Our Tastes-- Samuel Adams Maple Pecan Porter

Always throwing out new micro batches, I follow Jim into the realm of Maple Pecan Porter. Part of some fall pack I picked up MPP pours a superb, medium brown with excellent off-white head. The nose is of a sweet nutty porter, but the taste even Merry liked! Mouthfeel is full and maple syrup sweet with a rush of the slightly bitter yet distinct pecan on the sides of the tongue with your coffee in between. Porters have long been a favorite style of mine in that you are sometimes able to transition well from summer palate to the hibernating stout mouth with relative ease, but there truly 3 distinct phases of flavor in this beer (I can't remember noticing 3 absolute different levels in one brew). I think there must be a buttermilk pancake at the bottom of the fermenter. Hop profile is light and almost undetectable through the syrup and pecans. An oddity but another keepsie at 5.6%.

Our Tastes-- Samuel Adams Verloren®

Pours a great orange straw, with cloudiness if you pull the yeast bed. Never had gose before but Verloren appears to have a wheat or light pale malt backbone. Made with coriander and salt. Initially has a big pungent orange nose from the heavy coriander. Salt seems to balance the finish of the coriander. Got a great education from Andy Mc on salt and how it's perceived by most with the taste buds. The malt bill is pretty basic with two-row and malted and unmalted wheat slapped with some Saaz and kosher salt. 6%abv and 188cal/pint later and I'd drink it again. May have to in order to fully get a handle on what I'm experiencing.

Brew Batch #54 REINKE'S REVENGE 2013

Ok, so it's not the actual true brew date but at least it's in the same month. Reinke's into the lauter today with Andy Mc observing. OG 1.080+0.001 @69F, which falls in line with the other 8 batches prior (Junk/Red gotta do something huge for batch 10, maybe a true bourbon barrel aging?) All hops were same as original except didn't have Galena went with Columbus, now for the real treat. I did #44 on 3lbs. of red raspberries, after some inspiration by Junk and his donations (and of course an almost exquisite summer sampler by Red), I'll be sourcing out about 5-6lbs of blueberries to secondary on. After much input by Andy Mc, this time of year may require some ingenuity with regards to true fruit flavor, but that should be easily remedied.

Brew Batch #53 Black IPA (aka nIPA)

This morning nIPA went to the keg. FG 1.006+ 0.001 @68F gives it about 8.3%abv. (the other way using the 131.25 multiple 7.6%abv, I've never loved either one way or the other but one day I'll do it all in Plato. The color is oddly a translucent dark brown and the swill taste I gave 3 out of 4 Sudafeds! Andy Mc (Yard Dog Brewing Co., head brewer) gave it one Kleenex, I think. Can't wait to try this one on good gas carbonation and keg conditioning.

Our Tastes-- DFH Birra Etrusca Bronze

Birra Etrusca, was one of the "Ancient Ales" I had to try as soon as it came out. A triple collaboration between DFH, Birra del Borgo and Baladin (hence the stamps at the bottom of the label) it's an Italian ale that set historians on their ears with regards to perhaps wine not being the penultimate drink of choice in the past. Color is a serious orange with extremely flat head and complex taste profile. Nose has a sweet floral honey with hints of white grapes. The taste is sweet up front like a dessert wine with a touch of tartness from what I believe to be nectarines (ultimately pomegranates, go figure). Check out the ingredient list on this one in the link, Ethiopian myrrh resin, 3 types of honey and gentian root for bittering just to name a few. Yeah, that's why the taste was an 8.5abv conundrum! I'll give Sam C. this, he may have tons of archaeologists out there sharing rare recipes from millennia past (this one 2800 years ago) that pretty much result in the same overall abv'd bevvy with some artistic license on the final product with a persimmon here and some goat grass there, but I keep coming back to try his wackiness each and every time. Birra Etrusca is even being made overseas by the other breweries but in terra cotta and wood vessels, (DFH did bronze). That's marketing. Wonder if I have another bottle of this tucked away somewhere?

Our Tastes-- DFH Rhizing Bines

As soon as I saw the collaboration series was continuing this year between DFH and Sierra Nevada, I had this beer "legged" in from Jersey. Rhizing Bines pours a color of light marmalade with a head of thick marshmallow cream. Up front the nose and taste is more citrus grapefruit as opposed to piney resinous while the lattice hangs on to the tumbler like a rainfrog. With slow warming the hop profile changes to a grassy bitterness and less citrus takes over. 8% abv is subdued and deceiving. I would have sworn this batch was hopped with a Big C somewhere but the label says Bravo (high alpha lineage like Zeus) plus Hop #644 (a varietal with no name yet)? The merger here also takes place with the Carolina-grown red fife wheat and SN estate grown caramel malt and Torpedo hopping technique. Master brewer of Yard Dog Brewing Co. and I agree we could have a pint of this a day...but just one.

Our Tastes-- Lazy Magnolia Sweet Potato Cream Stout

Supplied by Junk and reinforced by in-laws as a great autumn seasonal. Jeff Stout or Sweet Potato Cream Stout by Lazy Magnolia pours a dark brown and loose flat head. Taste of interesting coffee toffee lactose laden sweet potatoes. Yep it wafts of sweet potatoes along with roasted grain and crushed conversion sugars. I've read of distilleries going to sweet potatoes for their mash as a copy of soju, but this is my first sweet potato beer. There seems to be extra tannin to it either from the chocolate or roasted malt. Good beer but not my favorite. 4.5%abv makes it a great fall/winter session. Wonder if there's extra vitamin A in it?

Our Tastes-- Odell Brewing Company IPA

To celebrate my trip to Collbran, Co last year, I'm having my last Odell IPA to see how it stood up over the year. The head was as remembered being the thickest I've ever seen on an IPA. Oddly enough the label said best by 12/12/12 and has a bucking elephant on it. A magnificent cloudy orange hue is poured with still a great taste of chewy citrus. The nose bellows out of Big C American hops. Ah, just as I remembered it, one of the best and palate filling IPAs I believe ever made. A 98 on ratebeer and 7%abv makes it a keepsie.

Our Tastes-- BlackStone Pumpkin Ale

Another pre-release sold out batch of this wildly popular brew. I've waited until my palate is clear to review Pumpkin Ale. Now form what I understand some bars were serving this with brown sugar around the rim of the pint glass much the way margaritas are prepped and it was flying out of the taps! Pouring a wonderful light marmalade hue with a relatively flat head this beer wafts of pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon and nutmeg. Begrudgingly gave 2 bottles to my in-laws and they raved it to be the best pumpkin beer they've had all season and they're going through that "try them all in a seasonal" phase. Another friend said to "leave the head on it" and put some whip cream on top. The taste is crisp with just enough bitterness and gourd meat to make it superb. At 5.1%abv, I can see why places just like having a keg on tap. More a pie instead of gourd beer and nothing short of excellent.

Our Tastes-- Urkontinent

Blasted out by DFH as what I believe is a comparative to their Pangea concept beer. . Urkontinent, is the German term for all lands together so to speak or the theory of such. Belgian dubbel that laces nicely down, slight yeasty cloud with medium brown-ness. Wafts the nose of grained honey. I imagine with warming that it becomes even more complex. 8%abv with a nice roasted medium hint of coffee mouth feel. I admit knowing only one of the ingedients listed as part of this brew, "...wattleseed from Australia, toasted amaranth from South America, rooibos tea from Africa, myrica gale from Europe and honey from the United States', bet you can guess which one. I'd love to have another bottle of this and see what happens with slight warming on this one, but overall another superior brew by DFH. My only question on many of these Ancient Ales (the reference to this series) is what percentage of the specialized ingredients are actually in the recipes.

Our Tastes-- BlackStone Kentucky Limp Leg?

Bouron barrel stout aged for at least 7 months at this point in Belle Meade barrels this one noses of heavy cocoa and vanilla, with a mix of coconut. Flat head, due to straight from barrel siphoning. A black hole that draws light in from the universe is LESS opaque than this beer. 11%abv or touching. For a post half marathon beer this is better than best, much like "two legs good four legs better"! The taste is an awesome well balanced smoothness, much like Lando Calrissian. Thanks to the sponsor and my Salonpas patches.

Brew Batch #53 Black IPA (aka nIPA)

Dry-hopped tonight and sampled the swill. I've never truly experienced 3 distinct stages of a beer but this one starts with chewy citrus grapefruit, gives way to roasted malt only to be followed by pleasant bitterness on the after thought. Then a healthy sneeze! Gravity 1.006+ 0.002@ 76F.

Our Tastes-- Flipside Red IPA

Just picked up this new "seasonal" offering from Sierra Nevada and even the label for Flipside is cool. Color is as it states, a very amber ruby with a nose of earthy citrus hops. Using Magnum as bittering and Simcoe, Citra and Centennial (thanks Hop Union) to finish gives this one the instant paper towel NOT Kleenex of hop noses! I can't seem to get over the "dirty" nose on this one, it really sets this beer apart. The lattice is very nice, but then again Sierra doesn't play patty cakes on their hoppy beers either. This is a departure from the norm on rotating seasonal palates in that the wheat, two-row base can't be appreciated like many of the marzen/okfest malt bill beers and the hop profile attempts to hold back the sun from the inevitable pass into the Southern hemisphere. Now, mind you I have a black IPA in the fermenter and my next brew is Reinke's, where eventually stout mouth will appear and it'll be all heavy malt till spring like a slumbering bear, but this keeps my palate on the light bite for now. 6.2%abv, I hope you enjoyed it Dr. Caldwell, should take your mind off of the brown stain up to your elbow;)

Yard Dog Brewing Company-- Lemon Zest

Where there's guaranteed to be a t-shirt one day for their pilot pale ale or IPA that states-- "Shug, just leave the head on" Andrew Mc. offers up his Lemon Zest. A Belgian Wit made with coriander and 2 ounces of lemon zest if memory serves me correctly. Color is a cloudy light marmalade hue with a soft yeasty nose. The lemon runs across the palate at the tail end of the swallow and a nice peppery-ness spikes about. Bottled 4/14 at 6.9%abv, carbonation is good but more on the initial pour than expected. Think next batch he may alter the recipe a bit, only problem is as a homebrewer you have to drink the last batch before striking up the fermenter. Well, in this case "problem" isn't the right word, because I'd have taken more than the 3 he left behind!