Tag: Ales

Dragon’s Milk

JoshLeave a comment

Maker: New Holland, Holland, Michigan, USA

Style: Barrel-aged stout

Vintage: 2011

ABV: 10%

Appearance: Dark chocolate with a mildly frothy tan head.

Nose: Sweet, cereal milk, milk chocolate.

On the palate: Full-bodied, bitter at first, then sweeter. Café mocha, vanilla and amaretto, with a bit of bite from the alcohol and carbonation.

Finish: Sweet and pleasantly sticky fading very slowly to a smoky bitterness. The sticky sweetness continues to linger on the lips for a long time.

Parting words: This is a delicious beer. Unlike some other barrel-aged beers, Dragon’s Milk strikes a balance between barrel character and beer character. This is a quality stout first. Instead of being covered up, those stout characteristics are complemented by the wood tannins and the sweet vanilla and liquer flavors coming from the barrel. Dragon’s Milk is a flawlessly executed barrel-aged stout. Highly recommended.

Boffo Brown Ale

JoshLeave a comment

Maker: Dark Horse Brewing Co., Marshall, Michigan

Style: Brown Ale

ABV: ???

Appearance: Big pillowy head that takes a while to calm down. The body is chocolate brown.

Nose: Sweet and a little fruity and yeasty.

On the palate: Full-bodied. Nice balance of sweetness and bitterness. Like chocolate chip cookies chased with a shot of espresso. Closer to a porter than to a typical brown ale.

Finish: Roasty bitterness mitigated by some background sweetness.

Parting Words: Dark Horse is a brewery known for its ugly labels, and this one is one of the ugliest I’ve ever seen. It looks like it was drawn by a 6 year-old child with serious psychological problems. What’s inside more than makes up for it, though. This is a well-executed brown ale that goes well with beefy spicy food or on its own. Recommended.

Brik Red Ale

Josh2 Comments

Maker: Milking It Productions, Royal Oak, Michigan

Style: Irish Red Ale

ABV: ???

Appearance: Big frothy head. The color lives up to its name, deep brick red, slightly cloudy.

Nose: toasty malt, with robust sweetness.

On the palate: Malty and bitter, exquisitely balanced by a rich sweetness.

Finish: delicate sweetness with a pleasant lingering bitterness.

Parting Words: I was skeptical of trying this beer when I saw it in the grocery store. Like many, when I see the words “Irish Red” on a bottle my mind jumps to Killian’s, the allegedly Irish Red beer produced by that great old Irish brewery Coor’s and which was often sold at import prices by the proprietors of Neighborhood restaurants. I now publically apologize to Milking It Productions or my lack of faith. This is a beefy, complex but balanced ale. It is big enough to have with a meal and subtle enough to drink on its own. Or is it the other way around? At any rate, Brik is highly recommended. The fact that it comes in pint cans is a nice bonus.

Review: Wexford Original Irish Style Crème [sic] Ale

JoshLeave a comment

Maker:  Greene King, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, England

Style: Irish Cream Ale

ABV: 5%

Appearance: light auburn with a thick, sudsy head.

Nose: Fruity and sweet, with a bit of caramel.

On the palate: surprisingly thin body, but still exuberant even in the mouth. At first the fruitiness of the nose almost disappears, replaced by a slightly toasty malt flavor with a fair amount of pleasant bitterness. On subsequent sips the fruit comes back resulting in a much more balanced and satisfying beer.

Finish: The bitterness comes to the fore in the finish which lingers long in the cheeks and is barely tempered by a half-hearted return of the fruit in the nose.

Parting Words: I’m not sure what I expected from this beer, and I’m not sure I got it. It comes in a can with a  pressurized widget, so King has certainly taken every precaution to make sure Wexford makes  the trip across the pond in as good a condition as possible. It’s not unpleasant, but I was underwhelmed. The body was shockingly thin. I really expected much more from something called a cream ale. But overall, not a bad sip, especially after it settles down a bit in the glass. Not highly recommended, but it’s worth a try, especially if the price is right.

Good News!

JoshLeave a comment

Good news for micro-brew lovers!  Milking It brewery in Royal Oak, MI now has its products in finer party and grocery stores in Southeastern Michigan, in pint CANS, no less.  I’m a big fan of the Axl Pale Ale.  Pick up a six pack.  Yes, now.

Now Drinking

JoshLeave a comment

Big Dick’s Olde Ale

Brewer: Arcadia, Kalamazoo, MI

Style: Old Ale

ABV: 9%

Big Dick’s Olde Ale was named in tribute to Richard Cœur de Lion (1157-1199), king of England, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquataine, Count of Anjou, etc.  I doubt the man ever drank any, since it is an English style ale and the man spoke very little English and spent very short amounts of time in England, spending most of his life in France.

At any rate, the first rease(s?) of the ale were a part of the Big Beer series, which included Arcardia’s Shipwreck Porter and Cereal Killer Barleywine.  Now they are being released in normal sized 12 oz bottles in packs of four.

The color of the beer is a beautiful auburn color.  The nose is nice and malty, or should I say big and malty.  It tastes like one expects a big malty ale to taste but then it takes a turn.  It’s as if the road I was on ended suddenly and I found my car driving through a blackberry patch.  No thorns, but a surprising hit of sweetness and tartness.  I liked this the first time I drank it and a like it still.

The bottles have “2009 vintage” written on them, and given that they are at 9% ABV,  I’m assuming these are suitable for aging.  I think I’ll let these sit for a little while longer and come back to them in a few months.