Tonight's beer: Boulevard (Smokestack Series) Grainstorm
I get chocolate and pine and citrus, backed by flowers, grass, caramel, coffee; all that on a dark-toasted bready foundation. Peppery-sour rye inserts itself firmly but politely into the middle. Dim possibilities of dried/burnt fruits, and of spices, lurk like ghosts on the periphery. Bitter, then dry a bit; both linger.
Medium-bodied, roasty-dry, thoroughly-carbonated. Drying, cleansing, massively refreshing. Some almost-pulpy juiciness and a little resinous-syrupy stickiness through the finish—otherwise, remarkably clean. Maybe a little boozy burn (it could be hops) entirely appropriate for 7.7% ABV.
Oh, my. This is a delicious and astonishingly drinkable beer that I'm probably going to start fetishizing and insisting on purchasing any and every time I see it, from this day forward. Intense and staggeringly complex; marvelously integrated, if balanced a bit to the hoppy side of center. Anyone who likes dark and hoppy beers (frequently colloquially called Black IPAs) and hasn't had this beer should go out and acquire some, *right now*. I've often said and written that Nugget Nectar is my favorite hops-focused beer: I think this beer is at least as good and is very probably better.
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| Boulevard (Smokestack Series) Grainstorm |
I get chocolate and pine and citrus, backed by flowers, grass, caramel, coffee; all that on a dark-toasted bready foundation. Peppery-sour rye inserts itself firmly but politely into the middle. Dim possibilities of dried/burnt fruits, and of spices, lurk like ghosts on the periphery. Bitter, then dry a bit; both linger.
Medium-bodied, roasty-dry, thoroughly-carbonated. Drying, cleansing, massively refreshing. Some almost-pulpy juiciness and a little resinous-syrupy stickiness through the finish—otherwise, remarkably clean. Maybe a little boozy burn (it could be hops) entirely appropriate for 7.7% ABV.
Oh, my. This is a delicious and astonishingly drinkable beer that I'm probably going to start fetishizing and insisting on purchasing any and every time I see it, from this day forward. Intense and staggeringly complex; marvelously integrated, if balanced a bit to the hoppy side of center. Anyone who likes dark and hoppy beers (frequently colloquially called Black IPAs) and hasn't had this beer should go out and acquire some, *right now*. I've often said and written that Nugget Nectar is my favorite hops-focused beer: I think this beer is at least as good and is very probably better.
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