Samuel Adams – Third Voyage *

 Beer Reviews  No Responses »
Nov 252011
 

After the first of two “beers from Boston area breweries that I did not know existed until seeing them on the shelves” posted on Tuesday, I now need to increase that number.  Since I did not know this one existed there was no way I would have expected there to be three more in the Small Batch Series that they recently released.  So you can guess what beers the next three reviews will be for.

The first of four new ones . . .

Brewery: Boston Beer Company (Boston, MA)

Name: Third Voyage

Style: Imperial IPA

ABV: 8.00% (on bottle)

Tasting Notes: Stored in the fridge and served in an oversized wine glass.  Batch No. 1

Aroma: Big, enjoyable hop aroma with strong notes of pine and some floral with a touch of earthy spiciness.  A nice bit of caramel maltiness.  Bold and quite nice overall. – 9/12

Appearance: Really deep, rich coppery amber color.  One finger plus cream color head that frothy and creamy, has great retention, and leaves tones of lacing on the glass.  Very clear with rising bubbles visible.  – 3/3

Flavor: Big hit of piney, resiny hops up front with a good base of slightly sweet caramel maltiness.  Has an earthy and spicy quality from middle to finish.  A pretty good overall balance after such a big aroma.  Finishes pretty smoothly with some pleasant lingering bitterness on the palate. – 14/20

Mouthfeel: Medium in body with a moderate level of carbonation.  Fairly smooth and a bit creamy on the palate.  Maybe some slight astringency and warmth there as well. – 4/5

Overall Impressions: The aroma trumps the flavor in this one though the flavor is not bad either.  The flavors balance out really well as it warms and I grew to really enjoy the finish.  A solid beer that I would not mind having more of.  Has a really nice balance of hop flavors and aromas.  Probably could have argued for an extra point or two somewhere.  – 7/10

Overall: B+ (37/50)

6400023213 806525fb4b Samuel Adams Third Voyage *

Samuel Adams - Third Voyage

 Posted by Lucas at 11:00 am  Tagged with: , , ,

Looking Back – Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti

 Looking Back  No Responses »
Oct 132011
 

When the concept for this week of posts was floating around in my brain I believe it was a result of thinking of this beer.  With all of the reviews that I have done over the time I have done this site I know that this is the only beer that has received an A+ using any of my grading systems.

Lately I have realized that I am not often in the mood to drink big stouts like this but I don’t know that means that I would like this beer much less.  I think that since the review was done so early on that the complexity of the beer blew my mind.  It makes sense for me to go back sometime soon and revisit this one to see if my palate still gives it such a high mark.

Click on the photo below to see why I thought it was so go way back then . . .

3774873175 fdacfaabff Looking Back Great Divide Oak Aged Yeti

 Posted by Lucas at 10:00 am  Tagged with: , , ,

Southern Tier Brewing Co – Oak Aged Unearthly *

 Beer Reviews  No Responses »
Sep 232011
 

Just now am I looking back on the review I did of (plain old) Unearthly a long time ago.  Granted it was done under one of the older grading systems I have used, but I was a little surprised to see that I was even thinking of leaning toward the Bs on that one.  That surprise really comes after finding out how much I really enjoyed this oak aged version of the beer.  Also, unless I was way off somehow in my information in that review I am surprised at home different the ABV is in this one.  Though maybe that is part of why I enjoyed it more.

Another good one from them . . .

Brewery: Southern Tier Brewing Company (Lakewood, NY)

Name: Oak Aged Unearthly

Style: Wood-Aged Beer (via an Imperial IPA)

ABV: 9.90% (on bottle)

Tasting Notes: Stored in the fridge and pulled slightly early to warm some before being served in a snifter.

Aroma: A full, well balanced aroma of citrusy, slightly piney hop notes with a strong underlying malty sweetness.  There is also a bit of wood character floating on top that got stronger the more I went back to inhale the aroma. – 10.5/12

Appearance: Bold copper in color.  One finger cream color head that holds pretty well and leaves some solid lacing on the glass.  Pretty clear with a bit of haze and some rising bubbles visible. – 3/3

Flavor: Good fruity hop flavor (bit of citrus) up front with a sweet caramelly malt character after that which is as full as the hop flavors.  A slightly earthy oak character from middle to finish with a bit of resiny bitterness that shows up late.  It finishes very smoothly with the flavors lingering for a while after. – 18/20

Mouthfeel: Medium body with a moderate to low level of carbonation.  Really smooth and has a bit of creaminess on the palate as well. – 4.5/5

Overall Impressions: It is such a good idea to let the one warm up and open up some.  The profile of the wood is just enough and well balanced in to the point where that flavor takes this beer to a notch higher.  Really nice beer overall with really well balanced components.  Some warmth does come through, but not too much.  It is good to have really good beers from STBC at the great prices that I find them at. – 9/10

Overall: A (45/50)

6166199538 f4caf79010 Southern Tier Brewing Co Oak Aged Unearthly *

Southern Tier Brewing Co - Oak Aged Unearthly

 Posted by Lucas at 11:00 am  Tagged with: , , ,
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