Caramel apple-glazed brandy entry greets beet-sugared dark fruiting and cellared fungi musk of a Belgian quad as bourbonized molasses drapes fig, date, raisin and dark cherry pleasantries soaking into cognac-sweetened vanilla midst. Perfect brandywine-barreled nightcap.
Offbeat sour saison peculiarity aged on oak with spruce tips (!) utilizes mixed culture brettanomyces yeast funk to add ammonia strength to dry lemon-limed parch, champagne sparkle and ambitious herbal spiced foraging underscored by acidulated wheat. Minty spruce tips amplify zesty lemony white wining as capacious pink peppercorn, fern, thyme, fennel, tarragon, dill, cardamom and mustard seed illusions penetrate musky mineralized rusticity.
Fine variation on brewers’ Charcuterie IPA features sweet ‘n sour apricot tartness and lemony Citra-Mosaic hop dryness. Syrupy apricot sweetness dominates mid-palate to contrast oncoming citrus-soured pineapple, passionfruit and mandarin orange undertones.
Elegant oak-aged brown ale successfully expands upon Free Will’s Coffee Oatmeal Brown Ale with yummy rum dousing. Rich tawny-browned full body adds coffee beans to molasses and cane sugar while aging in Caribbean rum barrels. Mellow spiced rum warmth serenely sweetens persuasive dark-roast coffee overtones and polite whiskey snip. Ancillary black chocolate, dark cocoa and pina colada illusions swing by the molasses-sapped oats spine of rummy dessert treat.
On tap at Cooper’s Seafood, inspired by popular Speculoos cookie, vibrant Imperial English brown ale evenly spreads cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg spicing across vanilla-creamed gingerbread cookie sweetness and brown-sugared caramel malting to its oats-honeyed Graham Cracker spine. A buttery nut cookie alternative.
On tap at Poor Henry’s, “assertive West Coast India Pale Ale” allows tangy grapefruit-pineapple-orange-mango glisten to gain affluence above resinous piney bitterness and mineral-grained pale malting. Lemon zest brightens floral-spiced sweetness. Brisk citra hops framed by carbolic Seltzer-like fizz. In the can, pristinely clean-watered “assertive hop-forward” barrage brings juicy orange-peeled grapefruit, pineapple, mango and peach tang as well as zesty lemon licks to sticky hemp-oiled hop pungency above mild rye breaded spine. Lingered citric acidity recedes as pine-combed bark dryness and floral accents increase.
