A trip to the Wine Warehouse

I bought the beers below from Wine Warehouse in Charlottesville, VA. The place has a really great selection and I usually spend too much money when I’m up there. The Dogfish Head slection is especially good. The also have Celis beers, which I found really odd the first time I saw them, since Celis has been out of business for years. I have a soft spot for that brewery because Celis White was one of the first beers my wife liked and that brewery was big in Austin when we were living there. Not to mention that Pierre Celis was the brewmaster. Apparently, the name was bought by these guys and they’ve started brewing it again. Anyway, onto the (brief) comments about the beers.

Dogfish Head Black and Blue — cracked this one open at the very end of a long night. I was really afraid that it would be sickly sweet, but as with the Red and White, the sweetness was muted. It was a nice beer, but I didn’t like it nearly as much as the Red and White. 10% ABV
Bell’s Third Coast Old Ale — another real winner from Bell’s. It’s a thick, dark old ale that balances the malty, caramel sweetness very well with the alcohol and (muted) hops. It’s a very dark, almost opaque brown/red body and a tan, thick head. I’m very glad I bought a six-pack of this (actually a seven pack by mistake since I put one in a mixed six). Apparently “old ale” also means barleywine, which I learned while looking for information on this beer. I had an Expedition Stout as well — fantastic as always. 9% ABV
Thirsty Dog Hoppus Maximus — this one didn’t make much of an impression on me. Grassy, astringent hop flavor which felt kind of thin. I expected a huge IPA-type beer (even though it’s an Amber Ale), but it was fairly run-of-the-mill. Maybe the name set my expectations too high, but I wasn’t overly impressed. 5% ABV
Abbaye des Rocs Triple Imperiale — I was trying to find the brown ale, but settled on the triple. I’ve never seen so many yeasty floaters in a beer before. The color is a much darker brown/amber than I expected with a creamy head that doesn’t really linger. It has a medium to full mouthfeel (maybe oily?), with roasted caramel. Some BA folks said figs and molasses tastes to it — I was trying to place the flavor and I think that’s it. I like it, but the yeast floaters are extremely disconcerting (it is filled with them!). 10% ABV
Celis Grand Cru — I had never seen this one before, so I figured it was worth a try. I tasted a bit of banana and spicy clove in this one. It poured a straw/gold color and had a white, bubly head. It was good — I’m glad I got to try it, but I wouldn’t seek it out. 8% ABV

And finally, I had this beer out at a restaurant in Charlottesville…
Smuttynose IPA — Extremely hoppy and good. Nice, solid very good IPA. 6.6% ABV.

Some quick tasting notes

Brooklyn Local 1: — This beer is kind of mysterious in that it doesn’t explicitly say what the style is on the bottle. I had to look online to see that it was a Belgian style blond ale. Of course, after tasting it, it’s pretty obvious. The color is gold with a hazy orange tint and the head faded somewhat quickly without much lacing. It has a candy sugar, alcoholy taste up front and moves into a slightly spicy dry finish. Someone on Rate Beer said it has a pear taste throughout — I would buy that, although I can’t quite pinpoint if that was what I was tasting. It really is a delicious beer; I’m definitely going to seek it out again. 9% ABV. 750 ml bought at The Good Beer Store. The Brooklyn website is a bit of a flash mess. Here’s an alternate link.

Avery Anniversary Ale Fourteen — Another somewhat mysterious beer if you’re just looking at the label. Here’s an excerpt:

Here is yet another quirky brew: a very dark and different, dry-hopped ale. Stye? hard to say, you decide. Just expect massive molasses maltiness, limitless fruits on the nose and an imposing floral & zesty dry-hop finish.

The smell on this one is really crazy — I don’t think I’ve ever smelled a beer with such a singular hop aroma. No alcohol or malt mixed in; just hops. It’s like sticking your nose in a hop bag. The strange thing is, the hops don’t dominate the flavor.  It’s a nicely balanced, complex beer with smoky malts and hints of chocolate. The beer pours a very dark brown with a strong tan head, which sticks around.  Definitely another winner.  9.46% ABV.

I also tasted the Great Divide Hot Shot ESB, but that was after the first two, so uh, my tasting notes are incomplete. I’ve been trying to explore ESBs a little bit more lately because I feel like I’ve neglected them. I’ll try this one again soon (I have five more) and write some proper notes.

Maibock at Carolina Brewery

I haven’t been trying too many crazy things lately — instead, I’ve been sticking to some old standbys. I did go to Carolina Brewery today for lunch and tried their new Maibock. It’s really quite tasty and refreshing. After the Maibock, I tried the Flagship IPA again — I feel like the contrast between the two really brought out the hops in the IPA, which was a great thing. As has been the case lately, the food was awesome too (quesadillas for me; enchiladas for the the wife). Last week I took another stab at the Dogfish Head Red & White. I half expected to find that I didn’t like it as much as I thought, but it really is a treat — a hint of dry, red wine flavor, but still very beer-like. Very interesting all around. The two beers I’ve been drinking regularly have been Tupper’s Hop Pocket Ale and Red Hook ESB. The Hop Pocket is really crisp and refreshing, not to mention very hoppy (natch). When we used to live in DC, I tended to stay away from it only because I thought it was a not-that-great Old Dominion beer, but I was really glad once I tried it. I actually like the Pilsner even better — it may be my favorite pilsner — but that’s a little harder to find. I need to make a note, though, that the Hop Pockets are both great for as everyday beers and very easy to drink on the porch. It has probably been ten years since I drank the Red Hook ESB (not sure why that is, I generally enjoy Red Hook stuff), although I’m glad I picked some up. I don’t have any real tasting notes for it, but it’s pleasant enough and again it’s an easy drinking porch beer.