Larry is an Imperial IPA and is the first product of a partnership between Brookline, MA beer cafe extraordinaire Publick House and Wachusett Brewing Company in Westminster, MA.

First things first, you are probably asking, who is Larry? This beer was named for Publick House employee Larry Melia, who "charmed the Wachusett staff during a visit to their brewery." Now the mystery has been solved!

I've been hearing about this beer for awhile now. On Friday I got to try a sample and today I went out and bought a bottle to get the full experience. With New England Brewing coming out with Gandhi-Bot just recently and now Larry, its fixin' to be a pretty hoppy summer here in New England.  

From the Wachusett site:

"The first beer of our Publick House Series, our limited edition 22 oz. celebration of frienship and beer."

Here we go...

Pour - orangish, reddish in color with a smooth matte sort of appearance. The head is about an inch of off-white batter-like foam. Very thick and dense. This is a great looking beer.

Aroma - big citrusy and piney hops. Some tropical fruit aromas as well as a bit of lemon grass. The fresh hop profile in the nose quite alluring (boy does that sound snobby). Seriously though, this has a great smell to it and it makes me want to dive in both figuratively and literally. 

Taste - a big mouthful of grapefruity, citrusy, piney hops that leads to a sharp bite on the tongue. The backbone is not super sweet and the hops tend to stand out a LOT in this beer. Very refreshing on the palate, I have to keep reminding myself this was brewed here in Massachusetts and not Washington, Oregon or California. If you like a well-balanced yet BIG hoppy brew this one should satisfy. 

Overall - by far the best brew I've had from the folks at Wachusett. Great job on this big IPA, it was excellent.

Would I buy more of it? - yep, for the price this is a great big IPA and its brewed pretty locally to me as well. Who says big bad Imperial IPAs have to come from the West Coast?

Note - The Publick House, it was called Anam Cara when I lived in Boston, is a beer lover's paradise in Brookline, Massachusetts. Definitely worth being part of any beer lover's agenda when in Boston.

Stash Wojciechowski, the “Killer Kielbasa”

Smuttynose's Big A IPA is one my favorite hoppy beers. It holds a big place in my heart as it was one of the first so-called Imperial or "Double" IPAs that I ever had. Now the competition for with this style has gotten pretty fierce. A former once-a-year release in their Big Beer Series, Big A is now a year-round beer for the brewery. I picked up a 4-pack the other day after seeing that it had been bottled in April. Fresh beer is the best beer and this is proof! 

From the Smuttynose site:

"Ever since Stash Wojciechowski, the “Killer Kielbasa,” created this Imperial IPA for our Big Beer Series, Big A IPA has gotten a lot of attention. Lauded by the New York Times and Men's Journal Magazine, it’s been one of the most talked-about beers around. Brewed in very small quantities, it has also been one of the hardest-to-find. Until now.

Big A IPA has everything you’d want in an India Pale Ale, only more: more hops, more malt & more flavor. Now it’s available year-round, so you can enjoy this big, flavorful beer any time you want. Na zdrowie!"

Here we go...

Pour - clean, clear and super bright orange and amber. Like a sunrise in a glass with a good inch of white foam on top. That sure looks good!

Aroma - a massive amount of pine and sweet citrus comes barreling out of the glass and assaults my senses. If you are remotely allergic to the aroma of fresh hops then get your epi-pen ready! Big green sticky cones of aromatic hops are what this is all about. The freshness really is noticeable in the smell and I am very excited as how that will translate in the flavor. 

Taste - one sip and the gates to hop heaven have opened. My tongue is at once numbed and battered by bitter, piney, grapefruit hop flavors. A big wave of sweet orange flavor from the malts comes to the defense and does so very well indeed. The fresh, crisp hop flavor is excellent and the high ABV lends to that warming feeling that just adds to the whole enjoyable experience. Awesome stuff from the folks at Smuttynose.

Overall - love it. Its been awhile since I had a bottle of Big A but this experience confirmed my affinity for this hoppy brew. Get it fresh and you won't be let down.

Would I buy more of it? - without a doubt. I'll be buying more this weekend!

Note - (From the Brewer's Notes page)

"For our hopping regime we went with Cascade and Nuggets in the boiling addition. Centennials were added every 5 minutes for the last 30 minutes of the boil. We added Crystals into the whirlpool. Dry hopping was done in both the fermentor after primary fermentation and the bright tank. We used a mixture of Chinook, Nuggets, and Sterlings in the fermentors and whole leaf Centennials in the bright tank."

Here it is in all it's ridiculously dark glory. The big, bad-ass, super stout known as Darkness. This one hails from back in 2008 and has been kept chained in the dungeon without light of day for all that time. It's definitely angry and ready to be unleashed. I've been looking forward to seeing what this beer is all about for quite some time. 

From the Surly site:

This massive Russian Imperial Stout brings waves of flavors; chocolate, cherries, raisins, coffee, and toffee. We add a touch of hops to make this delicious brew even tastier."

The wax is off so here we go...

Pour - super dense, rich and thick like motor oil as it drains into a glass leaving a relatively thin velvet-y head. I got a kick out of how viscous this stuff was and the "legs" it left inside the glass as it poured. Damn, this is not for the faint of heart. Be warned. 

Aroma - big bready, malty, chocolatey, licorice-y, caramel-y and overall molasess-y. Some alcohol heat comes through in the nose as well. This just smells like it could cause cavities or cause a person's blood sugar to spike. 

Taste - MALTY MALT MALT! Wow, this is like drinking malt extract with licorice and brown sugar mixed in. This is borderline cloying its so sweet and dense. I guess you need a literal ton of malt to brew a beer of this magnitude and it certainly does taste that way. Some flavors that I thought were oxidization were just caramel malt and alcohol heat. Even after 18 months in the cellar this is still hot. Brown bread dough soaked in rum and then mixed into a potent stout should sum things up nicely. If you like malty brews this is going to please you, if you want more than strong and dark you might be a bit let down. I need to have some of this fresh to see what those hops (85 IBUs!!!) might do for this brew. 

Overall - sweet, very sweet. This is a malt lover's dream and a little more one-sided than I had hoped. It almost reminded me of a super-strong Baltic Porter as it had some licorice and anise notes that were very similar. In the end I'd say it lived up to the hype when it comes to the strength and complexity but was not as drinkable as I had hoped. 

Would I buy more of it? - I was fortunate it enough to receive this bottle from a very generous beer loving friend in the Midwest. If I lived within a few hours of Surly I'd certainly make the pilgrimage each year just for the fun of it.

Availability - Once a year around Halloween.

Vintage - October 2008

Note - Surly changes the label and the color of the wax each year for their release of Darkness. Also, apparently the 2008 release is known as "a syrupy mess" so it is not surprising that I found this one almost cloying at times. I really look forward to the 2009 release I've got on the shelves and plan to open it sometime soon. Cheers!

If you live anywhere near Copenhagen this is great news - Mikkeller is opening their very own beer bar in the city. Plan your trip to Denmark now if you don't live there already.

The announcement was made a few months ago, but the open invitation that went out via the Mikkeller Fan Club yesterday reads:

"The grand opening of the Mikkeller beer bar in Viktoriagade 8BC, Vesterbro, Copenhagen will take place on wednesday May 5th at 17:00. The opening will feature a huge number of new beers from Mikkeller and beers from the best brewers in Europe and the US. The opening events will go on and new beers will be tapped from May 5th-May 8th."

Information from spiseliv.dk adds a bit more of what the actual bar will be like. This "magnet for international beer enthusiasts" (Mikkel Borg Bjergsø's words) will have 15 types of Mikkeller on tap as well as others mainly from the US and Europe. This quote probably sums the whole thing up:

"Beerwise this is going to be a wild opening with beer from some of the people I know in the industry. Some of it comes from the US and is otherwise completely impossible to get. It's going to be totally crazy." - MBB

Sounds like this will be quite the beer mecca and a place destined to be on every beer hunter's itinerary when travelling to Denmark. (I guess the Carlsberg brewery and Legoland have some competition now.)

Unfortunately, despite living in Scandinavia, I'm still a good 6+ hours from Copenhagen so won't make it to the grand opening. Anyone who does is surely in for a treat...I'll have to wait for the summer to check it out.

More info (for those who don't read Danish) can be found translated here.

Its my 33rd birthday today so I've decided to crack open something that I've been sitting on for a little while. Everything about this beer is appealing to me, the strength, the style, the rye and of course the whiskey barrel aging. When its your birthday don't be shy about cracking open one of those beers that you're saving for the right occasion!  

From the  bottle:

"Imperial Rye Porter aged in Rye Whiskey Barrels. Statement of Composition: 40% Malt Beverage aged in Rye Whiskey Barrels. 60% Malt Beverage. The Dirty Old Man on the label is saying, "Gimme a sponge bath."

Here we go...

Pour - almost jet black in appearance but when the light hits it there is some nice auburn hues. The thin white head goes quickly and leaves a halo of off-white film around the liquid level. 

Aroma - lots of chocolate and fudge up front with vanilla and bourbon in the back.  The chocolate aroma is quite formidable which was a bit of surprise really. This does however smell incredible with some nice alcoholic heat tickling the nose. 

Taste - oh man is that good. Big chocolate malt sweetness on the tongue is followed by some slightly acidic bourbon flavors, vanilla extract and cocoa powder. The finish is very much like red wine, its dry and vinous. There is some nice spiciness to this as well that comes out more as it warms. Absolutely delicious beer with multiple layers of awesomeness. 

Overall - this really impressed me. So much flavor and velvety smooth on the tongue. The bourbon barrel aging was just right for the style, not too overpowering and it let the sweet maltiness of this porter shine as well as the subtle rye spice. Outstanding work from the folks at Tyranena. What I wouldn't do to try their most recent offering from their "Brewers Gone Wild" line which is a "Chipotle Smoked Imperial Porter". Wow!

Would I buy more of it? - again, I wish I could. I'd love to have a few more bottles of this in the cellar. 

Note - Tyranena's "Brewers Gone Wild" line is "a series of big, bold, ballsy beers". So far the lineup has included:

• Who's Your Daddy? Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Porter
• Bitter Woman from Hell Extra India Pale Ale
• Spank Me Baby! Barley Wine-Style Ale
• The Devil Made Me Do It! Imperial Oatmeal Coffee Porter
• High Class Broad Imperial Brown Ale Aged in Brandy Barrels
• Stickin' It To The Man Extra India Pale Ale
• Dirty Old Man Imperial Rye Porter Aged in Rye Barrels
• Devil Over A Barrel Imperial Oatmeal Coffee Porter Aged in Bourbon Barrels
• Scurvy IPA brewed with Orange Peel 
• Paradise by the Dash Board Lights Doubly Blessed Cherry Porter
• Bitter Woman In The Rye... an India Pale Ale brewed with rye malt
• Hop Whore Imperial India Pale Ale