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Kuhnhenn Barrel Aged Solar Eclipse – Snobby Beer Written Reviews

June 8, 2013 By SnobbyBeer Leave a Comment

Kuhnhenn Barrel Aged Solar Eclipse Imperial Stout

Let me start off by saying that this beer was “donated” to me by an amazing fellow named Wade Howard, aka Wade5614 on Beer Advocate. To be more specific, he sent me the Dark Lord glass , a bunch of Kuhnhenn beers, a Kuhnhenn Mead, and a 2009 Bourbon County Stout. For no reason. Truly a class act. I owe him big time, but for the time being a shout out on my little website is the least I can do. Thanks so much, Wade!

Down to business: this beer is Kuhnhenn’s Barrel Aged Solar Eclipse. Clocking in at a whopping 18%, this beer has “aged well” from the time it was brewed according to the label. Kuhnhenn is one of my favorite breweries because most of their beers are huge. Like, above 13% huge. Sure, they have a normal lineup of smaller beers, but they are known for producing a bunch of gigantic beers on a regular basis that almost always satisfy their  fans’ taste buds (including mine). I’ve never had this beer, and I am super excited to try it.

APPEARANCE

I’m not going to lie to you, it’s hard to write something original for all these imperial stouts. It’s black. It had a mocha head that went away super fast. It has alcohol legs on the side of the glass. Reviewing is easy! [Read more...]

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Fantôme Saison – Snobby Beer Written Reviews

February 8, 2013 By SnobbyBeer Leave a Comment

Fantôme Fantome Saison

Man, you remember when saisons weren’t made by tiny breweries from Vermont and made up a good chunk of everyone’s best of list? It’s like you had to go to Belgium to get a good saison, and this one from Fantôme was (and still is) one of the most highly rated examples of the style. I got this bottle all the way from Belgium via the glorious internet, cracked it open, and did what every good beer geek does; took diligent notes. This fella clocks in at 8% ABV.

Appearance

The beer is getting its sais on (get it?). It pours a lovely hazy straw color with a huge white head. The lacing was ghostly throughout the whole session. It just hung around and stared at me while I wasn’t looking at it, then would turn away as soon as I faced it like those ghosts in Super Mario World. Nerdy ghost references? I got’em. [Read more...]

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Hair of the Dog Adam – Snobby Beer Written Reviews

January 2, 2013 By SnobbyBeer Leave a Comment

Hair of the Dog Adam

For the first review of 2013, I decided to pick a beer called Adam (get it? ADAM! Like the first man ever!?). Adam from Hair of the Dog is kind of like an old ale, and kinda like an imperial stout. It’s smoked, bottle-conditioned, and 10% ABV which means it’s totally ageable. It’s also the first beer that HOTD ever made all the way back in 1994. This bottle is batch 84 (brewed on 10-11-11, bottled on 1-12-12) which makes it just over a year old at the time of drinking.

From the HOTD website:

Adam is a recreation of a historic beerstyle. Originally made in Dortmunder, Germany, it was the first beer I produced when I opened Hair of the Dog. Rich in flavor, Adam is best served as a dessert beer. It is great with chocolate or cigars, or just a warm fire and good company. It has 10% alcohol by volume and 50 IBUs.

APPEARANCE

This beer looks… well, like an imperial stout more than anything. It’s pretty much dark brown, almost black. It has a huge latte-colored head that sits like a pillow on top. Bottle conditioning makes the head on beers look delicious. I totally support the way they make smaller bubbles. I mean, just look at it. LOOK AT IT! [Read more...]

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Elysian The Great Pumpkin – Snobby Beer Written Reviews

October 31, 2012 By SnobbyBeer Leave a Comment

elysian the great pumpkin

I originally planned on filming a review of this beer, but you know how it is. Time slips away from you, and before you know it it’s Halloween and you haven’t even bought the bag of Milky Ways that you were going to “pass out to the kids” even though nobody shows up at your house so you end up just eating an entire bag to yourself. Unlike that bag of Milky Ways (which I’ll be purchasing tomorrow when it’s on sale), tonight I decided to go ahead and cram this beer down my face in a pathetic attempt to get a Halloween-esque beer review up on Halloween.

The Great Pumpkin, brewed by Elysian Brewing Company, is brewed with pumpkin, pumpkin seeds, and spices. According to the bottle, it is the world’s first imperial pumpkin ale. Clocking in at 8% and 22 ounces, I’m sure to have an interesting review ahead of me.

APPEARANCE

I really think that appearance matters in a pumpkin beer. Not saying it doesn’t matter in other beers, but who wants to drink a pumpkin ale that is anything but orange? Nobody. Nobody does. Anyway, this beer is exactly what a pumpkin beer should look like. It’s the color of pumpkin meat, has a nice little head on it, slightly hazy – it just looks pumpkiny. If you imagined someone drinking beer out of a snifter while raking leaves, it would look like this beer. [Read more...]

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Stone Enjoy By 11.09.12 IPA – Snobby Beer Written Reviews

October 11, 2012 By SnobbyBeer 3 Comments

Stone Enjoy By 11.09.12 IPA

This beer has gotta be enjoyed fresh! I know because the bottle told me so. So fresh, in fact, that this very review is going to be irrelevant in a matter of weeks. Not only does the freshness factor come into play, but the fact that this beer has a very limited distribution (this batch only made it to Ohio and Colorado in small numbers) make this review nearly pointless. However, as the ever-vigilant beer drinker that I am, I figure why the heck not? I mean come on, this beer was only bottled six days ago! You can’t get much fresher than that unless you feel like swimming around in fermenters… which really doesn’t sound like that bad of an idea now that I mention it…

Anyhow, this beer is 9.4% alcohol by volume and was designed to be consumed FRESH. Like, ridiculously fresh (did I mention it was only bottled six days ago?). They threw a bunch of hops in late into the boil (a technique called “hop bursting”) which contributes more hop flavor and aroma rather than bitterness. Check out more information about this beer here. To you Daytonians, this beer has pretty much sold out at most stores already (and thus more irrelevancy), but if you see it on the shelf at your favorite bottle shop then by all means pick it up. Let’s get to reviewin’.

APPEARANCE

This is what those in the advertising business call “Sex Appeal”. This beer just looks good. Crystal clear, yellow-orange-amber in color, resting under a slightly off-white head… Yeah, this is the kind of beer that makes mouths water. I love the look of a good IPA, and this beer has got that look. If this beer was a female, I would try my best to “holla”. If this beer was a painting in an art gallery, I would stare at it intensely and occasionally nod my head so everyone around me knew how much I knew about art or whatever. If this beer was a Big Mac, it would be the one in the picture and not the one you get when you order it. If this beer was a… Ok, you get my point. [Read more...]

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Rivertown Ojos Negros – Snobby Beer Written Reviews

September 9, 2012 By SnobbyBeer Leave a Comment

Rivertown Ojos Negros

Yesterday was apparently Sour Beer Day, so I decided to get all reviewy with a sour that’s been sitting in my fridge for a few weeks. Rivertown‘s Ojos Negros is an American Wilde Ale aged with Blackberries in oak wine barrels. This beer is brewed a stone’s throw away from me in Cincinnati.

From their website:

AVAILABLE IN 750ML BOTTLE ONLY, RELEASED ONCE YEARLY IN JULY. A WILD FERMENTED BREW AGED IN OAK WINE BARRELS WITH OVER 140 POUNDS OF WHOLE BLACKBERRIES FOR ONE YEAR. 6.3% ABV, 8 SRM, 6 IBU

APPEARANCE

The beer pours a surprisingly clear reddish-brown color with absolutely zero head. There isn’t a lot of visible “bubbliness”, which is somewhat surprising. It actually looks very much like a slightly carbonated wine. It definitely gained a lot of color from the blackberries, let’s find out if it gained any aroma/flavor from them. [Read more...]

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Hill Farmstead Society & Solitude 4 – Snobby Beer Written Reviews

September 8, 2012 By SnobbyBeer 2 Comments

 

Hill Farmstead Society and Solitude 4

Society & Solitude 4 from Hill Farmstead Brewery in Greensboro Bend, Vermont. From the website:

Our experimental Double IPA experience continues. Hybrid Imperial IPA… Think Double Citra Meets Double Galaxy. 8% abv

 

APPEARANCE

Let’s face it, IPAs almost always look sexy. This beer is no exception. It’s a hazy orange juice color and sits under a rather large slightly off-white head. It had beautiful lacing throughout the (too short) drinking session. This is the kind of beer that would make even the most prude chap get all hot and bothered. [Read more...]

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Knee Deep Simtra Triple IPA – Snobby Beer Written Reviews

September 3, 2012 By SnobbyBeer Leave a Comment

Knee Deep Simtra Triple IPAKnee Deep Simtra Triple IPA. 11.25% ABV.

 

APPEARANCE

Classic IPA. Orange-yellow color, slightly hazy, sits under a nice head that is almost pure white, good lacing throughout, and just enough bubbliness to make me salivate. A beer that looks like this is not looking to go home alone if you know what I mean. [Read more...]

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Rivertown Pestilence – Snobby Beer Written Reviews

March 4, 2012 By SnobbyBeer Leave a Comment

Rivertown Pestilence

Rivertown Brewing Company recently released their first beer of their Brewmaster Reserve Limited Release Series, and the beer is Pestilence. Pestilence is a sour brown ale brewed with 7 varieties of malted barley and wheat. The beer also has has Hibiscus flower, and has gone through the process of sour mashing. You may remember that Rivertown has dabbled in sour beers before.

From the Rivertown press release:

Rivertown Brewing Co.’s Brewmasters Reserve Limited Release Series is set to kick off next month.

We are pleased to announce the 2012 Brewmasters limited release series starting with the introduction of “Pestilence”. Pestilence is a sour brown ale brewed with 7 varieties of malted barley and wheat, organic whole Hibiscus flower pedals and spicy hops from the Hallertau growing region of Bavaria. The name Pestilence is derived from the ancient biblical term for infection or plague. Through a natural process called sour mashing, we expose the mash to airborne elements for a period of 48 hours allowing for a natural infection to arise causing the beer to sour. After this process is complete, we collect the sweet, sour runnings and introduce the spicy hops. We then boil it for a period of 1 hour and steep it with fresh hibiscus flower pedals. The end result is a wonderfully aromatic blend of fresh botanical herbs and mouth puckering sourness.

Pestilence will be the first of four brews released in 2012 centered around the ancient Mayan apocalypse of 2012 which signifies the world’s end on December 21st. Pestilence holds significance as being one of the Four Horseman set loose upon the world acting as a harbinger of the last judgment charging through at worlds end carrying wheat and a fist full of barley.

Release Date: Early February 2012
Alcohol by Volume: 5.4%
Color: 20 SRM (Brown)
Style Guideline: Wild/American Sour Ale/Brown Ale
Availability: 12 oz bottles 24-loose case/ 1/6bbl keg
Malts Used: Pilsner, Pale, Carabelge, White Wheat, Chocolate, Dark crystal, Munich
Hops: Hallertau Perle
Specialty Ingredients: Organic Hibiscus Flower Pedals
Serving Temp: 55F

P.S.- Save one bottle to enjoy as a vertical on December 21st 2012

APPEARANCE

The beer pours a Coca-Cola brown, with just the slightest amount of deep red light poking through. There was a tiny white head when first poured, but it went away fast and left nothing remaining. There was little visible carbonation. Overall, it looks somewhat like a clear Belgian dark – nice looking beer. [Read more...]

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New Glarus Thumbprint Barley Wine – Snobby Beer Reviews

February 24, 2012 By SnobbyBeer 1 Comment

New Glarus Thumbprint Barley WineNew Glarus Brewing is a brewery from (you guessed it) New Glarus, Wisconsin. I have really been enjoying their beers lately, so much so that I set up a huge trade involving a bunch of NG beers, including their newest beer in the Thumbprint series – their Barley Wine. Coming in at a hefty 12% ABV, this American barley wine has gained a lot of attention from New Glarus fans.

Served in a Belgian tulip. Enjoyed on 2-21-12.

From the New Glarus website:

“A few times a year we cut Dan loose to brew whatever he chooses. Always handcrafted, the bottle you hold is brewed for the adventurous soul. This is a very limited edition and we make no promises to ever brew this style again.

Our 2012 Barley Wine bridges continents of style, a harmonious creation of Diploma Master Brewer Daniel Carey. He personally chose the hop fields that were harvested for this powerful beast of a brew. Styrian Golding, Willamette, Columbia, and Sterling with bold citrus and resin notes. All perfectly balanced with toasty graham cracker flavors of floor malted barley. Savor this very big beer at 45° F and it will reward you with an open embrace.”

APPEARANCE

This beer pours a slightly hazy orange-yellow-honey color. It’s fairly light compared to other barleywines I’ve had, and it looks very much like an IPA or double IPA. The head was massive, about 3 fingers, and just the slightest bit off-white. It leaves some nice lacing along the side of the glass, and after the initial pour there is almost no carbonation bubbles to speak of. [Read more...]

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