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.

Duck Rabbit Baltic Porter

This was another gift from someone along with the Cafe Royale I drank earlier in the year and a bottle of KBS. Obviously this is a baltic porter from Duck Rabbit which you probably guessed from the name.

Creamy roasty nose with some dark fruit in the back. First sip was similar. Lots of dark fruit with a bit of tart milkiness and some roast in the finish. Basically continued that way with the roast and dark fruit coming and going. Decent enough though I feel like a bit less dark fruit and the addition of some chocolate flavors would have balanced it out a bit more.

Stone 09.09.09 Vertical Epic Ale

The Vertical Epic series from Stone brewing was started February 2nd, 2002 with 02.02.02 followed by another release on March 3rd, 2003 with 03.03.03, etc. Get the pattern yet? Each year is a different style but they were sort of meant to be aged until December 12th, 2012 and then shared together. The 02.02.02 goes for a bunch of money on ebay which is pretty funny. I don't know if it will work out as some of the styles don't seem like they'll age well but Stone seemed to think so. The 09.09.09 I opened is a Belgian Stout.

At first I thought the nose was slightly sour, but soon realized it was a result of the roast mixing with the hops and Belgian yeast. Pretty interesting. Nice body on it even after 3 years. Rich creaminess up front, vanilla, some dark fruit and then earthy hop bitterness to finish it off. Very tasty and definitely holding up well. Enjoyable even in the 90+ heat we had last Friday. Air conditioning really is the best thing on earth.

Three Floyds Dreadnaught

Three Floyds isn't available in Philly as it doesn't get distributed here, but last weekend I was able to get a glass of their Dreadnaught, a double IPA, at a local establishment. Now, they were doing their best to keep it on the down low so I won't name the place but, well, it's not hard to figure it out if you really want to. I'll admit the draft was definitely a bit expensive but it's not available around here so I was willing to pay for one glass.

Great grapefruit nose with some light bitterness. The first sip followed with sweet grapefruit up front then some bitterness. I was happily surprised that the finish was quite dry despite the sweetness. I can see why people go out of their way for this one in its normal markets. Quite a good double IPA.

Bell's Special Double Cream Stout

Even at 100 degrees, I still like drinking my stouts and barleywines. I guess having A/C will do that to you. Last night I drank a bottle of Bell's Special Double Cream Stout, an american stout.

Really pleasant roast nose with a hint of tartness or dark fruit or something in the back. Nice body, thick for a 6% stout. A creamy, milky start with smooth roast following and a light licorice flavor to finish. The latter actually disappeared as I drank more with the roast smoothing out even more and some chocolate coming out. Really nice beer that just got better as I drank more. Bell's is so good.

New Glarus Raspberry Tart

I was sent this a while ago by a friend of mine and Jo and I finally opened it last night at a BYOB. New Glarus is a brewery out of Wisconsin and the Raspberry Tart is a fruit beer.

Bright raspberry nose with a little bit of caramel sweetness and some tart notes. The raspberry smelled incredibly real. Thick mouthfeel, thicker than you'd expect and it just coats your mouth. More sweet raspberry in the first sip with a smooth caramel finish. Continued along that path throughout the glass. It may have only been lightly tart but there was just enough to keep it from being too sweet.

Really enjoyable beer and if it was available around here I'd definitely buy it again. Too bad it's not. I actually disappointed the waitress last night since she asked me where I'd gotten it and the answer of Wisconsin wasn't terribly useful to her. Ah well.

Port Anniversary Ale at Kite & Key

With the end of Philly Beer Week comes my return to Tuesdays at Kite & Key. This week I ordered a glass of Port Anniversary Ale, a double IPA.

Juicy grapefruit nose. Not super bright but it's very clean and inviting. Started bitter followed by some grapefruit and a caramel sweetness. A bit bitter and dry in the finish though not too bad. An enjoyable double IPA, at least for one glass. The sweetness may grow a bit much after more than one but who drinks something twice in a row? Crazy people, that's who, so it's not really a big deal.

DuClaw Double Naked Fish

Back in January, I drank a beer from DuClaw named Naked Fish, a raspberry chocolate stout. While the raspberry and chocolate were quite strong and tasty, I thought the body was a bit thin and maybe an imperial version would be better. Imagine my surprise when a DuClaw employee responded to me and mentioned that they were already brewing a stronger version and to look for it in the next month or two. Well, a friend of mine grabbed me a bottle recently so I drank it this past weekend with some friends.

Roasty nose with some light raspberry in it. Didn't get much chocolate as the roast was the strongest flavor. Nice body, a bit thicker than the original. Some roast started followed by some raspberry and a light chocolate finish. Yes, this version tasted less like a chocolate raspberry candy, but I thought the beer was better overall. The body had more weight making it more enjoyable to drink and all of the flavors blended together better keeping anything from being overwhelming.

One of these days I should try to get my hands on their peanut butter porter, HERO, and see how that one tastes. Luckily, they may be distributing to Philly soon which will make it easier to try their stuff.

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.

Philly Beer Week Day 9: Nodding Head & Hawthornes

Finally, the last day of Philly Beer Week. Well, my last day at least. Others went out Sunday too. I was really excited for this Saturday from the beginning of beer week as the Dark Horse event at Hawthornes last year was one of my favorites. Adding the Nodding Head Second Saturday event on top of it just increased my excitement.

Starting off the day was the Second Saturday event at Nodding Head. This event was named Weird, Wacky, and Wonderful and consisted of a couple sours and couple variations of Crosby Tears. I started with a glass of Phreddie, a sour tripel.