TLDR Beer Club

[MaxxDaddy]

In regards to Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, apparently in years past the ABV for it was miscalculated to be at 8.7%, which Wookie listed in his post. However, the BCS actually clocks in at a more robust 10.6%. Whether or not this changes your opinion of it is up to you. In my earlier review of it, I probably overrated a bit at 3.75 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]s. I'm gonna mark it down to 3.5 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]s.

Though I'm new to the whole drinking good beer thing, I generally agree with your seasonal assessment Wookie, though I've heard barleywines are more of a winter thing. Interestingly, Stone has a different take regarding imperial stouts, as it releases its Imperial Russian Stout in the spring.

[MrWookie]

I definitely believe 10.6%. It just tastes too strongly of alcohol to be under 9%. Have you tried other imperial stouts? There are better examples out there, which is part of my reason for the lower score. I [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] imperial stouts, but this wasn't all that exceptional. I'm going to be including a review of North Coast's Old Rasputin and Great Divide's Yeti (I've already reviewed the oaked yeti, not the regular), beers I've already tried and loved. I'd give them a go.

[MaxxDaddy]

Nope, I've only had the BCS as of now. I've got a few of them left and I'm hoping the alcohol will mellow out with age. Here's hoping. I'm also sitting on a bottle of this year's Stone IRS. I need to get my hands on some Old Rasputin; I passed it up the last time I saw it and I hear it's great.

[kidcolin]

[ QUOTE ]
This is not adding to my overall impression of the Anchor Brewery.

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I've only tried a few beers by them, but they've all been pretty crappy IMO.

As for your season/beer correlation, I agree wholeheartedly. But I make an exception for Celebration. It's easy to get and a delicious beer.

Tonight I'm going to go for some stouts, though.

[MrWookie]

Crap, I typed up a review, and then I lost it. Well, here we go again. I'm reviewing Brooklyn's Winter Ale, seeing if this solid, but generally inexpensive brewery can save the genre. I paid $1.85 for a bottle, but I don't know the ABV.





The beer pours very red with little head. Taking a sniff, it doesn't smell very strongly. I detect a little red malt, and there might be a little bit of the cranberry in there like the Anchor. Let's hope it doesn't suck so much. Taking a sip, this beer is much more mild than the Anchor, even hollow by comparison. It doesn't have as much of a medicine flavor or anything bad going for it, really. There's just not much there. A mild malt, no hops, maybe the idea of something special, but not a whole lot. I'm going to award this beer [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. I probably won't be buying it again, and it doesn't do much for my impression of winter ales so far, either.

[MaxxDaddy]

Interestingly enough, this year's Brooklyn Winter Ale is completely different than previous years. According to ratebeer, it's a scotch ale. Here are the links for those interested.

Brooklyn Christmas Ale
Brooklyn Winter Ale

I know I seem like a comment box at the moment, but I think I'm going to give my 12/29/04 batch of Victory Old Horizontal another try tonight and potentially give it a rerate for any interested parties. It's been about 5 months since I first drank it. Don't know if much has changed, but I thought I should make sure it's still drinkable before bringing it to the relatives' place for Christmas.

[MrWookie]

This winter ale is unlike any other Scotch ale I've ever had. The others have all been much darker and maltier.

Well, I got one more for the night. I didn't like leaving leaving on such mediocrity. So I cracked open a bottle of Sam Adams Winter Lager.





The beer pours light brown with a moderate head, a little more than the others. This beer smells maltier and spicier than the Brooklyn. Tastes that way, too. It has a little bit of the gingerbread flavor of the CB, but not as much. The malt isn't as rich, but it's a little thicker than the Brooklyn. It's a solid beer, but it's not too exceptional. I'm awarding it [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] and a half [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].

[MaxxDaddy]

So I tried another Victory Horizontal tonight and I must say it holds up well. Though I probably idealized it a bit the first time by being influenced by ratebeer.com reviews, it tastes about the same. When I opened the bottle I was greeted by the smell of hops initially but then a second or two later became the familiar caramel, plum, and alcohol smell I remembered. Poured a nice red with absolutely no head, which was interesting since the carbonation was very lively. When I swirled it in my snifter, I could hear it fizzing. The taste was somewhat sweet yet peppery. The finish is still pretty hoppy. I can only imagine what it was like almost two years ago. This is around the right amount of hop bitterness for me personally. I'm not much of a fan of hop bombs (for me, Stone IPA is a huge hop bomb) and this was certainly less hoppy than Hair of the Dog Fred. Overall, this is still a pretty solid brew and I may knock it down a bit to [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].

[MrWookie]

That's a barleywine, right? I've considered getting it a few times, but I haven't yet. I'll include it this spring when/if I go on a hoppy beer binge.

[MrWookie]

Well, at the risk of being considered an alcoholic, I've got one more beer review. I was planning on being out till late, but it turned out that the dance wasn't all that great. Oh well.

I'm sick of mediocre winter ales, so I'm changing it up. At the recommendation of Spy Dog, I picked up the Weihenstephaner Dunkel. I loved the Hefeweissbier, and he said he liked the Dunkel more. I was anxious to try it. I paid $3.19 for a 16 oz bottle, same as the light version.





The beer pours a nice cloudy brown color with the good head I've come to expect from the variety, and bottle-conditioned beers in general. Smelling it, it smells sweet and slightly of banana and clove, but mostly of the malt. Tasting it, I must confess I'm somewhat disappointed. The beer is good, but it's not as rich and complex as the Weiss. The body is solid, but the additional flavors of fruit and spice are either absent or not as pronounced. I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with Spy Dog here and award this beer [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img][img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. It's a good beer no doubt, but it doesn't live up to high standard of their lighter offering. I wouldn't pay the premium price this beer commands, either. The light one is worth it, but this isn't. In fact, I haven't reviewed it formally, but I think I prefer the Julius Echter Dunkel to this Dunkel, so if I'm in the mood for a Dunkel, I'll go for the cheaper Julius Echter.