yabu
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2015
- Messages
- 88
- Reaction score
- 83
bummer about doom hawk. I had a OH/Horus collab a few months ago, cinnamon churro something. It was actually pretty !
The Official Modern Times League Of Partygoers & Elegant People Thread
- Thread starter drbenzo1
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk:
bummer about doom hawk. I had a OH/Horus collab a few months ago, cinnamon churro something. It was actually pretty !
rcubed1
Well-Known Member
I'm pretty sure Doom Hawk will give you diabetes as well. That's a higher finishing gravity than even Dark Lord. Might as well start drinking flavored wort.
smithj21541
Well-Known Member
To rough quote ole DDB. “We get the beer scene we deserve “
ABSTRACTlegend
Well-Known Member
Tyrsis
Well-Known Member
![Craft A Brew - Safale S-04 Dry Yeast - Fermentis - English Ale Dry Yeast - For English and American Ales and Hard Apple Ciders - Ingredients for Home Brewing - Beer Making Supplies - [1 Pack]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41fVGNh6JfL._SL500_.jpg)
KevSal
Supremium Porter
can someone post a description?
i look forward to reading Xul's unbiased tasting notes on it soon
i look forward to reading Xul's unbiased tasting notes on it soon
ABSTRACTlegend
Well-Known Member
A liquid homage to one of our favorite Theory of Leisure members, Cassidy (A.K.A. Xul), this bourbon barrel-aged imperial pastry boi was loaded with peanut butter, cocoa nibs, vanilla, coconut, and almonds. It’s as decadent as it is delicious, and a worthy tribute to one of the chillest dudes ever.
ABV: 13.5%
Xul1
Well-Known Member
It's not part of the preview tasting, so it's a blind buy. I can make something up if you'd like, and throw in a lot of polysyllabic adverbs to really sell the dream.
rcubed1
Well-Known Member
Xul1
Well-Known Member
There are two people I specifically feel bad for as it pertains to the beer's adjuncts - Sage for not being able to drink it and Justin Holmes for having to deal with the peanut butter powder, which is a massive pain in the ass. I actually wasn't planning to use it in the original prototype blend (although I was using almonds anyway - sorry Sage), but Andrew Schwartz (MT's head of special projects) put it down on the table, I added it, and it elevated the beer to the next level.
wolf13
Well-Known Member
Tyrsis
Well-Known Member
I really disliked it when I had it but I'll give it another try. It sounds good, I just didnt like it
KevSal
Supremium Porter
they must not know Beer Advocate Xul either
Tyrsis
Well-Known Member
I'm glad they saved these beers for the renewal month.
I'll just re-up Theory and buy a Xul in case it gets trade hype.
- Foeder Tones: Oaky soy sauce
- Foeder Tones with coconut and cocoa: okay this one was pretty good. Big Mounds bar character.
- DT w/NOLA: One of my favorite MT beers ever... and was kinda disappointing. Was suuuuuuper nutty. Where was the coffee? Chicory?
- Whatever the **** sour they poured: I don't care
- EDIT: Forgot they poured a cider. It was fine. B1 Radix was better, but this one was better than B2 Radix (which I found to be phenolic.) This cider was a tad sulphury on the nose.
I'll just re-up Theory and buy a Xul in case it gets trade hype.
Last edited:
Damn, exactly my thoughts. Really surprised by the DT, not really sure what happened there.
Xul1
Well-Known Member
They used twice as much almond as last year, which ended up being a detriment in my opinion. I still think it's great, but a clear step down from the last two years.
hi im richie
Well-Known Member
glad I read this because now I can just focus on Xul, cold brew, and the triple IPA
sdreaper
Well-Known Member
That is basically all I ended up buying this month.
Tyrsis
Well-Known Member
I actually did grab the coffee too, haha.
They have some quad IPA on, the bartender offered me a taste.
"Nah, I'm good. Gimme that Danger Dolphin"
Steve_0
Well-Known Member
When do League renewals begin?
Xul1
Well-Known Member
October 13th - November 1st.
Xul1
Well-Known Member
Preface - fwiw, all three stouts seemed to get pretty different responses from different people, so how you feel about them will likely come down to you interpret different flavors. I didn't get anything like the soy sauce that tyrsis did from Foeder Tones, but I've heard a couple other people who said the same thing as him. YMMV.
October 2019 Preview Tasting
Assorted Notes:
1) Due to an accidental double booking, Monday night's SD preview tasting was inside the tasting room. Had a bit of the informal vibe of the earliest preview tastings, although there were far more of us packed in than those old tastings. Kudos to the crew for making it work on short notice. We also had the pleasure of seeing Phil MacNitt joining Leanne in hosting a tasting for the first time. Between Phil hosting last night and Derek hosting tonight, some of Modern Times' earliest employees are making their preview tasting debuts.
2) League renewals will begin on October 13th and conclude on November 1st, followed by the public sale on November 2nd. An email with all relevant details will go out before then, but existing members will also be able to buy gift memberships for others during the renewal period.
3) Derek also confirmed and corrected dates for a variety of upcoming events:
* Pumpkin Carving Party at Lomaland & Belmont - 10/30/19
* Modern Times Dog Show at Lomaland - 11/03/19
* Black House Black Friday - 11/29/19
* Christmas Party/Holiday Market at Lomaland - 12/15/19
* Shalomaland at Lomaland - 12/26/19
* Carnival of Caffeination at Liberty Station - 02/08/20
* Festival of Funk at Liberty Station - 04/18/20
4) The League staff now includes a third member, as Alanna was promoted from within the company to assist with communications and event planning. They're looking to step things up as far as League events and interactive experiences in 2020, and adding another person to the League-specific staff will help tremendously on that front.
5) Moving forward, tasting room points will only matter from the standpoint of contributing to money spent for Theory invites. There will no longer be rewards tiers for in-person spending. It made sense to do when there were only a couple of locations, but with all of the recent expansion, it's nearly impossible to provide consistent rewards experiences across all of the Modern Times facilities. The Point of Sale system still lists "rewards points" on receipts, but they're just tracking spending.
6) Anaheim is looking like 2020 Q2. I didn't catch details on that, but it's safe to assume that Modern Times is not taking their sweet time simply to screw with their Orange County fans.
7) Foeder Ice Dry-Hopped w/ Saphir is coming out in cans this month, and while we didn't get to preview it, every draft batch has been killer, and I expect this batch to follow suit. I hope people don't sleep on it amid such a crazy month, because it's the ideal crushable counterpoint to some of the heavy hitters dropping next week.
8) Fellowship of Xul is also coming out in bottles this month, and yes, I'm ******* stoked. Leanne touched on how it came to be a bit, but I figured I'd share its history (as briefly as possible) since there are a few misconceptions about it. In June 2018, the top tier of tasting room spenders was invited to a blending session, where the winning recipe would be produced for a festival. The beers available to us were BBA Monsters' Park, BBA Devil's Teeth, BBA Beastmaster, and BBA Infinity Gauntlet, and we provided our own adjuncts with the only limitation being it had to be something MT could realistically use in a beer (vegan, not horrendously expensive, etc.). I brought desiccated coconut I had toasted myself, almond slivers I had toasted, and homemade vanilla extract that was several years old. My gameplan was to do a balanced base, using BBA Infinity Gauntlet to keep it more in strong ale territory than a stout-centric blend - think Firestone Walker anniversary blends, but with adjuncts. During the event, Andrew happened to bring out some peanut butter powder - both with and without cocoa - and after putting together the blend I had planned, I decided to put together an absurd pastry blend that was heavier on stouts, with vanilla, coconut, almonds, and the cocoa peanut butter powder, just for fun. That blend ended up winning and considering everything that has happened since, I'm glad it did - the peanut butter sets it apart from a lot of other beers of its ilk. I was under the impression it would just be served at Festival of Dankness, but they decided to blend up a bigger batch and send it out to GABF and a few other festivals. And obviously, here we are at a bottled batch.
As I always tried to tell people congratulating me on the great work, what we had the pleasure of drinking was all Modern Times staff. I dicked around with a French press, they made it work at a commercial scale and nailed a rather absurd blend of adjuncts. It was a blast to have done the blending competition and I'm completely flattered that it's named after me, but I definitely don't deserve the credit for it.
A few assorted other tidbits from the process:
* The blending competition yielded not just Fellowship of Xul, but an amplified version of the glitter beer meme that will follow me for all eternity. I already hated glitter beer, but Steven added glitter to a taster glass of stout and posted a picture of it in the League group, declaring my love for glitter beer. Since then, I've been entirely unable to escape hearing about it. Don't worry, buddy, I haven't forgotten about that one, nor will I.
* We wanted to call the beer Xul's Bath Salts, but that was later nixed for fairly obvious reasons.
* Tangential to the process, but people still ask about it - my screen name is not a Ghostbusters reference. It's a song by Behemoth from their 2004 album "Demigod." By coincidence, that was released fifteen years ago this month - fairly cool to have the beer coming out so close to the album's anniversary date.
9) Insomnium's new album "Heart Like a Grave" came out last Friday and slaps with the fury of a freezing Finnish winter storm. Strong contender for AotY. Listen to it. Love it. Dedicate your existence to beer and metal. Be like me. Actually, don't, that's terrible ******* advice. Just listen to the album.
October 2019 Preview Tasting
Assorted Notes:
1) Due to an accidental double booking, Monday night's SD preview tasting was inside the tasting room. Had a bit of the informal vibe of the earliest preview tastings, although there were far more of us packed in than those old tastings. Kudos to the crew for making it work on short notice. We also had the pleasure of seeing Phil MacNitt joining Leanne in hosting a tasting for the first time. Between Phil hosting last night and Derek hosting tonight, some of Modern Times' earliest employees are making their preview tasting debuts.
2) League renewals will begin on October 13th and conclude on November 1st, followed by the public sale on November 2nd. An email with all relevant details will go out before then, but existing members will also be able to buy gift memberships for others during the renewal period.
3) Derek also confirmed and corrected dates for a variety of upcoming events:
* Pumpkin Carving Party at Lomaland & Belmont - 10/30/19
* Modern Times Dog Show at Lomaland - 11/03/19
* Black House Black Friday - 11/29/19
* Christmas Party/Holiday Market at Lomaland - 12/15/19
* Shalomaland at Lomaland - 12/26/19
* Carnival of Caffeination at Liberty Station - 02/08/20
* Festival of Funk at Liberty Station - 04/18/20
4) The League staff now includes a third member, as Alanna was promoted from within the company to assist with communications and event planning. They're looking to step things up as far as League events and interactive experiences in 2020, and adding another person to the League-specific staff will help tremendously on that front.
5) Moving forward, tasting room points will only matter from the standpoint of contributing to money spent for Theory invites. There will no longer be rewards tiers for in-person spending. It made sense to do when there were only a couple of locations, but with all of the recent expansion, it's nearly impossible to provide consistent rewards experiences across all of the Modern Times facilities. The Point of Sale system still lists "rewards points" on receipts, but they're just tracking spending.
6) Anaheim is looking like 2020 Q2. I didn't catch details on that, but it's safe to assume that Modern Times is not taking their sweet time simply to screw with their Orange County fans.
7) Foeder Ice Dry-Hopped w/ Saphir is coming out in cans this month, and while we didn't get to preview it, every draft batch has been killer, and I expect this batch to follow suit. I hope people don't sleep on it amid such a crazy month, because it's the ideal crushable counterpoint to some of the heavy hitters dropping next week.
8) Fellowship of Xul is also coming out in bottles this month, and yes, I'm ******* stoked. Leanne touched on how it came to be a bit, but I figured I'd share its history (as briefly as possible) since there are a few misconceptions about it. In June 2018, the top tier of tasting room spenders was invited to a blending session, where the winning recipe would be produced for a festival. The beers available to us were BBA Monsters' Park, BBA Devil's Teeth, BBA Beastmaster, and BBA Infinity Gauntlet, and we provided our own adjuncts with the only limitation being it had to be something MT could realistically use in a beer (vegan, not horrendously expensive, etc.). I brought desiccated coconut I had toasted myself, almond slivers I had toasted, and homemade vanilla extract that was several years old. My gameplan was to do a balanced base, using BBA Infinity Gauntlet to keep it more in strong ale territory than a stout-centric blend - think Firestone Walker anniversary blends, but with adjuncts. During the event, Andrew happened to bring out some peanut butter powder - both with and without cocoa - and after putting together the blend I had planned, I decided to put together an absurd pastry blend that was heavier on stouts, with vanilla, coconut, almonds, and the cocoa peanut butter powder, just for fun. That blend ended up winning and considering everything that has happened since, I'm glad it did - the peanut butter sets it apart from a lot of other beers of its ilk. I was under the impression it would just be served at Festival of Dankness, but they decided to blend up a bigger batch and send it out to GABF and a few other festivals. And obviously, here we are at a bottled batch.
As I always tried to tell people congratulating me on the great work, what we had the pleasure of drinking was all Modern Times staff. I dicked around with a French press, they made it work at a commercial scale and nailed a rather absurd blend of adjuncts. It was a blast to have done the blending competition and I'm completely flattered that it's named after me, but I definitely don't deserve the credit for it.
A few assorted other tidbits from the process:
* The blending competition yielded not just Fellowship of Xul, but an amplified version of the glitter beer meme that will follow me for all eternity. I already hated glitter beer, but Steven added glitter to a taster glass of stout and posted a picture of it in the League group, declaring my love for glitter beer. Since then, I've been entirely unable to escape hearing about it. Don't worry, buddy, I haven't forgotten about that one, nor will I.
* We wanted to call the beer Xul's Bath Salts, but that was later nixed for fairly obvious reasons.
* Tangential to the process, but people still ask about it - my screen name is not a Ghostbusters reference. It's a song by Behemoth from their 2004 album "Demigod." By coincidence, that was released fifteen years ago this month - fairly cool to have the beer coming out so close to the album's anniversary date.
9) Insomnium's new album "Heart Like a Grave" came out last Friday and slaps with the fury of a freezing Finnish winter storm. Strong contender for AotY. Listen to it. Love it. Dedicate your existence to beer and metal. Be like me. Actually, don't, that's terrible ******* advice. Just listen to the album.
Xul1
Well-Known Member
The Beers:
1) Lost Times
Style: Cider
Score: 3.75
Notes: The first non-Radix cider that Modern Times has produced, Lost Times was made with wild-harvested apples from Vermont that were pressed into juice out there, shipped to Modern Times in steel totes, and fermented with MT's funky house culture. From there, it was aged in red wine barrels for five months. On first whiff, the nose is a bit sulfuric - chickenshit and eggs - but that blows off quickly to reveal rustic apple juice, mild earthy funk, and light lactic acidity that adds a hint of lemon juice to the mix. On the palate, tart apple juice hits first - think green apple - followed by fleshy notes and hints of skin flavor that add a good deal of depth to the apple character. Moderate funk weaves around the apple juice, mingling with the fleshy and skin aspects, while a restrained acidity adds touches of brightness. The sulfur on the nose is a bit distracting, I'm hoping it ages out, but it's otherwise an interesting cider with a lot to offer. I don't necessarily enjoy it as much as Radix - as my score reflects - but I'm curious to see where it goes with age.
2) Foeder Tones
Style: Foeder-Aged Imperial Stout
Score: 4.5
Notes: This is Modem Tones aged in a heavy-toast American oak foeder for just over six months, with neither any spirit barrel aging nor adjuncts. The aroma opens with a big peanut brittle note that evokes the candy in a shockingly clear fashion. It's not unlike Monsters' Park Aged in Tequila Barrels for those who remember that, although only in that one regard - just an incredibly clear characteristic that pops out. It's not overwhelming, though, as toffee, burnt caramel, moderate oak, light vanilla, dry bakers' chocolate, and faint dark fruits - figs and prunes - all follow and build a lovely tapestry that demands to be smelled repeatedly. The flavor came off just a bit sweeter than the nose to me, with dark chocolate and a slightly heavier dose of vanilla leading the way, before the aforementioned peanut brittle hits, along with toffee, restrained oak hints of marshmallow and leather, figs, and dark cherries barely poking through. The body is roughly in the middle of Modern Times' stout spectrum - more viscous than Devil's Teeth or Monsters' Park, but short of Beastmaster and Dragon Mask. Different people will interpret this differently, but I found the oak to present as a variety of complementary flavors, rather than a singular woody character. Based on conversations I had, it will be a bit polarizing, but I love it and think it will serve as a great blending beer for projects like Chaos Grid and Wizard Blend.
3) Foeder Tones w/ Coconut & Cocoa
Style: Foeder-Aged Imperial Stout w/ Coconut & Cocoa
Score: 4.5
Notes: Using the same base as the above beer, they added coconut at a rate of thirteen pounds per barrel and cocoa at a rate of 1.3 pounds per barrel. Adjuncting a foeder-aged stout certainly provided an interesting result, as familiar flavors integrated differently with the byproducts of the aging vessel, creating a somewhat familiar yet novel experience. Coconut leads on the nose but doesn't overwhelm, setting the stage for a sweeter aroma than the base. Semisweet chocolate, vanilla, caramel and restrained oak, support, while the peanut brittle note remains but is relegated to the background. The flavor largely follows, although a quick burst of oak and candied peanuts strike first, followed quickly by dark chocolate and a strong wave of coconut that builds from the mid-palate into the finish. It's reminiscent of a Mounds bar, but less sweet and more nuanced than something like Chaos Grid: Island Vacation that just hit that booze-soaked Mounds character from the pastry side of things. Think candy, but with a European swerve that is richer and less sweet than American counterparts. The cocoa provides a dry counterpoint to the coconut, maintaining a sense of balance throughout and combining with the base to build a lovely dark chocolate note that builds as the beer warms. As enjoyable as this is - and as much as I think this will be the more popular of the two - I prefer the adjunct-free base due to its more unique nature. I'm going to enjoy bottles of both and would encourage people to buy both, but this feels like it walks path parallel to one we've seen many times this year, while regular Foeder Tones heads off into the forest and carves a new path to experience.
4) Mega Devil's Teeth Aged in Bourbon Barrels: NOLA Coffee Edition w/ Almonds
Style: BBA Dessert Stout w/ Coffee, Chicory, Vanilla, & Almonds
Score: 4.75 (4.65 rounded up)
Notes: As with the two canned variants we've seen this year, the Mega Devil's Teeth base is a blend of two batches aged in bourbon barrels for eight to twelve months. This year's adjunct profile is a bit different, as it features almost double the amount of almonds and nearly 2.5x as much vanilla, while coffee and chicory remained roughly the same - 3 lbs/bbl coffee, .2 lbs/bbl chicory, .6 lbs/bbl vanilla, and 4 lbs/bbl almonds. In another change, this year's batch is carbonated rather than nitro, due to general customer feedback preferring carbonated cans. Upon first being served the beer, coffee hits the nose first with chicory melding in, along with moderate vanilla and almond, followed by rich dark chocolate, a quick hit of marshmallows, and light bourbon barrels. As it warms, the balance shifts heavily towards the almonds, with vanilla also picking up and the coffee being relegated to a supporting role. The flavor profile largely follows the progression of the aroma, with coffee hitting upfront before the beer warms up, developing a semisweet almond mocha character while the beer is cold. As it sits in the glass, the almond builds towards the front of the palate and the vanilla owns the backend, creating a sweeter flavor combination that's more redolent of baked goods. While I still think this beer is delicious as is, the changes in both the adjunct profile and carbonation stripped it of what made it a god-tier perfect beer to me. The coffee isn't as present as it should be, largely due to almond's dominance, and using CO2 makes it feel slightly less integrated than the last two years, as well as a touch thinner. I'm still looking forward to sitting on my couch with cans of it, but I hope that future years return to nitro and feature a more resilient coffee profile, using vanilla and almonds to complement.
5) Singular Rhythms w/ Gewürztraminer Grape Must & Nelson Hops
Style: Foeder-Aged Grisette w/ Grape Must & Nelson Hops
Score: 4.25
Notes: For those who might have missed it last month, Singular Rhythms uses the same base as Transit of Venus, but fermented and aged in a medium-toast American oak foeder. This particular variant was aged in the foeder for three months, then refermented with Gewürztraminer must and dry-hopped with Nelson Sauvin at a rate of .8 lbs/bbl, before being bottle conditioned. The aroma opens with rich dry hop character - think white wine and tropical fruit - that beautifully complements both the grape must and ester profile of the beer. Moderate earthy and barnyard funk mingle behind the fruit notes, along with light lactic acidity and mild touches of oak. On the palate, the grape must, and dry hops contribute to form a broad vinous character that hits fast and hard, followed by a wave of tropical fruits - papaya, passion fruit, and orange - along with restrained horse blanket and barnyard funk. Light oak provides backing structure, but the vinous character is really the star of the show. I have a feeling people are going to sleep on this, considering how stacked this month's sale is, but it's both interesting and delicious. It demands to be consumed fresh to appreciate what the dry-hopping contributes, yet I have a feeling age will do it well. All that said, I'm still hoping to see adjunct-free bottles of foeder-aged Transit of Venus, but in the interim, I'm enjoying these Singular Rhythms bottles.
1) Lost Times
Style: Cider
Score: 3.75
Notes: The first non-Radix cider that Modern Times has produced, Lost Times was made with wild-harvested apples from Vermont that were pressed into juice out there, shipped to Modern Times in steel totes, and fermented with MT's funky house culture. From there, it was aged in red wine barrels for five months. On first whiff, the nose is a bit sulfuric - chickenshit and eggs - but that blows off quickly to reveal rustic apple juice, mild earthy funk, and light lactic acidity that adds a hint of lemon juice to the mix. On the palate, tart apple juice hits first - think green apple - followed by fleshy notes and hints of skin flavor that add a good deal of depth to the apple character. Moderate funk weaves around the apple juice, mingling with the fleshy and skin aspects, while a restrained acidity adds touches of brightness. The sulfur on the nose is a bit distracting, I'm hoping it ages out, but it's otherwise an interesting cider with a lot to offer. I don't necessarily enjoy it as much as Radix - as my score reflects - but I'm curious to see where it goes with age.
2) Foeder Tones
Style: Foeder-Aged Imperial Stout
Score: 4.5
Notes: This is Modem Tones aged in a heavy-toast American oak foeder for just over six months, with neither any spirit barrel aging nor adjuncts. The aroma opens with a big peanut brittle note that evokes the candy in a shockingly clear fashion. It's not unlike Monsters' Park Aged in Tequila Barrels for those who remember that, although only in that one regard - just an incredibly clear characteristic that pops out. It's not overwhelming, though, as toffee, burnt caramel, moderate oak, light vanilla, dry bakers' chocolate, and faint dark fruits - figs and prunes - all follow and build a lovely tapestry that demands to be smelled repeatedly. The flavor came off just a bit sweeter than the nose to me, with dark chocolate and a slightly heavier dose of vanilla leading the way, before the aforementioned peanut brittle hits, along with toffee, restrained oak hints of marshmallow and leather, figs, and dark cherries barely poking through. The body is roughly in the middle of Modern Times' stout spectrum - more viscous than Devil's Teeth or Monsters' Park, but short of Beastmaster and Dragon Mask. Different people will interpret this differently, but I found the oak to present as a variety of complementary flavors, rather than a singular woody character. Based on conversations I had, it will be a bit polarizing, but I love it and think it will serve as a great blending beer for projects like Chaos Grid and Wizard Blend.
3) Foeder Tones w/ Coconut & Cocoa
Style: Foeder-Aged Imperial Stout w/ Coconut & Cocoa
Score: 4.5
Notes: Using the same base as the above beer, they added coconut at a rate of thirteen pounds per barrel and cocoa at a rate of 1.3 pounds per barrel. Adjuncting a foeder-aged stout certainly provided an interesting result, as familiar flavors integrated differently with the byproducts of the aging vessel, creating a somewhat familiar yet novel experience. Coconut leads on the nose but doesn't overwhelm, setting the stage for a sweeter aroma than the base. Semisweet chocolate, vanilla, caramel and restrained oak, support, while the peanut brittle note remains but is relegated to the background. The flavor largely follows, although a quick burst of oak and candied peanuts strike first, followed quickly by dark chocolate and a strong wave of coconut that builds from the mid-palate into the finish. It's reminiscent of a Mounds bar, but less sweet and more nuanced than something like Chaos Grid: Island Vacation that just hit that booze-soaked Mounds character from the pastry side of things. Think candy, but with a European swerve that is richer and less sweet than American counterparts. The cocoa provides a dry counterpoint to the coconut, maintaining a sense of balance throughout and combining with the base to build a lovely dark chocolate note that builds as the beer warms. As enjoyable as this is - and as much as I think this will be the more popular of the two - I prefer the adjunct-free base due to its more unique nature. I'm going to enjoy bottles of both and would encourage people to buy both, but this feels like it walks path parallel to one we've seen many times this year, while regular Foeder Tones heads off into the forest and carves a new path to experience.
4) Mega Devil's Teeth Aged in Bourbon Barrels: NOLA Coffee Edition w/ Almonds
Style: BBA Dessert Stout w/ Coffee, Chicory, Vanilla, & Almonds
Score: 4.75 (4.65 rounded up)
Notes: As with the two canned variants we've seen this year, the Mega Devil's Teeth base is a blend of two batches aged in bourbon barrels for eight to twelve months. This year's adjunct profile is a bit different, as it features almost double the amount of almonds and nearly 2.5x as much vanilla, while coffee and chicory remained roughly the same - 3 lbs/bbl coffee, .2 lbs/bbl chicory, .6 lbs/bbl vanilla, and 4 lbs/bbl almonds. In another change, this year's batch is carbonated rather than nitro, due to general customer feedback preferring carbonated cans. Upon first being served the beer, coffee hits the nose first with chicory melding in, along with moderate vanilla and almond, followed by rich dark chocolate, a quick hit of marshmallows, and light bourbon barrels. As it warms, the balance shifts heavily towards the almonds, with vanilla also picking up and the coffee being relegated to a supporting role. The flavor profile largely follows the progression of the aroma, with coffee hitting upfront before the beer warms up, developing a semisweet almond mocha character while the beer is cold. As it sits in the glass, the almond builds towards the front of the palate and the vanilla owns the backend, creating a sweeter flavor combination that's more redolent of baked goods. While I still think this beer is delicious as is, the changes in both the adjunct profile and carbonation stripped it of what made it a god-tier perfect beer to me. The coffee isn't as present as it should be, largely due to almond's dominance, and using CO2 makes it feel slightly less integrated than the last two years, as well as a touch thinner. I'm still looking forward to sitting on my couch with cans of it, but I hope that future years return to nitro and feature a more resilient coffee profile, using vanilla and almonds to complement.
5) Singular Rhythms w/ Gewürztraminer Grape Must & Nelson Hops
Style: Foeder-Aged Grisette w/ Grape Must & Nelson Hops
Score: 4.25
Notes: For those who might have missed it last month, Singular Rhythms uses the same base as Transit of Venus, but fermented and aged in a medium-toast American oak foeder. This particular variant was aged in the foeder for three months, then refermented with Gewürztraminer must and dry-hopped with Nelson Sauvin at a rate of .8 lbs/bbl, before being bottle conditioned. The aroma opens with rich dry hop character - think white wine and tropical fruit - that beautifully complements both the grape must and ester profile of the beer. Moderate earthy and barnyard funk mingle behind the fruit notes, along with light lactic acidity and mild touches of oak. On the palate, the grape must, and dry hops contribute to form a broad vinous character that hits fast and hard, followed by a wave of tropical fruits - papaya, passion fruit, and orange - along with restrained horse blanket and barnyard funk. Light oak provides backing structure, but the vinous character is really the star of the show. I have a feeling people are going to sleep on this, considering how stacked this month's sale is, but it's both interesting and delicious. It demands to be consumed fresh to appreciate what the dry-hopping contributes, yet I have a feeling age will do it well. All that said, I'm still hoping to see adjunct-free bottles of foeder-aged Transit of Venus, but in the interim, I'm enjoying these Singular Rhythms bottles.
rcubed1
Well-Known Member
Phil's band plays Soda Bar Friday night. I'm going to try to make it. Saw their first gig and it was awesome. #talkmusic #makeitfunky
I didn't get soy sauce, but I can kinda see where people would say this. To me, it intensely oaky, like a bourbon that has been in barrels for 20 years. Very astringent/tannic. Not good or bad, but polarizing and the oak will either be off-putting or you'll like it. I enjoyed both Foeder Tones enough to grab a couple bottles of each.
Tyrsis
Well-Known Member
fwiw, I agree - as for the soy thing... I get that from a number of big stouts (hello Assassin) so I would pretty much never listen to me. Hell, I can't taste diacetyl, what the **** do I know
rcubed1
Well-Known Member
Xul1
Well-Known Member
Pastryweizens, the new hotness.
