Bell's Brewery Octoberfest

I've mentioned a hundred times on here how the Fall brings one of my favorite beer seasons, with pumpkin ales and Octoberfests abounding.  And this year, i was fortunate enough to get my grubby little hands on a pretty outstanding Octoberfest from Bell's Brewery.  The 5.5% ABV beer pours a crisp, coppery color with a white head and smells of bready malt with notes of caramel and some light hints of sweet fruit.  The flavor is a very balanced and delicious mix of roasted malts, caramel, toffee, and a touch of hops, just the right kind of libation to pair with a pretzel or bratwurst.  This one may be my new go-to come next Autumn.

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Founders Highball Drifter

The second release from Founders' Bottle Shop Series is here, and it's a whopper.  Highball Drifter basically serves as a beer version of the cocktail and it served as a delightful addition to my weekend evenings.  The 11% ABV brew pours a dark, kind of amber-ish brown with an off-white head and smells of orange peel, cherry, vanilla, caramel, and bourbon.  The taste follows the nose with some added notes of brown sugar and bitters.  While it's certainly prevalent, the booze can still sneak up on you with this one, so take your time, sip, and enjoy.

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Odd Side Deleterious

Every now and then i stumble upon a beer that takes me the better part of an hour or more to drink.  It's just that heavy or complex or powerful.  Odd Side Ales' Deleterious, a bourbon barrel aged imperial stout, is one of those brews.  The 14.6% ABV beer pours a dark black with a tan head and has a general roasty aroma along with some notes of raisin, tobacco, chocolate, and oak.  The flavor is a nice and warming mix of roasted malt, oak, and bourbon with some subtle notes of vanilla, chocolate, and dark fruit.  It's a wonderful drink, a slow-sipper for sure, and a great beverage to close out a weekend to.

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Bell's Old Fashioned Holiday Ale

And it seems that i may have just found my favorite brew of the season, the fantastic and delicious Old Fashioned Holiday Ale from Bell's Brewery.  The 10.8% beer is a bourbon barrel aged scotch ale with added dried cherries and orange peel.  It pours dark brown with a minimal head and smells of orange, spice, and alcohol.  The brew nails the cocktail taste and feel, flavors of orange, bourbon, and bitters highlighted up front, with the cherry and orange in particular becoming more evident as the beer warms.  It's a pricey 4-pack, but so, so good.

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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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Odd Side Passion Dank Juice

What a long, strange day it's been.  Driving to work this morning with next to no traffic, the combined result of people having left town for Spring Break, the lack of influx of out-of-towners for a cancelled SXSW, and a coronavirus pandemic that just gets scarier and scarier with each passing hour.  I drove through a deserted downtown to get to the office, and then noticed the closed stores and restaurants during my lunch break.  The school district my kids attend called and emailed with the word that a return to school is now postponed until April.  And then my boss made the decision to have as many staff members as possible work remotely from home.  It's weird out there people.  And i'm trying not to panic.  And the Passion Dank Juice from Odd Side Ales is doing everything it can to help with that.  Pouring a hazy straw gold, the 6.75% New England IPA is, as its name would suggest, and dank and juicy treat.  Aromas of tropical fruit and passion fruit abound with some hints of spice and hops, and the flavor is a crisp mouthful of said tropical and passion fruits along with some grapefruit bitterness and lacey dankness.  Wonderful stuff.  I'll have to brave the virus and depleted grocery stores to obtain some more.

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Odd Side Peanut Butter Cup Stout

The can art alone made me check this one out.  Odd Side Ales' Peanut Butter Cup Stout pours a dark, brownish black with an off white, quickly dissipating head and smells like peanut butter and chocolate.  I'd say it's almost the same aroma as if you were to break a actual peanut butter cup in half.  Flavors of peanut butter and chocolate abound in this 7.75% ABV brew, with some subtle hints of toffee, coffee, and molasses.  And after some deliberation, it was decided that the song the peanut butter cups on the can are high stepping to is "Satellite of Love" by Lou Reed.  Just Because.

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New Holland Dragon's Milk Bourbon Barrel-Aged Stout

Sometimes you pick something up on a whim, maybe because it's got a cool name, or because you need a new beer to write about, or because of those magical worlds: Bourbon Barrel-Aged.  Either way, when the store clerk gives you a knowing nod, like you just found the secret treasure hidden within the store, excitement builds as you make your way home with your beer.  And the Dragon's Milk Bourbon Barrel-Aged Stout from Holland, Michigan's New Holland Brewing certainly did not disappoint.  Coming in at 11% ABV, the brew pours a dark black with a moderate tan head, aromas of malt, chocolate, and vanilla hitting the nose with some subtle hints of bourbon.  The flavor is mix of chocolate, caramel, vanilla, and oak notes all swirling together with a malty and delicious finish.  The bourbon notes are there, but never overpowering, and given the high alcohol content, the beer is much smoother than i had anticipated.  I will certainly need to stock up on this one, as it feels like it may be the perfect companion for Thanksgiving dinner.

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Founders Doom

I partook in a little pre-Father's Day libation on Saturday night, the latest release in the Founders Brewing Co. barrel aged series, a delicious collision of flavors in a bourbon barrel aged Imperial IPA called Doom.  Pouring a dark, goldish amber with a foamy but dissipating head, this wonderful concoction smells of hops, vanilla, and oak, with hints of booze.  The flavor is a combination of intense hops and vanilla, with the notes of oak, malt, and alcohol mingling intermittently.  It's an interesting combo of aromas and flavors, but also very appealing.  And it weighs in at 12.4% ABV, so maybe take it easy.

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Ruta Maya Dark

The Ruta Maya Dark is a schwarzbier from Michigan's Atwater Brewery that blends plenty of coffee into their beer...and their not kidding around.  The coffee notes are very, very prevalent in this one, but mix well with the roasted malts to give off a pleasing aroma and taste.  The beer is similar to coffee porters, though lighter, smoother, and with much less of a bitter back bite.  Easy to drink, and a great starter beer for a novice beginning to experiment with different flavors.

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Founders Porter

There's just something about darker beers that works and tastes so wonderful during the colder months of the year.  Much like i seem to overdose on IPA's in the springtime, i found myself imbibing mass quantities of porters and stouts in the winter.  A recent highlight was the Founders Porter from Founders Brewing in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  The beer is a thick and oily black with a tan head and aromas of roasted malts, nuts, and some hints of coffee and caramel.  The taste is a little sweet on the front end, a combination of molasses and notes of cocoa, but then gets more bitter and biting on the back end when the roastiness really kicks in.  And it's oh so smooth.  All in all, this is a fantastic porter.

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Founders Dirty Bastard Scotch Ale

The winter months increase my cravings for dark, strong beers tenfold.  Stouts, porters, and such make their daily rounds over my palette...and into my belly.  And scotch ales.  I love the scotch ales.  Maybe it's the hints of bourbon and alcohol flavors.  Maybe it's the sweetness and bite.  I don't know.  But they sure do win me over every year.  Founders Brewery out of Grand Rapids, Michigan has a tasty offering called the Dirty Bastard.  The beer is a dark and inviting mahogany with a light head, aromas of malts, dark fruits, some banana, and alcohol.  As far as flavor, there's some subtle spices mixed in with the mildly sweet fruits, alcohol, and hoppy back end.  Probably one of the better scotch ales i've had in a while.  Oh, and at 8.5% ABV, you know you've got a good night ahead of you.

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