After a few glasses of cheap wine (yeah, I'm a classy bastard), I thought it fitting for one beer before bed.

21st Amendment Brewery - Marooned on Hog Island

a 7.9% ABV Oyster Stout.  Brewed in collaboration with the Hog Island Oyster Company, 21st Amendment used fresh oyster shells in this brew.  It pours crazy pure black with a slightly off-white mocha head.  The nose is a pure silky milky chocolate.. slight roasted malts with some dark fruits and caramel.  Touches of booze and a faint brine aroma.  This is one hella smooth brew.. chocolate and coffee notes like an amazing iced mocha coffee.  Dark fruits.. figs, dates, plums...  with touches of caramel in the middle combine with a mild salty brine taste from the shells. Mildly roasted towards the end with a slight burnt coffee tone.  Far more muted than the few other Oyster Stouts that I've had, but this works the best.  Granted this is a few months old, maybe the brine has subdued.. but this is just perfectly balanced at this point.  The finish it slightly salty and dry, a bit roasty, with chocolate and a caramel swirl coffee note.  You would almost never guess this was an Oyster Stout, unless told.. the brine is perfectly balanced and almost hidden.  Perfect nightcap

- - 8 Hops!

3.28 - DIPA Blind Tasting Showdown

So the(current) #1 beer in the world, an ultra-fresh IPA and the first American style beer from a local brewery walk into a basement...

What do you do here..  you have a fucking showdown, that's what you do!

The Alchemist - Heady Topper
Stone - Enjoy By 04.01.13
Backlash - Salute

3.26 - Ich Bin Ein Berliner

Found this one night after doing a tasting at a packie..

Gasthaus & Gosebrauerei Bayerischer Bahnhof - Berliner Style Weisse
a 3.0% Berliner Weissbier.  Lovin the Berliners and sours lately.. and a 3.0% one?  Gotta try!  It pours the lightest shade of straw yellow with a head that disappears immediately.. highly carbonated.  Wheat and straw, peaches, honey and a citrus tart on the nose.  This literally smells refeshing.. will it follow through?  On first sip, the sour tart assaults your tongue, but is quickly backed up by citrus, peaches and lemon zest.  There's an incredibly mild malt note to this..faintly sweet honey and biscuit/crackers.  At the very very end, a slight grassy hop note comes in..slightly off-putting.  That's the only qualm I have with this.  The sourness is actually quite refreshing and the tame malt allows this to shine through.  A nice introduction to the style if someone isn't a huge fan of sours

- - 8 Hops!

3.22 - the Vermonster

This brew reminds me of my childhood, because I drank heavily from the age of 4 until I was 9.

No..but really it does, because I remember going to Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream factory when I was like 7 and, although not served there, on multiple occasions I remember getting their Vermonster sundae at friends' birthday parties.  Let's see if this lives up to it's name..

Rock Art Brewery - The Vermonster

a 10.% ABV 100 IBU hopped-up Barleywine Ale.  Brewed originally for their 10th anniversary, 10%, 100 IBU.. add them up and you get 110lbs of malt per barrel.  daaaaaamn.  Pours a rich brown with a mellow white head..  booze and thick, sweet malt come through initially - molasses, plum, raisins, figs..brown sugar, faint spice...  earthy and a faint hop note follow behind.  This is somewhere between a standard Barleywine and an Imperial IPA.. in a weird grey area.   It's got a boozy and bitter hop bite, but not quite the body or sweetness you'd expect from a Barleywine..  dry and piney, but slightly rich/sweet.  It's akin to say, Double Bastard, but more like it's oft-neglected stepbrother.  I wish I could like this, but it's out of balance, not true to style..just doesn't fit for some reason.  I hear fresh is hoppier and aged it's maltier.. this must be not aged enough, or aged just a touch too much.. shame

- - 5 Hops

3.21 - 16th Anniversary

Shit's getting a bit more settled down in life, so let's drink more!  (note to all: not to worry, I've been drinking, drinking plenty, lately.  I just haven't been drinking to review)

(I'm also getting used to my new digs for a little while, not the best lighting or camera angles.. deal with it)

Stone - 16th Anniversary IPA - brewed with lemon verbena and lemon juice.  16 goddamn years, wow.  In the scope of craft breweries, this is quite a damn long time, and they've left quite an impact.  That being said, constantly doing collaboration brews, anniversary beers..  can be taxing to create something unique each time..let's see what Stone can do.
10% ABV and 85 IBU Double IPA (clearly) - this pours a lovely golden orange color with an average fluffy white head.  This is a straight-foward typical Stone aroma here - mild sweet caramel malts and a ton of citrus, tropical hops.  If you're familiar with Stone, you'd probably be able to pick this as being by them.  The lemon verbena is highly present here with touches or the rye malts used and floral hops.  The body is very light for a 10% brew, a bit sharp actually.  Stone has always made incredibly drinkable beers and this is no exception.  The lemon verbena/juice plays into the hop profile very well, but the hops themselves and the malts seem to have faded a bit.  Stone IPAs have always meant to be drank relatively fresh and over the course of the 9 months since this was bottled, it's become a bit muted.  Because of this, the citrus takes a very predominant role and comes off a bit too forward.  Fresh, this would be fantastic.  Aged this long...it's not terrible, but probably not the way Stone intended.  It's still a great example of how Stone envisions beer - hop, citrus forward, malt playing the secondary role... but just doesn't feel up to the 'Anniversary' tag.. they could have done more

- - 7 Hops

3.11 - The Shed

Monday night.. gotta move on Friday (long story, buy me a beer or 4 and I may tell you).  What's a boy to do?!  Duh, drink!

The Shed - Mountain Ale
a 7.4% ABV 35 IBU 'rugged' Brown Ale.  Less than a year ago, The Shed began distributing beyond VT and even slightly before then, I had been hearing very good things about this little beer.  Deep chestnut brown pour with a very minimal head..  Nutty, roasty, bready malts jump from the glass.  There's underlying touches of caramel and chocolate with some earthy, piney hops.  Only the faintest touch of alcohol is noticeable.  It's surprisingly light for such a dark, malty brew, reminds me of an English Brown ale with a touch more hops.  There is some piney/floral hops at the forefront of the taste that conflicts a bit with the smooth, nutty malts that follow and dominate the rest of the beer.  It imparts a sort of minty note that lingers and confuses.  It's smooth, but slightly harsh.  There's some spices mixed all around, probably allspice and maybe a touch of cinnamon.  It finishes malty and a touch sweet.  Really good brew, it stands out on it's own for sure, unlike anything I've had so far.. but just seems a bit off-balance.   I'd give it 8+ if I could, but that weighs it down

- - 7 Hops!

3.7 - New Albion

Yeah, I've been a little MIA lately..  well hey, life happens and certain things have priority.  Go hop on Twitter, you'll find plenty of reviews.  Patience is a virtue, jerks.

Samuel Adams - New Albion Ale
Not technically a Sam Adams brew - New Albion was the flagship beer of the New Albion Brewing Company in the late 70's.  They (and founder Jack McAuliffe) are widely credited as being the first modern 'craft' breweryy and have directly influenced many of the modern powerhouses including Sierra Nevada closely and Sam Adams a bit more distantly.
- - a 6.0% ABV Pale Ale, this pours translucently beer-colored straw and offers almost no head.  There's a light, crisp cracker malt nose with a touch of grassy hops.  Very clean.  Gets a bit buttery and smooth as it warms.  Despite being 6.0%, this is very light.. watery almost.  Clean comes to mind again - it's smooth, drinkable.. there's sweet, light caramel maltyness and not much else.  A mild astringency appears in the middle before finishing crisp with touches of floral and grassy hops.

In all honesty, I really didn't enjoy this beer.  It was one-dimensional, mild, watery..  however that's probably because of the state of even the mildest modern beers.  This has crazy historical value in the beer community and totally worth a taste.  Please remember, this was up against beers like Bud, Coors, and Schlitz back 35+ years ago.  This is worthy of 2 ratings

Historical - - 8 Hops!

Moderns - - 3 Hops!