Ahem.
I'm well aware of how incredibly lazy I've been. No posts through the entirety of December, and I'm a week late on my endoftheyear list. Whatevah.
The restrictions on this list being that I tried it as some point this year, be it at a festival, tasting, bottle or tap. Most of these will most likely be bottles, presented in no specific order (other than this is the order I thought of them)
Without further adieu . . .
Life and limb -
10%, sierra nevada/ dogfishhead
This unassuming beautiful dark ale really caught me by surprise. It was a gift from a firend of mine. At first, I didnt really read much about it, but he had only told me it was put out last year and sold out before he could get more. I hadnt even remembered it being on shelves. Turns out they more than tripled this batch, giving me time to buy another one for the cellar. Dark fruits, a crazy drinkable mouth, and a beautiful woody sweetnss from the maple/birch syrups and wood aging. Complex layers of subtlty making you return to the glass, trying to figure out whatll pop out more next. A comnundrum of a beer I kept talking about and thinking about long after I drank it.
Firestone walker
parabola
12.5
One of the real sought after biggins in its 2nd year of production, with the classic firestone notes of toasted coconut, bitter baking chocolate, espresso, and hints of tobacco, with huge dark fruits. Its all over and rather cohesive, all in one. It touches on everything I personally have come to love in big stouts, and this’ll be one ill be picking up for years to come. Having had one of these makes me glad I’ve still got a couple more stashed away.
Coronado barrelaged barleywine
11%
I first had this at Tonys Darts away on tap at their release party for the beer. You can read all about that by scrolling down a bit. Anyway, I’ve recently had it out of the botle, and man has it evolved. Significantly more wood and vanilla coming out of it. Lush textures. I immediately decided id be picking up another for a later occasion. A wonderuflly put together beer. I’m quite excited to see what other big offerings these guys will come out with in the future.
Kern river brewing
Citra
Single hop Double ipa
AND
Stone/blabla.blablalba
Japanese green tea ipa
8% and 7%, respectively
These were both similar and yet distinctly beautful in their own ways. I'm grouping them together because I happen to associate them together in my mind on account of 1) I had them within relatively close period of time of one another and 2) they both had a rather distinctly dried apricot flavor to them. The citra moreso from the hops, the greentea ipa from a combonation of the hops and tea tha emphisized this particular standout note. Both beautifully crafted. Stone put out quite a few collaborations this year, this was definitely one of the best (and for charity, no less!). If they were to rebrew a collab, I'd push hard for this.
As for Citra, I feel this is one of Kerns best beers. It absolutely blows my mind all the flavors one can achieve with a single hop (dried apricot, mango, pine. *drool*). Beautifully crafted, well put together, the best single hop beer ive had all year.
Dogfishhead
Burton baton
10
This dipa/old ale is a perfect blend of wood aging, hoppy and huge malt that makes so much sense, I tend to wonder why this isnt its own, more widely produced style. 2012 will see this out into regular production, instead of the former bi-yearly schedule it was originally on. Hallafuckinglujah. I go back to this one as often as I can. It sells out often, and not too surprisingly, either.
Schmaltz
Genesis 15:15
Barrel aged barleywine with fig, pomegranate, dates and grapes added.
13.4%abv
I had this on tap at Mohawk Bend in Hollywood. GoodfuckingGod that I dont believe in, this is good. I honestly didn’t taste too much of the noted various fruit ingredients, with the exception of the fig. Dark fruits, bit of chocolate, vanilla, wood. Wonderfully rounded, beautifully complex. Not too sweet, either. I let this warm to nearly room temp (the willpower that took me a bit), and really, I cant really find a single complaint about this. I’ve yet to try this out the bottle, as im cellaring the very few that I could pick up. If this isn’t in your top for the year as well, you either haven’t had it or are probably drinking a budlight right now.
Stone
El camino un real black ale
(2010 vintage)
A friend of mine split this one with me (thanks Adam). He apparently bought up practically every one of these that existed in the valley. This has aged exceptionally well, with pronounced notes of fig, fennel, peppercorn, smoke, and more bloody figs. A huge treat, really captures the idea of more ‘foodie’ ingredients in beers that’ve been popping up rather often as of recent.
(also, there was word from a stone employee I'm acquainted with that said they were given virgin oak aged quingenti millilitre bottles of this for xmas. *envy*/*drool*)
Dogfish head
bitches brew
9%
(2010 vintage)
Yet another one that I had been sitting on for a while. The chocolate and depth of flavor really comes through with a fair amount of time put on it. They say that honey almost entirely ferments out of it, but I can still taste it in what I’d say was nearly every sip. Truly deserving of the ‘like a milkshake’ comparison that I personally feel is thrown around a bit too much when it comes to stouts. Yet another wonderful blend from the DFH crew.
New Belgium
Lips of Faith Clutch
9%
I’m apparently really into blends this year. This 80/20 stout/ sour was a personal favorite of the occasionally hit-or-miss series of Lips of Faith. Call me a wuss, but finishing a bomber of something as sour as Consecration or Red Poppy sounds like a bit of a daunting task for me. This, however, wasn’t nearly the insane tartness that I had expected as with many of the more popular sours out there. The tart finish was backed by a smooth chocolate and heft that carried it through to a smooth finish.
Stone 15th anniversary escondidian imperial black ipa
I’ve already expounded my love for all things black dipa (and, for fucks sake, not CDA) in a past vid. I’ll just say that If you’ve had this, you know what I’m talking about. Horay vagueness!
Avery Brewing.
Samael
Oak aged barleywine.
16.230498203498 or whatever
Fuck. Forgive me for leaning toward the ‘wood aged’ and ‘big beer’ catagories, but this is well worth mentioning. It’s really hard to pass this sucker up. I feel like its pretty essential to understand the oldschool style of old ales (and original brewing methods of storing ales in wood), along with the huge, crazy newschool brewing practices that avery does so well.
(as a side note, this years Meph didn’t impress me too much whilst fresh. Samael blew me away. Aging a few of both, highly recommended you do the same)
North Coast Old Stock Ale
11.9%abv
Old ale
This has really become my go-to for quite some time now. I’ve been going back to this one practially any time I see it on the shelf, and have a 4-packs worth callaring as I type this. It’s truly a very deep, beautiful beer. Huge, yet reasonably affordable at 10$/4-pack.
Notes of black cherry become more prominant as it warms up. It's quite hard to stop at one, but I've been known to milk a single bottle for over an hour.
Dogfish head world wide stout
Somewhere between 15 and 18%
On tap at library alehouse
Again, something I’ve featured rather prominantly on here, but the mention of which is well worth repeating. This is an amazing, huge stout I’ll be seeking out whenever I can. Really wish this appeared more often on the west coast. Bit of a shame, really. It’s the whole gamut of huge stout flavors: chocolate, roast, soysauce, tobacco, balsamic, bla bla bla. Just amazing.
Let me know if you agree, or think im dead wrong, or think im a joke, or want to tell me a joke.
Maybe this isn't the most varied list, but it's mine.
Cheers and horns up and stuff.
