DC Beer Week 2011 (#DCBW11) was a week filled with phenomenal events, beer, and people. I am just going to post the list, along with reviews of pics, of all the great beers I enjoyed this week. To single out one would be unfair to the others!

  1. Dogfish Head
    1. 120 Minute
      1. Hazy yellow pour with about a finger of white head. Lot of bubbles rising to the top. Grass. This basically smells like grass. Perhaps some malts in the background, some booze certainly. I don’t get slammed by hops like I was expecting. Amazingly a couple of my friends who don’t drink craft beer (past a 60 or 90 minute here and there) really like the taste. It gets some bonus points there. A huge hit of hops to start, but it fades quickly to malts and a big hit of booze. Very sweet. Tons of grapefruit. Most grapefruit I have ever tasted in a beer. Bit of a burn of alcohol at the end. Sips like a nice Bourbon honestly. Nicely carbonated, light in body. I thought this was great. Really glad I got to try it. Can’t wait to see how it ages.
    2. Word Wide Stout
      1.  Dark pour with a small mocha head. Decent retention and lacing. Smell is heavy on the malts, chocolate, a slight booziness, and barley. Also I’m getting some dark fruits and molasses. Really interesting smell. Taste is of barley, roasted malts, and warming alcohol. Chocolate/Coffee flavor finishes it up to balance the intensity up front. The alcohol is a little too dominant for me. Lots of heavy flavors in this one. I don’t think that more than a glass or so should be consumed at once. Lots going on here, take it slow and enjoy them!
    3. Heaven and Hell Black and Tan
      1. Black pour, a little lighter than WWS. Hardly any head remains. Boozy smell. Seems like the majority of the smell is 120, even though I thought it had more WWS in it. Grassy hops, some malts, and a ton of booze. The taste really follows everything else I’m seeing. While WWS makes its presence known, 120 Minute really shines through. Getting similar hops, grapefruit, and booze profile as 120, with the heaviness and slight maltiness from the WWS. Heavier than 120, nicely carbonated. Thought this was great. Better than WWS, not on the level of 120.
  2. Great Lakes @ Churchkey DC
    1. De Molen Hel and Verdoemenis
      1. Motor oil thick pour without any head or lacing. Deep chocolate smell, roasted malts and some booze. A ton of chocolate on the taste as well. Creamy, rich chocolate. Mix that in with roasted malts, some coffee, and a hint of booze and you get a great taste. Really heavy body. Thick and creamy. Low carbonation. Great beer. Been waiting to try this for a while and it did not
        disappoint.
    2. Mikkeller Barrel Aged Black Hole: White Wine
      1. This was a mess, did not taste good.
    3. Wild Dog Barrel Aged Gonzo Imperial Porter
      1. Balked at buying a bottle of this, man was it good though. Well balanced, full body.
    4. Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Cask Dry Hopped w/ Cascade Hops
    5. Harpoon Summer Beer
    6. Great Lakes Commodore Perry IPA Cask Dry Hopped w/ Bravo Hops
  3. De Struise Brouwers
    1. Black Damnation
      1. 2010 Vintage I believe: 50% Black Albert and 50% H&V. I just had H&V on tap at Churchkey DC today, continuing that trend with this! I’ve had Black Albert, which was infected, but Batch 0 was really good. Thick brown pour with a huge brown head. The thick, billowing, head leaves a ton of lacing and a nice cap on top of the brew. Beautiful smell. Chocolate, a lot of coffee and roastiness, oak, tobacco, hints of alcohol. Sweet, roasted, balanced, phenomenal. The taste begins with oak and char, then the coffee takes over in a big way. Wow the coffee has a great flavor. Chocolate and some dark fruits lead the beer into a dry finish, with coffee lingering around for a while. Only hints of alcohol are noted, which is amazing considering the ABV. The flavor is balanced phenomenally. Really this blend brings out the best in both beers blended to create it. Thick, heavy, creamy, a bit low on carbonation. Just a great beer, I wish I could have more of it!
    2. Struise Rosse
      1. Lot B, Best before September, 2011. Noticeable sediment at the bottom of the glass. Wonder how old this is? Hazy golden brown pour with a huge white head. Bubbly and thick, the head sticks around for a while and laces down my De Struise goblet nicely. Belgian yeast and candied sugar on the smell for sure, which surprised me being it’s listed as an American Amber/Red Ale (a style I typically avoid). Caramel maltiness sits in the background. Wow the amber ale taste is there certainly. Dry hops and some musty Belgian-ness are present as well. Candied sugar and some dark fruits are around as well in the background. Light and carbonated well. Very dry with a bit of booziness. I thought this was really good. My friends brought it back from Amsterdam for me, not sure if I’d have him pick it up again though.
    3. Elliot Brew
      1. Lot A 4 15. Deep golden brown pour with a billowing off-white head, beautiful lacing. Bubbly, creamy, impressive. I can tell I poured a bit of sediment into the glass, rookie mistake. Sweet fruity hops, booze, malty backbone, candi sugar all come to mind when I catch a whiff. Wow it smells so sweet, certainly doesn’t smell like a hop bomb. I believe this is relatively old, so I expected the hops to have faded a bit. Still, this tastes a bit strange. A ton of booze, malts, piney hops hit you in a big way in the middle and carry throughout the finish. Grapefruits all over the place. Not greatly balanced, but it also isn’t terribly so. A bit watery, medium carbonation, alcohol is definitely noted. Underwhelming, forgettable. Wish I had it fresh!
    4. Sint Amatus 12
      1. Lot B 09 15. Vintage: 2010. Reddish brown pour with an impressive light brown head. Very thick, the head laces in chunks down the sides of my De Struise Goblet. The smell on this is extremely interesting. Booze, Belgian Yeast, Candi Sugar, Plums, Dark Fruits, Brown Sugar. Definitely complex. You get the dry taste up front I’ve come to expect from quads. Brown Sugar, Molasses. Followed by Booze and Dark Fruits. Raisins and Plums to me. The fruits stick around on the backend and blend nicely with lingering booze to finish the beer off well. Warming alcohol feeling as you drink. Medium bodied, nicely carbonated. I was excited to get this beer, excited when I first poured/smelled it, and the taste came through. Very happy with this offering. Solid all around.
  4. Schneider Aventinus 2003 @ Pizza Paradiso
    1. I got the rare opportunity at Pizza Paradiso in DuPont Circle, DC to try Schenider Aventinus aged from 2003. This was one of the first beers to get me into craft beer, long before I joined this website! I was very excited to try this. $15 for 500ml, wrapped much like a present! Deep brown pour with an initial big white head. It recedes quickly to basically nothing after taking a few pictures. Boozy, dark fruits, lots of grapes on the smell. Hints of the original remain. The taste has certainly changed. But it matches the smell pretty well. Dry, boozy, grapes, remnants of candied sugar, very sweet taste, as it is fresh. Extremely mellowed. Not a lot of cloves or bananas are left. Light, low carbonation. Warming boozy feeling as the drink fades from the palate. Really interesting to see how it held up over 8 years. I’d say pretty well!
  5. Great Lakes @ Meridian Pint
    1. I went to this event basically solely for the Barrel-Aged Blackout Stout, which they didn’t end up getting in time, while I understand these sorts of things happen…I wish I had seen some heads up before I had already sat down at the bar.
    1. Commodore Perry IPA
      1. Bubbly white pour with a nice white head. Fruity hops, very sweet smell. Lots of citrus, perhaps some pine. Wow this is a fruity tasting beer. Hops dry out the backend a bit. A light maltiness. Not a lot of balance, just all citrus/grapefruit. Nicely carbonated, light body, alcohol hardly noted. Went down great on a nice hot day.
  6. Shmaltz Rare and Obscure @ Churchkey DC
    1. Heavy Seas Buffalo Trace Bourbon Barrel Siren Noire Cask
      1. Black pour with a wispy bubbly white head. Not a lot of retention or lacing. Very light, the bourbon is certainly notable. Problem is that’s all I get. No roastiness or stout characteristics. Perhaps some vanilla. Follows the smell. Vanilla, bourbon, water. Not a lot going on. Medium bodied, low carbonation. Disappointed. Just not enough taste.
    2. Shmaltz Reunion ’11: A Beer For Hope
      1. Foamy light brown head with a lot of lacing. Retention on my friend’s glass is a lot better than mine. Malty. Chocolate. Really doesn’t smell like it has been aged in everything it says it has been aged in. The malts from the smell come first, followed by the coco nibs and at the very backend the chile peppers. Heavy body. Medium to low carbonation. Very dry overall. Pretty good. Not great but good.
    3. Vertical Jewbelation (Sazerac Rye Barrels)
      1. Black pour with a small white head and nice lacing. The smell starts with a blast of whiskey and mellows with chocolate and roasted malts. The taste begins with chocolate and improves to the whiskey. Man the taste is strong. Malts, molasses, hints of alcohol, chocolate, whiskey. All nicely balanced. Perhaps some coffee on the backend. Heavy, low on carbonation and a twinge of alcohol. Impressed. Really liked how the whiskey pulled it all together.
    4. Barrel-Aged Messiah (Sazerac Rye Barrels)
    5. Barrel-Aged Origin (Sazerac Rye Barrels)
      1. Light brown pour, sort of see through, without head. Sweet smell filled with fruits, mostly pomegranate. Wow, the taste has a big hit of alcohol. Fruits , whiskey. Strong. Nicely carbonated. medium bodied, boozy. This was way too strong. Expected more balanced taste.