Three Floyds, Two Brothers and an Old Dominion in a Pear Tree.

This is one of those posts that... isn't so much written as gathered.  Normally I find a brewery, have as many samples as I can stomach and really get into their guttyworks.  Sometimes that is not possible to do.  Sometimes I'm in a hurry to get to the next city.  Sometimes I happen upon a random beer in a random bar that I don't know what to do with.
So what follows is sort of a collection.  By themselves, I don't feel they have enough meat to equal a full post.  So they've been mashed together.  We have a couple of beers from 3floyds, a couple from Old Dominion and something from Two Brothers thrown in for good measure.

3Floyds:
I managed to get my hands on some Gumballhead from this brewery a little while back and I've been stalking this weird Indiana Brewery ever since.

Zombie Dust: In the bars and taverns of Indiana this is a beer spoken with a certain reverence usually reserved for a Deity of some kind or another.  It's one of those beer that is a challenge to even taste since it has a tendency to fly off the shelf the minute it arrives.  Luckily, I know some people.  Well one person, but he is a fellow traveler and a good human.  If you are reading Patrick, thanks again. 
Anyway I picked up a lot of fruity malt on the top of this beer in the form of pear, berry and light citrus.  This serves a a base for an impressive hop bill that brings a lot of citrus along with some spicy, floral hops.  Worthy of the hype?  Not sure.  But for a heavily hopped beer, I really enjoyed it.

Alpha King:  Flagship beer of 3Floyds.  I loved the citrusy floral aroma on this beer. These qualities are well-balanced with the malt and the result is a nice, drinkable beer with a lot of flavor and a little kick.

Two Brothers

Domaine DuPage: This beer is described by the brewery as a 'French Country Ale'.  I picked up a touch of hops on the aroma.  It's got a medium body with a light toasty sweetness right before a slightly bitter, herbal finish.  Nice beer, but nothing much to set it apart from every other amber ale.

Old Dominion: Another brewery from the surprisingly beer-fueled state of Delaware that I managed to find just outside of D.C.

Pale Ale: I picked up some spicy hops on the aroma from this beer.  Definitely a hoppy beer, but it has enough flavor to hold against the pure back-of-the-throat bitterness.  I picked up a lot of spice and pine on the flavor.  It finishes quite dry but without that lingering hop character.

Oak Barrel Stout: There was a very light sweet fruit aroma on this beer.  I picked up a lot of wood on the flavor along with some leather and a touch of caramel sweetness.  This beer was harder to pin down because the flavor is truly complex and the flavor hits hard and almost disappears. 

Pure Louisiana: Abita Brewing

I've talked about them before.  Okay, I've talked about them once when I managed to spirit away a bottle of their special Marti Gras brew.   But given my semi periodic trips to the Crescent city, it's kind of surprising that I hadn't talked about Abita brewing at any length. Well I'm gonna now.  It's happening...
yep...
any moment now...

Here's the deal.  Abita is to the South as Boulevard is to the Midwest or New Belgium is to the West or what Sam Adams is to... well the entire freaking country.  You find it out and around and for good reason, it's pretty good.

Like the breweries mentioned above, they have a flagship beer that is the go-to for most microbrew lovers in the area.  The Abita Amber is a fairly typical, slightly malty light amber ale in the same spirit as a Fat Tire.  It's got some mild roasted, nutty notes with just a hint of hops in the back that makes for a decent beer to sink in large quantities.  Best of all, it's available at just about any bar in Louisiana and elsewhere in the South.   That being said, I had the chance to track down some of their other beers during my last visit and this is what I came up with.

Jockamo IPA: The quasi-masochistic hop-heads from the Pacific Northwest would probably make farty sounds towards this IPA.  It doesn't come at you with that intense bitter flavor that is associated with the style.  It's aroma actually has some fruit notes alongside the tell-tale citrus.  There is some spicy, citrus hops but they kind of float on a tide of heavy, fruity malt sweetness.  It's a little out of sorts for the style, but a pleasant beer anyway.

Purple Haze: Raspberry beer and pretty decidedly so.  Lots of sweet fruit on the aroma and even more packed into the flavor.  A little too much for my tastes.

Hop Gator: The bartender at Lagers Taproom didn't know what kind of beer this was.  BeerAdvocate even seems to fumble over itself when it comes time to classify this.  It starts off with a very, very light spicy aroma.  The flavor reminded me much more of a pepper beer then anything else.  The green chili is especially pronounced at first, but it slowly melds into a more herbal hoppy finish.

SOS: This is a beer brewed to help the continuing cleaning efforts on the gulf coast (yes... they are still at it.  Thank you BP, good work).  A sweet, fruity pear flavor dominates this beer right off the top.  The finish is a little on the dry side with the hops adding a woody, pine flavor.  The two different flavor profiles actually clash rather nicely in this beer.

Andygator: Finishing with a specialty brew.  This is a helles dopplebock with a very light roasted aroma.  It's a big-bodied smooth beer that has some light, sweet toasted flavors that leads to a very drinkable beer.  What it's really doing, however, is skillfully hiding the upwards of 8% alcohol.  It's one of those beers that can be classified as dangerous.  You can drink a lot, yes you can.  And you can wake up with an imprint of the bathroom floor on the side of your face.  That's how they do things in Louisiana... so I am told.

Bottle Beer Tour #6: It's Fuggin Cold, Drink Beer.

 It is Mid-February here in Nebraska and, right now, the weather is doing it's best to make the joint uninhabitable.  It's the time of the year when a dip above thirty-two degrees is cause for running outside naked in sheer celebration of the fact that your bits won't turn blue and fall off.   It is the time of the year to sit inside and drink beer until it becomes warm enough to... well... I guess go outside and drink beer.

 It's also been a slow travel season for me.  On the upside, no white-knuckling it over some God-forsaken mountain pass.  On the downside, no weird brews to talk about.   So it's time, once again, to break open the beer fridge and root around inside for some goodies.

 
Victory Brewery, Hop Wallop: This has an absolutely wonderful
 orange blossom honey aroma to it.  Those flavors translate slightly into the flavor profile.   It kind of sits in the background while a massive herbal hop bill takes center stage.  Nice blend of flavors.  Given the nice sweet orange honey flavor I could be persuaded that fewer hops could be better, but a nice beer all around.

 Choc Beer, Last Laugh:  American White ale from Oklahoma
light banana lemon aroma.  The fruity esters are more pronounced in the flavor with that lemony flavor lingering in the background.  Clean and refreshing beer.




 New Holland, The Poet:  Deep charcoal, woody aroma on this oatmeal stout.  The aroma suggest that it might be on the bitter side, but it really isn't.  Not quite sweet either, just a nice full-bodied mellow beer with woody coffee notes.  An excellent beer for the winter months.

Three Floyds, Gumball Head: There is a light fruity citrus aroma on this eccentric wheat beer.  The flavor is hoppy.... but it's not.  The first thing you get in the flavor is a flash of citrus, floral hops and, just as you are waiting for the dry, herbal bitterness that should probably follow... it just blends away into this nice, slightly sour, bread and rye malt flavor.  I imagine it as a really good beer to use as a practical joke for a die-hard IPA fan as their beloved bitter hops remain just barely out of reach.

Canned Beer Tour: That's right. I said it.

It has been said that good beer doesn't come in cans.  It didn't come in cans, at least.  Things have changed a bit.
I've said before, I'm a fan of this and my conviction is only growing.  For the first time I've managed to assemble a few of the old 'oil can' in my Sanctuary (or where I get drunk in front of my computer) and sampled a few canned beers gathered from both hither and yon.

Ska Brewing, Mole Stout: Pretty much as advertised.  The aroma has a nice dark chocolate note to it with just a hint of pepper.  The flavor is just wonderful.  Sweet dark chocolate and coffee notes dominate with some woody, herbal flavors and just the slightest hint of black pepper.  This is one of those beers that just stands out.  Once you have this beer, I'm convinced that if I were handed this in some blind taste test some day, I'd be able to pick it out.

Sun King Brewing, Osirus:  The aroma on this pale ale is subtle, spicy, citrusy and kinda sweet.  The flavor has a lot of those same qualities flowing through it.  It's sweet, citrusy with a spice that kind of lingers with the bitterness into the aftertaste.

Sun King Brewing, Wee-Mac: Scottish style ale with a slight woody cherry aroma.  The beer has quite a bit of body with just flashes of flavor.  I pick up a hint of cherry a hint of wood and a hint of bitterness before they kind of fade into a light roasted flavor.  

 Santa Fe Brewing: Saison 88: I like the sweet, floral slightly citrus fruity aroma on this a lot.  The flavor is lighter, but not without a lot of nuances.  There's just a hint of sour along with the floral qualities.  That sort of melds into a nice malty, citrusy finish.  Light on the palate with a fizzy mouthfeel.  Nice session beer with a little extra kick.