Cellared 2013.10.20 650ml

Drank 2015.07.13

Pipeworks Game of Jones

First time having Game of Jones. Interesting. Sweet but not straight sweet. Might be vanilla but I can’t quite taste that it is vanilla. No perceived alcohol. Slightly… tart? But I don’t think tart is right and it is not at all unpleasant. Very good in fact. Deliciously sweet. Not at all the usual roasty RIS flavor but still very stout and very good.

Rich mouthfeel but also light. I really felt the alcohol in this. But I didn’t taste it one bit. I think I would prefer a slightly roastier and bitter beer but it is quite good. My mouth is left with sweet tasty goodness after every sip. Coats my mouth.

Cellared 2013.11.17 650ml

Drank 2015.07.07

Great Divide Old Ruffian

First time having this. It comes in 4 packs now. I’d buy more if it were less expensive. But Bell’s was much cheaper and I still have a case of Bigfoot. This one was bottled December 2012.

It is good. Bitter but not hoppy. No perceived alcohol. Very smooth. I wonder if it is this good fresh. I will eventually find out. There is very good balance between the bitterness and the sweetness. Enjoying this a lot but don’t have any more cellared. It doesn’t beat cheap Third Coast Old Ale, though.

Cellared 2014.01.20 750ml

Drank 2015.06.30

Unibroue Trader Joe’s 2013 Vintage Ale

I’ve had this fresh. But I don’t remember it well enough. I remember liking it.

After a year, it is very sweet and very fruity. And it smells very fruity too. A very nice scent. BSDAs are not my favorite but I enjoy can enjoy one every once in a while.

I like saisons. Here are some of my favorites.

1. Goose Island Sofie – Tart
2. Off Color Apex Predator – Dry and peppery
3. Saison DuPont – Dry
4. Boulevard Tank 7 – Tart
5. Ommegang Hennepin

I also like these.

• Brooklyn Sorachi Ace – Lemony
• Pipeworks – North and Western
• Allagash  Saison – Solid all around. Sweet first sip. Peppery and dry midglass. Slight tartness. Might take the 4th spot. Will try side to side with Hennepin.

Cellared 2013.11.17 650ml

Drank 2015.06.05

Green Flash Barleywine Style Ale

Bitter. Not shockingly so. But a friend had a but and complained about it for 20 minutes while trying to spit the taste out of his mouth.

Nicely malty and smooth. But not especially outstanding.

Cellared 2013.11.17 650ml

Drank 2015.05.16

Spiteful G.F.Y. Stout

I held off drinking this a few times because the ABV at 8% was lower than I wanted. I just drank a Brooklyn Sorachi Ace so 8% is just right now.

The body is thinner than I want in a big stout. The smell is chocolate and coffee. Richly so. It has a nice roasty bitterness to it. But I am not blown away. It is not as good as FIS. Good. Not great. I was not necessarily expecting more. But I was hoping for more.

Cellared 2013.11.17 650ml

Drank 2015.05.07

Left Coast Ale Epeteios

It isn’t actively bad nor offensive. It tastes like a stout. A bit of roastyness and bitterness. The body is a bit thin. The alcohol is very well hidden. There just isn’t enough taste. I think Founders Porter is better. And for something with this high a price point, it is very disappointing. Perhaps this is the reason I’ve never seen anything else from this brewery.

At no point was this a bad experience. It just wasn’t good enough for someone with any kind of limits on time. Eventually dying for example.

Cellared 2013.11.17 650ml

Drank 2015.05.03

Smuttynose Gravitation

Something is off about this. I don’t know if it is supposed to taste this way. It isn’t so off that it might not have been intended to taste this way. It just doesn’t taste like a delicious quad. It is a bit metallic and fishy. It has the expected sweetness and and yeast-forwardness. But there is something off putting about the fishiness and metal.

As I was pouring, I thought I grabbed the wrong beer. I thought it was a barleywine. The color was not what I expected in a quad.

Cellared 2013.10.20 650ml

Drank 2015.04.14

Left Hand Wake Up Dead

Sweet and good. Nice mouthfeel. Well perceived alcohol. Generically good. Nothing stood out. Never had this fresh. I think I recall it being not too expensive.

Cellared 2013.10.20 650ml

Drank 2015.04.07

Pipeworks Closer Encounter

It is still pretty hoppy. Quite bitter. Rich mouthfeel. There is a bit of a sour tang that isn’t unpleasant. The alcohol is not well perceived. It is very tasty. The stout base doesn’t come through the hoppiness so it taste a bit like an American Barleywine with the hops. I quite like the lingering bitterness though. It is very different than the sweetness from many big stouts.