Karbach Fifth Anniversary Quintuple IPA

First off, to address the elephant in the room, Karbach Brewing is no longer one of the good guys, as they were acquired by AB-InBev.  Coming from the ass end of Generation X, i have been preconditioned to abhor "selling out," either in art, craft, or morals.  But, i also understand that everyone just wants to get paid, so it's kind of hard to fault the guys over at Karbach.  That being said, the beer behemoth that is AB-InBev spends tons of money and lobbies hard every year to keep the smaller craft breweries around the country down, so fuck all of those guys.  Even Karbach.  I'm going to miss their brews, so i'm going out with their Fifth Anniversary Quintuple IPA.  The beer pours a dark gold with a foamy white head and smells of malt, spice, bread, and hints of molasses and citrus.  Brewed with five different malts, five varieties of hops, and five different yeasts, the beer is pretty complex, a sweet and bitter IPA that weighs in at 13% ABV.  Karbach, i'm going to miss you.

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Bourbon Barrel Hellfighter 2016

One of my favorite limited beers from the last few years has been the Bourbon Barrel Hellfighter from Houston's Karbach Brewing.  Each year, the brewery does a subtle variation on this imperial porter, and each year, i tend to love it.  Living in Austin, they can also be kind of hard to come by.  They sell out around town pretty quickly, and then they're gone.  I was fortunate enough to snag two bombers this year, the variation this time around being the addition of chocolate.  It's delicious.  The full bodied brew pours a dark black with a good tannish head and smells of coffee, chocolate, and the always lovely bourbon.  The flavor is rich, swirls of chocolate, alcohol, coffee, and malt mixing wonderfully in an 11% ABV dream.  It looks like the Jaguar Shark i'm saving for next year has a buddy now.

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Here Comes the Sun

It's getting hotter here, and as nice as it is to pick up your sessionable kind of brews for the weekend, sometimes you needs something that's easy to drink, but has a bit more of punch too.  Karbach's Here Comes the Sun is a strong and tasty Belgian style Tripel, pouring a hazy gold with aromas of bread, fruit, and spice.  The beer is crisp with a lot of floral notes on the tongue, as well as some hints of fruit, coriander, and the ever present Belgian yeast.  And it clocks in at 8.5% ABV, making it much stronger than your average daytime drinker, but it is a tasty one, and perfect for dusk and sunsets.

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Karbach Three Legged Lab Imperial Stout

We're in Texas.  Of course we take our imperial stouts in a can.  And of course we drink too many of them and wake up the next day with a headache.  A dark and tasty 9.2% ABV wonder, the Three Legged Lab from Houston's Karbach Brewing is a lovely late night libation.  Pouring an inky black with minimal brown head, the beer smells of malts, alcohol, coffee, and some dark chocolate notes.  The beer's flavor is slightly bitter, the coffee notes weighing in first, but finishes rather smoothly with just a hint of sweetness.  Karbach has yet to disappoint me.  Everything they release is worth a taste at the very least.

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Karbach Yule Shoot Your Eye Out

Yeah, yeah, yeah, i realize Christmas was a few days ago, but there are still plenty of Christmas ales to be found on the shelves and enjoyed all the same.  Karbach's offering is the tasty and festive Yule Shoot Your Eye Out.  The brew pours dark with a decent head and plenty of carbonation, and smells of malts and spices.  The taste is pure winter holidays, with notes of cocoa, orange, nutmeg, cinnamon, and ginger.  It's an easy drinker, but also weighs in at 8% ABV, so make sure you're not going anywhere.  Happy Holidays!

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Karbach Krunkin' Pumpkin

I know it's out of season, but i was able to imbibe one last pumpkin ale over the holidays, the delicious and spicy Krunkin' Pumpkin from Karbach Brewing in Houston, Texas.  The brew was a pretty standard pumpkin ale, pouring dark amber with a light, beige head, aromas of pumpkin, sugars, nutmeg, etc. prominent at first pour.  The taste was the same, with some added earthy notes, and finished crisp and sweet.  All in all, it was one of the better pumpkin beers i've had.

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Karbach Weisse Versa

While being the new kid on the block, the cats at Houston's Karbach Brewing Co. seem to outdo themselves with all the different beers they make.  It's summertime, and Texas is usually hotter than hell, so what better way to quench the thirst and refresh body and mind than with a nice Hefeweizen hybrid.  German Hefe meets Belgian Wit in the delicious Weisse Versa.  Pouring golden orange with white, dissipating head, the beer gives off a lovely aroma of orange, banana, coriander, and wheat,  all of which are represented in the taste as well.  Add just a little bitter bite at the end, and you've got yourself an excellent, refreshing summer brew.  If we could just start seeing some of this stuff in Austin...

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Karbach Hellfighter Imperial Porter

Houston is getting in on the craft brew explosion, and it appears that Saint Arnold's is finally getting a little competition.  Last weekend, i was able to try an array of different beers from Karbach Brewing, and one that really stood out is their limited release Hellfighter Imperial Porter.  Dark and heavy with chocolate and caramel flavors, a nice, frothy head, and a good bitterness really brings this beer together.  You can really taste the alcohol too (9.5% ABV), at times feeling almost bourbon like.  Drink this if you can find it.  The cats over at Karbach really hit it out of the park with this one.

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