Our Tastes-- Black Belle (Uncut 2016)

This is the 3rd year of Blackstone's mega stout aged in Green Brier Distillery’s Belle Meade Bourbon® barrels, but this year it's served/bottled uncut at 18%abv. From the barrel to yo mouth ya'll. I read some reviews about flatness in the head and I hope 3 things happen for those souls who post low ratings based off of this attribute. 1. Have another 2. While doing so, sit and talk with someone who "knows" about beer so that you may be further educated on the overall flatness/dissipation of head on high gravity beers, much less those with abvs higher than some red wines. 3. Repost your apology and continued review, (which I assume will have a higher rating), on how you now realize mega beers like this no longer surprise you with low heads of retention and then throw around the term "cask temperature" for your next educational endeavor. And for giggles, this one will be made available in bombers at the dirt cheap price of $15!! along with Mocha Milk Stout and Barista Brew. Just typing this makes me want to bury my palate in darkness

Our Tastes-- Candy Bar Pinstripe Stout

Blue Pants has their flavored stouts dialed in! Tried Candy Bar Pinstripe Stout today and I'll admit, I've got to go back and try this against just their plain Pinstripe stout. So they take their aforementioned "base" stout at 8%abv and turn it into a Baby Ruth!! A full mouth, full bodied thick stout made with Magnum and Willamette hops, in my opinion to perfection. Pours a great thick tan head with good retention. Smell is spot on Baby Ruth for me with heavy caramel and peanuts. Taste over floweth with toffee, caramel and milk chocolate. A seriously well done stout and yet a touch sweet at the end for me. Further brings out the Stout Mouth in me!

Another Run....

On the Alfalfa Bootleg Train. Harriet Tubman had the Underground Railroad, I've got Alfalfa and the semi-weekly bootleg. Yes, of course I know there's no comparison! But we're living  150 years later, I'd like to think our priorities have changed a little. First up, Mocha Marlin by Ballast Point. This beer is amazing! My favorite style, porter, blended perfectly with coffee and cocoa. With eyes shut, it's perceivable to have a StarBucks mocha coffee in front of you. At first sip the sweet English-style porter begins and finishes with slightly bitter coffee. Head retention makes this one a great sensory experiment.

Then let's stay with the sailing company and tackle The Cinnamon Raisin Commodore. A brown opacity with a confusing nose to say the least. Head is thick tan with the soft aroma of cinnamon. But the taste is of a dry stout balanced ever so gently with a SunMaid raisin and cinnamon roll. Man, this one makes me want to captain a ship over the edge! Mouthfeel is full and warming. It would be hard for me to pick a growler of either one of these to be buried with. So hopefully, I'll sip again later;)

BlackStone Tap House Review

I finally got to try out the new BlackStone TapHouse at their 15,000 sq ft production facility. It has a simplistic elegance to it. As I entered the tap area which is enclosed by solid glass panes on 3 sides, the first thing I noticed was the $125 stainless steel in-house light fixtures made using fermenter pieces with Edison bulbs to give it that soft ambiance. And wood is king in this place (figured Red would like that statement). Not like SwampHead, but NashVegas style. The grand bar is made with reclaimed floor joists from a warehouse built in the 1800s and faced with locally milled walnut that fell during a storm (not at Famous Doug's house). Not to mention the 500lb cross section piece the size of a Fiat from some giant Oregon or Washington State hard wood. The 16 floating taps allow you to interact with your bar maiden without breaking up the lines of the bar area and seem to yield more counter space. And of course the beer doesn't get any fresher, plus 2 of the taps are on nitro. Started  the Barrel-aged Baltic Porter and Barista Coffee stout and finished with Puckett's. Now you can try the Watermelon Goes-Ugh, but I'm not that adventurous. My only beef....where's the merch?? My bar chick had a sweet shirt on, you can buy fresh sixers on the way out, employees have sweet ball caps, but I saw none for direct purchase. Not a single nonic glass, die-cut poster, nothing. Get with it marketing, but then again if I had my choice of being able to enjoy (almost) every beer there or some underoos that have BS on the rump, I guess I'll go with the beer.

2312 Clifton Ave. Nashville TN 37209
Monday - Friday~ 4pm to 8pm
Saturday ~ 12pm to 8:00pm
Sunday - 12pm to 6:00pm

Brew Batch #76 Medusa™ Cream Ale

Kegged with an FG 1.005+ 0.001@ 70F to give a solid 6.2%abv. Has a great cloudiness to it. The initial taste is a dry apricot. Not sure this hop is worth all the hype and scarcity but nonetheless we've got about 5 gallons to taste.

Our Tastes-- Luponic Distortion #1

Bottled 5/24/16, this one hung in there with me until I could give it a whirl. 001, is the first in their revolving experimental hop series and it lives up to the description. Great frothy citrus nose that gives way to citrus up front and resin on the back taste. I wonder if they will continue to use the heavy wheat malt base to allow the hops to come forward. Finishes clean and dry with a well balanced 5.9%abv. I'm not sure I've ever actually bought a Firestone Walker beer, but as long as friends keep buying it for me, I'm good. I'd have another...if it didn't come in 1 packs and wasn't out of production!

Brew Batch #77 (or AG #2) REINKE'S REVENGE 2016 AG

Last Saturday was momentous! Not only did we revive Reinke's Revenge, but I got to brew it all grain for the first time with Red at BlackStone Brewing Company. Of course the master brewer had to tweak my initial AG recipe but with 7 different grains and 46lbs of them, we knocked out roughly 10 gallons of this (almost) annual favorite. Hop subs were Perle (Pur-lay) and Willamette (Wu-LAM-ett) to yield a OG 22.2 P animal. Wee Nay Nay even knocked out this snazzy video to commemorate the event and those spiffy Tshirts;) The beer's namesake may plan a trip to the TapHouse early next year to draw a half pint with us. 

link: https://youtu.be/Q5lHnmQvFn4

TnDC Field Trip #24 Reinke's AG

Last past weekend I got to brew with Junk and Red and there was so much to post, I broke it down into separate entries. Junk and I traveled to Flying Saucer (Nashville) where we were known as the "Mid Duders" on the tab to have the new BlackStone HangTime Pale Ale. Great new brew from BS. HangTime has a lighter body and slightly sweeter maltiness than my "go-to" PA Sierra Nevada. It doesn't seem to have that slight harshness that SN has. At 5.3%, this one has become my new favorite in the pale ale category. Also tried my first Dark Horse beer. I watched the series this brewing company had on TV and just wanted to be able to say I had one of their beers. Crooked Tree IPA finished with a good dryness with it's 6.5%. Picked up a couple 2016 Election pint glasses while we were there. A quick stop by Cool Springs Brewery yielded a Pecker Wrecker IPA and Drunkin Pumpkin. That seasonal brew was awesome, more the "pie" than gourd type. And lest we not forget my first ever orphan bourbon experience supplied by Wee Nay Nay.

Brew Batch #75 42-A IPA

Kegged tonight so I can send some bombers home with Junk for Red(I hope)! Same wonderful hue I remember. You want a bomber, come have a pint! FG 1.012+0.002 @77F, to give 7.88%abv (1st one 7.43%). I love the yeast profile on this one. The 1275 Thames Valley rounds out the chewy Cascade dry hop well.