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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Stone 2016 Imperial Russian Stout

With all of the craft breweries and that have sprouted up over the last half decade and all of the lovely brews all of those startups have offered us in that time, it's nice to go back and visit one of the original independents every now and then.  Stone Brewing has been giving us excellent beers for years, and their latest limited release Russian Imperial Stout is about as tasty as they come.  Pouring black with a brownish tan head, this thick, 10.8% ABV brew smells of coffee, chocolate, alcohol, and roasty malts.  The flavor is heavy on roastiness, but still smooth even with its high alcohol content, the coffee and chocolate notes easing everything down in a delicious swirl.  This is a damn good beer.

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Freetail Rye Wit

As it begins to get warm and muggy around here, my beer tastes get decidedly lighter, at least during the daylight hours, and the Rye Wit from San Antonio's Freetail Brewing is a fantastic selection for your daytime drinking.  The Belgian style Wit pours a hazy, wheaty gold and smells of bread, coriander, and orange.  Crisp, light-bodied, and steadily drinkable at 4.2% ABV, flavors of citrus, bread, and spice abound, making for a delicious thirst quencher for a warm spring day.  Yum.

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Zilker Coffee Milk Stout

I know it's spring, and it's getting warmer, and i'm supposed to be drinking my beer accordingly, focusing on IPA's and pales, hefes, helles, and lagers, but i love the dark stuff, so enter the Coffee Milk Stout from Zilker Brewing in Austin.  The brew pours dark and black with an off-brown head and smells of coffee, cream, malts, and hints of chocolate.  Flavors of burnt sugar and roasted malt swirl with coffee and chocolate notes in a smooth and creamy brew.  Wait for the sun to go down and then enjoy one or two of these 5.9% ABV stouts.

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Dankosaurus IPA

It's springtime, so i guess that means it's IPA season...or so i've been led to believe in the past.  Kicking it off with one of my new favorites is the Dankosaurus IPA from Cedar Creek Brewing.  The brew, which i was first able to give a whirl last October at Flying Saucer's Beerfeast, is a 6.8% IPA, pouring a hazy gold with plenty of head and aromas of citrus, pine, hops, and spices prevailing.  The beer is hop-forward like the west coast IPA's that inspired it, but dialed back just a bit to make it super drinkable.  Flavors of grapefruit, pine, and citrus are at the forefront, with just enough bitterness to give the beer a crisp finish.  It's a smooth brew for an IPA and a great beer to enjoy in the Texas heat.

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Bourbon Barrel Suburban Ninja

I closed out my Spring Break, my vacation, my SXSW week of music with a relatively quiet (i have a two-year old, so quiet is always relative) afternoon visit to Cedar Park's Red Horn Coffee House and Brewing Co.  Since moving to the suburbs last year, one of the things that made it bearable was the influx of craft beer related businesses opening in the area, Red Horn being my favorite.  The atmosphere is awesome, they let you bring kids, the staff are all incredible nice, and their beer is fantastic.  To end my vacation yesterday on a pleasant note, i enjoyed a pour of the Bourbon Barrel Suburban Ninja, an imperial stout aged bourbon barrels, and a tasty 12% ABV brew.  The beer pours black and smells of chocolate, coffee, toffee, and alcohol.  The flavor is amazingly smooth, a warming brew with hints of cocoa, coffee, malts, vanilla, and some subtle spices.  Being that yesterday was windy and chilly, it was a great beer to drink outside, the warmness of the brew moving down my throat and into my chest.  I will have to get back soon for another.

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Hop Brownie Brown Ale

Dig on that pacifier in the background.

Beer brewers certainly do get creative when concocting their wares, with a seemingly endless array of hybrid and specialty brews at the ready for your taste buds.  Austin's Independence Brewing offered up an interesting and tasty beer back over the holidays that i'm just now getting around to writing about.  The Hop Brownie Brown Ale is essentially what happens when stoner meets brewer, a brown ale brewed with chocolate malts, cocoa powder, and some dank hops to create what is basically a beer version of a pot brownie.  It is surprisingly delicious, the chocolates and hops playing off each other, vying for your attention and dorm room memories.  Pouring a nice brown (go figure) with off white head, the beer smells of cocoa, malt, and spice, with the aforementioned chocolate and dank hops at the forefront as far as flavor goes, though there are some subtle hints of citrus and toffee in the mix too.  At 6.13% ABV (i guess making it 4.20% would have been too on the nose), the brew is great for a late afternoon wind down.

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