Bell's Expedition at Kite & Key

Well, it has been a week since I've written anything so sorry about that. Between going on vacation then not getting much sleep Sunday night, just haven't had the drive to write. To get moving again, I'll start with last week's visit to Kite & Key. I also have a Crooked Stave beer I drank last night which I'll hopefully get to tomorrow. For last week, I ordered a glass of Bells Expedition, something I've had aged a couple times, but never fresh. And, yes, that is not really the way to do it since you can't know how the aged beer has changed, but oh well sometimes that happens. Expedition, by the way, is an imperial stout.

Roasty nose with a big, earthy hop bitterness. Body followed with some bitter chocolate, earthy hops, and a bitter finish. There was some coffee roast around the edges as well. As I drank more, it actually became more hoppy and bitter and the roast took a slight back seat to that. I had heard it was bitter and, yeah, totally a hoppier stout. Some people like hoppy stouts, hence Storm King's popularity, so this would be good for them. If you're curious about the old bottle I drank, here's my post about it. Definitely enjoyed it a little more than fresh.

Dieu du Ciel 2009 Peche Mortel

I've had this bottle for quite a long while now partially because I lost track of it for a year or so in our old apartment. One day, I was moving stuff around and found it mixed in with a bunch of other beer which was a nice surprise. Why did it still take me 2 years to drink it? Because, that's why. Peche Mortel is an imperial stout brewed with coffee. Honestly, the aging conditions for this weren't particularly great so I was shocked when it still tasted pretty good.

Slightly sour coffee nose, basically what you get when you let coffee sit for a while. If you drink coffee, you know exactly what I mean. Body, however, had a nice clean coffee flavor with some chocolate and a bit of nuttiness in the finish. A little bitterness came through as well and kept the sweetness in check. Glad the sour coffee didn't come through in the body. I'm certainly glad this was still good even after cooking a bit in my old apartment's very hot entry way. Lucky me!

Green Man Schadenfreude

Jo and I took a trip through Asheville last year on our way to Atlanta. It was right before New Years and we thought if we were heading all the way down there, why not make a bit of trip out of it. As a result, I was able to check out a couple beer stores and I bought this Green Man Schadenfreude at one of them. It was actually only made possible because I started talking to one of the employees and he was like, "Buy this, it's good and you'll like." So I grabbed it because why not. I always like trying new berliners especially since I can split them with Jo unlike stouts and barleywines.

Bretty, earthy nose. Very inviting and very promising. Basically a bit funky with a few other things going on. Body, though, was a lot of lemony lactic acid and pretty tart up front with none of those flavors. Luckily, some of the notes promised by the nose came through in the finish cleaning up some of that lemony sourness and balancing things. Just quite delicious and Jo enjoyed it a lot too. Made me wish I had bought another bottle actually. Not sure what else Green Man makes, but seems like their sours are worth a try at least.

Cigar City Jai Alai

I'm actually pretty surprised I've never written about this beer. Jai Alai is Cigar City's flagship IPA and is massively popular in Florida. We used to see a lot of it here in Philly but their popularity down South has grown exponentially so there has been a pretty long drought of Cigar City beer up here. It's a shame since they make good stuff, but maybe we're close to the end of that problem since we're seeing stuff in Philly again.

Lots of orange juice and citrus flavor in the nose with a little sugary sweetness. Body was similar in that it was basically bitter orange juice with a little caramel sweetness in the back. Enjoyable ipa with a slightly thicker than average body. Definitely makes sense why this would be their top seller in this age of hoppy beer. Always a good choice if you are looking for something not too strong that tastes great.

Dogfish Head Northfield Mount Hermon

Okay, this is a pretty random entry but bear with me. Every time we visited Jo's home town, I made it a point to go to a bar named Moe's. At this point, it has been open for over 5 years so I've gotten to know the owner, Josh, pretty well. It helped that Jo's father used to go there a lot, too. The random thing is that Josh went to high school with Sam Calagione, owner of Dogfish Head, and is still pretty good friends with him. As a result, when their 25th high school reunion rolled around, Sam and Dogfish Head brewed a beer specifically for their class. And, since Josh is awesome, he gave me one of his extra bottles when I visited last time. Now it should make sense why I had this and why it was named Northfield Mount Hermon.

Earthy bitter nose with hints of some maple. Body started with a little bitterness up front, some earthy smokiness or something, and finished with more maple sweetness. I'm betting the smoke flavor I got was  a mix of the maple and the hops, but that's the profile I got. Nice beer, solid enough. Must have been fun for the class to have this brewed for them at least.

Allagash Midnight Brett at Kite & Key

Took my customary trip to Kite & Key this past Tuesday and, lo and behold, all but one of the Allagash beers was still available from the previous week's event. Huzzah! There were actually quite a few beers I could have chosen but I ended up going with Midnight Brett, a mix of a beer made with brett and some midnight wheat which must be a slightly roasted version of wheat plus some other stuff.

I didn't really know what to expect from this beer. Sure, there was a description, but it more described the ingredients than anything. The nose was a lot of sour cherry with something behind it that I couldn't quite place. Medium bodied, slightly on the thicker side. Vanilla cherry up front, followed by some berry fruit, and then finished with a little bitterness. As I drank more, I got a little roastiness that blended with the cherry pretty well. The tart fruit was the main flavor throughout. Pretty good beer, glad I gave it a try.

On a separate note, if anyone was thinking about going to the Epic Beer Fest (mentioned at the bottom of this post), I was sent a coupon code of MBL2013 which gets you $10 off a GA ticket until October 20th, max four tickets per purchase. As I said, I'll be at the evening session for a while if you are choosing between the two.

Neshaminy Creek Trauger Pilsner

This is randomly my second post about Neshaminy Creek this week but I didn't plan it that way. Mainly just that when I went to Kite & Key this week, there wasn't much else I haven't had before so I chose this. Trauger Pilsner is, quite obviously, a pilsener.

Notes of bread and sweet fruit in the nose. The body, though, had a light bitterness up front and a dry, biscuit flavor in the finish. Interesting difference between the nose and the body. Solid beer though I'm in no way an expert on pilseners. This tastes good and that's what matters really. So go ahead and order it if you want something in this vein.

Also, don't mind the different spellings of pilsener. I'm guessing one is slightly more German than the other or something. I feel like the extra E makes it read better so I went with that spelling for the style. No idea which is really correct though.

Neshaminy Creek Punkel Dunkel

When I bought the bottle of Saucony Creek Maple's Mistress, I also grabbed Neshaminy Creek's pumpkin beer, Punkel Dunkel. This was a bit more money but probably only because I live in Philly, the most expensive place to buy beer. Best distribution, awful prices. I could complain about prices all day long but it's remarkably uninteresting so I'll drop it. Punkel Dunkel is, as you expect, a dunkel lager base with spices added. Nice to see them try a different base than a plain pale or a stout. Next year they should do a doppelbock mostly because that would be awesome.

That label is awesome. There is something about a pumpkin throwing up that makes me laugh. Cinnamon and caramel nose, very nearly smelled like apple pie. My first thought on taking a sip was a nice balance of brown sugar and apple pie spice. Some earthiness from the pumpkin too but mostly spice. The dunkel itself peaked through at times and was pretty solid. The caramel and breadiness of it added a decent amount of depth to the spice profile. As I drank more, I also got a little bit of raisin for whatever reason as the flavors melded a bit. Quite an enjoyable pumpkin beer, well balanced with a solid base. Seriously, though, guys, doppelbock next year.

Founders Mango Magnifico

I missed my usual Tuesday stop in at the Kite & Key last week because of a really great event at the Bishop's Collar, but I made up for it the following Thursday. Lucky for me, everything from the previous Sunday's Savage Sixtel event was still available. I was psyched about it as it meant I would finally get to try Founders Mango Magnifico, their latest in the backstage series. I'm not sure what the base style of the beer was but it's a mango beer made with habanero peppers.

Sweet mango nose with the fruit overwhelming everything. Thicker than average body. Initially I got tons more of the mango sweetness then immediately after the burn from the habanero started. Each swallow had more and more burn with some fire lingering after each sip. Kind of crazy. Since the mango was strong, it wasn't terribly spicy but man it was pretty noticeable. I honestly didn't believe people when they said it burned but they were right. Crazy beer. Glad I didn't have a full 25oz bottle as 10oz was plenty so that is nice. Fun to try though as it was a unique experience.