Central New England Meetup #2

The meetup went well again, but again the abv of the beers took it's toll quickly and we were limited in the number of samples. Next time we will have lower abv beers.

Photos of the event, thanks to Evan Worona for taking the time to take the quality pictures amid drinking all these awesome beers.
http://picasaweb.google.com/jlindros/CentralNEBAMeetup2#


Here's a summary of the tasting.

BBC Holidale started us off. Boozy with lots of malts, fruits, some chewy malts a slight bitter hop flavor. A little rye adds some more spicy fruit character.

Smuttynose Barleywine was next. This was a hop monster. Hops all over the aroma and palate. Some sweetness and chewy malts. Very bitter, with some pine, citrus, and chewy hops. Some tangerine and orange peel flavors decorate it as well.

Next up was Mikkeller Big Worse. This was also pretty malty and was very sweet, with absolutely no carbonation. More caramel and brown sugar flavors, molasses, and a slight boozy taste and heat, but drinks much easier than 12%. Despite the sweetness it wasn't too syrupy and dried off well on the finish.

White Birch Barrel Aged Barleywine was next, and was very different. It started with a nice head. It was semi sweet, with a nice malt profile, but what made it different was the creamy malt flavor and body. A little oak and vanilla and some bourbon flavors all came out, and it had quite a bit of smoke, which also set this one out. Great beer though.

Then we got into the verticals, starting with the Three Floyds Behemoth. We compared '07, '08, and '09. A lot of parallels to Big Foot, you either like it fresh, or aged. Almost everyone liked it better fresh. The '09 fresh one had a lot of hop character, and pretty bitter, as well as a really nice clarity, some sweet malts, brighter tastes, and some heat and boozy taste. The '08 had much less hop character, more pronounced malty flavors, was pretty hazy, a little lighter on the heat and booze, some chewy malt flavors, and little caramel and brown sugar. The '07 was actually not very tasty. It had no hop characters to speak of, with mostly just a mash of malts and sweet caramels, very hazy and ugly looking, and a distinct dirt flavor, like you get from a pocket of dirt in a potato. Fresh this beer is delicious, but doesn't age as well as I expected.

Next so called vertical was the Great Divide Old Ruffian. Since there is no dating effect on the bottles, there was no way to really tell. But they were both acquired in different years and already aged on the shelves. It had a slight purplish color to it with the dark brown. The supposed younger one had some nice creamy malts, thick chewy malts, brown sugar, molasses, some sweetness, and a slight spicy chewy hop character. The older one seemed to have less of a hop profile, was a little more subtle on the heat, and dulled a little on the malts as well.

We started winding down a bit with more snacks, water, and breaks. But next on the list was Pennichuck Pompier '08. It was also pretty sweet with lots of malts and fruit. Some brown sugar and chewy malts, as well as some roasted and toasty malt flavors. A little spicy hop presence was also there.

Next was a horizontal of Shipyard Pugsley Series Barleywine, with the regular and "aged" versions. It had some sweetness and fruit flavors, raisin, black cherry, tangy, malty, some caramel, a little juicy, and a touch of smoke. The aged one add a lot more maltiness, more subtle flavors, less hop and fruit and blended the flavors a lot more.

Last but not least was the Nøgne Ø Andhrímnir Barley Wine. The malt also shined through in this one, but it wasn't as sweet. A slight spicy hop character with some aged subtle flavors. It had a slight heat but hid the booze well. It also had good carbonation and finished with some smoke, molasses, and a little bitterness.

Thanks again to everyone who came and brought beer or food. We had a lot more beer in line but couldn't get to it as the alcohol got on top of us fast. Next meetup will be in another month or two, and we already decided the theme would be lower abv Belgians, such as goldens, pales, lower abv dubbels or triples, etc.