Maine Beer Company Lil' One

I had a couple bottles of this over the past few weeks but this was the first I drank by myself. Lil' One is listed as an American Strong Ale on BeerAdvocate which actually works well for it. I've mentioned before but this category is more of a catch all for beers that are hoppy and strong but don't fit well in the American Barleywine or Double IPA categories.

This was bottled on 1/31 with a best before date of 90 days from there so like two months old now. The age definitely affected this beer. Malty, earthy nose reminded me quite a bit of Nugget Nectar but with less hop intensity (again possibly because of age). Body followed with a light spiciness, more of the earthy hoppiness, and an almost smoky sweetness. Finished a bit bitter so it at least never got too sweet. Decent beer really though I wonder how much better it is when fresh. Just seemed like it was missing something at this point. Worth trying but not going out of the way to get basically.

He'Brew Jewbelation Sweet 16

The Jewbelation series from He'Brew brewing is an anniversary series they release every year. At least for the last couple of years, each new iteration adds 1 percent to the ABV to match the year, making this year's version 16%. I'm not really sure on a style but it's probably listed as an American Strong Ale. A quick glance at BeerAdvocate shows I'm correct mostly because that's just a catchall category for strong beers that don't really fit anywhere else.

Smelled of chocolate, raisins, and plums. Basically like a quad mixed with a less sweet port. No real hint of the 16% in the nose which was nice. Super thick though with enough carbonation to keep it from being cloying. Tasted of chocolate and burnt plums with a little harsh bitterness in the finish. The alcohol is not as hidden in the body as the nose, but it came and went as I drank more and was never too oppressive. I thought for a 16% monster it was remarkably easy to drink. My brother in law liked it quite a bit too. Definitely an interesting beer and for like $8 it's quite a deal. Also, my parents bought this for me because they liked the bottle which is pretty funny.

Bell's Bourbon Barrel Batch 9000

On Friday, I was sort of bored at work and decided a trip to Varga for lunch was the perfect thing to pass the time. I chose Varga because I heard the Bell's Bourbon Barrel Batch 9000 was still on draft even though it had been available for a week and I really wanted to try it. Really glad I did since it was pretty awesome. I was pretty shocked to even see it in Philly since I thought it was only available at the Bell's General Store at their brewery. Always happy to be wrong about stuff like that though.

Bourbon and caramel nose, quite sweet without any sign of the 15% ABV. On first sip, very fruity up front with chocolate, caramel and a little heat from the alcohol in the finish. Some plum and raisin as well. Definitely tasty but also incredibly strongly flavored even if the alcohol was well hidden. This beer wasn't fooling around. While I probably could have drank a little bit more of it than what was in the small glass, it was nearly enough considering the strength and sweetness. Still, pretty excellent beer and very happy to get a chance to try it.

Lost Abbey Deliverance

I decided to open up something fun last night because why not? Best way to end the worst day of the week is with a fun beer. Lost Abbey Deliverance is a blend of the Brandy Barrel Angel's Share and Bourbon Barrel Serpent's Stout. You can't get the latter beer for the most part but the Brandy Barrel Angel's Share is usually available.

Wow, absolutely powerful nose. Huge bourbon with a hint of brandy sweetness. No whiff of the 12.5% ABV which is really impressive. Just crazy strong though. Thick as oil with limited carbonation. Bourbon caramel up front, some vanilla, light alcohol burn but not astringent or sharp. Chocolate and caramel in the finish with a nice sweetness rounding things out. This beer isn't fooling around at all but it was delicious. Totally lived up to my expectations. As I said, though, it's a sipper and quite powerful. You have to like that bourbon flavor to like this.

I just wish Lost Abbey stuff wasn't so expensive because when it's on, it's quite amazing. But I generally don't like spending close to $20 for a small 375mL bottle so oh well.

Deschutes Jubel 2010

I've had this bottle for a few years at this point. Luckily this is one of those Deschutes beers with a "Best After" date so it was built to last. Yes, that's after, not before. It was originally a surprise gift from my sister in law living in San Francisco. I think I asked her to bring me a bottle of Abyss or something and since she's great, she also brought a whole bunch of other stuff.

Unfortunately the bottle didn't have a description on it, but apparently it was aged in Pinot Noir barrels for nearly a year according to the BeerAdvocate entry. That's sort of a rumor without a description on the bottle though.

Awesome nose, very impressive. Caramel, vanilla, plums, kind of port like. Knowing now that it was apparently aged in Pinot barrels, that last point actually makes some sense. Very thick body, limited carbonation as you can see in the picture. Basically a mix of chocolate and caramel with plum and some other dark fruits. Sweet and strong but never astringent or sharp. Just super smooth. Pretty awesome and very complex. Even at over 10% abv, I believe, no hint of alcohol. So glad I had this as it was delicious.

Weyerbacher Decadence

Every year, Weyerbacher puts out an anniversary beer. At this point they are up to 17 so with Decadence being number 10 it means it was about 7 years old when I finally drank it last week. My friend actually did most of the aging and gave it to me like two years ago.

Port like nose, caramel with some fruity cherry in it. Some oxidation, though, with hints of cardboard. No, that's not a great flavor on its own but it blends well enough to keep it from overpowering everything else. First sip had some more oxidation, light spices like clove and such, and then a sharp alcohol bite finishing things off. Surprising that the alcohol was as strong as it was but I guess it just never settled down. After seven years, it wasn't 100% anymore that's for sure. Still drinkable and decent, but it was definitely past its prime. Oh well, you win some and you lose some when you age stuff this long. Most beers really aren't made for it anyway.

Giant Beers over the Weekend

This past weekend, I had a bunch of friends over and knew it would be a great time to open some of my bigger beers. And when I say bigger, I mean both were over 18%. Seemed like good choices to split between the six of us rather than trying to drink the bottles by myself.

We started with The Bruery Black Tuesday, an 18.3% Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout.

Lagunitas Lucky 13 at Kite & Key

Took my usual Tuesday visit to Kite & Key and picked out Lagunitas Lucky 13, an American Strong Ale.

Really nice grapefruit sweet nose, no real bitterness at all. Thick body. Began with a really pleasant grapefruit and light bitterness and ended with a decent amount of caramel sweetness. The play between the malt and the grapefruit hops was really great in this one. Never got too dry or too sweet and was just tasty.

On a separate note, I found out that my Tuesday at Kite & Key is going to become Monday at Kite & Key. My favorite bartender, Jacqueline (probably spelled her name wrong but it's close enough for science), has changed her shifts to Monday so I will to. Not like the day really matters.

Boulevard Chocolate Ale

With Philly Beer Week over, I can finally get back to drinking beers at home. Crazy I know. This past weekend I opened a bottle of Boulevard Chocolate Ale.

Sweet nose with a hint of light cocoa. Slight cocoa up front, some almost apple fruitiness in the body, and finishing with some dry cocoa flavor. While the chocolate flavor was incredibly light, it at least tasted real which was nice. The fruity body was a little sweet but at least it went well with the chocolate flavors. Enjoyable beer though the chocolate could have been a bit more apparent in my opinion. I've read people say the draft version is better but we don't get Boulevard around here so no chance for me to try it like that.

Also, apparently this is my 400th post. Hurray! I should drink something interesting when I hit 500 but I'll probably forget.

Bell's Darkest Day at Devil's Den

Okay, so this event was over two weeks ago at this point, but it was such a great time, I don't want to just skip writing about it. The event took place on December 21st, the shortest day of the year hence the name,  Darkest Day. Devil's Den got about 6 different Bell's beers including the incredibly rare Black Note. When the event was first announced at the end of November, I quickly put it on my calendar since I knew I couldn't miss it. Now, maybe I was a little too excited because when I got there at 4, there were only three other people in the bar and they all left before the event making me the first to arrive for it. I even took a picture!

See, empty bar. Luckily, I knew the next four people that walked in after me so I had plenty of company to pass the time.

Visiting Perch Pub

I've heard good things about the Perch Pub, located at Broad and Locust, and finally decided to visit last Friday night. The bar was already pretty busy when I got there around 5 as they have a decent happy hour with half off most of their drafts. Right now, they have 14 different draft lines with 2 being reserved for small batch stuff like Hill Farmstead, one-offs, things like that.

I started with a glass of Blue Point No Apologies, a double IPA.

Clean grapefruit nose. Started a little bitter up front, followed by a bit of grapefruit, and then finished with some malty sweetness. Decent enough double IPA although it may be a bit sweet for some people. Nice way to start off the night.

Savage Sixtel Sunday at the Kite & Key

On Sunday July 24th the Kite & Key had an event called Savage Sixtel Sunday. They've had other ones previously but apparently this one was also their 3rd anniversary. I didn't actually know that until after but good for them! I hadn't been to one of these before but the tap list to this was pretty awesome plus I knew a few people going so figured it would be a lot of fun. I started with a Bells Batch 9000 which was also the first beer that caught my eye when I first saw the tap list.

This was part of Bell's "batch" series where every 1000 batches of beer, they brewed a unique one-off. This one is labeled an American Strong Ale although I could see it labeled as a quad. Smelled of caramel, plums, toffee, raisins, and wine. Really strong but delicious aroma. Flavor started similarly with caramel, toffee then a decent amount of alcohol. The alcohol wasn't harsh but there is no mistaking that it is 12.5%. I can't imagine how strong this tasted fresh considering how strong it is at about a year and a half. Still, I really enjoyed it even with the alcohol, just need to remember to sip it.

Philly Beer Geek Contest at Time Restaurant

As I said in my previous post, my loss in the Philly Beer Geek contest by one point at the POPE led me to try again on Wednesday at Time Restaurant.  It was being held at 6pm and Time is pretty close to my office so I figured why not give it one more try.  I arrived around 5:45 and was the first person to express interest.  I met the General Manager, Terry, and a couple of the bartenders and they were all incredibly nice.  This time the contest was being run by Terry so it was a little less formal than Monday.  It turned out he had just found out about the whole Philly Beer Geek thing, thought it would be a good way to bring some people to the bar, and so only signed up a couple weeks ago or so.  And, hey, it got me to the bar so he sort of succeeded, I guess.  I just have to go win it for him and then he'll get some press.  At about 6:30 he managed to get a couple more people into the bar for the contest and we got started a few minutes later with about 4 or 5 of us participating.

Philly Beer Geek Contest at the POPE

This past Monday, I finally had a chance to make it to a bar that was hosting a Philly Beer Geek prelimary qualifying round.  The Philly Beer Geek contest is sort of a beer quizo kind of thing but the prelim rounds vary slightly depending on the bar.  The one at the POPE (Pub on Passyunk East) was hosted by Carolyn Smagalski, Beer Fox of BellaOnline, and last year's Philly Beer Geek Steve Hawk. (If you've been reading long enough, you may remember I went to a BBQ in his honor at The Hulmeville Inn without knowing what it was a while back.)  The contest was separated into four rounds.  The first two rounds were ten questions with each question being one and two points, respectively.  The third round was two beer samples off the draft list and I was supposed to identify them and they were each worth fifteen points.  The last round was eight slightly more difficult questions worth four points each and two very hard questions worth ten.  

Firestone Walker at Jose Pistola's

Since I didn't have a chance to try the Firestone Walker Double Jack or 14th Anniversary at Monk's, I decided to spend lunch at Jose Pistola's this past Friday.  I haven't been there in a while either so that helped me make the decision as well.  I arrived around noon, took a seat at the bar and ordered the first of the two I missed, Double Jack, their double IPA.

Beer Schooled at the Hulmeville

This past Tuesday I drove up to the Hulmeville Inn for a home brewing class offered by Beer Schooled.  When I first found out about the class, I figured it would be an interesting way to solidify my random knowledge of home brewing and I was pretty much correct.  It also turned out to be a good way to hang out with Kevin and Greg and have a couple good beers.

I started with a small glass of Stone Double Bastard, an American Strong ale aka a strong, hoppy beer.

Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary

Monday was Sierra Nevada's 30th Anniversary celebration.  Thirty years of brewing is pretty impressive in this day and age and they seem to still be going strong.  In Philadelphia, the last of the four 30th Anniversary Ales was released and it's called Our Brewer's Reserve: Oak Aged Ale.  It is a mix of Oak-Aged Bigfoot (their barleywine), Celebration Ale, and fresh Pale Ale blended together and then dry hopped.

Nice thick head on it at almost an inch.  It smelled really hoppy with some alcohol hiding behind it.  Where the Jack & Ken's Barleywine smelled like alcohol with some mild hops this smells like hops with some alcohol.  First sip was very hoppy with some sweetness underneath.  As I drank more, the hops receded a bit and some caramel and sugars came up.  Bitter aftertaste that lingers for a while.  This blend was quite good but a little hoppy for me.  Of the three 30th Anniversary ales I've tried, I enjoyed the Jack & Ken's the most (the black barleywine) followed by Fritz & Ken's Ale (an Imperial Stout) and then this one.  Don't get me wrong, I'd drink any of them if they were put in front of me, but if all three were available that's how I'd order them.

I'm mostly done with a post about the Craft Beer Express from this Saturday, but it's taking me a little longer to write that one.  Look for it tomorrow probably.