a diverse assortment

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Mr. Ryan Clarke and I sampled these beers and recorded these notes together a couple weeks ago while we were homebrewing. We made two English Special Bitters, a Rauch beer and a Double IPA.

From Heavyweight Brewing Company in Ocean Township, New Jersey: Perkuno's Hammer Baltic Porter

We didn't actually take notes for this one, but what I remember was HUGE malts. Huge nutty, caramelly chocolate flavors. Very bodied. A very big beer indeed.

From Barley Island Brewing Company in Noblesville, Indiana: Brass Knuckle's Oatmeal Stout (4.9%abv)

Black. Black as night. Brown head. Big roasted and chocolate (?) malts in the nose with a bit of a sharp hop presence. Maybe just a touch of fermentation character, but the roasty notes dominate. Fairly bitter oatmeal stout. Much more than I expect in this style. But it’s still very nice. Big roasted and chocolate malt flavors as well. Fairly hefty body, very smooth mouthfeel. The hop bitterness dominate the tail end of the palate with an almost tart astringency. Perhaps it’s the combination of high hop bitterness and all those dark grains that make it a bit astringent in the finish. All in all a pretty decent beer.

From New Holland Brewing in Holland, Michigan: Phi (9%abv)

Beautiful looking beer. Nice peach/orange color. Small, off white head. Really crazy nose. Big citrusy notes. Maybe some coriander? Very intense nose. Almost smells like Brett funk at first. Maybe some yeast character too. Very strange tasting beer. Big citrus like notes up front, mixed with the coriander-esque spicing. Very tart all the way through, but very very tart in the finish. Doesn’t seem like hop bitterness, but maybe it is? Medium-low body for a beer of this strength. Interesting, but I’m not sure how many of these I could drink.

From Victory Brewing Company in Downingtown, Pennsylvania: Hop Wallop (8.5%abv)

After a blind tasting of DFH 90 minute and Ryan’s cloned version, I’m not in tip top form, but here we go anyway. Really light colored beer. Straw yellow. Ivory white head. Big spicy hops in the nose. Not your typical American IPA hops I don’t think. Smells like a big pilsner. Tastes like a big pilsner too. Huge, spicy, noble hops. Not much citrus, a little bit, but not much. More of that spicy, grassy deal. Very bitter. Very very bitter. Not much in the way of maltyness here. Just the ice for the hops to ice dance on. Very harsh bitterness in the finish. Just a wee bit of sweetness tries to poke its head out at the end, but the hops gang stomp it into the curb. Too much really. Interesting version of a DIPA.

From Bell's Brewery (Kalamazoo Brewing Company in Kalamazoo, Michigan: Wheat Love Ale (8%abv)

Nice orange color. White head. Minimal white head. Big Belgian-esque nose. Ryan says phenolic and clovey and I agree. Also some big esters. Big ripe fruit. Definitely a touch of ethanol in there as well. A hint of citrusy orange. Ryan says coriander. I don’t smell that though. Big palate. A little harsh, probably needs to sit for a while. I get more citrus. Not hop citrus, but yeast and maybe wheaty-like citrus notes. Fairly sweet, almost cloying towards the finish. Sticky lips. Kind of tart. Not much in the way of hops I don’t think. Maybe some other spicing like coriander. All in all a bit much. Age it a couple years.