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. ☆☆☆

77/100) More Ciderboys

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.

Magic Apple, Cranberry Road, Pineapple Hula

Ciderboys. After how excellent their Peach County was, I had to come back for more of their combination ciders. This time we take a walk down Cranberry Road as we brandish our Magic Apple. The army of Pinapple Hula dancers will never see us coming.

Magic Apple) was just what it said it would be. As an apple cider with strawberry, initially, I thought the balance was good, but the strawberry grows in intensity until you can only taste it. At least it was a very fresh strawberry flavor. If you don't love strawberries though, you probably won't find it as overpowering as I did. ☆☆☆

Cranberry Road) was a perfect marrying of flavors. Perhaps, I am biased towards tart/sour beers/ciders, but I really enjoyed this one. Try it on a hot summer day and see if you disagree. I can't help but wonder if the cranberry road is much like the yellow brick road, and if there is a Dorothy or perhaps an Edith, who needs to travel that road for her homesickness to be cured. Either that or I need less cider in my life because my judgment is becoming obscured. I'll just have to watch out for flying monkeys, I suppose. Knowing my dreams though, they'd be flying tapirs. ☆☆☆☆

Pineapple Hula) unlike the magic apple, the pineapple did not come across as overdone. However, pineapple just might not be my favorite flavor as I found it hard to want to come back for more. You get a bit of the apple towards the beginning, middle, and finish, while the linger leaves you with that fresh pineapple sweetness. So, they succeeded at making what they set out to make. ☆☆☆

Bonus: Why Tapirs? In Japanese mythology, the Baku (Tapir) eats people's dreams.

76/100) More Woodchucks 2

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.

Pear, Lemon Shandy, Smoked Cider

The woodchuck, how much could he chuck? Well, if he'd get out of the apples already, we'd have a clearer idea. The closest we got to solving this age-old conundrum is the Cellar Series Smoked Cider. It took a bit to get the woodchuck out of that woody smokehouse. Instead of chucking more wood on the fire though, he ran off with some delightful smoked apples.

Pear) I don't really need to say more about this one than that it tasted like a ripe brown pear. If that's what you want in a drink, this is it. If not, run screaming. Or just don't drink it. Me, I enjoyed it. ☆☆☆

Lazy Hazy Lemon Crazy) and just like it's name this one is indeed crazy. I'm not sure what Woodchuck was going for on this one. Perhaps a cider shandy? The result was very sweet, tart, and lemony. I couldn't finish it because the flavor reminded me too much of either green apple jolly ranchers or lemon heads that got dissolved into a normal cider. I usually try to come up with something positive about a drink, but I am having trouble on this one. I'm too lazy and this lemon crazy drink made my thoughts hazy. ☆

Smoked Cider) As much as I love this one I know it is not for everyone. The apple mash was smoked before being processed into cider, and the end result was a very smoke-heavy cider. No surprise there. The apple flavors are a bit on the stronger side of a deep amber cider, but they are subdued. Drink this while having a pork chop, bacon, or something else equally greasy. It goes amazingly well with them, and also works well as a a glaze. It's bottled instant smoked sweetness. Try it sometime! ☆☆☆☆

75/100) Founder's Backstage Series

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.

Dissenter, Blushing Monk, reDANKulous

Founder's normal fare is already something I can consider a safe bet on any occasion. This time I amassed a couple of their rarer fare, bottles that were part of their backstage series. They were all seasonal and harder to find that I expected. I also have to apologize for the wonky photo. Something Redankulous has crept into it. Just when I was going to give up and post only about two beers, I found myself a third.

Dissenter) Nay? Nay! Nay I say. Lagers are not for me. And, then for such dissenters like myself, Founder's came along and made an Imperial Pale Lager which is a hopped up stronger lager. This one had light citrus hops, a touch of bitterness on the finish, and smooth malty characteristics that gave it body. It's probably one of first lagers that I've rather liked, albeit it is an imperial one, and a rather robust one at that. I am not a dissenter over this beer. Excellent. ☆☆☆☆

Blushing Monk) The Blushing Monk is essentially an imperial Rübæus. If you haven't had a Rübæus before, you are missing out. If you haven't had a Blushing Monk though, you're really missing out. I suppose that is unless you dislike raspberries, because both are the epitome of what a raspberry beer can be. You get fresh berries on the nose and through to the finish. It was lovely, and I want another. ☆☆☆☆☆

reDANKulous) First of all, the name is awesome. I just wish the font reflected the emphasis that Founder's official spelling does. DANK is the only part of it that should be capitalized. The bottle confuses this by having all the letters uppercase, but I suppose at least "dank" is a font size or two larger. Regardless, this was a crazy IPA. The pine resin hop punch lingers and lingers, but before you reach that you have to wade through a misted jungle of tropical hop flavors and earthy malts. If only the 60s weren't so lacking in beer this unusual, I might describe this beer as a bottle-shaped time capsule back to beaded curtains and shaggy carpets. ☆☆☆☆