Tried some new beers over the weekend

I'm going to post a few short opinions on some beers I tried with Eric this weekend...

First up was Brooklyn Black Ops. This is a bourbon barrel aged imperial stout that gets released once a year. I picked it up a few months ago when it came out in NY and had been looking forward to trying it for a while. This bottle was very expensive at $25, but it seemed to have a decent record. I was utterly underwhelmed when I tried Black Ops though. There was a lack of complexity that keeps Black Ops out of the same league as great imperial stouts. There was a weak burbon flavor dulled by a chocolate malt flavor. The flavor just seemed watered down. Very disappointing for such an expensive beer. The one highlight of the experience was the mouthfeel was right on for a big stout. I won't be seeking Black Ops out again next year.

Captain Lawrence Birra Decicco was up next. This beer was brewed by Captain Lawrence in collaboration with Decicco's market, the wonderful place in Ardsley, NY that I have posted about before. CL used some ingredients from Decicco's grocery store (chestnut honey and jam). This beer is pretty sweet with plenty of chestnut flavor. Not to bad overall. I'm glad I got to try it as it is an interesting take on a dubbel.

The third beer cracked was Deschutes The Abyss (2009). It was a little while before the "best after" date, but since I had 2 in my cellar and I've been dying to try one I decided to open one up. The Abyss was a much better imperial stout experience than Black Ops. The flavor was much more complex with an interesting interaction between the licorice flavor and the slight bourbon flavor. The beer was nice a thick with a velvety mouthfeel. The best out of the three we tried in my opinion. I'm glad I have one left to crack open later in the year.

More to come later this week.

Ballast Point Sculpin IPA

Sculpin is one of the IPA made by Ballast Point Brewing Company in San Diego, CA. I believe they recently started bottling this beer (in the last year or so) and since then it has hit the BA top 100. I had the chance to try a bottle of Sculpin a few months ago when I managed to find a bottle, so I was excited to see plenty of bottles when I went to Decicco's last week.

Sculpin pours a slightly hazy golden orange with plenty of white foamy head. The smell is dominated with citrus and pine hop aromas. Lots of orange, lemon, peach, and pine and it is great. The flavor is fairly sweet upfront with plenty of orange-mango and pine hop flavors that is finished with a nice hop bitterness. For a heavily hopped, 7% abv beer this is very drinkable. The only thing holding it back is the price. I paid about $10 for a bomber and it was worth it, but it will keep me from buying more than a bottle every once and awhile. As far as single IPAs goes this is one of my favorite and I think Sculpin is much better than Balast Point's other IPA offering, Big Eye IPA which seems to have a harsher hop bitterness without any of the delicious citrus and pine flavors. I've heard rumors that Ballast Point will be putting out even more Sculpin and moving to 12 ounce bottles. I hope it's true, because picking up a 4-pack of Sculpin would be awesome.

Trip Report: Decicco's in Ardsley, NY

On my way back from a trip to the Newark airport I decided to stop at one of the best beer stores around here, Decicco's in Ardsley, NY. Decicco's as quite the beer selection tucked into the back of their gourmet grocery store. They have growlers to go (2 of the 4 times I've been there over the past 6 months they have had Scuplin for fills), a few dairy cases full of american craft and imports, a few shelves of bombers, and a walk-in fridge for BMC. There is lots of great stuff packed into a small area and due to NY's beer availability is heaven for someone living in CT. Some of the personal highlights over the my few trips there have been Ballast Point scuplin, Brooklyn Black Ops, various Captain Lawrence offerings, decent selection of cantillions, Goose Island brews, Green Flask, and lots more. Prices seem a little high, but for the selection of high quality brews is worthwhile for an occasional trip.

On this trip I was excited to find Goose Island Night Stalker Imperial Stout, BP Sculpin, Captain Lawrence Smoke from the Oak (!!!) and Captain Lawrence Birra Decicco (a beer they made in collabo with Decicco, which I think is pretty cool).

Since CT is practically a barren wasteland compared to NY and MA an occasional trips to Decicco's and Julio's liquors in Mass is incredible.

Ithaca LeBleu

A very generous trader threw this in as an extra a few months back, so I was lucky enough to try this fairly hard to get beer (150 cases produced). When it came out ISOs and FTs flooded BA for a few days.

LeBleu, a sour blueberry ale, is part of Ithaca Beer Co.'s Excelsior! series. It's "brewed with New York Blueberries and Brettanomyes" and is a blend from 2007, 2008, and 2009 barrels. Apparently this was fermented with brett and wine yeast.

I was pretty excited to try this since my experience with sours has been fairly limited and I hadn't had any of the Excelsior! series previously. The bottle comes capped and corked with a synthetic cork. I had a fair amount of trouble getting the cork out. I was extra careful since I've read that LeBleu is highly carbonated.

My first impressions was that LeBleu is highly carbonated. Lots of head from a gentle pour that you can see in the photo. The head was a fluffy white and receded quickly. LeBleu was a medium brown with a very strong rose tint that the photo doesn't do justice. The smell was blueberry, citrusy, and tart with brett funk. The funk smell was pretty tame. The flavor is mouth-puckering sour with subtle blueberry, oak, vinous, and tart flavors. I found the flavor very pleasant, but it was a good thing I had someone to split the bottle with, since the flavors are strong and would have probably became too much. The reports of this beer being very carbonated were right on. For this style of beer I find it very appropriate. The pleasant spritz is very nice. Too bad this beer is hard to get a hold of, I would love to get my hands on more and let it age for a year or two. Overall this was a very enjoyable sour.

A comment from my girlfriend who hadn't had a sour before said it was, "like a saison." While very distinct this was a pretty good approximation and I was impressed. She didn't care for LeBleu as much as I did (I think she was expecting it to have a more overwhelming blueberry flavor), but drank a glass of it.

Inaugural post with trade haul and review!

I've been thinking about setting up a blog for awhile to highlight some of my adventures in craft beer. I'll be posting up some beer reviews, reports on local releases, home brewing trials and tribulations, trading results /experiences, and other various things. This will hopefully occur on a fairly regular basis.

Trade that just came in today:

3 x Three Floyds Dark Lord (white - 2008, black - 2009, green - 2010), Russian River Pliny the Elder, Founder's Kentucky Breakfast Stout, and Bell's 9000. The Pliny, KBS, and 9000 were excellent extras!

I figured I'd get this kicked off with a review of a great beer and one of my favorites, Russian River Pliny the Elder, especially since this just came in today. Pliny is a year round beer, but is under high demand and limited distribution. Pliny is currently rated #7 in the world on Beer Advocate. It weighs in at 8% abv.

This bottle of Pliny was bottled on 03/21/2010, so this bottle is fairly fresh. The Plinys I've had in the past have been about a month old as well. I poured the Pliny into my tulip glass where it gave a lot of fluffy white head and a fresh hop aroma. You can already see the head sticking all over the glass in the photo. The aroma has a mix of pine and grapefruit hop scents backed up with a sweet scent from the malt. They should make car fresheners that smell like Pliny. The flavor is filled with hops. Lots of grapefruit and pine flavors from the hops. The hops supply a great bitterness to go along with the luscious hop flavors. The beauty of Pliny that you don't always find it other bitter west coast IPAs is a solid malt backbone, which donates a sweet caramel flavor. The malt is definitely in the background, but the subtly that allows this to be a hop forward beer without owning your mouth is really what sets Pliny apart and makes it one of the most enjoyable imperial IPAs to drink. Pliny's medium bodied with just the right amount of carbonation. This is a beer that I would buy by the case if I were able too. I'll probably end up making a homebrew clone of this one of these days. Here's a link to a clone recipe that had some help from RR's Vinnie Cilurzo.