Goose Island Gillian

I have quite a back log right now so I'm going to try and work through at least some of it. That means I actually drank this a while ago which was apparently December 6th according to the date on the picture. But, whatever, i'ts not like my notes go bad. Gillian is a sour saison brewed with strawberries and peppercorns (and possibly a few other things) and then aged in used wine barrels. Pretty complicated beast. One fun trivia fact is that the experimental name was Scully, which if you've ever watched the X-Files, Scully was played by Gillian Anderson. Get it? Scully -> Gillian? Okay, maybe only nerds will think that's neat but it totally is.

Spicy, peppery nose with some light fruit and a bunch of oak. Body was similar, starting off lightly peppery, almost bitter, followed by strawberry, oak, and a little white wine flavor. As I drank more, the bitterness faded like it usually does and the strawberry and wine notes really came to the front. Very tasty beer with the only real negative being the price. Not sure what the going rate for it is in Philly, but it easily could be $35 or $40 given the usual markups. Knocks it down a few pegs for me just because for that kind of money I could get other beers. Still, glad to have tried it at least once.

Port Brewing Santa's Little Helper

I may not be writing as much, but I am still making my mostly weekly visits to Kite & Key. They've been varying a bit between Tuesday and Thursday but that's mostly depended on the weather. Regardless, I've still been going each week so that's something. This visit I ordered the Port Brewing Santa's Little Helper, an imperial stout.

Nice chocolate and coffee nose, definitely my style of imperial stout. Nice mouthfeel too. It wasn't oily, but was still a bit thicker, if that makes sense. Body was full of chocolate and roast with a light citrusy, bitter finish. I'm not sure others would get citrus and instead some other flavor of bitterness, but that's how it presented to me. Quite an enjoyable imperial stout and something I'd order again. I know I've seen barrel aged versions of this, but feel like I've heard complaints about it. Not sure but it feels like it would be good after tasting the base. Who knows.

Paul's Amber IPA

Still trying to work out the timing for writing more posts, but we'll see what the new year brings. To start things off, I'm going to talk about my buddy's first attempt at homebrewing. I could have chosen something more available, I guess, but what's the fun in that? Paul called it an Amber IPA mostly because of the recipe he followed.

Masking tape label and nothing else, so homebrew. In all seriousness, the tape came off easily so it's a perfect label as it makes the bottle quickly reusable. As for the beer, it was, well, definitely a first attempt at homebrewing. Still, I wasn't upset to drink it. Pretty sweet caramel nose with a hint of chocolate. Pretty thick body, almost a little syrupy. Body was sweet caramel with no real bitterness to clean it up. Basically it just felt a bit under attenuated aka not fully fermented. The thick body with the very sugary flavor kind of implies that. Funny enough, though, this was still better than the majority of beers Jo and I had at Amherst Brewing Company a while back so go Paul!

One last post before Christmas

Okay, things have definitely been very quiet on the Rich on Beer front. We've changed our morning routine to feed Pax breakfast, which is a ton of fun, but it doesn't leave me a ton of time to relax and get in the writing mood. Since I'm not a writer by profession or really talent, it takes me a while to get words on to the screen. Or at least interesting words. I've still been drinking new beers all the time, don't get me wrong, just haven't written anything for a while. Today, to get one more post written before the holidays, I'm going to go back a few weeks and post about Deschutes The Abyss from 2010.

Lots of bourbon vanilla notes in the nose. Medium mouthfeel on it. Body was full of licorice and roast with the bourbon and vanilla taking a back seat compared to the nose. Some molasses sweetness came out as I drank more rounding things out. Pretty nice though the mouth feel could have been a little fuller and the bourbon vanilla stronger in the body. Still, definitely glad I drank it.

I actually opened this because the Friday before I went to Jose Pistola's for the Deschutes Beer Camp lunch and it made me want to try an older Abyss. Muller Distributors paid for my lunch there too which was cool. I think I still have two more years of Abyss in the basement that I will get to at some point.

Also, I'm going on vacation now so look for some posts in the new year, hopefully a little more consistently. We'll see!

Dock Street Abt 12

Jo and I were recently at Dock Street after a fun trip to the zoo with Paxton and the PhillyTapFinder family and I saw they were selling bottles of this. I'm a sucker for quads and so decided I needed to try it. At $12 it wasn't too expensive either. Also, I'm pretty sure this was a Scott Morrison beer and his belgian style ones were usually quite good so it seemed worth the risk. If you want to try anything by him, he's actually now at the Barren Hill Brewpub.

Nose was a mix of caramel, a little apple, and some sugary sweetness. Really nice and inviting. Body followed with lots of caramel, some plums, apple, and finished with a slight alcohol burn. Medium mouthfeel, not thick but not thin either. Quite delicious especially as the alcohol faded by the time I finished the glass. I haven't had a genuine Belgian quad in a while and so really enjoyed this. Definitely glad I bought it.

Founders Breakfast Stout at Kite & Key revisited

I've definitely written about Breakfast Stout before, even written about having it at Kite & Key, but I'm going to revisit it because it's been a while. Of course, now that I've linked you to the previous post, I do have to make sure I don't just write exactly the same thing. Founders Breakfast Stout is an imperial stout made with coffee and chocolate.

Nose was really nice with lots of chocolate and espresso coffee with some roast bringing it all together. Body, however, was super bitter at first with just a little coffee and minimal chocolate. I was actually surprised at how bitter it was. Luckily, as I drank more and it warmed up a bit, the bitterness fell to more reasonable levels and I started tasting more of the coffee. Maybe out of a bottle it's not quite as bitter but this wasn't quite as good as I remember. Oh well, tastes change and all that.

Firestone Walker Double DBA at Kite & Key

I actually thought this was going to be a repeat post as I swear I've had Double DBA before, but I didn't have a picture of it yet so I guess I was wrong. Kite & Key was pretty great this past Tuesday as they still had a whole bunch of Firestone Walker leftovers from the Craft Beer Express on Saturday. Pretty surprised about it but a win for me. Since I've had Sucaba (aka Abacus) a whole bunch of times, I opted for Double DBA, a bourbon barleywine though I'd argue it's not really a barleywine but a mix of stronger styles. Surprised it's not listed as an american strong ale.

It's a little darker than in the picture since I had to use a flash to take it but it gives you an idea. Really smooth caramel and sweet boozy nose. Very inviting. Body was similar with tons of caramel and vanilla with a little bourbon flavor to top things off. Just a very delicious beer though some may find it a bit sweet. Don't get me wrong, it's not Southern Tier sweet, meaning it'll give you diabetes, but the caramel and vanilla are very strong without any real bitterness to balance them.

Prairie Artisan Ales Truncheon

I struck out on Heady Topper cans when Jo and I were in Vermont, but I did get to stop at a store named Hunger Mountain Co-op and pick up a few interesting bottles. One of them was Prairie Artisan Ales Truncheon, a wine barrel aged saison. I don't have any more information than that since that's all the bottle said, but it had to have been some sort of white wine barrel considering the color and flavor.

The nose had a lot of white wine character mixed with a little saison spiciness. At first, the body was mostly sweet grape with only some of the saison peaking through. Similar to the nose though a bit sweeter. As I drank more, the flavors meshed a bit more and the sweetness lessened. Still, I wish it had been a little drier with the saison half being a little more pronounced. As it stands, it wasn't bad, but I don't think I'd buy it again.

Green Flash Sleepin' with Shaggy

Not sure if the name is a Scooby Doo reference or not, but it is certainly interesting. Sleepin' with Shaggy is a 13% barleywine aged in brandy barrels and was sent to me by my buddy in San Diego. I actually thought it was a sour for the longest time and I'm not sure I could have been more wrong. Also, not sure this was a good choice for a Monday night beer considering its strength but I'm running low on normal beers so here we are.

Well, this was certainly aged in brandy barrels. Huge, huge brandy nose consisting of a fruity, caramel sweetness. Not too boozy either. Thick mouthfeel which I always appreciate in high octane beers and think is pretty important in hiding the alcohol. Body was complex with chocolate, caramel, a lightly bitter earthiness, and more brandy. Some booziness but I felt it meshed with all the other flavors well. The brandy sweetness really comes through which is impressive. I wonder what the base barleywine tastes like before the barrel aging. Regardless, this was tasty and a nice surprise.

Crooked Stave St. Bretta Spring

This beer came to me by way of PhillyTapFinder from Colorado which was awesome of him. Thanks Jared! I guess St. Bretta by Crooked Stave is released year round but as a different season each time. This bottle was labeled Spring and is, at its base, a wheat beer but is so much more due to the brett fermentation.

I didn't really know what to expect from this just going by the style and the name. The nose definitely gave credence to the brett fermented on the label with dry, lightly funky notes and a bit of citrus. The body, however, changed things up a bit and added in some tart orange juice right up front with some earthy bitterness in the back. The funkiness from the nose was a bit more subdued too. Quite delicious really and I definitely get why people like Crooked Stave. I'm not sure if this is the first beer I've had from them, but it's the first I remember. I picked up a different bottle of Crooked Stave while in Vermont and I'm excited to try that now.