Notes on beers in the style
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2023 variant. Mulberries, boysenberries, marionberries. I've never been a BCBS guy. Not at the beginning and not in the years since. What tends to happen is that I never buy any of them around the release, but rather pick up one or two in any given...
OK, here we go with the CostCo special! bottled Summer 2025, Lot D. I saw this and at first was mildly excited that it might be a Fuller's Vintage Ale clone. As it is, I'm not much interested in the style of beer represented here, BUT I'll try...
Westbrook's Mexican Cake was a beer that made me fall in love with a beer that I didn't want to like, or at least I wasn't pre-disposed to like. It took me a while to warm to it, but once I got there I've loved it ever since, without really...
2024 Barrel-Aged. Elijah Craig 10-12 Bourbon barrels. Just not the kind of beer I drink much these days, in fact, if ever. The pour is a classic one. Jet black pour, viscous look, modest mocha head with half decent lace for the ABV. I mean the...
Packaged 10/31/2023. I've never been a fan of barrel-aged beers period, even from the very beginning. I remember tasting some of the earliest BCBS which I guess was around 2002 and thinking, "Why would I want a beer to taste like bourbon?" Nothing...
2021 Vintage: 20.2% ABV. Pale gold waxed and capped. I have to be honest, I did not check the ABV before cracking this beer, and had I been paying attention I probably would not have opened it under the circumstances that I did. (I had assumed it...
I'm not a huge fan of BCBS beers in general. I enjoy, on average, less than one per year I guess, and that includes all of the regular releases and the variants. This year, for once reason or another, I've had probably 2 or 3, and in quite a short...
2023 Release, drink by 27 AUG 28. $26.99. Jet black, oily pour with some very light (also oily) legs. An aggressive pour fails to yield any significant head. Even some light mocha splashes as a result of agitation are gone quickly. Nose isn't much...
In general terms and under most circumstances, I have zero interest in anything that Evil Twin does (this is the first beer I have ever reviewed from them). Silly, hyped, canned beer, in 'styles' that usually hold no interest for me, they are not a...
12 oz bottle. Packaged on 4/21/22. Confession up front. I love The Abyss, but I generally I dislike stouts that have been infused with unnecessary things such as coconut. Where that leaves us here I have no idea ... yet. Pour is exactly as I would...
2021. Drink by 09 AUG 26. I've always been almost 100% indifferent to every Bourbon County variant since the beginning. Having said that, if I see a bottle that I haven't tried, AND its a reasonable (often meaning markdown) price, then I'll give it...
10 oz pour, Deer Park, Fort Wayne, IN, USA. Small mocha colored head that fades to a ring. Jet black body, modest head. Light mocha ring that persists. Alcohol is there but is pretty smooth. Nose appropriately a sweet, boozy vanilla. Tastes are...
I have a pretty complicated relationship with Westbrook. Having met Ed Westbrook via a mutual acquaintance in a garage in Charleston, SC just prior to him opening Westbrook Brewing Co. back in 2010 (ish), I have a soft spot for the brewery. I also...
2019 CBS - at least that’s how it’s advertised. I don’t think CBS was ever the 12.3% printed on the beer menu, so there’s an element of doubt here. Anyway, not that important TBH. Poured with a head that could be better. Yes this is a 11+% beer,...
As far as I can ascertain this is just The Abyss in sherry barrels - or at least that's what's advertised. Should be right up my alley. Let's see. Capped and black waxed as usual, but the bottled on date is not decipherable. "2019 Reserve" adorns...
Dark chestnut approaching black pour, with a great looking mocha head. Surprisingly rich looking head (and good lace and retention) for such a massive ABV. Also surprisingly, the beer gives up mostly chocolate on the nose. As it opens up with...
If the truth be known, I’ve been influenced by Westbrook’s Mexican Cake - a lot. I really love that beer, and as a result, a special release of something (probably) not dissimilar is likely to get my attention. 11th Anniversary did. Whenever I see...
12 oz can, $7.48 as a single from Belmont Beverage, Lima Road, Fort Wayne, IN. I would NEVER have bought this beer before I moved to the Midwest. Now that I’m so much closer to Chicago, I read more and more about this beer, so I saw it as a single,...
2021 Vintage. Approx. $55 for the bottle. Ouch. Jet black pour - of course - head can be created with an aggressive pour. It’s tan. Nose is pretty solvent like. The legs on the beer are great, and obviously a function of the ABV but they are wine...
So I looked to see how many notes that I had for BCBS over the years and I see only these from 2006. Has it really been that long? Was this close to the first year of BCBS? I suspect the answers are, "Well, yes", and "Almost". Full disclosure. I'm...
12.7 fl oz bottle from Tavour. I believe it was $21.99. It’s not a very attractive pour. Now, you can say, “Well, what were you expecting?”, and there would be some validity to your criticize of my comment , but that doesn’t make my statement any...
Side Project #29. The pour offers a nice, two-finger head followed by a thin ring of foam on the outer extremities, a little lace, and a proverbial jet black body in the ATL Spring sun. Aroma is a dark chocolate one rather than a milk chocolate...
Westbrook Brewing 5th Anniversary, Raspberry Imperial Stout Simple concept here. Imperial Stout with Raspberries, Vanilla and Cocoa Nibs. The two latter elements are a well-trodden path, the former is something that interests me, as do Westbrook...
22 oz bottle. Very sweet and smokey. Bourbon low key and nicely put together. Reminds me a LOT of their Breakout Stout and to the extent that I wonder if that is the base beer for this. VERY smooth, and not because of the bourbon, rather because of...
22 oz bottle, their 3rd Anniversary Chocolate Orange Stout. Typical, oily viscous pour. Head is impressive and bold. Nose offers the standard roast alcohol and not much else. I cannot pick up much orange per we, but what I do get it a burned...
12 oz Jet black, beautifully retained brown head. Some lace. Huge without being heavy. Rich, the beer has a presence that is really noticeable. Smooth with light roast notes and some creamy bitterness. Deep and meaningful. Alcohol both present and...
Two separate, approx. (what looked liked) 10-12 oz pours (in undersize Duvel glasses) at The Lodge, Hilton Head Island, SC. I had heard a little about Mexican Cake but would never have sought it out as such. Anyway, strolling into The Lodge at 4.00...
Updated notes Original notes 03/06/2013 The back story to me acquiring this beer is interesting. When it first came out, I was still very active on beeradvocate. At the time, I remember doing my usual, 'this is bullshit' type rant about limited...
Before purchasing the Beer Camp 12 pack, I was pretty sure that the beer that I would like least would be this one. It turned out that it was the one that I enjoyed the most, and by quite some distance. It should be noted that is not a commentary...
If truth be known I have a bit of a soft spot for Mother Earth. The reason is simple. Although I don't pretend to know Josh Brewer (the Brewer) at all well, I did have the privilege of meeting with him a few years ago shortly after he had opened...
22 oz bottle from Grapes Of Mirth, Columbus, OH, USA that was purchased in the first quarter of 2010 before the store closed. Must be a least two years old, maybe a little more. Green cap, so from 'Batch 3'. Jet black pour (obviously), with what...
$10.99 from Arbor Place Beverage for the 750 mL, (plastic, yuck!) corked, (crappily) caged bottle, that was next to impossible to open as the cheap, shitty cage wire just about disintegrated in my fingers, and fight with the hideous, plastic cork...
12.7 fl oz corked and caged bottle. Vintage 2011, dot-matrixed on the neck. Even though this beer is in no way supposed to be highly carbonated, the lack of pop on a corked & caged Port/Lost Abbey beer always has me slightly concerned. The pour...
Jet black pour with a really dark, coffee colored head. Nose and tastes deliver a large amount of smoke, but the beer lacks the meaty, solid quality of many smoked beers and in that respect feels a little light. Tobacco features with some leathery...
22oz bottle from Brawley's, Charlotte, NC, USA. Light foil on the neck of the bottle. New Holland is one of the few brewers that get to NC but not to GA, so I generally pick up something from them every time I'm up in NC. Inky black pour with a...
2011 vintage, as a gift from Mike at Duckworth's. Most generous, many thanks. 22 oz bottle with some really thick gold wax on top. Ding and the wax go to battle for a few minutes before I manage to prise the cap off. Wax seal like affair has 2011...
I believe that the latest batch of Siren Noire (late 2010/early2011) came out a few weeks ago, but this review is from a bottle that is just over 12 months old. 22 oz presentation in the usual, Heavy Seas Mutiny series bottle. I have been generally...
750mL corked & caged bottle. Quite a pop on opening, and an inky black pour. The beer is seriously black with a very small head and little retention. What head there is has a tan color. The nose offers a light but intense roast. Tastes are very...
12 oz bottle with red wax on the neck. Brewed 23/11/09 and bottled on 08/01/10 - already 9 months old. Bottle # 1159. $8.99 from Hop City, Atlanta, GA, USA. The beer pours as one would expect. Jet black body with a tan head that produces a little...
Sampled at Leon's Decatur for the "Terrapin Takeover" on 8/12/10. I went to this event specifically for this and Big Sloppy Monster, neither of which I had tried before. Rumor had it that this was a '06 version but at the time there was no way to...
Another example of how strangely one can get to taste these beers that are highly sought after without even trying. I got to get a decent taste of this at a recent BA gathering in Charleston, but given the size of the pour, and the number of other...
22 oz bottle purchased on a recent trip to NY. Pour is a very standard, jet black with a little ring of mocha lace that settles around the edges of beer, plus a thin film over most of the surface of the beer. Some decent alcohol legs on the side of...
Second time I have had this beer, this time on tap at Taco Mac, Douglasvile, GA, USA. Approx. 11 oz pour. Other review (with more notes) for reference, here; http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/3818/43687/?ba=Ding The beer does have a slightly...
12 oz single from Hop City, Atlanta, GA. Had this one on the fridge for a few weeks. Jet black body with a few brown colors at the extremities. The body sets itself up with a very thin, wispy mocha film. A few legs and a little lace drips down the...
750mL corked & caged affair from Green's on Ponce, Atlanta, GA, USA. Pour is a jet black pour with a khaki colored, fine-bubbled head that forms with a pretty good definition. Nose and tastes definitely have some decent dark fruits, a touch of...
$9.99 Arbor Place Beverage, Douglasville, GA, USA. Impressive pop from the unusually shaped bottle that is corked & caged. Some gun-smoke. Presentation is classy, including the label. Pour is definitely intense-black with a large head at first...
I've had this three times in the last couple of weeks at the Taco Mac on the East West Connector, Austell, GA, USA. Pour is the standard, close to black affair with virtually no head other than a thin film of mocha foam. Mouthfeel seems a little...
22oz silk-screened bottle. Winter 2008 bottling. Pour is as expected with a deep, black body and some nice, frothy, mocha colored head. Not a great deal of lace but considering the ABV not an issue. Brown highlights. Nose is surprisingly muted and...
22 oz bomber. Having read a few reviews and considered the beer myself, I got a touch nervous about the combination of chocolate and oak. Frankly, these elements have the potential to be fighting one another in the tastes and this could be a...
22 oz bottle from Charleston Beer Exchange, Charleston, SC, USA. $8.99. A blend (or at least some mixture) of the Jahva and the Choklat. Black, stout like body with a nice mocha head, decent retention and some lace. Ruby red highlights at the...
Had this a couple of weeks ago on draft at The Brick Store, Decatur, GA, USA but this review is a follow-up with a 650 mL bottle. This one is partially poured into the 22 oz Terrapin snifter, the perfect glass for this type of brew. Jet black pour...
Pretty interesting experience this one. Had a couple of bottles of it, one shared at The Brick Store with a few of the guys, and one consumed on my own (BIG mistake). $14.95 from Bowling Green, KY, USA. (Plastic) corked and caged, 375 mL bottle....
22 oz bomber as part of a trade. I've been hanging on to this one for a while - time to give it a whirl. Pour is get black with no light penetrating it. Little lace, but a tan film and collar soon appears. Not quite as viscous as the initial color...
22oz bomber from Green's on Buford, Atlanta, GA, USA. VERY strange. I did not do any research on this before I opened it so I didn't not know what Lagunitas had put together for the latest Zappa release. The pour was essentially dark brown with...
11.2 oz bottle, batch 011 best before 12/12/09 apparently hand written on the label. Nice touch. $10.99 from Arbor Place Beverage, Douglasville, GA, USA. Having had at least one beer from BrewDog that I thought was very poor, I was very reluctant...
Well, it's certainly an extraordinary beer and I like it - quite a lot! 22 oz bomber shared with a few of the usual suspects down at The Brick Store, Decatur, GA, USA. I like to share when I can, and this seemed like the PERFECT beer (22 oz of pure...
Mmm....very interesting stuff here, for more than one reason. This turned up in GA a few weeks ago and the bottle I am drinking right now is the second time I've tried it. The first time I had it I was pretty unimpressed, but this time it's much...
I bought three bottles of this when it first hit the GA shelves a few months ago, just getting around to opening one this evening. 22 oz bottle, $6.99 across the board in Atlanta, GA, USA. The Weyerbacher anniversary series has a mixed reputation....
2014 Vintage 11/09/25 (pictured) So, this is now 11 years old, and it shows, but not in a bad way. As I intimated below it's so good to get back to 22 oz bottles - this really, really matters. The 2014 Vintage at this age is smoooooth. Still...
Thanks go out to Robert for providing these samples at a recent Brick Store tasting. 22oz bottle. I've got to say right off the bat, that a beer at nearly 13% ABV kind of puts me off right from the beginning. Coupled with such a potentially...
Oh dear. Relatively new addition to the Atlanta market, luckily for me I didn't buy one, rather Dave popped a research bottle at The Brick Store this past Friday afternoon. Small bottle (11.2 oz perhaps), Grolsch flip top presentation with an ABV...
Thanks to Rustydiamond, via mikesgroove, for the chance to have a crack at this one. 64 oz growler. Attractive design on the glass. Pour shows a great, jet black pour (as expected), but a rather too fizzy a head. Carbonation seems high for the...
22oz bottle. Many, many thanks to mikesgroove for this gift well ahead of Southern Tier making it to GA. Opening the bottle (even before pouring) reveals a very strong chocolate aroma. It has a cocoa, drinking chocolate, dryish element to it. Small...
$11.99 Brawley's, Charlotte, NC, USA. 22 oz bomber long before this came to GA. Inky, black pour with a generous, thick mocha head. Some lace. Bready (brown bread) nose with a little coffee, but not as much as I was anticipating. Mouthfeel and...
12 oz bottle, thanks to Hoppymeal for the trade. Poured into the Val-Dieu chalice the beer is dark brown with a very small mocha head and very little lace. This looks like a cold coffee and that's very appropriate. Alcohol laced, ice-cold coffee is...
Additional notes 03/25/24 (pictured) I've had Speedway several times since those original notes from 2007, and these notes are in relation to a 2017 vintage purchased from Tavour. I've never been a huge fan of either big American Stouts, or Coffee...
Following up on last years on-tap offering, the newly bottled version at $8.99 a sixer from Green's, Ponce, Atlanta, GA, USA. (2014 vintage, in 12oz bottles pictured). Excellent black color and plenty of (if somewhat thinnish lacing), but this is...
I'd been sitting on this for a while. 660 mL bottle purchased at Brawleys, Charlotte, NC, USA back in January of 2006. Michael was kind enough to get this from "the unadvertised stash" that he often has. Bottled in August of 2005. In a unusually...
On tap at Twain's. 2007 version. $4.50 for 20 oz. As ever, this looks great. Black as night body with a large mocha head. Lacing is superb. As others have commented this years version seems more bitter than last year, but I didn't think there was...
22oz bomber, Green's, Atlanta, GA, USA. Thinnish looking pour, but nice lacing. A little spotty head left. Body is a ruddy, red brown. Not much coffee in either the aroma or the taste, but there is some coffee-like residual bitterness in the...
Thanks go out to BEERchitect for the chance to try this one. 12 oz bottle. Dark brown body with no lacing and virtually no head. Don't really get this on a number of fronts. If this is 11% I'm a Dutchman. It drinks nowhere near that. Secondly this...
22 oz bomber, part of a recent trade (sorry, for now I forget who). Good black color with some dark brown highlights at the extreme edges. Nice looking pour with a very good creamy head that lasts well, with some latte coffee type lacing. There's a...
Bottled January 2006, Batch 1. My oh my! In the wake of Samael's & The Beast, I was thinking that Avery had just about covered the bases on MASSIVE beers, but this went to a new level. Poured from the 12 oz bottle into the Gouden Carolus...
I knew this was going to be huge, and I was not disappointed. Inky black pour with a small tinge of cognac brown in a ring at the top of the pour after the dark tan head has disappeared. The smell and the taste are quite exceptional. Layer after...
Updated Review 01/08 $4.50 16oz Taco Mac, East West Connector, Austell, GA, USA - AGAIN! MUCH, MUCH more mild than a couple of years ago in terms of bitterness. In fact, almost relegated to a Porter! Still has that mild green tinge on the head....
Pictured July 29th 2025, ancient, cellared bottle! Updated Review 11/10 Bottle label has "Seasonal : 2010" in vertical text on the right hand side. Same ABV, same Jittery Joe's, same everything! Pour is just as inky black as usual, but the nose and...
OK, another American double stout. The pour is exactly as one would expect and looks good. Opaque, jet black body and a small tan and dense head. Some lacing but not extensive. Aroma is good, with lots of deep alcoholic chocolate. The first few...
Additional Notes 01/08 2005 Vintage Got a chance to revisit this at The Brick Store - thanks to Simon for the sample. Rumor has it that this vintage topped out at around 24%! Great legs in the glass, silky smooth and chocked FULL of flavor. About...
Well, I love coffee and I love beer, so I thought this would probably work out OK, but not so. Another example of a beer that is simply taken to an extreme which overwhelms any possible subtlety or finesse. Don't get me wrong, I love a big beer,...
This is an absolutely exceptional beer. Utterly opaque, jet black with the smallest of dark, burnt golden heads, it looks dangerous in the glass! Aromas are amazingly chocolately with a very pronounced alcohol presence. Doubtless you will have come...
Additional notes 11/07 Six pack purchased for $4.99 (yes, $4.99!) at Whitlock Package in Marietta, GA, USA. Bottled 03/14/07. Nose has more chocolate and alcohol than I remember. Still packs an alcohol punch, but in balance. Original notes 01/23/05...