Blue Mountain Dark Hollow Imperial Stout

Dark Hollow Imperial Stout is a delightful bourbon-barrel aged Imperial Stout. The bourbon is light. The base is a nice balance of sweet dark malts and hop bitterness.

FYI: Blue Mountain changed the name from Artisanal Ale to Imperial Stout.

BeerAdvocate

Rating = (at least) 45 glasses. Previous rating.  

Collective Arts + Aslin Collective Project No. 13

Collective Project No. 13 is a collaboration between Collective Arts and Aslin. It is a big hazy New England Double IPA. The notes on the can say, "Notes: Collaboration of Collective Arts Brewing and Aslin Beer Company. DIPA with Strata, Zappa and Comet." It is a great representation of the style. Nice tropical fruits, pineapple and tangerine, some sweetness, and a titch of acidic bitterness. I am not a big fan of New England IPAs. This one is an exception.

Rating = 5 glasses.

Great Lakes Blackout Stout

Blackout Stout is a fantastic Imperial Stout. It mergers chocolate, coffee, and sweet dark malts with hop bitterness. It is perfect to sip with or as dessert.  Back in 2005 and 2007, the raters at BeerAdvocate rated it as one of the top 100 beer on the Planet. Now it is the 97th highest rated Imperial Stout. 

Rating = (at least) 5 glasses.

Green Flash IPA?

I ordered a glass of Green Flash "IPA" tonight @ Kuba Kuba Dos. When I looked for it on BeerAdvocate, I discovered that Green Flash does not sell "IPA". It sells West Coast IPA, Soul Style IPA, Jibe Session IPA, and many other versions of IPA. The confusion gives me another reason to be averse to restaurants that don't publish a beer menu. I think that it was Soul Style IPA. It was a far cry from what I remember as the Imperial IPA.

The beer resembled an ordinary English IPA. Some hops, some malt, but nothing to compel me to go, "Wow".

Rating = 2 glasses.

Spaten Münchner Hell

Münchner Hell is a Helles lager sold as Spaten Premium Lager in the USA. Eh! It is Ok but nothing great. Perhaps a good summer lawnmower beer. As Rachel Ray would say, "Its wet and its cold.

BeerAdvocate

Rating = 1 glass

Spaten Oktoberfestbier Ur-Märzen

Festbier v. Märzen

02 Oct. 2020

After drinking this and Weihenstephaner I have decided that Spaten is a titch too heavy and lacks complexity. Rating of 4 glasses is perfect.

23 Sept. 2020

Oktoberfestbier Ur-Märzen is a delightful Oktoberfest. Easy, easy drinking. A nice example of what folks in Munich are drinking as I write. Spaten is one of six official brewers at Oktoberfest.

I like it better than the raters @ BeerAdvocate.

Rating = (at least) 4 glasses.

Ayinger Oktober Fest-Märzen

Festbier v. Märzen

Oktober Fest-Märzen is a delightful Oktoberfest. Easy drinking AND flavorful. Toasty + subtle hop bite.

BeerAdvocate loves it. It is the 4th highest rated Oktoberfest and "Outstanding".

Rating = 5 glasses. This is an upgrade from my previous review.

Firestone Walker + The Wild Beer Company Violet Underground

"The Rainbow Project paired seven UK and US breweries with one of seven colors of the rainbow, creating the theme of the brew. We drew violet. What followed was left to the imaginative and creative spirit among the collaborators. Violet Underground represents a partnership between The Wild Beer Co. and Firestone Walker Brewing Co. A cuvée was born from Somerset Wild, a newly minted Golden and Sunrise Raspberry ale, and Barrelwork’s blending warhouse, Cowbell. Proprietary yeast from both sides of the Atlantic, fresh local California fruit and French candied violet petals went into the cauldron. The resulting potion is bursting with ripe fresh fruit, a hint of violet petals and anchored by a funky yeast foundation. A quenching acidity and lively carbonation rounds out the collaboration. A santé!"

Violet Underground is a well crafted Wild Ale. It has a puckering nose. The taste is not as intense as the smell. The taste combines subdued tartness with fruit flavors and even the sweet pedal flavors from the violets.

BeerAdvocate

Rating = 4 glasses.

Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Barleywine Ale

 

BCB Barleywine is a BIG beer. The notes say that Goose Island ages it in bourbon barrels previously used to age BCB Stout. This aging imparts faint hints chocolate and coffee from the stout in addition to vanilla and bourbon from the barrels. The result is a complex explosion of flavors. It was a great complement to salted caramel chocolate cake from Shyndigz that I ate in celebration of the birth of a grandchild. I had taught that evening and ate and drank in solitude. COVID prevented visits to the hospital and my wife had gone to sleep well before I arrived to help her watch children of the new mother.

An accurate rating is difficult. I drank the beer 12 days ago and it is COMPLEX. I am going to go with 5 glasses. It might be 6 glasses. Beeradvocate rates as the 2nd highest English barleywine and 97th overall. I understand why the rating is so high. The beer wonderfully crafted and interesting. I want more. 

I am not sure that bourbon-barrel aging is a good complement for barleywine but this beer is the best version I have tasted. I want to try it again and would like to see how a little less bourbon affects the flavor.

Rating = 5 glasses.

Spaten Optimator

2 Jan. 2021

My first review in the new year. I am drinking the 5th bottle in the six-pack. The beer continues not to impress. Too much malt flavor. I am downgrading the rating. I wonder if the problem is the beer or the style.

Beer Advocate.

Rating = 3 glasses

05 Oct. 2020

Nice caramel malt. Rating of 4 glasses is perfect.

13 Sept. 2020

Opimator is a fine doppelbock. It features caramel malts. I picked up a six pack in a case sold in Cosco. I remember it being a favorite and it failed to meet my expectations. It needs more humph and complexity.

Rating = 4 glasses.