Full Grown Beast

Wanna get nuts?  Let's get nuts.  And let's do it by sipping on this 16.3% ABV monster of a brew from Tupps Brewery.  The Full Grown Beast is a bourbon barrel aged imperial stout brewed with coffee and chocolate and pours a dark, brownish black with a tan head.  The beer smells of said chocolate and coffee, along with some notes of dark fruit and plenty of oak and booze.  The flavor is the same and gets a little smoother as the beer warms to room temperature, though it's obvious you've got to watch out with this one.  Outstanding.

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TUPPS Imperial Pastry Sour Ale

When we start talking Texas brewers, McKinney's TUPPS Brewery probably doesn't get near the notice it should be getting, with a whole slew of interesting and tasty brews in their lineup.  Recently i took on their Imperial Pastry Sour Ale, an 8.9% ABV sour ale brewed with graham cracker, blackberry, and red currant.  The beer pours a hazy cranberry color with a light pink head and smells of tart fruits and biscuits.  The flavor is a sweet and lightly sour mix of fruit and malt with some notes of the currant on the back end, like drinking a piece of pie.

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TUPPS Full Grown Pastry Chef

TUPPS Brewery out in McKinney, Texas, northeast of Dallas, puts out a pretty great imperial stout called the Full Grown Man, and seasonally, the brewery releases variations of said great imperial stout, all of which are wonderful.  The most recent is the Full Grown Pastry Chef, a decadent version of their imperial stout brewed with chocolate and raspberries.  The 11.8% ABV brew pours a dark black with a tan head and smells of roasty malts, chocolate, raspberry, and some hints of booze.  Flavors of chocolate and raspberry are heavy in the front of this full bodied beer, roasty and boozy notes lingering with some hints of other dark fruit and molasses.  A fine dessert beer all around.

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TUPPS Full Grown Nick

Well, tomorrow's the big day.  Are you ready?  Are you prepared?  Because i'm sure not.  I have yet to wrap a single gift, instead deciding to go to sleep last night, and to rewatch Indonesian action film "The Night Comes for Us" the night before that.  I stand by my decisions, but that means there is probably not a wink of sleep in my future tonight.  And tomorrow is going to come so very, very early.  The 5-year old and the 2-year old will see to that.  Anyway, at least i've got plenty of beer.  Much like the Halloween variant of their Full Grown Man stout, the holiday version, Full Grown Nick from TUPPS Brewery, is loaded with season appropriate flavors and spices.  The 12.1% ABV imperial stout pours a dark black with a creamy, tan head and smells of chocolate, nutmeg, gingerbread, vanilla, roasted malt, and cinnamon.  The spices are heavy in the flavor, but retain enough balance to not go overboard, and ends things in a nice, boozy finish.  Merry Christmas everybody.

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Tupps Full Grown Man Imperial Stout

I've been writing this beer blog for a few years now, so i've had hundreds of different brews come into my home and onto my palette, my weekly jaunts to grocery stores and bottle shops becoming quests for something new.  The sheer number of craft breweries opening around the country has made that quest pretty simple, but i've got to hand it to you guys that make sample 6 and 12-packs of your wonderful wares.  Tupps Brewery (whom i just wrote about a couple weeks ago) provided me with one such sample pack, and my very favorite of the bunch is the Full Grown Man Imperial Stout, an 11.2% ABV malty beast that is as smooth and drinkable as they come.  Pouring black with a brownish head, the brew smells of malts, hints of cocoa and molasses, and an overall roastiness.  Notes of dark fruit, malt, caramel, chocolate, and a kind of boozy earthiness round out the beer's flavor with a ever so slight sweetness throughout that makes the beer so smooth.  Enjoy one after dinner.

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Tupps Northbound 75 Fire-Roasted Poblano Pale Ale

Last week i extolled on the virtues of brewing beer with added fruit...and there was much rejoicing.  This week we'll see what other kind of stuff you can throw in there, which brings us to the Northbound 75, a 6% ABV pale ale made with fire-roasted poblano peppers from Tupps Brewery out of McKinney, Texas.  Pepper beers are interesting to say the least, and it's really easy for things to go all kinds of wrong very quickly.  But i've got to hand it to the brewers, as they have crafted a well balanced pale ale and all that that style entails with just the right amount spicy and smoky notes.  The beer pours a dark gold, almost amber color with a white, frothy head.  The aroma of poblano peppers is immediately evident, mixed with notes of hops, biscuit-y malt, and maybe some slight herbal or floral hints.  As for the taste, those poblano peppers again are first and foremost, though never overpowering.  The spice is mild, letting the actual pepper flavor sink in, combined with pepper, smoke, and some hoppy bitterness on the end to round it all out.  I'm going to be honest, i was surprised i liked this as much as i did, and while it's certainly not for everyone, it's at least worth a shot from any of you more adventurous drinkers out there.

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TUPPS Full Grown Jack Pumpkin Spiced Imperial Stout

Yes, it's pumpkin ale season, and there doesn't really seem to be too much out there this year that i haven't tried or written about before, though i did get a delightfully strong brew from a new brewery in Texas this weekend.  The Full Grown Jack Pumpkin Spiced Imperial Stout from TUPPS Brewery in McKinney, Texas is a 12.1% ABV punch to the face.  The beer pours a dark black with minimal head and smells of pumpkin, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, malts, and a little booze.  The flavor is a robust mix of pumpkin and pumpkin spices with some notes of vanilla and liquorice that really start to stand out as the beer sits at room temperature.  It's complex, full-bodied, and definitely on the heavy side.  Enjoy for sure, but drink with caution.

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