Bent Paddle Cold Press Black Review

Name: Bent Paddle Cold Press Black
Style: Black Ale
ABV: 6%
IBUs: 34 

Been meaning to review this for a while, but I can never seem to find this in stores; Only on tap at certain establishments. Then this past weekend, I finally found it. I'm talking about Bent Paddle's Cold Press Black, which to my knowledge, is their black ale made with coffee beans from The Duluth Coffee Company. It's also been a while since I've had their black ale, so let's try this out!

Appearance - Pitch black with some light carbonation along the sides of the glass. The head takes on a tan khaki color and it leaves a good amount of lacing along the sides of the glass.

Aroma - Nice roasted barley and chocolate malt profile mixed in with some nice coffee ground notes and faint hops.

Taste - The front of the palate starts things off with some roasted barley and chocolate malts, with some moderate coffee ground notes popping up in the middle. Towards the back, I'm getting more of that chocolate malt backbone and more coffee ground notes. The aftertaste consists mainly of roasted barley and light coffee grounds.

I like the coffee in this; Not too strong and just balanced enough to walk in sync with the other aspects of the flavor. As far as I'm concerned, it's another solid offering from Bent Paddle and the perfect beer for these cold winter days. If you see this, be sure to check it out!

Bent Paddle Cold Press Black - 8.5/10

Dogfish Head World Wide Stout Review

Name: Dogfish Head World Wide Stout
Style: Imperial Stout
ABV: 18-20%
IBUs: 70

While in Wisconsin this past weekend, I decided to stop at Casanova like always after I finish up at either Pitchfork or Oliphant when I noticed an offering from Dogfish Head that I had heard stories about but had yet to try out. I'm of course talking about their World Wide Stout, which clocks in at around 18-20% ABV; Kind of reminds me of their 120 Minute IPA, because they aren't exactly 100% sure what the ABV on this is. It also makes this the strongest Stout I've had to date.

Hey speaking of which, pretty soon I'll no longer have to travel to Wisconsin to acquire Dogfish Head as it was announced a couple weeks ago that they would start distributing to Minnesota this year. This comes after a nearly 17 year absence from Minnesota after the brewery got screwed over by a distributor and, according to what a store owner once told me, said that they would never set foot in the Minnesota market again. You know me though, I'm always down for a bigger selection of craft beer to choose from.

Appearance - Pitch black with a small amount of carbonation along the sides of the glass. The head takes on a brown color and is pretty thin & there's no lacing to speak of left behind

Aroma - Strong chocolate malts mixed in with some fairly strong bitter hops and light cherry notes, along with a hefty amount of roastiness from this on. I'm also getting some pretty strong boozy notes in here as well.

Taste - Strong chocolate malts and roasted barley notes that linger throughout the palate, with those bitter hops and cherry notes showing up in the middle and back. Speaking of which, on the back end of the palate is where I'm getting some very strong boozy notes and boy howdy, those first couple of sips you feel like your esophagus is burning. However, the more it warms up and airs out, the boozy sensation starts to calm down but is still very much there throughout the palate. As for the aftertaste, it consists of more roastiness and moderate hop bitterness, both of which linger for a few moments

I recall my review of Dogfish's 120 Minute IPA as it shares many similarities with World Wide Stout (High ABV, strong boozy aspect, etc.) and I gave it a reasonably high score back then of 9.25. After having World Wide Stout, I'm starting to wonder if I was having 120 Minute IPA while wearing rose-tinted glasses. In other words, I like the flavor but the boozy aspect is just so upfront & strong that it gets in the way of what makes this beer good. In short, it's worth trying out if you're curious but World Wide Stout makes a very compelling argument that bigger doesn't always equal better.

Dogfish Head World Wide Stout - 7/10

Oliphant Citizen Kang Review

Name: Oliphant Citizen Kang
Style: Helles Bock
ABV: 6.7%
IBUs: N/A

When I visited Olpihant Brewing a few months ago, I fell in love with them and how they took a creative approach to their beers. Fast forward to now and they've (somehow) managed to gain the ability to self distribute to Minnesota using some legal loophole/brouhaha that I'm not going to even bother to get into. The point being is that I now no longer have to travel to Wisconsin to have their beers....but will gladly do so going forward.

Case in point, I have their Citizen Kang Helles Bock. Now I grabbed this in Wisconsin this past weekend but the reason being that I haven't given any of their beers a proper review so I figured this would be a good way to start.

Appearance - Hazy dark orange with a mild amount of visible carbonation. The head is pretty foamy and there's a good amount of lacing left behind.

Aroma - Pale malts and caramel with some light floral hops and just a hint of barley. The smell almost reminds me of spring seasonals.

Taste - Pale malts and barley on the front of the palate, but the back opens up to a rich caramel sweetness and mild floral hoppiness, As for the aftertaste, it's mostly just a mild hop bitterness with some barley but is otherwise quite dry.

It's not the most complex beer out there but it's certainly a robust one for what it is. With that said, I look forward to trying out many, many more of their offerings in the future. For the time being, go check this out if you can.

Oliphant Citizen Kang - 8.5/10

Alaskan Husky IPA Review

Name: Alaskan Husky IPA
Style: India Pale Ale
ABV: 7%
IBUs: 50

Well, I've got a new beer from Alaskan Brewing called Husky IPA. With some new beers from Alaskan, I normally make a note to myself to check it out in the future. This beer, however, was an exception for two reasons:

1. It was available for $7.49 for a six-pack
2. It's a Mosaic IPA

Now my regular readers know I love Mosaic IPAs but they've always been in the $10-11 range or priced higher than their other IPA counterparts. Never have I encountered a "budget priced" Mosaic IPA before and yet one just so happened to fall into my lap. Now with lower priced IPAs, I do notice that they tend to be more malty than hoppy so I'm hoping that isn't the case here.

Appearance - Hazy orange color with a mild amount of visible carbonation. The head is pretty foamy for what is and the lacing left behind is also quite abundant.

Aroma - Rich citra notes with some mild bitterness. I'm also getting some toffee and pale malts in here as well.

Taste - Much like the nose, you've got some reasonably robust citra notes upfront with some mild pine bitterness on the back end of the palate. The toffee and pale malt backbone lingers throughout the palate and provides that balance without being overbearing like I was expecting.

For the price I paid for it, I wasn't expecting too much. Color me surprised, but those Mosaic hops stand out quite well from the rest of the flavor. While it's not as robust as other Mosaic IPAs I've had, rest assured that you're getting more than your money's worth with this beer.

Alaskan Husky IPA - 8.5/10

Bald Man Killer Queen Review

Name: Bald Man Killer Queen
Style: Imperial IPA
ABV: 9.5%
IBUs: N/A

A few months ago, I paid a visit to Bald Man Brewing and thought their offerings to be solid. Since I've last visited them, they've not only expanded their availability to some area bars but they've also released their first bottled release, which we have today.

I give to you Killer Queen, an English Style Imperial IPA that I picked up last weekend but was unable to consume due to a bout of illness that I had. It's always exciting to see new local breweries become available but before I start, I do want to address something that is a huge pet peeve of mine in beer: corks.

I spent nearly 15 minutes trying to get this bottle open but the cork simply wouldn't budge and I accidentally ended up ripping the top off by mistake as I tried relentlessly to open it up. In fact, the only way I was able to "open" this was by pushing down the remainder of the cork into the bottle where it could free itself.

What's wrong with a simple bottle cap? There's no need to unnecessarily complicate things by making a beer hard to open. You might as well have a lock combination for the beer in order to get it open. I understand you want to keep the contents of a beer secure or make it stand out from the others, but there's no point in having a hard-to-open corked beer if no one's going to be able to get it open to enjoy it.

Appearance - Hazy dark orange color with a mild amount of visible carbonation. The head is nice and foamy and the lacing is quite plentiful

Aroma - Piney hops and strong caramel malts with some light kiwi notes with a hint of barley.

Taste - Strong caramel malts upfront which linger throughout, while towards the back opens up to some moderate piney/dank hops. The aftertaste is made up mainly of bitter hops with some mild toffee sweetness.

Despite the cumbersome cork situation, this is a pretty good beer. It's fairly heavy on the malts and moderate on the hops which is standard for an English IPA in terms of flavor. If you're willing to deal with the cork (and use a corkscrew to open this,) then you'll probably find something to like about this beer.

Bald Man Killer Queen - 8/10

Angry Inch Backwoods Brown Review

Name: Angry Inch Backwoods Brown
Style: Imperial Brown Ale
ABV: 9.5%
IBUs: 42

So my health had taken a turn for the worse, so I was unable to get around to looking at some beers for a few days but I'm back and ready to have some beers again.

One of my new year's resolutions was to focus more on local craft breweries and I figured that I may as well start with a brewery I am quite familiar with: Angry Inch Brewing. Despite my continued support for them, it's been well over 2 years since I've reviewed any beers from them. In fact, since I did my last review, they became a full-fledged brewery.

So I'm starting things off by reviewing Backwoods Brown, an Imperial Brown Ale that is only available in their taproom at this time. Since temperatures are supposed to drop below zero this week, I decided to grab a growler of this in preparation for the oncoming cold snap.

Appearance - Dark brown color that is almost black in appearance. The head is nice and foamy and there's a ton of lacing left behind.

Aroma - Chocolate malts and roasted barley mixed in with some toffee sweetness and a hint of molasses. I'm also getting some light oak notes out of this too.

Taste - Strong molasses and sarsaparilla notes with a hint of oak. I'm also getting some potent chocolate malts in here as well as some roastiness on the back end of the palate. I kind of want to make an ice cream float out of this!

This is fantastic! It's roasty yet sweet at the same time and the overall flavor profile reminds me a bit of root beer. This is, however, very much a beer. On top of that, the body is also quite smooth! In short, this has become one of my favorite beers they've made so far and serves as a reminder to myself I need to have their beer more often.

Angry Inch Backwoods Brown - 9/10

Funkwerks Tropic King Review

Name: Funkwerks Tropic King
Style: Imperial Saison
ABV: 8%
IBUs: N/A

Well. it's 2017 and while I meant to review this a few days ago, I got caught up with end of the year stuff & work. On top of that, I came down with a rather nasty case of the cold. The likes of which I haven't experienced in a long time. Thankfully my health has taken a turn for the better, so now it's time to get back to looking at some beers.

Today we've got another beer from Funkwerks and it just so happens to be another Saison! In this instance, it's an Imperial Saison made with Rakau hops, which is supposed to give this beer a tropical fruit like flavor.

Appearance - Hazy dark orange color with no visible carbonation, It possesses a reasonably foamy head and some good lacing to back it all up.

Aroma - Belgian yeasts & cloves, with some toffee & Munich malts. I'm also getting some strong mango and citra sweetness profile.

Taste - Belgian yeasts and cloves once again take center stage on the front of the palate but the mango and citrus notes which show up in middle and back of the palate help balance things throughout the palate, in addition to the toffee malts which gives the overall beer some nice support.

What can I say? It's a great spin on Saison-style, it possesses a great & robust flavor profile for what it is and it does so quite well. In fact, I'd even go as far to say that this is one of the best Saisons I've had in a long time. If you so happen to come across, you owe it to yourself to try this out.

Funkwerks Tropic King - 9.5/10