Rivertown Ojos Negros

Rivertown Ojos Negros

Brewer's Description: 

Unlike conventional ales and lagers which are fermented by carefully cultivated strains of brewers yeast, Ojos Negros is instead produced by exposing it to the wild yeasts and bacteria that are native to the Senne Valley, of Brussels Belgium. It is this unusual process involving over a year of fermentation, and over 130 pounds of Fresh Whole Blackberries which gives this beer its distinctive flavor: Semi sweet, vinous, fruity and cidery with a crisp tart aftertaste." According to one of the brewers, it is their Lambic (aged in oak wine barrels) with blackberries added.

I was very excited to grab a bottle of this from my midwest trading partner a year or so ago and have been waiting for the right time to crack it open... that time hadn't happened but after a long day of work I was in the mood for a something sour tonight so I decided no time like the present.  I've had Rivertown's Ville De Rivere Geuze before and even though I was not blown away I was intrigued enough to try more of their sour beer especially one with blackberries added !

My thoughts: 

Pours a slightly rosey copper color with a finger of eggshell foam. Nose is a nice mixture of fruit and funk. Dusty sour lemon, moldy hay, plum skin, musty wet barrel and blackberry juice. The palate follows the nose nicely and the balance of funk and fruit is seamless. Really enjoyable drinker with a juicy blackberry tartness up front that progresses into a musty basement, barnyard funk and lingering wet wood notes that dry out on the crisp finish. Only negative aspect of this beer is the very limited amount of carbonation.

Buy, Forage and Hoard or Pass By ?

Well, this one is another bottle not available in New England but is around in limited amounts throughout Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. If you are a sour beer fan and find yourself seeking out lesser known beers from unassuming breweries... then this is a perfect beer for you. I would highly recommend giving this one a try... and in hindsight I kind of wish I grabbed a second one to get a little dusty in my cellar !

Final Rating: 

AROMA 9/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 9/10   PALATE 4/5   OVERALL 17/20

Final Score:

4.3 out of 5

Bottle Share: Dinner Party turns into Rare Bottle Night !

Dinner Party turns into Rare Bottle Night !

So after spending a relaxing Sunday evening with some friends over in the east end, we decided it was time to have a little dinner party to kick off the summer season this weekend, which unofficially starts on Memorial Day, at least thats when the tourist start piling into town !

Things slowly escalated over the course of the week when I decided mac n' cheese and a fresh spring green salad would be on the menu and out came a list of bottles to be shared as well as the addition of a pie for dessert. I won't bore fellow foragers with pics of the meal but here is what shook out for bottles

on this tasty evening !

My thoughts on the evenings selections: 

Allagash Little Sal

(Lots of murky swamp juice on the nose, actually quite unappealing to me based on the nose alone, but the flavors are more complex and a lot more appealing with nice touches of lacto tartness, sweet blueberry fruit, earthy fruit stems and wet funky wood notes as well.)

Upland Blackberry

(Definitely one of the better Upland sours I have sipped, some just being acetic vinegar bombs but this being a fresh bottle from the fall it had plenty of ripe blackberry flavors and layers of old funky barrel character to balance out the focused acidity.)  

Hill Farmstead Mimosa

 (Needless to say I was super stoked to dive into this bottle for the first time, one of the few HFS bottles I had yet to try ! Overall its was a tasty beer, lots of vinous barrel complexity, great citrus character was surprisingly still apparent as I believe this bottle was released a couple years ago. It had a definite booze character that I wasn't expecting, similar to Peche n Brett from Logsdon, but then I noticed it was 10% and everything made sense. Was it mind blowing, not really but maybe when the next batch is released Ill get a chance to try this fresh, but either way if you see this bottle being opened at a tasting, grab a sip it certainly become quite the whale to find these days !)

Cantillon Fou Foune

     (This is by far my most coveted of all current Cantillon bottles in production. The balance of juicy apricot flavor and the sour dusty funk that Cantillon is well known for just work harmoniously in this beer. I've never been disappointed with a bottle of this and its probably one of the few Cantillons I could polish a bottle off of by myself. Not that Im selfish enough to do that with so many fellow foragers to share tasty bottles like this with !)

Side Project Brett Project Batch #1

 (Another super limited beer from Cory King, batch one was a saison base fermented with a single brettanomyces strain that was isolated from Cantillon by BKYeast and aged in wine barrels. It was definitely soft and light handed, I am assuming it was aged in chardonnay barrels as there was a definite creamy, toasted vanilla character that rounded out the very horseblanket forward palate with complexity of lemon peel and foggy minerality.)

Jolly Pumpkin Lupulo de Hielo

 (Another limited beer that was a special release for a Prostate Cancer fundraiser back in 2011. Very unique interesting beer with a tart golden sour base, lots of sour lemon, herbal grass, musky oak and a  round creamy mouthfeel.)

Oxbow E'toile de Maine

(This was certainly the biggest disappointment of the night. There lies a good amount of potential but as it stands on this night it was completely flat and uncarbonated with traces of buttery diacetyl apparent in the nose. The butter did fade off a touch and the underlying framework is there for the beer to condition up and become something quite tasty, but I was not to happy that I dumped $15 down the drain on something that probably shouldn't have been released into the public just yet. If you have bottles of this, keep them out of the fridge and let them sit in a part of your house that is around 70 degrees for a week or two and hopefully you will have better luck with it than we did !)

Brew Project

Brew Project.

So after doing a handful of extract only batches many years ago when I was back in college I have recently decided to revisit the buckets and see if my skills and understanding of the process can result in a better product.

Currently I am on my third batch of Pale Ales and have slowly gone from a partial grain batch to get things going to my most recent batch which was 9# grain and only 2# DME.

Im calling the beer 

Hop Rankin' 

Batch One (Citra)

Batch Two (Citra Pale w/ Amarillo Dry Hopping)

Batch Three (Simco)

I've overall been pretty impressed and inspired with the outcomes. Batch one fresh out of the gate was a CITRA bomb, so juicy and delicious. Batch two had a stale malt flavor that was a bit unappealing but the amarillo character was a pretty excellent balance to the juicy citra, adding a bit more resiny earth and bitter orange pith. I was pretty confident after consulting some professionals that the undesired flavors that were coming through in the second batch had a lot to do with the extract.  The whole brewing process is definitely a good education and it is also making my palate more mature as well as giving me great information about different hop varietals and the individual characters and attributes that they hold. 

My first brewing equipment upgrade was a wort chiller... after batch one took 4-6 hours of ice bath to cool down I splurged the $60 for this immersion chiller and it took the 

cool down time down to 20-30 minutes !

Batch two goes into the fermentor and yeast is added!

24 hours into the magic of fermentation !

After 7 days there was an Amarillo dry hop addition... then onto bottling Batch two seven days after dry hopping.

Always smells delicious during the transfer !

Today I bottled Batch three... All Simco with a much heavier partial mash and just a couple pounds of DME addition. 

Touch lighter in color already and hop profile seems pretty dialed in pre-carbonation !

  

A quick glimpse and overview of the project up till now. I will get more in depth about methods and outcomes in upcoming posts. May even brew up an all brett version in the next few days !

Lagunitas NightTime

Lagunitas NightTime

Brewer's Description: 

There are two kinds. There is the DayTime kind, which is bright and welcoming and then there is the NightTime kind, which should never be confused with the DayTime. NightTime is dark and deep and may take you to unexpected places, places that the DayTime cannot. But then, the NightTime is not suited for ordinary life and ordinary tasks. In fact, NightTime may be the answer for that sort of thing, meaning that those sorts of things may never get done. Things take time in the NightTime, things slow down and you can pause (you have to, actually) and investigate carefully to find that level of objective detachment that is only possible under the spell of the NightTime. Seek the Day, but fear not the Night.

So this may or not be common knowledge but I love Lagunitas Brewing Co. and am so grateful to have their beer available here in Maine ! Every time a new offering comes out from these guys I get excited to try it and this one has been sitting in my fridge for a week or two while I've been sipping through some of the fresh growlers of Hill Farmstead for the last week.
Tonight it was time to pop this Black IPA ! 

My Thoughts: 

Pours a deep dark caramel color with three fingers of eggshell foam. The nose is deep and mysterious with layers of tropical fruit, pine, some light roasted malt, hints of caramel, cocoa powder and some cola too. The palate follows the nose with huge layers of hop complexity, definitely tasting some citra in there. Skittles, guava, pine, coffee, caramel, cocoa, toasted pumpernickel. There is a nice soft roasted malt backbone that anchors all the crazy punchy hops... but the body is still light and refreshing the way a black ipa should be. This beer is fantastic !

Buy, Forage and Hoard or Pass By? 

Stop reading this review and do yourself a favor and go buy a couple bottles of this beer !

Its a hoppy beer so don't buy more than you will drink in the next month or so, but by all means seek this beer out... I got so sick of black IPA's a couple years ago when everyone was doing them but so many people were just making porters or stouts and adding a handful of hops into the mix... this is not one of those types, this is REAL black IPA ! 

Final Rating: 

 AROMA 8/10   APPEARANCE 5/5   TASTE 9/10   PALATE 5/5   OVERALL 17/20

Final Score:

4.4 out of 5

Bottle Share: Go Over the Hill to get to Bourbon County (May 17th, 2014)

"Go Over the Hill to get to Bourbon County"

(May 17th, 2014)

Another Saturday another get together with some fellow foragers to sip some delicious selections and share our thoughts on the subject of what else, Beer! Sometimes I wish I had a big barn for these Saturday bottle shares so each and everyone could make the tasting every week, but with the forecast being for rain we tried to keep it small and I hope none of my fellow foragers get disappointed when they see a tasting happen and they were not involved. Its never personal as to who gets the invite and who doesn't it just shakes out differently every time and now that rooftop deck season is back there will be some larger scale shares coming where everyone can get together for some epic megashares !  

Ok for some reason I felt I needed to get that off my chest... now onto last nights share.

The full line up:

Oxbow Freestyle #24

Toppling Goliath Golden Nugget

De Garde Imperial Hop Bu

Hill Farmstead Arthur '14

Hill Farmstead E. '14

Hill Farmstead Flora '13

Hill Farmstead Edith '13

Cigar City Brewers Brunch Stout

Revolution Bourbon Barreled Bean Gene

Olde Hickory Event Horizon

Goose Island Bourbon County Stout

Proprietors

Backyard Rye

Coffee '12

Coffee '13

BCS '11/'12/'13

  

So we don't always have a theme for bottle shares but the catalyst for this tasting was the BCS Proprietors landing on JBPortland's doorstep... he expressed that he wanted to sip it soon so the discussion started about what the rest of the fellow foragers had kicking around for Bourbon County variants and this is what we came up with !

My thoughts on the line up...

Proprietors 

(Really delicious coconut cream flavors were well integrated into the stout, not sure if it has "fallen off" like some folks are claiming but the level of coconut was quite perfect for my personal taste. It wasn't a punch you in the face coconut flavor but rather a well constructed dessert with just the right amounts of booze chocolate and creamy coconut... the mouthfeel was also enhanced by the addition as well !)

Backyard Rye

(I've had the pleasure of sipping this one a couple times and feel the berry flavors are becoming more integrated into the stout every time I drink it. Think about this beer as liquid version of a box of chocolates that are filled with gooey berry liquid.  Juicy raspberry, blackberry  & boysenberry flavors add a beautiful layer of juicy tang to the bourbon soaked stout flavors !)

Coffee '12 & '13

(I still stand by my original feeling about these two vintages, I find the 2012 release to be a smoother richer body that holds the coffee flavors in check with more balance and a chewier mouthfeel. The 2013 tasted better this time than prior experiences with it but the heavy earthy coffee roast on this vintage has turned me away in the past. This time it was softening a touch but the nose was still smack you in the face coffee without a doubt. I feel the body of 2013 base overall is thinner and it just opens the door for the coffee to play the predominate roll in the 2013 offering. )

Bourbon County Stout '11, '12 & '13

(Overall I would gladly drink any of these vintages again as they were all delicious and especially the 2012 has really come into its own with some time in the bottle. The '11 and '12 had similar body but I found the '12 to have a bit more complexity overall. Nice bourbon integration with chocolate sauce sweetness and soft vanilla, kola nut, burnt brownie... you know all those tasty bourbon aged stout characteristics. The '11 had a slight trace of a salty soy flavors appearing later in the palate that detracted a touch from the overall taste in my opinion. Now for the '13, which I still find delicious, but no doubt it is a slightly thinner body than past years offerings. That being said its a bit more crushable for that very fact and there is less chewy chocolate flavors and much more bourbon soaked kola flavors... its soft and velvet mouthfeel, Yum !)

When discussing the line up for this weeks share we decided we also needed some crushable beers to counteract the boozy stout syndrome for the evening... Hill Farmstead seemed to be an approachable option and I offered up the Flora to sip when a recent batch of E. was offered into the mix. Round out that with some of the most recent batch of Arthur and a surprise appearance by Edith and we had a good base for the evening as the sun broke through the clouds and heated things up the crushability factor was high for each one of these selections !

Arthur '14 

(Wow, this is drinking amazing from the get go ! Nice and quenching with a beautiful level of tartness that simply focuses the beer and brings it to another level that not many other saisons will ever go ! Forage this while its on the shelf at Hill Farmstead and thank me later ! )

E. '14

(Such a treat to drink this beer again, the last batch I had was a year or two in the cellar and was a delicious beer but fresh E. seems to be how this beer was intended to be crushed. Soooo much juicy Galaxy hop presence; dank pineapple musk, barnyard funk, rustic grain... all the layers just come together and punch you in the mouth while giving you a shoulder rub all at the same time ! Must find MORE !) 

Flora '13

(I love this beer and was happy to share my last bottle with a few folks that haven't had the opportunity to try it before ! After all thats the whole reason for having a cellar anyhow right... ? The soft morning dew approach this beer has is amazing because the flavors just sneak up on you and make you close your eyes and smile. Soft tropical fruit, floral rustic wheat,  fizzy soft minerality, with hints of a barnyard on the horizon as the fog lifts with the morning sun... yes Flora will turn even the most close minded taster into a poet !)

Edith

(Another classic Hill beer, love the complexity of this unassuming dark saison. Tons of layers of dark cherry vinous fruit, rustic tobacco and black tea, rose petals, tar, burnt toast, cranberry tartness and roasted dark malts all come together beautifully in this beer !)

Overall it was an outstanding tasting and am super stoked to have tried many of these selections.

The notable drain pour in the line up needs to be called out:

Cigar City Brewers Brunch Stout

(This was probably the most disappointed I have ever been with a Cigar City beer, especially seeing as it was a stout and I don't think I've ever had a subpar stout offering from them.  This one was just weird... supposedly a coffee sweet stout but the overall predominate flavor I perceived was straight up sweet bubblegum. Yes there was some chocolate and coffee nuances underneath but straight sweet bubblegum with a thin body... pure drainpour !)

Up on the Hill....

Up on the Hill... Foraged Haul.

So another successful journey to Hill Farmstead was had. I got the itch when I saw that they were releasing Arthur by the case. Its a personal favorite of mine and for the price its probably the best beer for the buck that I have come across. The major bonus factor was when I checked the rest of the retail offerings and found a handful of other delicious bottles to be had. The stars aligned and the moon was full so I was off on the seven hour round trip over the the hills of western Maine through the white mountains of New Hampshire and finally along the meandering dirt road to the final destination of Hill Farmstead.  I love this brewery, the John Deere tractor, the rolling farmland, the anticipation of everyone in line to finally have a restock of delicious beer to share with friends and family.  

Oh and did I mention the fact that the beer is delicious !

The final haul:

12btl Arthur 750ml

1btl Arthur 1.5L

4btl Everett

1btl BA Everett

2btl Madness & Civilization #2

2L Excursions

2L Abner

2L Single Hop Amarillo

1btl Bourbon Barrel Maple Syrup Amber

Ahhh. Sipping some of the Excursions #1 as I recall the journey and write this blog post... I actually met a fellow forager in line at the Hill and he is in Portland on business from Minnesota. I offered to  give him a bunch of packing material this afternoon so he can ship his haul home and he is coming over later to sip some Civil Disobedience and Harlan with me. After posting this Ill be sifting through the cellar looking for some Maine goodies to share.

Looks like I was not the only forager awakened by the full moon in the horizon, almost ran into this amazing creature en route through Crawford Notch !
Big thanks once again to the Hill family and all the awesome employees that make every trip a great experience.

Omnipollo Stillwater Premium Remix

Omnipollo Stillwater Premium Remix

Brewer's Description: 

While harnessing the subtle splendor that is Stillwater, for this remix of Premium I have called on and abundance of Amarillo hops. The aim is to bring you on an exhibition through the jungle. - Henok (Omnipollo, Sweden)

After drinking many bottles of the original Stillwater Premium over the last couple years I was pretty excited to see a Omnipollo (Sweden) Remix version of this beer brewed at Westbrook hit the interwebs a few months back. After a month or two of realizing Maine wasn't going to be seeing any of this I foraged a bottle this past weekend off the shelves at Julio's down in Massachusetts !

My thoughts: 

Pours a hazy pale yellow golden color with a huge pillowy gaseous white foam. Nose is some soft tropical fruit, barnyard brett, peppery yeast, orange zest, bubblegum and some subtle rustic graininess. Palate follows the nose nicely with a beautiful balance between brett funk, light refreshing grain and complex hop flavors. Dank citrus, grapefruit, cedar, pine, horseblanket, dusty hay, pepper, earthy yeast and a long bitter quality that draws out with the finish nicely !

Buy, Forage & Hoard or Pass By?

Well as I said above... this one didn't make the shelves in Maine but if you are out and about in Massachusetts I'd say keep you eyes out for this bottle. Great warm weather beer that is very drinkable yet highly complex with flavors. If your a Brett freak, forage hard for this one !

Final Rating: 

  AROMA 9/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 9/10   PALATE 5/5   OVERALL 15/20

Final Score:

4.2 out of 5

Hill Farmstead Elaborative # 2

Hill Farmstead Elaborative # 2

Brewer's Description: 

Elaborative Two was brewed September 2012 with our friends Brad Clark and Ryan Burke. We crafted this farmstead ale with pumpkins grown by Ben’s Pumpkins. The beer was aged in a variety of wine barrels — as well as a barrel from Virtue Cider in Michigan — with wild yeast and bacteria. After a year, the unique threads were blended together and conditioned in the bottle.

So yes Im a huge Hill Farmstead fan... but I can confidently say I have never had a beer from this brewery that wasn't worth every dollar I spent on it. This one was no different !

My thoughts: 

Pours a deep golden almost copper color with a finger plus of sticky eggshell foam. Lots of interesting layers of rustic grain, vinous wet wood funk, black tea and lemon. To simplify the flavors it taste like a arnold palmer... lots of earthy tea qualities assuming from the barrels as well as the pumpkin addition with nice tart lemon notes. The barrel funk adds beautiful complexity to this mix and the palate is a bit round and fuller than a typical hill saison but the carbonation level is perfect. Im really digging this beer from beginning to end. Delicious !

Buy, Forage & Hoard or Pass By?

Ok well lets be honest... if you didn't make the trek to the hills of Greensboro, VT for the release of this beer than you simply couldn't buy it. But there may be some bottles still lurking around in the cellars of fellow foragers and hoarders... some of those people may have no idea just how good this "pumpkin" beer is.
Try to forage this one with all your might, and if you disagree...
send me a message and Ill make you an very fair offer for your bottle !

Final Rating: 

AROMA 8/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 9/10   PALATE 5/5   OVERALL 18/20

Final Score:

4.4 out of 5

Three Floyds Rabbid Rabbit Saison

Three Floyds Rabbid Rabbit Saison

Brewer's Description: 

Smooth and elegant, light body, creamy mouthfeel, light spicing from coriander and orange peel give a wonderfully malty/spicy sweet ale. Big alcohol lurking underneath a light and frothy exterior.

So after yesterdays huge disappointment I figured Id pull out another Three Floyds saison from the cellar. I also received this as an extra from a midwest trading partner as he knew I am addicted to saisons and will basically try anything labeled as such to continue my lifelong obsession with this 

beer style ! 

My thoughts: 

Pours a medium gold with a touch of haze and three fingers of tight bubbled white foam. Nose is earthy yeast, white pepper, musty straw and a hint of banana and some bubblegum sweetness. The palate is round and pretty doughy with a full mouthfeel. Flavors match the nose nicely with balance of rustic grain, yeast esters and some light belgian style spice. Rides the line between wit and saison with a subtle lack of carbonation that keeps it heavier on the palate for my preference.

Buy, Forage & Hoard or Pass By ?

Welp, I finished the bottle with dinner but overall it is not the best representation of style. If your a huge Three Floyds fan and must try all their beer  or are like me and feel the urge to try every saison that crosses their path... then forage away, but honestly I wouldn't bother wasting FedEx's time or your hard earned cash for this one !

Final Rating: 

AROMA 7/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 8/10   PALATE 3/5   OVERALL 12/20

Final Score:

3.4 out of 5

Three Floyds / De Molen Zes Zes Zes

Three Floyds / De Molen Zes Zes Zes

(front and back view with a quick photoshop job)

Brewer's Description: 

Now this is a saison! This refreshing Belgian-style ale is the combined effort of Three Floyds and De Molen’s fantastic brewer Menno (the real Dutch Hercules). This spicy and bracing ale was brewed in Munster, but look out for the one we brew in Holland at DeMolen. Cheers and drost!

So I was weeding the garden plot getting ready for another year of planting with the warmth of the sun beating on my neck and the feel of soil under my fingers, my mind started to wander about my favorite of all beer styles... the one they call Farmhouse, the one they call Saison ! 

As I returned home I opened the fridge to find I already had 6 different saisons chilling in the fridge... this one was up front and just so happened to be sent as an extra from a recent trade I did with a forager from Chicago.

My thoughts:

Hmmmm. Was skeptical about this one as I wouldn’t associate either of these breweries with the saison style but that was part of the allure as well as the hieroymus bosch meets robert crumb like label. Anyway lets start talking about the actual beer... pours a medium copper color with three fingers of sticky khaki foam. The nose is more of a barleywine... cornpop cereal, butterscotch, taffy and copper pennies. Hmmm. WTF, this has to be full of diacetyl infection after looking at other reviews there is no way I could pick anything close to traditional saison flavors... and it seems some people actually did get a saison in this bottle... butterscotch, copper pennies. Drainpour Alert !!!!!

Buy, Forage & Hoard or Pass By ?

Damn... I say if you see this beer put on the table at a bottle share drop your glass and run away ! A definite "Pass By" but if you are unfortunate enough to have a bottle of this lurking in your cellar Id be curious if they have all become infected of based on some other ratings is my bottle a complete fluke ?

Final Rating:

 AROMA 1/10   APPEARANCE 1/5   TASTE 1/10   PALATE 1/5   OVERALL 1/20

Final Score

0.5 out of 5

Agree, Disagree... Leave your comments below !

Bottle Share: the Spring Thaw (april 26th, 2014)

"the Spring Thaw"

(april 26th, 2014)

So its become a somewhat regular occurrence to have a weekend bottle share with a various array of beer folk who are as interested in trying and finding new brews from around the globe as myself.

This week it was shaping up to just be a trio of the regular portland crew them being myself, jbportland (RB) & n8dagr8  (BA) ! 

This was the result:

A pretty spectacular line up, I threw out the base for the tasting saying I was going to crack the Hommage, Bzart Lambiek and Beersel Mattina and the others came loaded with amazing 

selections as well.

Full line up from left to right:

Crooked Stave Waelzblood 

Crooked Stave Batch #60

Bzart Lambiek

Cantillon Vigernone

Cantillon Saint Lamvinus

Oude Quetsche Tilquin a' l'Ancienne

3 Fonteinen Hommage

Birrificio del Ducato Beersel Mattina

Side Project the Origin 

Sante Adairius Ron Chavez

Jackie O's Barrel Oil of Aphrodite w/ Coffee

Alchemist Beelzebub

Almanac Farmers Reserve Pluot

Blue Lobster Pisctaquaweisse

the West Coast vs. East Coast Pluot Challenge!

(no clear winner, both unique and delicious in their own way.)

Overall everything was outstanding, a couple let downs but that is the way these things always end up! Sometimes that bottle you jumped through hoops and let go of some serious dough or great local beer for ends up being a let down. Welcome to the world of foraging ! 

Toppling Goliath psuedoSue

Toppling Goliath psuedoSue

Fresh growler pour !

(actual bottle label)

Brewer's Description: 

This single hop ale showcases the Citra hop. Named for the largest T-rex fossil ever discovered, she roars with ferocious aromas of grapefruit, citrus, mango and evergreen. Delicate in body with a mild bite in the finish.

So I was very excited to try anything from Toppling Goliath as they have been a hot commodity over the past 6 months or so... and being from Iowa means its pretty hard to get. Up until just recently they have kept all their beer in state but just  now started distributing to Wisconsin as well. Having no friends or acquaintances in that area made it a difficult score as most people that have access to it have been holding out for ridiculous trade offers and Im not one to go all in on a new hyped brewery. That all changed when one of my regular trading partners texted me from Ohio saying he was en route to Toppling Goliath and was willing to pick me up anything I wanted, beer karma at its best!

Ok enough of how I got this beer... on to what I think of it !

My Thoughts: 

Pours a medium golden color with two fingers of sticky eggshell foam. Nose is a big burst of citrus, valencia orange some sweet tropical fruits and a hint of scallion and sticky pine. Palate follow with a big juicy hop profile lots of sweet tropical fruit bordering on sticky but the bitter orange peel and grass notes clean up the finish nicely !

64oz Growler $15

Buy, Forage & Hoard or Pass By ?

I say forage away... never hoard a hoppy beer ! If you find someone that is willing to trade you some fresh hop juice from this brewery, I would urge you to get it done. I would gladly trade some Heady Topper, Maine Beer Co., or Tree House Brewing growlers for this stuff. They also brew some highly rated stouts like Kentucky Brunch and Assassin. I've heard the stouts are on the sweeter side but still another couple bottles I have yet to forage in the endless wormhole known as beer releases.

Final Rating: 

AROMA 8/10   APPEARANCE 4/5   TASTE 9/10   PALATE 4/5   OVERALL 16/20
Final Score:
4.1 out of 5 

Agree, Disagree... Leave your comments below !

Some 2014 Bottle Shares so far...

Some memorable line ups from the 2014 bottle shares so far...

A tasty little line up from this past January... 

Hi lights: 

Side Project Saison du Blue

Struise Rio Reserve

Blue Lobster/ Prairie Little Lobster on the Prairie

Low lights:

Westbrook Rhubarb Remix

Three Floyds SoBro

Hi lights:

Jolly Pumpkin / Nøgne Ø / Stone Collababeire Holiday Ale 

Night Shift Cape Codder Weisse

Captain Lawrence Smoke from the Oak Apple Brandy Barrel Aged

Low lights:

Southern Tier Grand Arbor

Agullons Setembre

A winters day sharing beer and wine with some good friends up in Appleton, Maine !

Bourbon County Tasting with a few other goodies !

Hi lights:

BCS Rare

BCS Bramble

BCS Coffee 2012

BCS Backyard

Low lights:

BCS Cherry 

BCS Coffee 2013
Big John

Hi lights:

Side Project Saison du Fermier

Forest & Main Marius Peach

Cascade Apricot

Baladin Xauyo GOLD

Birrificio del Ducato Vielle Ville

Birrificio del Ducato Chrysopolis

Low lights:

Upland Kiwi 2010

Three Floyds Baller Stout

Westbrook Funky Old Time

Hi Lights:

3 Fonteinen Herfst

3 Fonteinen St. Valentijn

Goose Island Gillian

Perennial BA 17

Oxbow Synthesis

Hair of the Dog Pannepooch Reserva

Low lights:

Rogue Voodoo Donut

  Founders Sweet Repute 

Hi lights:

Hill Farmstead Beyond Good & Evil

Hill Farmstead Double Citra

Grassroots Wheat is the New Hops

Low lights:

Evil Twin / Sante Adairius Joey Pepper 

Hi lights:

Side Project Brett Venture #1

Cigar City Illuminating the Path

Cigar City Good Gourd Almighty

Stone Southern Chard

Jackie O's Slim Pickins

Low lights:

Pipeworks Coffee Break Abduction

Bruery 4 Calling Birds

A little mid week tasting of some new American sours and random brews with Sleepy Dave !

Some Hauls from 2013...

Sometimes when the foraging is just so good you can't seem to stop ...

Some of the early Crooked Stave releases back when 750mls were cool !

More Crooked Stave goodies from the Wild Wild Brett series and a beer I just needed for the label... Trinity Old Growth Ale with truffula trees !

Allagash House Beer first batch... with some Fluxus 2012 and Confluence 2012 !

A Hil Farmstead trip... assuming this was from one of the festivals as I usually get more than this when I make the trip, but this was when limits started being applied.

Fresh Russian River Pliny the Elder & Blind Pig with some Consecration and a Deschutes the Dissident as an extra !

A little box from the Midwest as well as some local shelf foraging including a trip down to NH.

A box of goodies from Colorado including some Funkwerks, Crooked Stave, New Belgium and a heap of wicked extras ! 

A day of porch drops from out west and down in Florida as well as some local brewery and bottle shop foraging !

Back when Blue Lobster had a competent brewer and a owner with a successful business plan... ahhh those were the days !

This haul is called support your local farmhouse brewery ! Oxbow Haul... Im glad they ran out of those swingtops finally, those things were alway scary to mail out to friends !

Dr. Owl drops a porch bomb from Florida !

Jstax drops some serious heat from Jackie O's and other local midwest goodies... with a Texas extra of Freetail Barrel Aged Yo Soy Un Berliner !

Special delivery from Oklahoma !

Hill Farmstead bottle release journey with some hoppy goodness to stick the fridge for a week or so !

Some Westbrook festival leftovers hit the shelves and a box of California goodies arrived... Sante Adairius Saison Bernice Batch #2 and Bright Sea Blonde as well as 

Almanac Farmer's Reserve Batch 3 & 4 !

Yet an other Colorado shipment of Funkwerks and Crooked Stave !

Some New Glarus selections from Wisconsin...

Funkwerks !

Crooked Stave Bomb !

Epic Vermont haul was had this day... I didn't even post it all it was so embarrassing to try to fit on the table !

Nice selection of Midwest selections along with a few Mikkeller extras !

California box arrives on the same day 12% imports delivers to Maine !

Hill Farmstead debauchery part I can't keep count...

Sexy lineup... Flora Satsuma, Flora, Bourbon Damon & Double Barrel Damon.

I was nervous about this box of whales sent to me from Philly.

Upland Blueberry Lambic 2010, Kiwi 2010, Sour Reserve #03 / Goose Island King Henry / 

3 Fonteinen Armand Herfst

Ohio selections from Fatheads, Rivertown and Hoppin Frog !

Some St. Louis selection that I acquired by wagering some beer on the Red Sox world series... I think we all know who won that one !

Westbrook porch wrecker !

Yet another Colorado box of WICKED selections... gotta love my rocky mountain connection !

A whirlwind of boxes arrived from Ohio and Oklahoma !

Ill say it one more time... support your local BREWERY !

(as long as they make good beer )

Allagash, Oxbow, Smuttynose and Blue Lobster.