83/100) Mikkeller Breakfasts

I have set myself the goal to review three beers or ciders every week for 100 weeks. I will be learning about beer and ciders more as I do this, and if I am successful in this venture, I will have tried about 300 unique drinks. If you're curious how I'm doing, the number in the post's title tells you which week I am in now.

Beer Geek Breakfast, Beer Hop Breakfast, Rauch Geek Breakfast

Beer for breakfast? What else did you think coffee stouts were for? A while back, I brought up Founder's Breakfast Stout before I really knew much about the style. (Founder's Beers) An Oatmeal coffee stout is characterized by a strong, coffee-like malt character with a silky smooth mouth feel. However, Mikkeller, a brewery out of Norway, has make some Breakfast stouts for the beer geek. Suffice to say they went crazy with it. With each of these "Breakfasts,"their potency made it hard to drink more than a few ounces. I could not imagine drinking a full pint of any of them.

Beer Geek Breakfast) Do you need a shot of espresso in the morning? This would work. It is so rich and dark that even light will not penetrate its heavy malts. In fact, when I poured it out, the sediment from the bottom of the bottle came out in large chunks. I'm not sure if that was a good thing, but I drank it anyway. The main flavor was coffee, and I mean straight up coffee right down to the finishing bitter astringency. There was barely any sweetness and very little I could consider chocolate, but the burst of bitter didn't linger. Since I'm not a huge coffee person, I didn't love this one, but you might! ☆☆☆

Beer Hop Breakfast) This was my clear favorite of these three because it reminded me of New Holland's Dragon's Milk Reserve Series Triple Mash. The Beer Hop Breakfast just has a bit more hoppiness, a lot more coffee, and about half the ABV. The hop character came through in the finish as a soft twang, and a sweetness made this beer quite easy to drink. Just like the Beer Geek Breakfast, this beer poured black and filled my nose with a strong coffee beans. ☆☆☆☆

Rauch Geek Breakfast) Rauch means smoked, and in this case, the malts and oatmeal(I presume!) both were smoked before being processed into wort. At some point then, a heaping dose of coffee was added to the mix. In my opinion, the two flavors were both good, but just didn't work well together. In in the initial, the rich, astringent coffee dominates while the finish contained all the smoke. I enjoy smoked beers, but something about this one's finish lacked for me. I think it was that there was no malt sweetness to balance out the smokiness. ☆☆☆

Special) Concoctions Round 2 Finish

Happy New Year!

I bet you forgot about those concoctions I made back at the end of June. Concoctions Round 2

I nearly did. I just remembered the 28th, and lo and behold, that's exactly six months later.

In examining the bottles everything seemed generally fine with them. The liquids had changed colors and then upon opening the first, I realized the blue of the glass threw off my perceptions. I started with #4 Bing Cherries and Christian Brother's Brandy. The cherries appeared almost ghostly through the glass.

Ghost Cherries? 

#4 Bing cherries and Christian Brother's Brandy) I pulled a cherry out and the color had been sucked out of it. It reminded me more of a split olive than a cherry. The actual taste of the brandy hadn't been changed much by the cherries, and after putting the concoction alongside some fresh Christian Brother's Brandy, I can say that it hasn't been improved. The resulting cherry brandy liquor gained faint cherry touches that only muddled the crispness of the brandy. Still good, just not an improvement on the original product.

Just looks like an olive

#6 Dragonfruit and Cut Spike Vodka + #7 Dragonfruit and Suzume Shochu)

Next I got into the two Dragon's Fruit mixtures. Or rather I cracked them open and proceed to recover from the smell. I did eventually end up tasting them, but much to my regret, both of these failed. I should have opened them a lot earlier. Decay or mold or something had set into the fruit matter and each smelled like someone's potted plant had been rendered six feet under someone's armpits.

Looks can be deceiving. These dragon fruits never hatched.

I might try and do some short interval experiments with dragon's fruit in the future, but six months was too long.

#3 Coconut and Blackheart Rum 

Floaties from the coconut. 

First of all, the odd floaties forming a raft on top of the rum worried me, but the aroma had the right punch to it. Isolating some of the raft, I determined the bits were coconut oil that had congealed. Thankfully nothing threatening and something that actually tasted yummy.

The coconut sucked the color out of the Blackheart

The coconut gave a sweet and robust fresh coconut flavor to the backdrop that didn't compete with the cherry like aspects of the blackheart rum. However, the coconut pieces absorbed the color from the rum leaving it to appear almost clear in comparison to the heavy caramel of the original.

Ignoring the coloring reduction, I call this one a success.

#1 Coconut (light) and Cut Spike Rum + #2 Coconut (heavy) and Cut Spike Rum)

Left to Right: Heavy Coconut and Light Coconut

Having done this already before (Umeshu-inspired Concoctions), I have to say that it turned out the same. Despite one having nearly double the coconut in it, I think I wouldn't be able to discern which was which in a blind taste test. This confuses me since one should have been more potent than the other. However, I can load as much coconut into the mixture as a I want because my guess is that time acts as an equalizer in conjunction with the limitations of the absorption of the alcohol.

Here's the brief rundown of these six:

#1 Coconut (light) and Cut Spike Rum) Good ☆☆☆

#2 Coconut (heavy) and Cut Spike Rum) Also good ☆☆☆

#3 Coconut and Blackheart Rum) Super enjoy ☆☆☆☆

#4 Bing cherries and Christian Brother's Brandy) Okay ☆☆

#6 Dragonfruit and Cut Spike Vodka) Unsurvivable ☆

#7 Dragonfruit and Suzume Shochu) For my enemies ☆

Thanks for reading, and I hope your New Year is wonderful!

82/100) Buffalo Sweat (All 4)

I have set myself the goal to review three beers or ciders every week for 100 weeks. I will be learning about beer and ciders more as I do this, and if I am successful in this venture, I will have tried about 300 unique drinks. If you're curious how I'm doing, the number in the post's title tells you which week I am in now.

Buffalo Sweat, Vanilla Bean Buffalo Sweat,
Bourbon Barrel Aged Buffalo Sweat, Bourbon Barrel Aged Vanilla Bean Buffalo Sweat with Cinnamon

Happy New Year!

Buffalo sweat is probably not the most enticing name on the surface, but beers have certainly had stranger names (Can I get a Moose Drool?). However, even names as strange as this can tell a lot. The buffalo reference of this beer helps allude to its Midwest origins, the land of prairies and open fields. Specifically, Tallgrass Brewing Co out of Manhattan Kansas makes this line of oatmeal stouts. I couldn't resist a side-by-side so I tried all four alongside each other.

Buffalo Sweat) I always get a slight tinny backdrop to this one when I have it from the can. Try it on tap if you can, it's great. Regardless of that, the upfront flavors are the warm subdued roasted flavors you'd expect from a good oatmeal stout, and the mouth feel is appropriately silky. The only place it lacks is the finish where it rather tapers off into a light wateriness. Still, it's quite enjoyable. ☆☆☆

Vanilla Bean Buffalo Sweat) Normal buffalo sweat reveals how good of a base it can be with this one. The vanilla bean touch rounds out this beer by giving the finish character. Otherwise, the initial and mid are the same as the last. While I think the vanilla is a bit too light, I do really enjoy this beer and am glad it doesn't over power the taste buds. ☆☆☆☆

Bourbon Barrel Aged Buffalo Sweat) I said that normal Buffalo Sweat lacked a strong finish. Barrel-aging it changed that. It's uncanny how similar these three were on the initial and mid, but this one shone on the finish. The bourbon barrel rounded it out and made it what I would almost consider a perfect beer. It's aged, yes, but it was still a light 5.8% ABV. Somehow Tallgrass aged a beer and didn't skyrocket the ABV into the double digits. For that alone, I'd applaud them, but this beer itself deserves applause. It's soft, silky, and full of flavor. I will keep this beer stocked at home so that I can enjoy it any time. ☆☆☆☆☆

Bourbon Barrel Aged Vanilla Bean Buffalo Sweat with Cinnamon) Yes, that is the beer's name. While a bit ridiculously long, the name lets you know exactly what you're getting. Personally, I would have gone for "Cinnamon Roll Buffalo Sweat" as a name because this breakfast in a can was just that. The vanilla and cinnamon roll into the finish in a direct mimicry of cinnamon roll frosting. The cinnamon while nice at first became too overpowering for me. Great to sample, but hard to just drink a whole can in one sitting. Otherwise still excellent. ☆☆☆☆

81/100) 2015 Sours

I have set myself the goal to review three beers or ciders every week for 100 weeks. I will be learning about beer and ciders more as I do this, and if I am successful in this venture, I will have tried about 300 unique drinks. If you're curious how I'm doing, the number in the post's title tells you which week I am in now.

Barrel & Bog, La Folie, Love Child No 5

First off, Merry Christmas! I know this is a bit non-traditional, but this was my way of indulging as Christmas approached.

The thing with sours is that you can never guess whether they are perfect now or ought to have been aged longer. It's like the conundrum: "Is poison past its expiration date, more or less poisonous?" The same can be said of sours, but without the terminal implications. Although, for the uninitiated, a sour beer can certainly be the death of their taste buds. As for me, I really like sours.

Barrel & Bog) The zing of a sour beer, from what I hear, only gets better with time, while all the other flavors will be subdued. This "funky sour" was either opened far too soon or far too late. It was one of the worst beers I've ever had. It finished bitter, but not in a hop bitter more like a medicine, spoiled food, or stale herbs way. I don't want to give you my friend's descriptions of it, because I fear that your appetite will be spoiled. Suffice to say, it was bad. The only positive I can come up with is that the mouth feel was light, and I'm trying to maintain an hopeful optimism that my other bottle will improve the longer I forget it in my cellar. ☆

La Folie 2015) First of all, if you haven't had one of these sours, you can find them just about anywhere now that New Belgium has begun releasing it twice a year. La Folie, or 'the folly,' is a blended sour so from one bottle to the next the flavors are pretty consistent too. This 2015 was a great mix of barrel and cherry like flavors with a lot of layers of complexity that all lead up to a burst of sour. I'm not even going to be nice and say tart with this one. It was straight up sour and though I loved it, it was a palate wrecker making it hard to sample anything after it. ☆☆☆☆

Love Child #5) This barrel-aged sour, as you can tell by the name, is the fifth in the series. The sixth just came out recently, so I've been holding onto mine for a bit I guess. They're a bit expensive and hard to find so people tend to grab them as soon as they're available. This one was eerily similar to the La Folie, but mostly because of the lemony tartness. It was a bit milder though and the barrel aged aspects were just a bit more muted. ☆☆☆☆

80/100) Cold Stouts

I have set myself the goal to review three beers or ciders every week for 100 weeks. I will be learning about beer and ciders more as I do this, and if I am successful in this venture, I will have tried about 300 unique drinks. If you're curious how I'm doing, the number in the post's title tells you which week I am in now.

Baltika Brew Collection, Ga-Run, 2 Tun

This week's tasting feels a bit like a cop-out because I couldn't track down a set of three beers from any of these three breweries. However, I suppose that is a testament to how scarce or unusual they are. What they do have in common is that they are darker, stronger, maltier beers, and appropriately, these cold stouts pair best with winter as their high ABV and rich flavors are sure to warm your soul.

Baltika Brew Collection) This Russian imperial stout is straight out of St. Petersburg. Although it had a bit more of the smokiness I'd associate with a imperial or double porter, that was not a disappointment. Lots of depth to this one. Rich and chocolate malts with just a touch of acridness towards the finish. ☆☆☆☆

Ga Run) This Icelandic Stout appeared a little lackluster at first with a distinct lack of amber swirls usually brought on by the effervescence. However, despite fearing it to be flat, the stout came forth with a very pleasant thick mouth feel. The middle characterized itself with a lot of anise and chocolate while the linger remained softly on my palate. I plan on grabbing another of this and hoping that it has more bubbly. I enjoyable it. ☆☆☆☆

Hermitage Ale of the 2 Tun) Do you know what a tun is? No, it's not a misspelling of "ton." Instead, a tun is a large cask or container for beer or wine. It can also be used as a verb to express "putting wine or beer into a tun." In other words, you can "tun beer into a tun."  And while I mulled that over in my mind, I tried this beer. The robust nature of the smoked espresso aroma caused me to over anticipate and expect an equally robust taste and mouth feel.  It didn't deliver. My overall impression instead was of its thin mouth feel even despite the flavors being a nice chocolate ☆☆☆

79/100) Scotland Ales

I have set myself the goal to review three beers or ciders every week for 100 weeks. I will be learning about beer and ciders more as I do this, and if I am successful in this venture, I will have tried about 300 unique drinks. If you're curious how I'm doing, the number in the post's title tells you which week I am in now.

Jacobite Ale, House Ale, McEwan's Scotch Ale

Scotch ales. I can only presume they are so named for some connection they have to Scotland. Regardless, the malt isn't necessarily smoked, but the wort is boiled in such a way as to impart caramel notes and a bit of a roasted backdrop.

The two beers on the left come from Traquair which claims to be the oldest continually inhabited house in Scotland. Considering it was a hunting lodge back in the 1100s that is pretty impressive.

McEwan's is also a Scottish brewery that has been around for a long time. They will celebrate their 160th anniversary next year.

Jacobite Ale) Both this one and the following Traquair ale are quality scotch ales. I usually get a lot of banana on this style but not the case on these two. Brewed with coriander, the Jaocobite had just enough for it to be subtly present, but what I had not anticipated came in the form of soft caramels and a subtle sweetness on the finish. Not too complex. Not in your face about anything, but not a pushover. This one is just plain good drinking. ☆☆☆☆

Traquair House Ale) There's a sweetness to this scotch ale that was smooth and unassuming. Place a burger alongside it though and you have reached perfection. It isn't overly fizzy, and the flavors are mellow enough to entice. Not to mention that the finish has just enough biscuit to give it some density. ☆☆☆☆

McEwan's Scotch Ale) As previously mentioned, my problem with Scotch Ale's has been that they often end up giving me a finish that feels a lot like bananas. I've been taught this is coming from "esters." I'm still not up and up on what that means, but I don't like what makes the banana-y flavors. Since I did not get banana on this one or the previous two, I have this theory that maybe scotch ales made in America are different in process from their UK counterparts. Kind of like how there are American IPAs and Belgian IPAs. What set this one off from the other two was a light marzen-like musty touch that changed to a finish that felt peated even though this ale wasn't. ☆☆☆☆

78/100) Canada's Big Rock Brewing

I have set myself the goal to review three beers or ciders every week for 100 weeks. I will be learning about beer and ciders more as I do this, and if I am successful in this venture, I will have tried about 300 unique drinks. If you're curious how I'm doing, the number in the post's title tells you which week I am in now.

Warthog, Scottish Heave Ale, Abandoned Abbey

I made a trip up to Canada a while back with a friend. We didn't make it to this brewery, but I picked up some of their beers. They seemed to have decent reviews and the bottle/can art looked nice. Yes, I judged a beer by its cover. The whole world of Canadian beers is just too new to me, so I had to come up with some way of not spending three hours just deciding what to bring back. I know. Excuses.. Excuses..

Warthog) An English mild is mild, as one might say. For me, I imagine this beer to be something an old British colonial might reminisce over. Ah, I dare say, this reminds me of the Savannah and warthog sweat. Nasty buggers, you could smell them before you saw them. And they always had the indecency to show right during a meal. Ugh. Or something like that. Really, the taste has nothing to do with warthog stink, but I also don't have enough experience with the style to evaluate whether it is representative or not. There was one background flavor in the finish that I didn't like. It reminded me of the way mildew smells. Otherwise good. ☆☆☆

Scottish Heavy Ale) For me, this is one of Big Rock's winners. The smoothness of this wee heavy remained light without being watery. I got lots of sorghum/molasses in the middle and later on in the linger as well. A bit of fruits, apricot and golden raisin, filled out the finish. I'm sure it baffles you as much as me, but I still don't know exactly why this kind of beer is called a Scottish Heavy Ale. It's not heavy. It's light in color and impact. And I'm not sure what makes it Scottish. Regardless, I love it. ☆☆☆☆☆

Abandoned Abbey) Found deep in a hidden valley shrouded by mist at the Abandoned Abbey, this dark strong ale was enjoyable. Firstly, I'm big on having a good thick mouth feel for Belgian styles, and this one's mouth feel was moderate at best. Also, Belgian style beers tend to have lots of layers of complexity. This one though came across a bit monotone. Negatives aside, the dark fruit flavors smacked of plum and though it was straightforward to me, it might make for a good gateway Belgian for others. ☆☆☆