Bombon De La Muerte

Got positively decadent over the weekend with my beer selections, probably most notably with the Bombon De La Muerte from Odd Side Ales, a bourbon barrel aged imperial stout with chocolate and dead sea salt.  Oh my.  The 14% ABV brew pours black with a brownish tan head and smells of chocolate and booze.  The flavor is a malty mix chocolate, bourbon, oak, with some additional notes of vanilla and molasses.  It paired great with ghost stories and horror movies, and i want more of it.

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Live Oak Pre-War Pils

I know that summer is long gone now, and we we're neck deep in Halloween season, but we still have plenty of warm days around here, and one of my favorite brews from the summer was the Pre-War Pils from Live Oak.  The 5% ABV brew pours a golden straw color with a white head and smells of bread and grains with some hints of lemon and spice.  The flavor is a mix of sweet bread, malt, and notes of herbs, grass, and pepper.  And it's an easy drinker for sure.  I crushed these all summer long, and am hoping for the beer's triumphant return next year.

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Friends & Allies Batkeeper Imperial Stout

I'm at the beach, and the Batkeeper, a barrel-aged imperial stout from Austin's Friends & Allies Brewing, is most certainly not a beach beer.  Maybe a beach by night beer.  But not a beach beer.  That being said, it's a wonderful and strong concoction to wind a day down to.  The 9.5% ABV brew pours brownish black with an off white head and smells of caramel, chocolate, molasses, oak, and booze.  The flavor is a roasty mix of molasses, malt, dark fruits, and hints of chocolate with lingering notes of whiskey and oak.  Real nerve soothing stuff and definitely for the end of the day.

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The Monkster Mash Pumpkin Ale

Pumpkin ale season is in full effect, and really has been for a few weeks now.  One of the latest i've been able to get my grubby little hands on is the The Monkster Mash, and 5.2% ABV pumpkin ale from Spencer Trappist Brewery in Spencer, Massachusetts.  The beer pours an orange-ish gold with a white, quickly dissipating head and smells of pumpkin and pumpkin spices (naturally).  The flavor is slightly more pumpkin than spice, but pretty nicely balanced with maybe a hint of caramel.  All in all, a nice clean pumpkin brew.

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