Dock Street and Local 44

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Dock Street decided to have a bottle release party for their Prisoner of Hell. Included with that release were bottles of last years Prince Myshkin and their '09 Barleywine. I realize I already have one of each of those two but, well, a second means when I drink one I still have one. Brilliant right? I think so at least and that's what matters to me. Plus, I met up with some friends for dinner so it wasn't totally just about the bottles.

When I got there, they hadn't started pouring the flemish red yet so I ordered the Rye IPA.

Grapefruit nose, slight rye spice. Started with the same slight rye flavor, moved on to being slightly bitter, and finished slightly peppery. Nice, balanced rye IPA without being too over the top with anything. Good way to start the visit.

After that I got a glass of their anniversary Flemish red.

I have a real write-up here when I wrote about the fourth anniversary but suffice to say it was very acetic with some barrel notes. I drank two glasses of it but that's probably the limit I could handle considering how sharp it was. Not to say it wasn't tasty, but the vinegar edge was very present.

At that point, I split up with my friends and moved on to Local 44 for an Allagash event that the Beerlass, Suzanne Woods, was throwing. It was a nice lineup from Allagash and I figured since I was in West Philly I'd stop by and say hello. This was my first time at Local 44 too and it looked like a nice place. Decent sized bar, a number of tables, and a nice amount of space for standing around if it gets crowded. They are supposed to be opening a bottle shop next door which should be really cool when it finally opens.

I started with a glass of the Big Little, a Belgian Pale Ale.

If it wasn't so dark, you'd see it as a nice golden color. Bready nose, hints of the Belgian yeast. Clean flavors, bit of bitterness but not sharp, and almost peppery. Nice and light and very easy drinking, this was a good clean beer.

After that I changed paths and went with the Allagash Black, their Belgian stout.

Smooth roasty nose with no bitterness. Inviting. Flavors followed with the roastiness mixing with a nice Belgian character. The thing that was nice about this compared to some other Belgian stouts I've had is that the Belgian notes were an understatement and not the main point. It makes the roast blend with it a lot better and makes it much more drinkable and way less sweet.

At this point I had to make a decision about my last beer. Upon Suzanne's advice, I went with the Fluxus '11, a Biere de Garde. Note that the style of Fluxus changes every year so only the 2011 is this style. Last year was a sort of hazelnut stout or something and the previous year was a Yam something or other I believe.

Sweet, sort of fruity nose. Very clean notes other than that. The perfumy quality continued as the main point with some slight spiciness underneath. And that's where my notes end so yeah. Lets just say it was as good as the rest.

Quite a Tuesday night. Nice mix of beers from Dock Street and Allagash along with some really good pizza at Dock Street. Of course it was raining really hard that night but oh well everything can't be perfect. It was also fun seeing Suzanne Woods at Local 44 and getting talk to her about her new job at Allagash.