darktober

Darktober 29: Gonzo Imperial Porter

~ lobablanca

Brewer: Flying Dog Brewery
Location: Frederick, Maryland
Type: Baltic Porter
ABV: 9.2%

Welcome to the Final Three, denizens. These are purely indulgent entries for me. I’ve had these final three beers many times in many forms. As many forms as I can possibly have them. They are three of my favorite beers from what might be my current favorite brewery: hometown heroes Flying Dog Brewery.

Flying Dog actually started out in Aspen, Colorado, in 1990. They relocated to Frederick, Maryland, in 1994, and it’s been all upward and onward since for us on the East Coast.

I’m not going to babble on about the color or the head or the lacing or the nose or anything along those lines. You can’t even see the color on this entry, thanks to my totally groovy cobalt GEEK glass…although look at that head!! So luscious! You’ve been here with me for almost a month now. You know what descriptors I assign to good versions of these beers…and you know what the few meh or worse entries received in their descriptions as well.

[Loba Tangent: Those of you who actually have stuck around for this entire Darktober? Thank you so much…your indulgence of my random weirdness never ceases to surpise and delight me.]

Also, the selection of these final beers is based on my subjective responses to them. My palate is bizarrely my own…that being said, today’s beer is bar-none my current favorite. Of any beer I’ve ever had.

Is it the best? Probably not. But, oh, the overload it dumps into my pleasure cortex. It’s the liquid version of that crazy game that Commander Riker nearly broke the Enterprise crew with…thank goodness for Wesley!

o_O

I love Gonzo Imperial Porter. Do I think it’s an “everyday beer”? No. I wouldn’t want to drink something this decadent, this complex, this gorgeous every day. That would make it pedestrian, and that is a word this beer most assuredly does not deserve. This is a “treat beer,” in whatever form you can find it. Gonzo Imperial Porter, fresh from the tap, is like ambrosia to me. A must. Gonzo Imperial Porter, fresh from the bottle, leaves me feeling warm and happy. Gonzo Imperial Porter bottle-aged? Sweet merciful Hunter S. Thompson, this beer bottle ages like Helen Mirren: playful, distinguished, and breathtaking. Tonight’s bottle has been aging for about 14 months. Everything about it is…more. Perfectly, deliciously more.

I will say this: Aging this beer definitely turns it into a sipping beer. The intensity of the flavors make it a crime to imbibe it with any semblance of haste. This beer requires the respect of time.

There is another form of Gonzo Imperial Porter that I am sad to say I have yet to experience: Barrel-Aged Gonzo. Flying Dog makes this one in very limited batches, and the moment it hits shelves around here? It’s gone. People love this version of Gonzo. I’m willing to bet I would love it, too. I just need to get the chance…so if any of you ever see a bottle on a shelf somewhere, shoot me a text, okay? 🙂

Darktober 26: Coney Island Freaktoberfest

~ lobablanca

Brewer: Shmaltz Brewing Company
Location: Saratoga Springs, New York
Type: American Amber/Red Lager
ABV: 6.66%

I honestly don’t know why I chose this one, denizens. You know, beyond the kitsch factor, which, let’s face it, is just pouring from this beer like pigs’ blood on prom night. Grotesque label art, a diabolical ABV level, and a blood red coloring all make this one helluva freaky beer.

Of course, rather than looking like blood, this beer looks more like a glass of Kool-Aid. Maybe Hi-C. I’m not sure. I do know that it’s not an appealing beer color at all. It looks like something went horribly wrong in the brewing process. What might have made it worse was the massive pink frothy head. It’s just not a visually appealing beer. Leaves a massive amount of lacing along the inside of the glass, though. Probably the most lacing of any beer I’ve had this month. Here, I took a photo, just for you:

That’s some serious lacing.

The nose on this one reveals the heavy hoppiness that I feared, mixed with a high-volume syrupiness. Taste is quite similar. It’s not nearly as hoppy as I was expecting from the smell, but it’s hoppy enough. And sweet. Too sweet. And bitter. But not bitter enough to disguise the sweet. It’s seriously like someone knocked a jug of bargain-bin fruit punch into the vat that was brewing this beer.

For the kitsch alone, I guess it was worth trying this beer. From a serious beer drinking standpoint, though? No way. Don’t waste your money, denizens. Or if you must, just to say you’ve tried it, definitely stick with a single bottle. Unless you’ve got three other souls you’re itching to torment this Freaktober…

Darktober 25: Stovepipe Porter

~ LobaBlanca

Brewer: Otter Creek Brewing Company
Location: Middlebury, Vermont
Type: American Porter
ABV: 4.4%

Dropping down from Canada, we land at the shores of Vermont’s Otter Creek for some of their Stovepipe Porter.

Ruby-tinted blackness with a smudge of carbonation, this porter delivers familiar albeit slightly floral smells but comes in slightly drier, slightly more bitter than many of the other porters to have made a Darktober appearance. Although not nearly as bitter as Boxcar’s Pumpkin Porter, Stovepipe definitely does not tickle the sweet senses of your palate in any way.

I also detected a stronger hops presence in this porter, which might have accentuated the dry, bitter flavor profile. While deducting points from my personal enjoyment scale, I think that this porter strikes a nice balance between the malts and hops that could appeal to the more hoppy minded beer drinker. Of course, I could be completely off on this assumption. It would not be the first time.

Not a terrible beer, but definitely not a stand-out. If I’ve shown anything this month, there is no dearth of exceptional choices for dark beer drinkers. Why, then, would I choose a middle-of-the-road beer if I could choose a better option?

Darktober 23: Bitches Brew

~ lobablanca

Brewer: Dogfish Head
Location: Milton, Delaware
Type: Russian Imperial Stout
ABV: 9%

And now we jump from Colorado back to home base…or close to home base, at least, with Delaware’s Dogfish Head. I honestly wasn’t expecting to revisit DFH this Darktober. Then I was broadsided by their Bitches Brew.

First, I’m going to let Sam Calagione, DFH’s founder, explain why he created this brew, in honor of the same-titled Miles Davis album:

Calagione was drawn to the alchemical spirits in Bitches Brew right out of college, acquiring a copy of the album “within months of the first time I brewed a batch of homebrew in my apartment in New York City. I listened to it when I was writing my Dogfish business plan. I wanted Dogfish Head to be a maniacally inventive and creative brewery, analog beer for the digital age. You could say that my dream was to have Dogfish Head, in some small way, stand for the same thing in the beer world that Bitches Brew stands for in the jazz world. You can imagine how excited we are to be doing this project 17 years after I wrote that business plan.”

One more quote (both from this Huffington Post article), explaining the multiple fermentation process used for Bitches Brew:

“We just did the test batch our pub. It is a threaded beer which means multiple primary fermentations […] and then you blend them together from multiple threads. It is a blend of Tej, which is the native African beer which is actually honey beer. They use gesho root because hops don’t grow in Africa and gesho is the bittering component that counterbalances the sweetness of the honey. That’s one thread. Three threads is an imperial stout with Muscovado sugar. Post-fermentation, we’ll blend those together to make Bitches’ Brew and that will come out in August.”

Why the quotes? Because I think it’s important to understand how special this beer is to DFH…which, in turn, I hope helps you all understand how devastatingly delicious this beer was when I drank it.

Again, I was lucky to drink this one fresh from the tap. I suspect, however, that this is also one I should buy bottled for some aging fun. If it’s this stunning fresh, I suspect it turns into an orgasmically bodacious beer when aged for a few years.

Yes, I did just write that.

Again, I’m trying very hard not to hype this beer. I don’t want to damage its standing with any of you by building it up higher than it should be. However, I can tell you this: The flavors of this Imperial stout almost perfectly match my preferences and even expand them to levels I hadn’t expected. It is a gorgeous brew, rich and intense with balancing notes of bitter, sweet, hoppy (or gesho) and malted. Let it linger in your mouth for a while and savor the taste rotation: dark chocolate, molasses, summertime honeysuckle, wintertime fire, soft spring rainfall, crisp autumnal earthiness.

Even better, let it warm for a while in your glass and return for deeper yet noticeably mellowed flavors surfacing from the darkness.

I’m sure a bottle is going to be predictably prohibitively priced. This is a DFH specialty. However, I’m going to vote that this one is worth it, denizens. It steps up to that edge of kitschy experimentation that DFH has sidled up to many times before, but this time they don’t tumble over into the abyss. This time, they stand their ground quite well.

Darktober 22: Yeti Imperial Stout

~ LobaBlanca

Brewer: Great Divide Brewing Company
Location: Denver, Colorado
Type: Russian Imperial Stout
ABV: 9.5%

Bit of a change of plans this week, denizens. I did a little bit of extracurricular drinking this past weekend, and I discovered a couple of beers that I decided were “must mentions” here for Darktober. This, unfortunately, means that I am bumping a couple of others from my pre-planned path. It also means a bit of back-stepping in our eastward journey. You don’t mind, though…do you?

Very well then. Allons-y!

And back we go to Colorado. This time, we’re visiting Denver’s Great Divide Brewing Company for something very exciting: a bona fide Yeti sighting! Well…a sighting of Great Divide’s Yeti Imperial Stout.

Full disclosure: I had this beauty on tap, which means the only way I could have gotten a better experience with this one would be for me to travel to Denver and dive into one of the Yeti vats. I’ve no idea what this one is like from the bottle, but I can tell you this: If you love Imperial stouts, it is a MUST to try if you find it on tap.

From bistre depths rises a russet-tinged outline of froth, but nothing more. Yeti is still, quiet in its waiting. Inhale and receive a nose of malty, roasted, cocoa-covered decadence. You’ve found the chocolate factory, Charlie, and it’s hiding inside a brewery. Supremely indulgent mouth feel, like liquid velvet, and a miasma of flavor complexity that might very well threaten to short out your taste buds.

Yeti is a beautiful brew, denizens: heavy, thick, deeply fragrant, dangerously flavored, with hardly a tinge of alcohol in the taste whatsoever. This is how high ABV beers do it properly. That other mythical brew could take some notes from Great Divide’s mysterious mascot.

The Yeti line extends far beyond just this one Imperial stout. Great Divide also offers Yeti in Oak Aged, Chocolate Oak Aged, Espresso Oak Aged, and Barrel Aged. I have to tell you, all those sound amazing. Plus, knowing that they are built upon the astoundingly intense foundation of this Imperial stout, I can only imagine how breathtaking they must be. Here’s hoping I can have a few more Yeti spottings in my imminent future…

Darktober 20: Dragon’s Milk Oak Barrel Ale

~ lobablanca

Brewer: New Holland Brewing Company
Location: Holland, Michigan
Type: American Stout
ABV: 10%

This is my year, denizens. Did you know that? At least according to the Chinese Zodiac. See, I’m a dragon. Dragons, therefore, are always welcome here at the lair…especially ones that come in stout form. Thus today’s visit from Michigan’s New Holland Dragon’s Milk.

This one poured as dark and still as Loch Ness under a new moon. Barely a burble of carbonation beneath the moderate layer of bubbles. Also? Hardly any nose whatsoever. I thought for a moment or two that there was something wrong with my sniffer. I spent several moments, desperately trying to detect something more than the faintest traces of…anything. This mythical beastie, however, is not quick to surface from its murky depths.

Initial, cautious sip and…BAM.

Sweet, merciful brewmaster, this beer BURNS. And not in a spicy, happy, flavorful way. More of a “this is more of a hard liquor than a beer” kind of way. You’ll notice that the ABV on Dragon’s Milk is 10 percent. If I didn’t know better, I would think that this is, therefore, how such a high ABV beer is supposed to taste. However, remember back in my Dogfish Head review, I mentioned liking their 18-percent ABV World Wide Stout? I know better. High ABV beers can be incredibly flavorful, rich, and exciting rather than tasting solely of alcohol. High ABV beers also do not have to feel like they’re leaving behind esophageal burns as you drink them.

Is this why the beer is called “Dragon’s Milk”? Because it makes you feel like you’ve just suckled at the teat of a fire-breathing beastie? Do dragons even have teats? Aren’t they reptiles? WTF?

More important beer review question: What type of barrels are used to age this? Were they formerly used to age something like bourbon? Because that might help to explain the burn. Yet New Holland makes no mention of this on their site. I did finally find an article on SLASH/FOOD that confirms this beer is indeed aged in former bourbon barrels. That’s kind of something I would think the brewery would want to tout somewhere.

You know me. I have no problem with the comforting burn of the hard stuff. I would like a little warning first though…at least enough time to switch the dial to somewhere in between BEER and LIQUOR. I absolutely was not expecting this beer to be more like J

Darktober 19: Harvest Pumpkin Ale

~ lobablanca

Brewer: Blue Moon Brewing Company
Location: Golden, Colorado
Type: Pumpkin Ale
ABV: 5.7%

Slipping backward in our eastbound trek, once more to Colorado, for this week’s seasonal brew. Remember, in my Red Banshee review, how I said I wasn’t going to take a swipe at Colorado’s Mega-Beer…right now?

Welcome to “right now.”

So, one of the other universally present, universally recognized American beermakers is MillerCoors. It used to be just Miller and just Coors, with one in Wisconsin and one in Colorado. It’s a long, convoluted story about how it evolved into now Chicago-based MillerCoors, but this company now encompasses lots of recognizable North American beers, including the Miller and Coors products (der), Canada’s Molson products, Keystone, Pabst, Schlitz, Stroh, National Bohemian, Zima (dear prophets, do they still make Zima?)…and Blue Moon.

That’s right, Blue Moon Brewing Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of MillerCoors, brought in under the Coors umbrella. The parent company almost never associates itself with Blue Moon, claiming they want the company to stand on its own merits. Personally, I’ve always felt that it’s because they want people to believe that Blue Moon is just a regular old craft brewery whose eerily reaching global presence is attributable to the wildly tasty beers they make.

Can you tell that I’m not really a disciple of any of these notions?

Do I think that Blue Moon is a terrible brewer? No. Do I think they’re good enough to be so globally accessible as a “craft brewery”? Mmm, not really. No matter how hush-hush MillerCoors is to the general public about their affiliation with Blue Moon, the affiliation still exists. And Blue Moon definitely benefits in ways that real craft breweries do not. Does this make me biased against them because they have special access to “Daddy’s money” and accompanying resources?

Yes. Yes, it does. What can I say? I’m always one to root for the underdogs rather than the pampered purebreds.

So, anyway, Blue Moon. “Craft brewers.” With a really big backer. They do tend to enjoy dabbling in a diverse line of flavored beers, including specialty releases like Agave Blonde, Caramel Apple Spiced, Valencia Amber, Raspberry Cream, and Peanut Butter ales. Never tried any of those, but I’ve had their Summer Honey Wheat, Winter Abbey, and Belgian White ales. I bet you can automatically tell what one of my other issues is with them, can’t you? Lots and lots of light-colored beers…not necessarily heavily hopped, but definitely not the PANTONE chip I seek in my beer color wheel. Again, not terrible beers, just not to my liking.

However, I was offered a single of their Harvest Pumpkin Ale, which I happily accepted…because I’m sometimes not a total hard-ass in my dismissal of things based on previous experiences.

Sometimes.

Gorgeous pumpkin-colored pour topped by a satisfying dollop of creamy foam form an instant and lovely visual association, and allow a clear view of the constant chains of effervescence linking ever upward through the body of this beer. The nose and taste offer hints of cinnamon, clove, and all-spice, but are ultimately overwhelmed by an incredible nutmeg presence.

Seriously, this is one nutmeg-worshipping brew. I don’t mind nutmeg in small doses, especially when paired with the other traditional pumpkin pie spices, but I definitely consider it to be a spice to be used sparingly. Otherwise, it’s way too intense, almost to the point of painful. Kind of like the taste of this ale. A little dab’ll do ya, indeed.

Blue Moon would do well to keep this fact in mind the next time they brew a batch of this seasonal beer.