Our Tastes-- Blithering Idiot

The last of the brews on Junk's taster list for the night is another Weyerbacher beer. We sip Blithering Idiot Barleywine Ale out of some Mikaso tulip glasses. Color is a cloudy deep dirty copper brown with an unapparent flat head. The nose likens too a bunch of raisins and figs up the ole nose. Taste is a malted blossom on the sweet parts of the tongue. "It is a sipper", Junk ca. right now. Weyer recommends you lay a few down for 5 or so years to bring forward more complexity in this 11.1%abv jingle bell shaker!

Our Tastes-- Heresy

Another Weyerbacher brew, Junk's hanging tough and trying his list. Heresy has a heavy raisin nose with a jet black color in it's brandy snifter. Taste is huge of vanilla beans. A grand heavy stout aged in oak barrels with great overtones of that same woodiness. This 8%abv smooth drinking stout is made by aging Old Heathen Imperial Stout in Kentucky bourbon barrels. I miss this one already, good news is they release it every February.

Our Tastes-- Life & Limb 2

Originally a 24oz collaboration between Sierra Nevada and DFH in 2009, now we try the encore of the 750ml bottles called "Life & Limb 2". Everything about this beer is phenomenally complex. Junk smacks this around the palate with me this evening and before it's even opened, one can tell that it's going to be superb. When you look at the bottle that's been in my beer fridge for quite some time now and realize that there's a small amount of mold around the neck at the cork and on the label itself where some of the beer landed, you know it's gonna be great. We try this one in my thistle glasses given by The Enabler. Color on this beauty is opaque brown with a thick off-white almost light tan head. Nose is of syrup or oak. For the palate it runs more the sides and middle with regards to sweetness and bitter, but for Junk a front then to the back. We both agree the bitterness of aftertaste on the sides. Along with how the taste runs, it seems to be hot up front with an astringency and pecan nuttiness. It has great lattice and everything about this beer has an East/West complexity. Just look at the label! From the maple and birch syrups to the malts and everything in between, even down to the blending of the yeasts and the free range chicken with bobwhite quail on the label everything screams collaboration. Especially the 10.2%abv. I'd buy a case of these if I could find them.

Brew Batch #50 REINKE'S REVENGE 2012

I had no intention of it falling this way with regards to which batch was my 250th gallon. But, even though it is long off of it's original brew date and Lord willing I'll actually get back to that for 2013 but Reinke's Revenge hits the lautertun today. Now I've tried changing several aspects of this brew with regards to different malts, fruit additions, and aging over oak, but I've never actually changed the hop profile, so in the hopes of not making a unpalatable 5C batch, I'll be going with Columbus, Styrian Goldings and Target on the hop additions.  I'm playing with the idea of dry-hopping it a little, but like Red taught me in this respect, "try it first" you can always add more dry-hops but there ain't no "do-over" once you've dropped them in. OG 1.084+ 0.00 at 62F and a swill of noticeable hop change from recent batches.

Mikkeller Black Hole

Best by 1/14/14 we just barely get this one in under the wire. Another Mikkeller offering, once again a Junk promise made true by a visit. Black Hole pours a non-particulate black with no head whatsoever. Aroma is blazing raisin. Palate runs across a cloying smokiness plus roasted coffee with burnt malt or toast. The 13.1%abv is not as noticeable as one would think. The boys at Mikkeller have well hidden it in a green bottle of all things!! Look, this beast is currently a 100 on ratebeer.com and part of the original barrel series where Mikkeller did nothing but STOUTS aged in/on anything. Inspires me to age Reinke's on my compression socks after a 1/2 marathon full of some Caribou coffee, Zeus hops and Bermuda grass from the back yard and call it Black Sole. Yeah...that was funny.

Our Tastes-- Luna de Miel

A great BBC offering picked up a couple of years ago. Heavy particulate medium brown with red tints. Flat head and nose of sweet raspberry and unfermented honey. This brew slashes a little tart across the tongue but little alcohol taste. 7.5%abv and a sweet light mead is this brew. Made with barley malt, wildflower honey and red raspberries, I wonder if this is more along the lines of a braggot? Want to know more about the moon of honey? This is a great taster with Junk and Russo.

Our Tastes-- Ta Henket

DFH dug out a recipe from Pharaoh Scorpion I's tomb (ta henket) "bread beer" and when I pour it a heavy white froth comes over with a very yeasty nose. 4.5%abv. Very bland. Made with Za'atar, chamomile, Emmer Farro, Doum fruit and free range Egyptian yeast captured in petrie dishes. Not a huge beer and very light overall with a crazy light color. The beer itself was a historical collaboration and an extremely interesting read with regards to it's inception, but a beer I may only buy to use as a BMC conversion beer. I take that back, I'd probably knock out a 750ml myself. It was intriguing to be reminded of how beer came into this culture with the advent of bread beer. We weren't sure why soaked bread loafs in water made it so much more enjoyable, just that it did.

Our Tastes-- Dark Truth Stout

Many times the truth is dark and not as appealingly clear as we would like. However, I will not let this sway my peer review of Dark Truth Stout. Made by Boulevard Brewing Co. in Kansas City, MO. It pours a masterful jet tar black with slightly creamy tight brown head after settling. The aroma attacks the nose with roastedness of anything that can be burnt. Not sure if it is coffee or malt at this point but the aroma is exciting. On first swill of the offering of The Enabler, a smokiness rushes across the palate like scorched land leaving little room for anything else. Hop is there I'm sure but undetectable. The warming EtOH is definitely there from a 9.7%abv. Plums and raisins are your sticky tongue favorite on this one. This time of year I'm especially partial to stouts mainly because of the heartiness but too they seem to have their (stouts) own little niche with regards to being able to gently envelope other delicate notes.

Our Tastes-- Firestone Walker Double Jack

Offered up by Junk via bootleg, I had to try this one. Double Jack is a special offering that when poured up is striking. This is by far the clearest IPA or Double IPA I've ever sampled. I can say that the color is a true dark straw that script can be read through on the other side of the pint glass. I've never seen an IPA this way. Head is white foam that quickly dissipates. Nose is of soft yet assertive hops with slight cereal notes but overwhelming florals. Taste runs bitterness across the tongue like a sprint. The spread page gives the techs better than I can type it. 9.5%abv, IBUs 100 but color is an 8, that validates me!