Here it is! Wow Week 52. It feels like I just started this madness. I’m going to do a 52 Beers in 52 Weeks in review post, so I won’t get all nostalgic here!

I had a real treat over Christmas to include as my final week: Upland Raspberry Lambic. The Upland Brewery began in 1998 in Bloomington, Indiana, their story can be found on their website:

The name “Upland” comes from the Norman and Crawford Uplands, the term geologists gave to our area of southern Indiana, which was never overrun by the glaciers that flattened much of Indiana’s landscape. The raised highlands or “uplands” remained untouched, resulting in a region of rugged, heavily wooded hills and hollows. The land was beautiful but poor, and life was not easy for early settlers. This adversity bred independent thinkers who had strong wills, a connection to the land, and a wry sense of humor about life. Our approach to brewing beer honors the spirit of these people and this place.

Their series that includes sours is a pretty difficult get in the beer world. I’ve been lucky enough to try the Peach Lambic, and decided to spring for the Raspberry when the opportunity presented itself.

Muddy red pour with a very fizzy pink head. No retention or lacing at all. The head gushed out of the bottle a bit upon popping the cork. Very oaky smell with a nice amount of raspberries and barnyard funk mustiness. The balance is quite nice, but seems to be a bit on the sour side 4. On the taste the oakiness seems to hide underneath the funk and raspberries. The fruit isn’t particularly strong, as this seems to be a bit more funky than anything else. I very much like how the taste develops: fruity, then a lot of funk that finishes off the taste dry with oak and booze throughout. The body is medium with an extremely dry finish. Perhaps a bit over carbonated, as shown with the gushing bottle (that I remember, in hindsight, occurred with the Peach Lambic I had before). The bite of sour-ness I didn’t find offensive at all. This was very good. I thought it would be a bit more fruity, but the overall taste is well above average. Easily enjoyable, very glad I tried it.

4.38 / 5

The beer for this week revisits a brewery I reviewed very recently: The Bruery. In Week 47, I got into some Black Tuesday and Chocolate Rain. This week I got to taste their yearly addition to a 12 Days of Christmas Vertical: 4 Calling Birds. This is, obviously, the 4th in a set of 12. The first of which is one of the most difficult beers to find on the planet.

Rustico Ballston, in Arlington, VA offered the beer on Cask and Tap for their 2011 Festivus Celebration (yes there was an aluminum pole, but no Feat of Strength or Airing of Grievances). I obliged and tried both!

Tap:

Black pour with a small light brown head without much lacing. Retention isn’t that good. Really spicy smell with a pumpkin like malty aroma. It has an edge to it that isn’t quite alcohol, but it reminds me of it. Not all that pleasant an aroma overall. The taste is a lot more like a spicy pumpkin ale than I was expecting. Malt forward, the taste is a bit disjointed. Can’t say I see this lasting 8 years to complete the 12 Day of Christmas Vertical. Light body, carbonated well. Not great by any means and I don’t see how it’s going to last. Big miss for me.

3.45 / 5

Cask:

Less head than the tap version, still no lacing. The aroma is a bit more balanced. Sweeter, less spicy. The taste follows the smell in being more balanced. The cask makes this a lot better, my guess is the barrel aged version would actually be pretty good as the barrel effects seem to curb the sub-par taste of the beer. The body is heavier, with less carbonation. Something I would expect from a cask offering. I enjoyed it a lot more this way, which surprised me. Still a bit disappointed overall.

3.98 / 5

Lagunitas Brewing Company got themselves into an interesting predicament this year, as they failed to have the capacity to brew their final seasonal. So, what did they do? Create one of the best beers released in 2011! Lagunitas Sucks Holiday Ale, now being repackaged as Holiday Leftovers Ale, sold out the second it hit the shelves across the country, and for good reason. Lagunitas was founded in 1993 in Lagunitas, California and has since moved and increased their capacity significantly as they’ve created some of the best selling beers not only in California, but in the entire US. The description on the bottom of the 6pack is hilarious, stories like this are what they’re known for.

This sad holiday season we didn’t have the brewing capacity to make our favorite seasonal brew, the widely feared BrownShugga’ Ale. You see we had a couple of really good years (thank you very much) and so heading into this season while we are awaiting the January delivery of a new brewhouse we are jammin’ along brewing 80 barrels of IPA and PILS and such every 3 hours. A couple of months back we realized that since we can only brew a mere 60 barrels of Shugga’ every 5 hours, that we were seriously screwed. For every case of Shugga’ brewed, we’d short 3 cases of our favorite daily beers. It’s a drag. This year, we brewed something that we think is also cool and brews more like our daily brews. The new brewhouse will help insure this kind of failure never happens again. It’s a mess that we can not brew our BrownShugga’ this year and we suck for not doing it. There is nothing cool about screwing this up this badly and we know it. Maybe we can sue our own sorry selves. There is no joy in our hearts this holiday and the best we can hope for is a quick and merciful end. F*@& us. This totally blows. Whatever. We freaking munch moldy donkey butt and we just want it to be all over…

Appearance
Amazingly clear yellow pour with about a finger of white head. The retention could be better, but what does stick around laces nicely down the side of my Russian River -tion glass.
Smell
The aroma is of piney hops with mango type fruits underneath. Very tropical and floral smell. Only a slight malt backbone.
Taste
The piney hops start the taste off big and bitter, and give way to the mango, pineapple, perhaps grapefruit middle. The end is all hop bitterness and perhaps some malts for balance. The taste is certainly hop forward, but the amount of fruit curbs the bitterness wonderfully.
Mouthfeel/Drinkability
Light body, this one is extremely crisp and easy drinking. One of the most drinkable beers I've ever had.

Overall
I can see why this has the hype it does. This beer is phenomenal. It's so drinkable and crisp I can't put it down. The hops and fruits are perfect.

4.6 / 5

Way back in Week 5 I previewed Bell’s Brewery when I had their famous IPA, Hopslam. This week I’m going to profile another sought after offering of their’s, Black Note Stout. For the second consecutive week, the beer I focus one I will have had at Churchkey in DC. They got the only keg to hit the DC, Northern Virginia area, so I thought it was an opportunity I couldn’t miss.

Pitched as one of the most sought-after stouts in Bell’s history, Black Note is a blend of Expedition Stout and Double Cream Stout aged since 2010 in Old Forester Bourbon Barrels. It was released in bottles at the brewery only, and scant kegs made it to exclusive accounts only across the US. Coming in at 11.5% ABV, the beer cost $7 for a 10oz pour.

Appearance
Viscous black pour with a small brown head. What does stick around laces decently.
Smell
The aroma is extremely well balanced. Bourbon and some booze up front, but a lot of chocolate balance it out. Roastiness, I'm guessing coffee, hides in the shadows. Making it's presence known when you need it.
Taste
The taste follows the smell wonderfully. The bourbon is up front, but chocolate and booze quickly provide balance and body, before roasty coffee takes over the backend. The balance is there, the flavor profile develops nicely on the palate, and overall the taste is far above average.
Mouthfeel/Drinkability
The body could have been a bit fuller, at times I believed it was too watery, still medium to heavy overall. Booze is noted, dry finish.

Overall
Delicious, certainly lives up to the hype. Balance is enough to make it great. The bourbon is not too intrusive. I thought it was very drinkable. Happy to have had the chance to try this.

4.38 / 5 A

Avery has been producing craft beers in the beer mecca that is Boulder, Colorado since 1993 and has done nothing but increased production ever since. Churchkey in Washington, DC held a tap-takeover for the craft brewery, and I took advantage of the opportunity. Among a ton of great beers, three different takes on the brewery’s imperial stout were available, and became the focus of Week 48.

Mephistophele’s Imperial Stout is “the crafty shape shifter, the second fallen angel,” according to Avery’s website, “amazingly complex, coal black, velvety and liqueurish, this demon has a bouquet of vine-ripened grapes, anise and chocolate covered cherries with flavors of rum-soaked caramelized dark fruits and a double espresso finish. IBUs 107.” Let’s see what I think

First up was a side by side pairing of the 2010 (brewed 10/2/10, 16% ABV) and 2011 (brewed 11/12/11 15.1% ABV) vintages.

2010:

Appearance
This had a way better head than 2011, brown pour with small lacing and good retention.
Smell
Balanced aroma. Booze, chocolate, coffee. The coffee is really the focal point, which surprises me considering the age.
Taste
The taste is a continuation of the smell. Just a ton of coffee on the backend. Chocolate beforehand and booze. So much coffee, how did they manage to keep it fresh?
Mouthfeel/Drinkability
Heavy body, creamy, dry finish, and a bit boozy.

Overall
I really enjoyed this a lot more than the fresh 2011 vintage. Very tasty.

4.43 / 5 A

2011:

Appearance
Black pour with less head than the 2010. Head is brown and is with minimal lacing.
Smell
Boozy, nearly medicinal smell. Chocolate and not a lot of coffee. Very sweet, bordering on strange, smell. Amazed at the difference a year does to the aroma.
Taste
Ton of booze on the taste, way too much. The coffee on the finish tries to balance it out, but it falls short. The chocolate and balance needs some time to develop.
Mouthfeel/Drinkability
Medium body, medium carbonation, creamy and full of alcohol.

Overall
Not as good as 2010. To unbalanced and all over the place. I will say, however, that for 16% ABV it wasn't bad.

I’ll keep the overall review as the fresh vintage, as that is how the brewery released the beer. However, I highly recommend aging this monster.

3.45 / 5 B-

2011 is on the left, 2010 on the right. 2010 was poured a few minutes before the 2011.

The third version is a special, only brewed once in 2010, Mephistopheles with “a generous amount of coffee added,” called Meph-Addict (15.5% ABV).

Appearance
Dark pour with a huge brown head. Lacing and retention are well above average.
Smell
Wow is this a beer of a cup of coffee? Chocolate, and a lack of booze, mixes with the coffee to make a phenomenal smell. Really amazed how little alcohol I get on this.
Taste
Returns to the Mephistopheles taste I've become used to. Boozy and chocolatey, but this has coffee on steroids. I love the boost of roastiness this gets. Being a year old probably helps the beer as the chocolate and booze have become more mellowed, allowing the coffee to come to the forefront.
Mouthfeel/Drinkability
Heavy body, creamy on the palate, dry finish, less boozy than I expected. Very drinkable.

Overall
Delicious, best of the night.

4.6 / 5 A+

The Sierra Nevada and Dogfish Head breweries really helped me pave my way into craft beer with readily available, relatively cheap, and undeniably tasty beers that even a complete beer n00b could appreciate. When I read about the two breweries revisiting a collaboration that occurred before I really knew anything about craft beer called Life and Limb, I was quite excited. Dogfish Head describes the beer on their website:

Life & Limb is a 10% ABV strong, dark beer that defies style characteristics – brewed with pure maple syrup from the Calagione family farm in Massachusetts and estate barley grown on the Grossman “farm” at the brewery in Chico, CA. The beer is alive with yeast-a blend of both breweries’ house strains-bottle conditioned for added complexity and shelf life, and naturally carbonated with birch syrup fresh from Alaska.

Life & Limb is dedicated to the family of beer drinkers and enthusiasts worldwide who continue to support the little guys, iconoclasts, entrepreneurs, and pioneers who risk life and limb to shape the vibrant craft-brewing community.

The first batch was brewed in 2009, batch 2 in 2011. A friend of mine held on to her Batch 1, and decided to open it up once Batch 2 finally hit the shelves so that we could compare. Here are the results:

First off, Batch 1 is a capped 22oz bottle, Batch 2 is a corked and caged 750ml bottle. A brown pour escapes the bottles, and leaves a small white head. Hazy, but some light makes its way through. Batch 1 is a bit darker and muddier than Batch 2. The aroma of Batch 1 has a lot more raisins than Batch 2. Although, I believe that of Batch 2 is a bit more balanced. Booze, malts, and raisins predominately. The nose of 2 is the only factor that is better than the 1. The taste of 1 is FAR more balanced than 2. 2 has a ton of booze. The mix with malts and raisins just doesn’t seem to work as well for Batch 2. Batch 1 is a much superior taste. The years have allowed the beer to mellow and become balanced and delicious. The 2011 version just seems to be not meant to be opened fresh. Medium body, Batch 1 has a good amount of carbonation, Batch 2 is a bit higher. Alcohol is certainly noted. Overall, Batch 1 was delicious and Batch 2 just doesn’t do it for me. Definitely needs some age on it. Hope they do a Batch 3!

Overall I gave it a 4.33 / 5 A

I doubt that the Boston Beer Company, Samuel Adams, needs much introduction. Much like Dogfish Head, Sam Adams really has come to the forefront of craft beer. Available basically everywhere, the brewery releases seasonal 12packs with 6 different beers, most of which are only available in the packs. This week my roommate and I split the Winter 12pack, and my favorite of the 6 was Black and Brew, a new stout brewed with coffee.

The beer pours from the bottle into my Perfect Pint glass black in color with a big light brown head. Retention and lacing are great. Tons of coffee on the smell. Roasted malts and some molasses hide underneath. The amount of coffee in the smell is really impressive, and donates any other scent trying to come forward. The taste is like the chocolate roastiness of a nice American Stout, mixed with a cup of coffee. It is, however, a bit watered down, but extremely tasty nonetheless. The mouthfeel is light with a dry finish. Great drinkable American Stout. My favorite in the winter pack, really happy to see it as a new offering this year!

The Bruery (Playing off of Brewery with the last name of the founders, Rue) has come from humble beginnings to create some of the most sought after beer in the United States. Their online releases of beers sell out almost as fast as they’re posted, and membership to their Reserve Society only lasted a day when they expected it to remain open for a few weeks. They try a number of things, age a lot of beer in a lot of barrels, and continue to brew at an extremely high level despite the insane increase in demand. You can read their story on their website.

This week, a drinking buddy and I opened up two of their more sought after bottles: Black Tuesday and Chocolate Rain. According to the website, Black Tuesday is “Our infamous Black Tuesday is an Imperial Stout aged in Bourbon barrels for over a year. Rich caramel, toasted malt, vanilla, burnt wood, anise are just a few of the many flavors of this rich, decadent imperial stout.” Chocolate Rain builds on Black Tuesday, which is then aged Vanilla Bean Cocoa Nibs. Both beers weigh in at 19.5% ABV and therefore are certainly not to be messed with.

Black Tuesday (2011 Vintage)

Thick black pour with a small light brown head. Hardly any retention and spotty lacing, but a nice amount of bubbles rise from the bottom of the glass. Significantly darker in color than Chocolate Rain, and a better looking head. BT gets the nod in terms of appearance. The smell is a bit more subdued, but seemingly more balanced than Chocolate Rain. Bourbon, vanilla, chocolate, and booze much like CR are the focus of the beer, but when comparing the smell: this is much smaller.The booze isn’t as offensive, and it is not quite as sweet, but the other smells are also not as big. I can’t quite tell which I prefer. Going to call this one a push. The first taste certainly merits the WOW factor. A ton of booze, molasses, licorice, bourbon, vanilla, chocolate, smokey charred malts, and other flavors I’m not quite sure my palate was ready for. As the booze fades on the backend, I’m getting some very dark fruits developing as well. I completely understand why this beer is so highly regarded, but I must say I was expecting a bit more balance and less booze and licorice. Not nearly as much bourbon as I was expecting, but the other flavors certainly make up for it. However, I cannot honestly say this is the best stout I’ve ever had. The flavors do develop very well on the palate. Chocolate, molasses, and licorice up front. Bourbon, vanilla, and booze in the middle. Booze, roasted malts, and a dry finish combine with that typical warming alcohol feeling. Not quite as thick as I was expecting. I mean don’t get me wrong, this beer has a heavy body and is carbonated well. However, it is not syrupy or creamy like other big stouts. A pretty good body considering the size of the beer. The drinkability is a bit tough on this one. In the end, it is very sweet and very boozy. Half a bottle was honestly a bit much to put down. With that said, it was phenomenally tasty and I was very happy to have tried it. I just was expecting a bit higher drinkability. Very good overall.

4.5 / 5 A

Chocolate Rain

Brown pour, amazing how less dark this is than fresh Black Tuesday. Extremely noticeable change in color. Neither have a very distinct head. What head there is light brown and leaves no lacing or retention. BT gets the nod in terms of appearance. The smell is very boozy and sweet, but also extremely complex. Booze and bourbon mix with chocolate, vanilla, and molasses to create one of the biggest smells I’ve ever encountered in beer. I must say I am worried about the booziness and sweetness here. Hoping the taste is balanced and not too over the top. Going to call this one a push between BT and CR. All I can say is wow. I graded BT before taking a sip of CR and fully developed an opinion on it first. I must say, this is better. All around the taste simply blows me away. This has to be the best thought out beer I’ve ever had the privilege of tasting. The way the tastes develop on my palate simply cannot be put into words. The initial taste is boozy, offensively so, but once you become accustomed to it, the booze becomes an afterthought. As soon as the booze subsides, a TON of vanilla, bourbon, oak, chocolate, and dark fruits simply attack the palate. Roasted malts, warming alcohol, and dark fruits finish the beer off perfectly. The complexity and balance is unmatched in craft beer and honestly until you taste it, you could not possibly understand how a beer could encompass so much with each and every sip. A 5 if I’ve ever had one. Extremely similar mouth feel to BT. Not quite as thick as I was expecting, but by no means is it light. It is not syrupy or creamy like other big stouts. The ABV will catch up with you before too long. Overall this was the best beer I’ve ever had. I’m aware it might not be the highest rated beer on this site, but this was simply the cream of the crop. Blew me away. The drinkability is not terribly high, as the sweetness and extreme ABV are not easy to deal with, but this category is now considered ‘Overall,’ and overall it is a 5.

4.9 / 5 A+

Hoppin Frog is a brewery I am pretty familiar with at this point. I covered their Barrel Aged BORIS in Week 27 and revisited it in Week 34 for the Hurricane Irene Beerfest. This week we have a new take on the BORIS style.

As you may or may not remember, B.O.R.I.S. stands for Bodacious Oatmeal Russian Imperial Stout and will crush you like no other. This monster was aged in, instead of Kentucky Bourbon Barrels like BA BORIS, the famous Canadian Whiskey Barrels of Crown Royale, hence the name BORIS Royale.

I decided to take the Royale out of the fridge for International Stout Day, which occurred on November 3rd. I figured what better way to celebrate the style than a big barrel aged stout like no other. In the end, I was pretty happy with my decision.

The beer pours a motor oil thick black into my 22oz CBS snifter. A small, but impressive, brown head rises and falls quickly, leaving only minimal lacing. Tons of whisky up front on the nose, vanilla, hints of oak and booze. Underneath is a lot of dark chocolate, roasted malts, and other typical stout characteristics. The smell is so balanced, way more so than BA BORIS. The taste has a lot of smooth Crown Royale, deep dark chocolate, booze, vanilla, and wood. Not as big a flavor as I was expecting. I like the more balanced taste better than the bigger, a bit hot, flavors of BA BORIS, however.  A bit thin on the body, but a decent amount of booze comes through. Dry finish. This was really tasty, however the drinkability waned after a while. All things set aside, I thought this was great and am loving everything Hoppin Frog is doing lately.

When you think of craft beer, you really think of only a few breweries. Dogfish Head has to be one of them. Whether you loved Brew Masters, can’t go to the local bottle shop without picking up 60 or 90 minute IPA, love Punkin Ale, or simply sit at the brewery or brew pubs for hours at a time, this brewery isn’t going away for a long time. One of the breweries that really got me into craft beer (and the brewery that boasts the first beer I ever reviewed on Beeradvocate), Dogfish Head is the brewery of choice this week. Specifically, at a tasting this week I got to try Wrath of Pecant. The description taken from Beeradvocate:

A collaboration between the Alström brothers, Sam Calagione and Bryan Selders, brewed for EBF and named by the BeerAdvocate community. It’s a brownish ale brewed w/ malt smoked over pecan wood and fermented w/ plantains and carob. Congrats to BA “strangefate” and his winning entry: Wrath of Pecan; 6.0%

Originally named “Wrath of Pecan” before it’s release.

The name was changed to Pecant after some legal issues involving the fact that it had no pecans in the beer, it was only aged on Pecan wood. Which I appreciate being allergic to tree nuts.

Brown pour with hints of yellow and a white head that laces nicely. The oak barrels leave a very nice aroma on this. Smokey and malty. Pecan barrels? It shows. The smokiness really takes the taste over. Hints of molasses, malts, caramel, but very smoky. Medium body, although you’d expect it to be lighter. A bit boozey on the back-end. This was tasty. It wasn’t phenomenally good, but interesting nonetheless.