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review

vroom vroom

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It’s not a black beer, but it is pretty dark, and strong besides.  Attik Brewing offers Hot Rod American Strong Ale for another rainy December day, with a label that ought to warm the table.  It looks exciting, and vaguely dark and dangerous.

It has the dark color of a strong beer, with a light beige and resistant head. There’s a little bit of apple floating around in the air, again hitting the notes of strong beers in memory. For some reason I expected a thicker and sweeter entrance, something like a barleywine, but it is not like that at all. It’s strongly bitter, playing up the ale part of its build, with a bit appley sweetness wandering in only when most of the sip is already down your throat. The bitter never goes away either. Although it’s not a heavy or sticky beer, echoes of sharp bitterness remain much longer than you expect. Good to keep you from chugging it down too fast, I would imagine.

answering somebody’s prayers

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In this holy season it only makes sense to have some kind of blessed beverage.  Of course, if I were demanding something of a deity I would have other things in mind.  For most people, though, I suppose La Quince’s God Save The Session IPA would be a gift from heaven.

It looks somewhat watered down, very light, clear straw color, but abundant and snowy head. The aroma is also quite pleasant and nicely noticeable. Typical IPA, very bright and citrusy, with only the barest hint of dark fuzz underneath. The flavor is a little flat at first, kind of metallic. But, then notes of bitter hops start to poke out and a little chaser of orange follows. Like other session IPAs, it feels very light and leaves little trace once it’s gone down. It isn’t a surprising beer or an exceptionally creative one, but it is solid and does the job beautifully.

beaufrutal

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Ah, I remember this one!  It’s still not a black beer, but it’s something special – Oso Brewing’s Frutal III, a Berliner Weisse with strawberry and blackcurrant.  You’d expect something on the sweet side, but the sour of the weisse really dominates.  I got my first taste this summer at Gaztambirra, impressing, although not quite inspiring, my drinking/debating buddies.

It’s a little lighter than I remember, but I might be remembering a late-night beer a little unreliably. It does have the bitter-fruity aroma and the slightly pink head. The beer appears to be full of bubbles and somewhat cloudy. It is a bit wine-y again, with a sharp and bitter tanginess, like cheap wine and grapefruit juice mixed together. It also has a feeling of unsweetened cranberry juice. I don’t really detect any strawberry, but the blackcurrant might be there in the tang. The color is right for the season, but it’s a light and tickly beer, not what I look for an a dark near-winter night. I find my weisses are better suited to a summer evening. Well, looking forward I guess.

the shinning

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Oh well, back to pale ales I guess.  It’s not a familiar beer, Hoppit, but given the quality so far I don’t think I have anything to worry about.  I feel like Ben Plantada American Pale Ale has some double meanings it might or might not want to share.

It is the very picture of it’s style – clear golden color, almost whipped cream head, maybe slightly more citrus than necessary in the aroma, but it’s fitting for an APA. The flavor is surprisingly heavy, with a big load of mandarin. It’s not sugary sweet, but there is a good amount of fruit. It’s a pretty big feeling beer, a lot of sun and a lot of brightness emanating from it. Despite the weight it isn’t heavy-handed, just firm, a real pick-me-up kind of beer. It’s not demanding but good back-up. On a rainy December night, it really lights up a room or conversation. Well done, or should I say well planted?

lit up

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Well, back to lagers, but this is a smoked lager, so at least that’s something different.  This is Althaia’s Mediterranean Lager Ahumada.  I guess after Spain got smoked out of the World Cup it’s a fitting choice for the collection.  I also like how the label shows the grill but the smoke is coming out of the bottles nearby.

I’m used to my smoked beers looking, well, smokey, but this one pours out almost like water. It does take on color in the glass and builds up a nice fluffy head, as well as having that distinct rauchbier aroma. It definitely tastes like a rauchbier, perhaps a little sweeter than some of the classics. It’s more of a maple syrup sausage than a bacon or schnitzel flavor. There’s some hint of breading, or maybe pancake crumbs. It also has an oddly slick feel to it, like the outside of a fatty sausage, sliding over your plate instead of politely sitting for your fork. It’s perfectly pleasant, though, not icky-slippery like you might expect. While other rauchbiers seem to have their place at the barbecue, this lager feels like it just wants to sit down to breakfast.

around the block

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Finally!  I’ve been hoping to have a black beer pop up, you just can’t have a selection of wintery beers without stouts and porters!  Now, most people like to bring out their ales and pilsners and sours for a little brightness, but good Bacchus, alcohol should be fitting with the season.  I have had this particular beer before, La Pirata’s Vanilla Black Block, and I know I won’t be disappointed.

Very fluffy dark beige head, and the color, while dark, doesn’t quite seem perfectly black. A little more like dark roasted vanilla. The aroma also hits on the toasty side, with hints of leafy vegetation. The vanilla does come out in the flavor, along with warm smoke and fresh bread, giving a feeling of a powerful stout. It starts out a bit light, but develops more heft over time, adding both sweet and bitter notes. There’s even a kind of fiery smoke trail in the aftertaste, and some kind of sour fruit preserve that bites as it goes down. It’s a fine and fitting part of an Advent calendar, not excessively spiced and pastried, but in tune with the atmosphere of ever darker days and with just enough of a surprise to be gift-worthy.

central spain

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It isn’t a real holiday today, but it is the middle of the week and bookended by holidays.  It’s almost a holiday by default, but some people take Monday and/or Friday to have long weekends and kind of begrudgingly go to work a single day of the week.  Not everybody has the luxury of an “aqueduct”, as the Spanish refer to this extra-long weekend (a normal long weekend being a “bridge”).  For a working day, we seem to have a normal working beer, Guineu’s Latitud 41 lager.

Activity begins as soon as the cap is unsealed, but there’s no foam overflow.  The beer pours out with a sour-grain scent and a very fluffy head, settling into the glass with a very clear, slightly ruddy light lager color.  The glass gives off a little metallic aroma too, making me wonder if the beer has gone off in the bottle.  The flavor is at first strongly bitter and tinged with bread, a stronger flavor than I expect from a lager, but the aftertaste also has that metal and green bean bite.  The beer tries to override that bit of weirdness, and it seems like it really is a fine lager, but the aftertaste is a little distracting.

shrugging drinker

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I’m excited for something from La Quince, although it isn’t a famous Black Velvet.  Maybe a later date?  Anyway, this is something that might tickle anime fans with the picture on the label, and maybe the name Angry Boy would make more sense to them too.  It’s a DDH Cream IPA, which doesn’t sound like an aggressive or punchy style, but I have been fooled by light-sounding modifiers to IPA before.  It’s a respectable level of alcohol at over 6%, so it shouldn’t be watered down in any way.

Very light – creamy- color, and almost whipped cream resting on top.  Just popping the top of the can releases a slightly spicy fragrance.  There’s a flowery perfume too, a sophisticated blend of hops.  The taste is very subtle at first, but soon a little clovery sweetness makes an appearance, washed down by a light IPA bitter.  Some spikes of bread also pop up.  It’s a soft tasting beer, despite being double dry hopped, so maybe things got better kept in the aroma.  There’s some sensation in the aftertaste, warming the throat and tickling the back of the tongue.  It settles down into a pretty stable but layered flavor, a bed of bitter and a topping of sweetness.  Much sweeter than you expect an angry boy to be.

cross the line

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Here’s something fall-like and appropriate, a wheat IPA!  We’re back to Guineu and a very simply labeled WIPA, although I wonder if the color scheme is meant to be evocative.  I kind of appreciate the inviting message on the yellow tape, though.  Despite a certain sense of exclusivity, there’s always been at least the desire to have the door to the craft beer world open to all.

Mildly cloudy and a short but resistant head, the wheat comes through clearly in the aroma.  Very bready and meadow-sharp.  There’s some fruit lurking in there too, the ghost of the IPA I imagine.  First the wheat beer glowiness slides in over the tongue, then a bitter boulder rumbles down.  There’s kind of a fight between relaxed wheat and feisty IPA, a dance of different sides that kind of corkscrews its way down the throat.  It settles down into a modest easy-drinking beer, although it might be a little too demanding for those who just want to have snacks, sit back and watch the tube or something.  On a holiday eve, it could be a great choice for evening media consumption.  Old Christmas movies anyone?

to the top

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Suddenly, a large can!  I almost expect it to be a low or even another non-alcoholic beer, but it is Penthaus, Attik Brewing’s weizen bock.  A good style to fiddle with, connected to a very seasonally influencing country.  What I wonder is if it will lean into a champagne taste to go with its name.

It’s oddly dark for a weizen, but bubbly and sporting a jaunty little white head. The aroma is very standard beery, a little malty and a little grainy. The flavor is sweet-and-sour, with a little bitter punch at the end, sort of a reminder of warmer days past. Although bocks can have a sweeter and maltier flavor, this one’s almost sugary presentation is a bit of a surprise. The beer also has a pretty heavy mouthfeel, more like what you expect from bocks. It’s clean enough at first, but starts to layer up over the course of many sips. Certainly not champagne, or even cava, with enough attention you can start to sense clove and other spices sneaking out, but it’s definitely a more modern iteration of its style.

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