Brew Dog Tasting

The Jug Shop had a Brew Dog tasting Friday, as they had just started carrying their line. Brew Dog is a craft brewery from scotland, and they finally have gotten their production of their award winning beers up to capacity to ship to the states. They have a lineup of three rather pale ales, and a robust imperial stout, which they love to age in scotch casks. I couldn't expect any less from Scots, would you?

The lineup started with the Physics, a lightly complex amber ale that won at the 2007 World Beer awards for best strong pale ale. Nice start. The Punk IPA was next. They explained it as "not being west coast style", but it nonetheless showcased the hops more than any other beer, had a nice light body and lingering bitterness, and was my favorite of the lightest ales. The hardcore was next, which was much too sweet and had a crisis in hop identity. The Rip Tide was definitely delicious, roasty, very nutty, smooth and warm, I can see why they used this as their base beer in the casks: it has enough to stand on its own, but not so much flavor and complexity to fight with the barrel. It was also a 2007 World Beer awards for best imperial stout.

Now, about those barrels? Thats what we're all after, isn't? We've had pale ales and stouts. We've even had beers on wine and bourbon barrels - but scotch barrels? The Pardox line does just that. They had two from the Pardox line, which takes the Rip Tide stout and lays them on casks for 6 months. The ones they had this time were on Glen Moray 1991 Speyside Casks and on Ardbeg 1991 Islay Cask. They also used the Islay cask to make a Storm IPA. The Storm was very distinct, possibly more suited for the name Pardox, as the Peat and the thin, hoppy IPA are really a dichotomy. The Pardox Islay was incredibly unique, and the flavor were much more melded together, the peat and the chocolate. The Pardox Speyside was hands down the winner for the night, and the only one on sale, at $13 a 12oz bottle (yeouch!). It is very deep, complex, almost port-like, but smoother and less sweet, and brandy like, but richer and thicker. The Speyside will soon be gone, on to different casks, looking forward to seeing what cask they can throw at us next.

The Physics
American Amber
Nose of toffee, biscuit, light earthy hops. Medium to light orange, dry, light body. Light toffee and caramel, but mostly bread, grain and fruity esters, plum and pear, with light earthy, pine and citrus in the end. Very nice take on a bitter with an American slant. 3.9

Punk IPA
American IPA
Earthy-pine-citrus nose, light yeast esters. Really resinous. Light amber color. Very dry mouthfeel. Flavor very resinous, similar to the nose, with more orange and light grapefruit. Light biscuit, grainy background. Lingering bitter finish. 3.8

Hardcore IPA
Imperial IPA
Overt resin and fruity nose, grapefruit, banana, caramel, orange, biscuit. Deep orange color with rouge highlights. Medium bodied. Very carmel, biscuit flavor, with strong bubblegum, orange and tropical fruits. Light warming, with a rather sweet finish. Really to intese and confused. 2.8

Rip Tide Stout
Imperial Stout
Chocolate, roast, cream and light cherry flavors in the nose. Deep chocolate color, almost black. Creamy, silky mouthfeel, very nice. Flavor is very nutty, toffe, chocolate, cream, espresso, toast and light cherry. Light bitter finish. 3.9

Storm IPA
Barrel Aged IPA
Complex nose, peat, toast, vanilla, grain and cistrus hops. Pale amber color with gold highlights. Very dry mouthfeel, slightly puckering, with strong peat flavors, followed by toast, oak, vanilla and citrus. Lingering bitter and puckering finish. Couldn't drink a lot of this, but one of a kind. 4.1

Paradox Islay
Barrel Aged Stout
Rich nose, chocolate, roast, peat, toast, vanilla, molasses, light cherry. Deep chocolate color, ruby highlights. Rich yet dry mouthfeel. Strong chocolate, molasses, peat and toast flavors, with hints of cherry, vanilla. Medium to dry finish. Really adds an edge to the rich, creamy stout, and some complexity, but not entirely sold. 3.7

Paradox Speyside
Barrel Aged Stout
Almost a brandy like nose, with sweet caramel, dried fruits, cherries, grapes, spice, licorice, tannins, and light bread, toast and peat. Deep chocolate color with an amber hue. Medium mouthfeel, very rich. Flavors of chocolate, dried fruits, cherry, grapes, pepper, clove, peat and vanilla. Warming, bitter and medium to dry finish. Stellar. 4.4

Knockshock Brewing Collaborative - Brew Day

Jobless and pinching pennies, what better idea, as six packs of craft beer are reaching $7 ON SALE, than to take up the DIY spirit and brew your own? I've been homebrewing for almost 5 years now, and doing all-grain batches for 4, and at roughly 50 cents a beer, what better to do on a weekday afternoon than a couple of 5 gallon batches? My Knockshock Brewing companion Greg and I have moved on to additional money saving measures, including doing low hop beers or using increased alpha acid hops, using simple grain bills with mostly affordable, American 2-row malt, and reusing yeast by pitching off slurries (up to 6 times or so.)

I've been writing my own recipes for a few years now after taking inspiration and learning how to build a beer from Ray Daniels great book Designing Great Beers. And with a program such as the Recipator or ProMash, calculating your grain bill and results (ABV, IBU and SRM) become quite simple. Granted, there are some factors that vary, such the mash efficiency and fermentation temperature, that the limited system cannot account for. C'est la vie. I've tried replicating batches, and simply put, with an all grain system at the scale we are producing these beers, it is virtually impossible. So I've embraced this spirit and rarely make a beer twice. Generally, if it turns out so good the first time that I want to make it again, it invariably disappoints.

In any case, here are some photos of the most recent brewing activity, and recipes of those beers if you would like to try them at home yourself. I've been brewing once a week for three weeks strong, should have a nice stash showing up in a few months. I'll keep you posted of how they turn out.

A brew with a view

Knockshock Sour Brown

really a take on Russian River's Supplication. I love this beer, and couldn't find any ideas out there to base my recipe on, so this is my stab at it. It doesn't have a lot of the bugs that Supplication has, but it is really in the spirit of light, refreshing sour beers with a bit of malt complexity and depth, like of you revisit my Sours and Chocolate night.

8 lbs American 2-row

1.5 lbs Wheat Malt

1 lb Carapils

12 oz Belgain Aromatic

6 oz Belgian Biscuit

4 oz Honey Malt

Mashed at 148 degrees for 1 hour.

Added 1 oz of Hallertau Pellet Hops, 3.8 AA, at 60 minutes

Cooled to 120 degrees, added White Labs Lactobacillus Delbrukii to the wort directly into a glass primary.

Pitched White Labs Belgian Ale yeast slurry the next morning. Transferred after 7 days to glass secondary.

Add 4 oz french oak, medium toast, soaked in chardonnay for 2 weeks, after 14 days.

Bottling TBD, probably at 1 month.

Sparge: rising the sugars off the grains

Spigot controls the flow of the sweet wort

Knockshock Sour Saison x5

This is another one of our 5x experiments. The first took place three years ago, using a base wort of 5 gallons with 5 different hopping schedules. I can't say it was easy, or went off without flaw. Boiling 5 different little 1 gallon worts certainly increases some of the idiosyncrasies of homebrewing: different gravities for each running, more kettle carmelization, different hop utiliztion rates. Not to mention how much of a pain in the ass it is to boil 5 batches, then transfer them, and the bottle off of each. However, this one seemed much simpler: same wort, same hops, same primary yeast - but different secondary yeasts. Each a different sour beer contributor. We've included Brett Bruxxelis in three beers, wild bacteria in two, Ommegedon dregs in one and oak in another. The base beer was formulated to be a pretty neutral, saison like beer (honey malt = funk), with a west coast citrus blanket of Amarillo to balance the sourness, much like many of the nouveau sour beers, like Ommengang Ommegedon, de Proef Signature ales, ect.

8 lbs American 2-row
2 lbs Malted Wheat
.75 Honey Malt
.25 American Vienna
.25 Flaked Barley

50 Minute mash at 145 degrees. 20 Minute Mash out at 120 degrees.

.5 oz Amarillio 10 AA, at 60 Minutes
.75 oz Amarillo, 10 AA, at 20 Minutes
1 oz Amarillo, 10 AA, at 5 Minutes

Cooled to 80 degrees, Pitched White Labs Belgian Ale. Transferred after one week to glass secondary. One week later to 5-1 gallon tertiaries, and bottled 1/6th of it as a control group (to taste the difference between the bugs).

Added a beer of 2 lbs wheat DME beer to 5 other jugs (needed additional gravity for the bugs, the Belgian had attenuated too much):

#1 with Brett Brux
#2 with Brett Brux and Oak
#3 with Brett Brux + exposed for a night 1 week in
#4 with Ommegedon Dregs
#5 with Infected Grain Juice left out for a night.

Bottle when deemed "ready".

Wort Boil on the Propane Burner

Mmm, wort.

Chiller porn

Knockshock Bourbon Barrel Smoked Porter

I've done a couple of smoked porters, one just straight up and another with figs added (which was a hot mess, but delicious). Either case, I wanted a little extra punch to this one, and have experimented with simulated barrel aging before (a peat smoked disaster ... one of my only two or three straight up awful calls in my 5 year history), I decided this was the beer to do it with. There is always a question of smoking your own, what type of smoke flavoring, and how much to use. There is certainly a wide range of opinions, but I've found that using Wyermanns Smoked Malt is a pretty safe way to go. They use beechwood, and is pretty mild, and you can use it for between 10 and 25 percent of the grist for a smoked porter, depending on your smoke tolerance and grain bill. As for the barrel aging, I would love to have the space and money for a barrel, but for now I have to go for the simulation. Once again, much debate, do you use chips, cubes, old staves? I go for the American Oak chips, which have a huge surface area, and leave them in a minimal time, probably 3 days, after boiling, toasting them, and letting them spend a week in beam. A few ounces will do. Again, if this was an Imperial Porter, I'd probably go for more chips and/or longer contact, but use caution.

9 lbs American 2-row
2.25 lbs Wyermanns Smoked Malt
1.25 lbs Carafa Malt
12 oz American Munich
10 oz American Chocolate
8 oz American Crystal 60L
4 oz Black Patent Malt

Mash at 145 Degrees for 1 hour.

Add 1 oz 9.0 Columbus Hops at 60 Minutes

Ferment for 1 week, transfer, add hops 3 days before bottling, roughly 2 weeks later.

Bourbon Barrel Porter with the Mash Tuns

Airlock: to keep the bugs out (when desired)

February 2009

Ten Fidty and Telegraph Wheat at City Beer

well, February 2009 was quite the month, Strong Ale month and SF Beer week provided a plethora of refreshing, tasty and humbling new beers. Here are a few that are new to report for the month:

Drakes Imperial Stout Slight malt, molasses and currant, but mostly chocolate, caramel and roast. Medium to light mouthfeel, a very bronze to black color. Flavors of roast, caramel, toast, with chocolate, coffee and toffee highlights. Definite warmth. Somewhat slick and medium bitterness in the finish. 4.0

Oskar Blues Ten Fidty
Imperial Stout, in a can!
Vanilla, chocolate, malt, caramel and definite graham cracker in the nose. Medium bodied, jet black, a little slick on the tounge. Flavors of chocolate, cream, toffee, light vanilla. Slight bitterness in the middle, but overall a creamy, slightly sweet finish. 3.9

Dikke Mathile
Belgium Amber Ale
Nose of toast, pear, apple, slight banana. Light amber color, light haze, with slight gold and orange highlights. Light nutty flavor, banana, pear, light earth and citrus. Light to medium bitter finish, slightly creamy. Nice, balanced Beligum Amber. 3.8

Port Midnight Sessions
Black ale - Schwartzbier
Nose of chocolate, toast, slight roast and yeast. Medium to thick body, deep black with deep garnett highlights. Flavors of roast, toast and light chocolate. Light finish, slightly thick. 3.8

New Belgium Lips of Faith
Dark Kriek ale with Cherries
Nose of cherries, caramel, sour fruit, berries, oak and toast. Deep amber with garnett highlights, light haze, off white but quickly disappating head. Light to thin body. Flavors of sour cherries, caramel, oak, toffee, light grain and sweet-tart. Lightly puckering finish. Could use some more complexity, but a nice beginning. 3.7

Alesmith Anvil ESB
Nose of strong toffee, light malt and toast, and hints of dried fruit. Garnett color with a light orange tinge, light bodied. Flavors of toffee, toast, light vanilla and apple esters. Lightly dry and malty finish. 3.6

Widmer 2009 Brewers Reserve
Belgium Golden Ale
Nose of toast, toffee, and strong banana and pear esters. Clear, deep gold with orange highlights, off white but disappating head. Flavors of grain, carmel, banana, pear and light citrus in the finish. Very light "band aid" flavor from the phenolics. Light sweetness to this beer that ends with a rather bitter finish. 3.4

Josephbrau Winterfest
Dopplebock Nose of chocolate, roast, smoke, dried fruits. Deep brown color with golden highlights, medium to full bodied. Flavors of chocolate, roast, caramel, smoke, toast, banana, pear. Light oxidation. Finish is medium, light bitterness over the sweetness. 3.0

Lost Abbey Avant Garde
Biere de Garde
Nose of apple, caramel, toffee and cherries. Medium bodied, deep gold color with orange highlights, low head. Flavors mostly toffee, toast, caramel and slight yeast esters. Finish is sweet, mild, creamy. Really needs more farmhouse and yeast character. 2.5

Peek into the Coolers at City Beer

SF Beer Week 2009: Odds and Ends

A few odds and ends to note for the Beer Week 2009 wrap up. It was great, so many highlights as previously mentioned, but here were a few treats I didn't note:

SF Beer Week Official Beer: Original Albion Ale
This beer has a lot of history, as being the first brewpub in California and the second in the nation. Later taken over by Mendicino Brewing Company, this brewpub followed the spirit of Anchor Steam in the late 70s by resurrecting forgotten beer styles in America and focusing on the craft rather than the mass produced and "drinkable" nature of light lagers. Napasmith now makes this beer, with one of the original brewers, Don Barkley, at the helm. Quite a piece of craft brewing history.

Original Albion Ale
Extra Pale Ale
Nose of toast, biscuit, yeast esters, notably pear and apple. Deep gold in color. Off white, fast dissipating head. Flavor of toast, pear, light orange and lemon. Very delicate, rather dry finish. Almost like a light wheat ale with more hops. 3.6

Homemade Framboise: La Frappe
This was one of the most labor intensive brews I had made, and it has been rapidly approaching its 2nd year since production. A framboise, or raspberry lambic, I used some spontaneous fermentation methods, including a sour mash, ale yeast fermentation, and open fermentation in my closet to pick up some brett. In addition, 7 months in I added 6 pounds of organic raspberries. Bottling after 10 months. I've had this one in the closet for near 2 years now, I wanted to see how it aged. Definitely a treat, this beer has an intense sour and raspberry flavor, with light barnyard and lactic notes. Now only if I could get the haze away and get some more carbonation the next time.

La Frappe
Fruit Lambic
Nose of raspberries, light cherry and sweetness and some funk, light sourness. Deep raspberry in color, very hazy and almost opaque. Very low and dissipating head. Mouthfeel rather creamy and low carbonation. Strong raspberry and sour flavors, with some sweetness in the finish and light lactic quality. Flavors are there, slightly off, but much too creamy and low on carbonation. 2.9






Stone Smoked Porter with Chocolate Cake and Bannana Ice Cream
This was a nice treat after Beer Week was over that I had at Boccadilos. The beer was recommended to go with some smoked salmon. This pairing was fine, but maybe a lighter smoked beer could have gone a bit better, or beer with the usual alder smoked malt to match the salmon. However, when the warm chocolate cake and banana ice cream came out, they really played off each other: cold and hot together, smoke and fruit, sweet chocolate and bitter chocolate-coffee. Lovely.

Stone Smoked Porter
A rich, dark and delicious porter with chocolate and coffee overtones accented by a subtle smokiness from just the right amount of peat smoked malt. Unlike a rauchbier, the "smoke" in Stone Smoked Porter is an ELEMENT of the character rather than being THE character.
Nose of caramel, chocolate and smoke, light roast and coffee. Deep chocolate, close to black but not quite there, off white and dissipating head. Medium body, little light on the palate. Smokiness in the flavor very subdued, caramel and light chocolate are in the forefront, with light molasses, coffee, toast, and hints of dried fruit esters. Finishes on the sweet rather than dry end.. 3.7

Beer Week Part 6: Southern Style Dinner

...with some of my own beer pairings.


My friend Scott had a few of us over for some gourmet southern style cooking Sunday evening. I opted to bring a few beers over to try to pair some of them with the dishes. As I saw Oysters, Fried Chicken, and sprouts, I thought that Saison DuPont would be a pretty brilliant pairing with these. In addition, I brought a light, fruity amber over, Ommegang's Rare Vos, to pair with some of the richer items, including the biscuits and gravy, prawns, deviled eggs and the fennel, blood orange and kiwi salad.


Saison Dupont
Saison Dupont is a classic Belgian farmhouse ale. This is a beautifully balanced, complex beer that has a refreshing fruitiness and long, dry finish. It is bottled unfiltered so it may be cloudy or have a slight sediment but this is normal and perfectly natural.
Nose of bitter orange, clove, white pepper, and light grapefruit, biscuit, grain and bubblegum. Huge off-white head, deep straw color, quite hazy. Medium to large mouthfeel, due to very well carbonation. Flavors similar to nose, but more pears, apples and bubblegum, and slight earth. Finish is very bitter, dry and lingering. One of a kind. 4.6

The DuPont paired very well with the oysters. Most people will tell you stout with oysters, but I prefer this, it is almost like ginger with sushi, as it cleanses the palette quite well after the oyster, and the fruitiness and phenolics pair very well with the subtle, fishy and lemon flavors in the oyster.

The chicken was less successful, but good. This beer is probably better with roasted chicken, although the bitterness cut the light greasy aspect of the fried chicken well. The light spiciness and chicken flavor went really smooth. Something slightly richer would go well, maybe a English ESB?

The sprouts charred bitterness clashed with the DuPont a bit. They were almost too flavorful, something much more plainly bitter (a pilsner) or possibly even a malty amber would have proved better, lots of the subtlety of the saison was lost on this pairing.





and onto the vos
Ommengang Rare Vos
Belgian Amber Ale.Rare Vos is flemmish for "Sly Fox," and the name of one of Brussels’ great cafes. It has a sweetly fruity malt character and yeasty spiciness. A fine dose of yeast permits the beer to mature and mellow in the bottle.
Nose of toast, biscuit, light toffee and esters, pear, apple and light orange. Medium to light mouthfeel, mostly carbonation filling it. Flavors of biscuit, toast, light toffee, pears, apple, light white pepper and clove. Rather dry and light mouthfeel at the finish, more toast and biscuit than esters and phenols. 3.8

The vos paired well with the salad the best: the orange, kiwi and fennel worked so well with the esters and phenolics and light bitterness and toast in the Vos. The prawns a close runner up, as the spiciness and fish paired with the bitterness and phenols of the beer.

It paired less successfully with the deviled eggs and biscuits and gravy. The richness of these items may have done better with an IPA (deviled eggs) or a rich porter or stout (biscuits and mushroom gravy), something less delicate and more in contrast. Nonetheless, they were still all quite delicious.

SF Beer Week Part 5: Kellerbier and Stout Brulee

Saturday found me serving as designated driver to several wineries in Sonoma. Rainy, lightly cold and a rather winding adventure, the highlight of the day for me was being treated to a meal and a beer at Hopmonk Tavern in beautiful downtown Sebastopol. A mid sized tavern, the real treat seemed like summer days and evenings on the patio. Nonetheless, the meal was fantastic. I got the Hopmonk Kellerbier, an unfiltered Pilsner taken from the cellar before lagering, and the Ham and Cheese with Tomato Bisque soup. They paired quite well together, the savory ham and cheese with the creamy soup and rather sweet Kellerbier. They also had a Pale ale and Dunkelwizen on tap, along with a handful of local and exotic favorites. I'm assuming this is THE place to drink beer in Sebastopol.

Hopmonk Kellerbier
unfiltered Pilsner
Nose of toast, grain, light sweetness and apple. Hazy yellow to light gold in color, medium to light body. Biscuit, light malt, grain, light citrus hops. Medium finish. Lingeringly too sweet. 3.4


The main treat may have been a Stout Brulee featuring North Coast's Old 38 Stout. Crystalized sugar on top with a rich, chocolately and creamy pudding beneath, almost like cross between creme brulee and mousse.

SF Beer Week Part 4: Flanders and Chocolate and Barrels

Thursday began at City Beer, where we got there early to squeeze in for the Sour Beer and Bitter Chocolate night. For $25, we got drink tickets for 6 4 oz tastes of Flanders Style Sour Red ales and all the TCHO bitter chocolate we could handle. TCHO, a local Chocolatier dedicated to deliciously bitter and sustainable, free trade chocolate, had four of their offerings in shaved form there: "Nutty", "Chocolatey", "Fruity" and "Citrus". They weren't specifically paired with the sour red ales, but overall, the "nutty" one paired poorly and the "citrus" paired hands down the best, really playing off the cherry and sour-tart flavors in the beers. Most Importantly, I had the chance to finally try the infamous New Belgium La Folie, over a year old according to Craig. Most of the beer offerings in the lineup were that old, which was a good age to taste, and having all six in a row was a great way to compare, contrast and judge each of these beers. I had tasted two of them night before, after all. The supplication was the only one really out of the style range, as more of a fruit lambic in my opinion than a sour red due to the fermentation. And unfortunately only two were new to me, but I'll list them all here. The Dissident, upon additional review, was the standout here.

New Belgium La Folie
This is New Belgium Brewing's interpretation of a traditional Belgian Sour Brown. This unique beer has been peacefully aging in oaken barrels for several years.
Sharp nose of tart cherries, currants, lemon and light caramel. Body light to thin, orange to light amber in color. Strong cherries flavor, dried fruit, light toast, tart raspberries, very light toast and apple. Light to medium acidity. Incredibly dry finish, tart, very lingering. 4.4

Ommegang Grand Cru Rouge
Flanders Red ale aged for 18 months in oak.
Nose of cherries, malt, tart fruit, plums. Medium to dry mouthfeel, amber to mahogany in color. Very strong cherry, citrus, and light malt, toffee and toast. 3.9

Russian River Supplication
Brown ale aged in Pinot Noir wine barrels for one year with sour cherries, Brettanomyces yeast, and Lactobacillus & Pedicoccus bacteria.
Nose of barnyard, oak, cherries and light toffee and toast. Very light mouthfeel, light gold with ruby highlights. Flavor very sour, tart, honey, toast, fruit, pears. Very dry, puckering, lightly bitter finish. One of a kind sour. 4.4

Itchgems Grand Cru Rouge
Flemish Red ale aged in Oak Barrels
Nose of cherries, raspberries, light oak, toast and vanilla. Very light body, slightly hazy and amber in color. Definite a pucker. Pears, lemon, toffee, light oak, and strong cherry in the finish. Very dry, not so lingering though. 3.7

Rodenbach Grand Cru
Flemish Red ale aged in Oak Barrels
Intensely sour ale with a mild malty background. Nose of dark cherries, berries, plums, currants, wood, earth and definite barnyard. Mouthfeel is very puckering and acidic, slightly thin but still rich. Additional notes of caramel, oak, plums, chocolate. Has a slight vinous quality, and the tartness lasts past the finish. 3.9

Deschutes The Dissident
Fermented for more than 18 months in isolation from the rest of the beers, The Dissident is a distinctive Oud Bruin, Flanders-style brown ale, with a fruity aroma and flavor, the first wild yeast beer made by the award-winning Deschutes Brewery.
Powerful yet smooth sour brown ale. Nose is of dark cherries, raisins, figs, plums, toffee and chocolate. Medium bodied and mouth filling, with a tart and slightly tannic aspect to it. Flavors similar to the nose, but slightly more wood, earth and slight toast and caramel. Not overtly farmhouse or barnyard, the brett flavor is subdued, but the sourness and cherries pervade. 4.5



After the Flanders and Chocolates we made our way down to 21st Amendment where we tried out some 21A Strong Beer Month and Elysian Barrel Aged "Got Wood" offerings. I won't say I was blown away on any of the Oaked offerings, especially the 21A one, it seems like many may have been chipped for a short period. In any case, these were some rich, strong ales, and $4 got you a pretty damn full snifter. Also, it was awesome to see that more TCHO chocolate was in store in the 21A Imperial Chocolate Porter!

21A Hop Crisis on Oak
IIPA on Oak
Aroma of Grapefruit, vanilla, light toast and toffee. Light bodied, slightly thick, deep orange color. Orange, light toast, light toffee, biscuit and vanilla. Light bitter finish, somewhat acidic, not too lingering. A nice IIPA with notes of Oak, at 11.2 ABV alcohol well concealed. 4.1

21A 2005 Strong "Oaked"
Barleywine on Oak
Nose of oak, malt, strong currant, toffee, caramel and light apple. Medium to light body, slightly silky. Deep garnet with ruby highlights. Complex flavor, caramel, toast, chocolate, currants, cherries, light pear. Medium to thick finish and sweetness. 3.8

Elysian Bi-Frost
Winter Ale on Oak
Aromas of vanilla, toast, pear, lemon. Medium body, creamy, light orange hue. Strong flavors of grapefruit, orange, toast, pear, light vanilla. Medium finish, slightly slick. 3.6

Elysian Jack Frost
IIPA on Oak
Nose of orange, alcohol, slight toffee, toast, dried fruits. Light orange to deep gold hue, medium body with some viscosity to it. Orange, grapefruit are powerful in the flavor, slight toffee, currants. 3.7

21A Double Trippel
Belgian Imperial IPA.
Nose of pepper, earth, pine, light orange and lemon, toast, toffee. Medium to light body, light amber color. Flavor is overwhelmingly citrus, lemon and orange, with white pepper, banana, pear, earth, wood, pine flavors in there. Complex hop profile, backed by a light phenolic yeast profile. Medium finish, very smooth and not overtly bitter as expected. 3.9

21A Ripple Imperial Chocolate Porter
Made with TCHO chocolate
Nose of cocoa, roast, caramel, light dried fruits and molasses. Medium bodied, jet black. Flavor very similar to nose, more chocolate and roast, less caramel, slight apple ester to it. Medium to dry finish, medium bitterness but not lingering. 4.2