The twelfth anniversary continues this grand tradition. There’s nothing like coming home after a long day of work, in horrendous heat and humidity and being excited to pour a 9.2% stout brewed with oats and bitter chocolate. So exciting I drank this just below room temp, so about 60 degrees. It pours a deep midnight black with one of the darkest heads I have ever seen. Huge aroma of cocoa. At first you taste nothing but big cocoa with some sweet malt. Then the hops creep in to play with the dry dust cocoa flavors and then about five minutes later you notice how hot this beer is.

I’m horribly sensitive to fusel alcohols. Rubbing alcohol, nail polish remover if it’s there at all I notice it and it drives me crazy and distracts me from whatever merits a particular brew might have. One of the major accusations thrown at Stone is that their beer are in addition to being wildly unbalanced (some say undrinkable) that they are horribly fusel. I’ve never really had a problem with this from any of their beers and I think I know why now. All of the qualifiers in the name of the Twelfth anniversary are there to distract you from what the beer is actually about. This beer is a paean to the flavor alcohol itself. It’s pretty clean but it is very present in the nose and the flavor of this beer. You aren’t overwhelmed by the smell of nail polish remover but this beer almost smells like a glass of spirits. Truly unique and I’m extremely curious where this beer is going in years to come. Buy a case and drink a few now and then forget about ‘em in five years. When you decide to remember about them give me a call and we’ll crack open a few more.

PS- They do make a hell of a session beer.

I figured a nice tart low ABV brew like the Bayerischer would be the perfect way to ease into the day, and indeed it was. It poured a cloudy pale pale yellow with a light foamy white head which had some serious staying power. The nose was grapey and yeasty, almost like a crisp champagne, with hints of sourness and sweetness. Flavor was mellow mellow mellow; there was some citrus up front and some subtly complex tartness and it felt somewhat astringent. Definitely a refresher and one of the few beers I think I could drink a case of in this summer heat. I don’t have much experience with the Berliner Weiss style but I’d love to check out some more if anyone has an recommendations.

Continuing my Southern Tier kick, I chose to sample their just released Imperial Cherry Saison next. This one poured copper with a nice off-white head. I got a cocktail of fruit on the nose, dominated by cherry and banana, with some subtle spice, but nothing overwhelming. Nice balanced saison flavor without either the oak or the cherry coming on too strong, or very strong at all for that matter. Not too sweet, not too sour, not to spicy, just right for a saison, but not really as crisp or refreshing as i would have liked on such a hot day. A little stronger sour cherry profile might have helped cut the heaviness of the 8% ABV somewhat. I’m going to give it another shot when the heat is less oppressive to see what it does for me.

Our arrival coincided with a show being held at The Montague Bookmill, which is up a flight of stairs from The Lady Killgrew Cafe, where we had heard they pulled some nice pints. We were super psyched to see this Imperial IPA from Southern Tier on a small but impressive tap list and both ordered one to take up to the show. Southern Tier brews some seriously huge beers and this one is no exception. It poured rust red and rather thick into the huge snifters it was being served in and it had a nice and light half-inch head. You could smell it before you even got it near your face and once you had your nose in the bowl it was enough to make your eyes water. Fruit, hops, and alcohol all came on strong, and the insane hop additions really came through in the flavor as well. It’s certainly robust and really highlights how these modern hop bomb beers are not just one note brews but can really bring a lot of complexity to the table with their intricately structured hop profiles. There was fruity citrus and resinous pine as well as a nice balance between the hops’ bitterness and subtle spice. The malt backed things up nicely and helped keep the 11% ABV from being too overt.

We always have great beer when we come up here (looking forward to grabbing a few People’s Pint bombers tomorrow) and it was nice to see one of my favorite New York brewer’s beers on tap. It was also so effective in making me forget the pain being seated for hours had caused me that I proceeded to sit through the entire show while drinking it.