Beer Review: Beer Geek Brunch Weasel (Cognac Edition)

Reviewing the Beer Geek Brunch Weasel (Cognac Edition) from Mikkeller.
Score: 82

2012 vintage bottle served in a snifter glass and enjoyed on 07/30/12. A hearty thank you to Bryan Hernandez for buying me a bottle of this to celebrate the completion of the Illinois Bar Exam.

Appearance: Pours a deep, dark coffee color. Served with a finger of fudgey brown head that totally settles. No lacing or retention. 3.5/5

Smell: Sharp, sweet red grape and cherry aromas. Cognac, ample "wood" and "barrel" that is not very blended into the aroma so much as it stands out. Coffee too. 3.5/5

Taste: Burnt, acrid coffee, "barrel and wood" flavor, cherry, red grape sweetness and fudge. Sweet and overly acidic. 3.5/5

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied, minimal carbonation. Sticky, acrid and sweet mouthfeel. 2/5

Overall: Rather than it being an integrating component, I am tasting/smelling too much "barrel" here. This beer is also way too acidic. The right flavor components for a potentially delicious beer are here, but there are too many pieces that do not seem to coalesce so much as they simply stand out. After this beer, I think I'm absolutely done with Mikkeller beers. Beer Geek Rodeo (a collaboration with Jester King) gave me hope, but Mikkeller is quite frankly entirely too expensive for what they are and they seem to miss substantially more often with their experiments than they hit. 8.5 oz's seems like a cheap sized pour, but I assure you it's harder to finish a bottle of this than you would otherwise believe.

Recommendation: Skip this one; it is incredibly overpriced.

Pairings: Green apples and honey.

Cost: $14.99 for an 8.5 oz beer.

Beer Review: CynicAle

Reviewing the CynicAle from Surly Brewing Company. This traditional farmhouse saison is the last of Surly's year-round beers that I have yet to try.
Score: 79

Canned 06/13/12, served in am Avery nonic pint glass and enjoyed on 07/22/12 after watching the incredible ending to the Batman trilogy in IMAX.

Appearance: Pours a clean and transparent golden color with a slight reddish hue and two-plus fingers of off-white soapy head that settles to a thin layer. Poor lacing, average retention. 3/5

Smell: Bitter grain, wheat, a little corn, cloves, mellow piney hops and a little lemon. Mile Hefe-like yeastiness too. 3.5/5

Taste: Stale hops, wheat, lemon peel and yeast. 3/5

Mouthfeel: Water-like mouthfeel with medium-light carbonation. Somewhat dry and bitter finish. 3.5/5

Overall: A refreshing and light beer that reminds me more of "a better Spotted Cow" than Hennepin. Bold in flavor for the mouthfeel and definitely drinkable/refreshing in the heat, but this one is barely above average at best.

Recommendation: Surly is one of my favorite breweries, but this is not one of their beers that you need to seek out. I feel that this would make a solid starter craft brew for casual beer drinkers.

Pairings: Brats.

Cost: $8.99 for a four pack.

Francisco Liriano is the Javier Vazquez of 2012

Check out my latest article over at The Hardball Times detailing the resurgence of Liriano since being moved back into the rotation. If he keeps this up (his underlying peripherals indicate that much of his past ten start's dominance is sustainable), a 3.00 ERA and 1.20 WHIP with strong strikeout numbers in the second half are entirely plausible. He already has 25 strikeouts over his last 14.0 innings pitched. Why haven't you picked him up yet!

Here is what the xWHIP calculator has to say:

Beer Review: Devil Dancer (2011 and 2012, fresh and one year old)

Reviewing a fresh and year old bottle of Devil Dancer from Founders Brewing Company.
Fresh Score: 86
Year Old Score: 45

Bottled 06/17/11 and 06/01/12. Served in a snifter glass and enjoyed on 07/13/12.

Appearance: Pours a murky blood orange-red color. The fresh 2012 vintage looks a little darker in color than the year old bottle. The fresh bottle pours a thin layer of creamy tan color that settles to a pencil thin ring around the glass with okay lacing and retention. The year old bottle pours less head with less lacing/retention. 3.5/5

Smell: The fresh (2012) bottle has heavy notes of floral hops ahead of a strong caramel malt backbone. Some earthiness, lemon, citrusy pine and onion. Light booziness. Very balanced for such aggressive flavors. The year old (2011) vintage is super malty with strong doses of garlic and a little fruitiness. The 2011 bottle is much less balanced and aggressive in the nose and reminisce of a boozed up caramel-forward barleywine. Not getting any hops off the 2011 vintage. 4/5 (2012), 3/5 (2011)

Taste: The 2012 vintage is not as balanced on the palate as the nose leads on. Lemon citrus and piney hops, sugary caramel malt and a little onion. Earthy hops too. Very hop forward. Lingering spiced caramel malt flavor. The 2011 vintage is incredibly vegetal, caramel-y and barleywine like. Heavily laden with garlic and onion flavor with a ton of undesirable linger. This is a true palate killer. A little lemon in the background too. Strong lingering garlic flavor. Incredibly unbalanced and still quite boozy. This made me cringe as I sipped it. 3.75 (2012), 1.5/5 (2011)

Mouthfeel: Same mouthfeel to both beers. Medium-plus bodied, low carbonation. Oily mouthfeel. Bitter, sweet malty mouthfeel. 3.5/5

Overall: The 2012 kills the 2011 vintage. For what it's worth, the 2011 batch was not very good fresh either. I remember this beer being much more delicious when I first got into craft beer in 2009, but I only really liked IPA back then and had not really explored the depths of the IPA genre yet. This a very caramel-forward and hoppy beer that does not try to hide the hot booziness.

Recommendation: Casual beer drinkers should avoid this brew. If you like earthy hops and caramel-forward IPA or English-style barleywines, give this one a whirl. If you do decide to buy a four pack, DO NOT AGE ANY! Drink this one fresh.

Pairings: Indian food.

Cost: $19.99 for a four pack.

Beer Review: Lindley Park

Reviewing Lindley Park from Olde Hickory Brewery out of North Carolina. This beer is a twist on their most famous brew, the Event Horizon.
Score: 92

From the 267 day of 2011. Enjoyed 06/16/12, served in a St. Bernardus Watou stemmed snifter and shared with my father for father's day.

Appearance: Pours a jet black color with a finger of creamy mocha head that settles to a ring around the glass. Good lacing and retention. 4/5

Smell: Huge doses of sweet honey, bourbon-y molasses, raisin, and raspberries. Sweet milk chocolate too. The most prominent aroma, by a mile, is the honey when you swirl the brew. There's some complementary vanilla and oak in the mix too. 4.5/5

Taste: More raspberry upfront and throughout on the palate than the nose led on. In the aroma, the raspberry was more an incorporated element, but it's dominant on the palate. Behind the raspberry is sweet raisin, brown sugar and vanilla. Dark chocolate flavor behind that. Just a little bit of oaky flavor and residual black coffee towards the finish. Very sweet, but the alcohol is well-hidden. 4.25/5

Mouthfeel: Just shy of full bodied, light carbonation. Syrupy mouthfeel. Pretty sweet finish. 4/5

Overall: About on par with Bramble, though the flavors are better incorporated here. This is a very sweet imperial stout, and I have a strong feeling that those who did not like Dark Lord or Bramble Bourbon County Stout will not like this too much either.

Recommendation: Worth seeking out a glass, but I couldn't finish a whole bomber of this to myself if I tried.

Pairings: Steak.

Cost: $18 for a 22 oz (bomber) bottle.

Beer Review: Rye'd Da Lightning

Reviewing the Rye'd Da Lightning from Three Floyds Brewing Company.
Score: 92

This bottle was picked up from the Three Floyds' brewery on June 14. Enjoyed 06/16/12, served in a Hill Farmstead stemmed tulip and shared with my father for father's day.

Appearance: Pours an orange-amber color that is not "murky" or "cloudy," but I certainly can't see through it. Two fingers of cream colored seafoam head at pour settles to a thin layer with splotchy clumps of bubbly head. Excellent lacing and retention. Excellent cling too. 5/5

Smell: Lots of bright tropical citrus and a mild amount of rye spice. Mango, rye, grapefruit, tangerine, a little honey, and sweet pine sap. Lemon, sweet caramel malt, a touch of biscuit malt and a little peppercorn. Really nice aroma. Reminisce of Zombie Dust plus some spice, but not quite as good as Zombie Dust. 4.5/5

Taste: Very juicy and loaded with tropical fruit citrus. There's pineapple, tangerine, mango, peach and orange. Less rye spice than in the nose. Nice juice orange and caramel malt backbone. Nice bitter pine flavor in back half as well. Orange/pine/mild caramel flavor in the finish. As it layers, a bit of dirty caramel malt and earthy hops flavors comes through towards the finish/aftertaste. A lot more malty and less "hoppped up" than anticipated, but this brew is very balanced. 4/5

Mouthfeel: Super light and juicy, but no real "hop kick" on the tongue (unlike most Three Floyds IPA offerings). Light-plus bodied, low carbonation. Bitter finish with light citrus sweetness. 3.5/5

Overall: Are we sure this is actually a rye beer? This super-hopped rye beer has a super solid IPA flavor profile, but overall is not nearly as good as Artic Panzer Wolf or Dreadnaught or Zombie Dust or Alpha King in my opinion (all of which are distributed outside of the brewery).

Recommendation: Definitely worth drinking, but not worth a special trip to Munster or running around the city to special tappings in order to obtain.

Pairings: Reuben sandwich.

Cost: $10 for a 22 oz (bomber) bottle.

Beer Review: Mean Old Tom

Reviewing the Mean Old Tom from Maine Beer Company.
Score: 89

Bottled 11/10/11, served in a Three Floyd's teku glass and enjoyed on 01/19/12.

Appearance: Pours a jet black color with a finger of creamy khaki head that settles to a ring around the glass and a thin floating island of head in the middle. Amazing lacing and retention. 5/5

Smell: Roasted chocolate, chocolate malt, a touch of sweet caramel, a little leather, and a light amount of vanilla. Some unsweetened fudge too. Very very light amount of grain. 4/5

Taste: Fudgey chocolate and a subtle smooth, unsweetened vanilla flavor upfront transitions to chocolate malt and a light amount of grain in the finish. Nice chocolatey aftertaste. 4/5

Mouthfeel: Lighter side of medium bodied, light carbonation. I realize this is a non-imperial stout, but it still feels a bit thin on the palate. Watery, slightly creamy mouthfeel. Dry and chocolatey finish that is ever so slightly sweet. 3/5

Overall: A really nice chocolate flavored beer -- surprisingly so given the anti-hype behind this one -- that is not going to get you blitzed, but falls flat on the thin mouthfeel.

Recommendation: I would certainly drink this one again, but I am not going to go too far out of my way to hunt it down again.

Pairings: Gouda cheese or brie.

Cost: $6.99 for a 16.9 oz bottle.