Southern Tier Oak Aged Pumking

Jo and I stopped in at the newly remodeled Bridgids the other day to check it out. The bar area actually looks the same and we didn't go back into the dining area so, well, can't tell you what changed. Whoops, oh well. We both agreed that the food was quite good now so there's that. She got a Left Hand Milk Stout which was nice and roasty and I got a Southern Tier Oak Aged Pumking which unfortunately was just terrible.

Smelled like flour, marshmallow, coconut, and vanilla. Hugely powerful nose, just crazy strong. The first sip mostly followed the nose with coconut and vanilla being the major points. Not much changed through the whole glass either.

While I managed to drink the whole thing, I'm actually not sure how I manged it considering it made me gag slightly at times. I really thought it was absolutely vile basically tasting like a coconut threw up in a glass of vanilla and then sprinkled some flour on it to cover the mess. To be fair, though, I do know people that actually like this so I don't really think it's flawed or actually bad, I just think it's disgusting to me.

Trip to Capone's

It's been quite a while since my wife and I had been to Capone's and since we were heading up to the area, we figured a stop was in order. It was even Jo's idea! Lucky me. My usual course of action is to start with a sampler, but there was a beer on draft from East End, from out in Pittsburgh and since it's really rare here in Philly I had to start with that.

Two on Tuesday

I tried two new beers last night at the Urban Saloon.  Even though it gets kind of frat partyish on the weekends, this place is actually pretty nice at other times.  Their draft list is always decent and their food is good so Jo and I go there when we are looking for somewhere calm to go.

I started with Terrapin Moo-Hoo Chocolate Milk Stout something I've been wanting to try for a while.

The smell was all chocolate and very inviting.  First sip was chocolate up front followed by an almost milk shake flavor.  Super thick mouth feel.  Drinking more, the chocolate is a consistent presence and it continues to remind me of a milk shake.  The sweetness in it is great.  The only negative I could find is there was a weird, slightly chalky aftertaste which may be a result of the cocoa they used in the brewing.  It doesn't ruin the beer or anything, it was just odd.

After that I had a glass of Southern Tier Old Man Winter, an Old Ale.

I was surprised by how hoppy this one smelled.  I expected it to be a winter ale, sort of sweet and caramel, but with the hop smell I knew I'd be wrong.  Taste followed with some mild hops although no real bitterness.  Maybe I would have liked this more if I knew what I was getting, but as it is I just wasn't particularly impressed.  It wasn't bad or anything, just wasn't that good.  Felt like a dull IPA with a little bit more body.

I expect to have another post tomorrow morning and maybe something after Thanksgiving on Friday, but we'll see.  Otherwise, have a good Thanksgiving everyone!

Sunday at Capone's

Jo and I went to Capone's and enjoyed some great buffalo wings and beers.  As usual, their draft list was excellent and they have 25 cent wings on Sunday so it's a great place to watch some football.  They are doing some construction on the place, but the back entrance is open so don't think they are closed because of the closed front doors.

I started off with a sampler of 4 beers.

Starting with the front left beer and going clockwise I got: Jolly Pumpkin La Parcela, The Bruery Autumn Maple, Amager Imperial Stout, and Great Divide Espresso Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout. 

The Jolly Pumpkin La Parcela was interesting.  It's supposedly a Pumpkin Ale but I couldn't detect pumpkin in it at all.  It smelled lemony and sort of tart.  Just a little bit of head on the sampler, but I'm guessing there would be a bit more in a full glass.  The first sip was mildly tart as well but not too strong.  Very smooth flavor.  It was similar to Nodding Head's Berliner Weiss but with more body and not quite as tart.  As I drank more of it, the beer got more tart but nothing crazy.

After that was the Bruery Autumn Maple.  Smelled mildly Belgian as it's made with some Belgian yeast.  At first, there was only some yam flavor with a mild sweetness.  Hard to find the Belgian flavors in the beer as a result of the yams and maple.  Nice thick mouth feel to it.  The second full sip I took was just full of yams.  I couldn't believe it and took another sip just to be sure I was sure of the flavor.  Super interesting to be drinking that taste out of a glass.  I liked it but a full glass may have been a bit much.

Following that was the Amager Imperial Stout.  Amager is apparently a brewery in Denmark, who knew.  The Imperial Stout had some slight roasty notes and a little alcohol on the nose.  The taste, however, was full of roasted malt flavor with no alcohol presence.  As it warmed up, the alcohol was slightly noticeable, but not out of place.  Not a bad Imperial Stout but nothing too special to me.

Finally, the Espresso Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout.  I talked about the family of Yeti stouts from Great Divide in this post, my first time at Capone's.  This will be the second of the four I've had and hopefully I'll be able to have the other two at some point.  Jo smelled some wood flavors in this but I didn't notice much of anything.  Pretty big espresso flavor in the first sip, but it wasn't crazy.  Nothing like Founders Breakfast Stout for example.  The coffee does sit on the tongue after each sip though.  Nice thick mouth feel to this one.  As it warmed up, the espresso becomes more noticeable but again not bad.

After the sampler, I tried to get a glass of Rodenbach Vintage 2007 but they were out.  Instead, I got a Southern Tier Pumking

There wasn't any head on it but you'll just have to trust me since I forgot to take a picture before drinking a bunch.  It smelled of pumpkin and a lot of spices.  Interesting smell, pretty much what a lot of people think of when they hear of a pumpkin beer.  The Pumking was very sweet with a lot of spices.  Kind of crazy how much pumpkin pie flavor they packed into this beer.  Even with all the spices and the high sweetness, it was still quite drinkable.

Went into the bottle shop before we left and man I love that place.  They have so many good beers.  Even if the prices can be a little high, there's just so much to find.  Every nook and cranny is just jammed with random beers.  I could come out of there with so many if I didn't care about money.  Ended up getting a Hoppin' Frog Boris the Crusher, an Oatmeal Imperial Stout, and a 2008 Rogue Imperial Porter.  The Rogue had an absolutely sweet bottle although it's no real surprise because if there is one thing Rogue does well it's make cool bottles.