Blog

Throwback Thursday: The Brooklyn Brewery Black Chocolate Stout

Posted on by Evan

This post was originally posted on October 12, 2012. So many beers ago! 

IMG_1179.JPG

Here we have Brooklyn Brewery’s Black Chocolate Stout, 10.0% ABV. This stout is brewed once every year in limited bottles and had the month and year printed on the neck label. This particular Black Chocolate Stout was brewed on 11-12. The Brooklyn brewery uses six varieties of black, chocolate, and roasted malts to achieve the flavors in this beer. The Brooklyn Brewery only put this stout in four pack of twelve-ounce bottles and from what I hear, it sells very well. Black Chocolate Stout Pours a deep thick black color with a rich cocoa khaki head that fades into nice sticky lacing. No light that passes through this super dark beer with no a trace of carbonation. This pours like motor oil but not in a bad way. The aroma of Black Chocolate Stout is of bakers/Hershey chocolate, and a slight caramel coffee scent. Smells like dessert for sure. The taste of the stout is sweet chocolate with a few roasted malts and coffee, with a hint of bitter caramel. The mouthfeel is medium to heavy with all the flavors really coating your mouth and sticking there for a while. There is a little amount of alcohol burn in the finish, and the aftertaste has a slightly bitter roasted coffee note. Also in the aftertaste, you’ll find a slightly less sweet coca flavor. This stout is a bit boozy tasting all around but none too bad, but that would be expected with this being at 10.0% abv. Overall I’d give this an A-. A really good chocolate stout, but a little too much alcohol in this but it’s somewhat okay, and it’s slightly thicker than I would’ve liked it to be. I would recommend this to any stout or chocolate beer lover. I solidly brewed beer, and remember to come and see me down at Mike’s Discount Beverage, 4700 Park Rd, Charlotte NC 28209 for this, Brooklyn’s Black Chocolate Stout, and all your fine wine and great beer needs. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!

The Beer News

Posted on by Evan

Here is this week’s new and happening in and around the Charlotte, NC area.

  • Thursday, November 9th 2 pm-11 pm Leigon Brewing. Crowler Release Day. You asked for it! Legion will now be filling 32-ounce crowlers of your favorite Charlotte beer, right here in the tap room! Join us this Thursday and be one of the first to take one of these home! Snap a photo and tag it with #legiongoals for a chance to be featured on our social media channels! 
  • Thursday, November 9th 6 pm-9 pm Growler USA (Charlotte, NC) Oskar Blues Tap Takeover. Oskar Blues Brewery North Carolina will be in the house to take over a few taps and share delicious brews! Live Music with The Bash Brothers! 
  • Friday, November 11th 1 pm-4 pm NoDa Brewing. NoDa Post Race Party. Running one of the 5 distance options for the Novant Health Charlotte Marathon? Then join us for an after-party at NoDa Brewing Company! Celebrate achieving your goals with delicious craft beer, TIN Kitchen food truck deliciousness to replenish those calories, and a short therapeutic massage from the amazing Becca Bazzle with Essential Therapy, LLC! Then join in the fun at Growlerfest presented by Greater Charlotte SPCA and listen to a live DJ, visit vendors galore, pet (and possibly take home) adoptable dogs, and participate in some fun raffles! Bring the family and let’s party!!!
  • Friday & Saturday, November 10th-11th Olde Hickory Station 232 Government Ave SW, Hickory, North Carolina 28602. Draft Release: Olde Rabbit’s Foot. The hiatus is over: Olde Rabbit’s Foot is returning in 2017! Try *draft pours* at the Olde Hickory Station Friday (before the bottles go on sale at the Olde Hickory Brewery Saturday morning at 11am) Olde Rabbit’s Foot is three imperial stouts, aged in Woodford Reserve barrels, and blended together. This collaboration brew is a joint effort among The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery, Foothills Brewing, and the Olde Hickory Brewery. This is the first chance in five years to try fresh Olde Rabbit’s Foot, so please plan accordingly… (bottle sales on Saturday will be at the brewery, cash-only, $20 per bottle, no limit per person.)   
  • Saturday, November 11th 2 pm-6 pm Sycamore Brewing, Fall Oyster Roast at Sycamore. Join us for a Fall Oyster Roast at Sycamore! Oysters provided by Sea Level NC. Fall, seasonal craft beers provided by Sycamore Brewing. Live Music by Rich Challen Band. *No Tickets – First Come, First Serve* Buckets of oysters for $9 each OR an All-You-Can-Eat option for $40! Additionally, bowls of Clam Chowder will be $9 each. Condiments, shucking tables and shucking knives will be provided.
  • Saturday, November 11th 12 pm-10 pm Birdsong Brewing Company. Purple Beer For Veterans with Birdsong and Unknown! We’re Birdsong and Unknown…. We get along, we like helping people AND we like making fun beers! Why not combine forces and work together? That’s what we’re doing for Veterans Day this Saturday, 11/11/17! We’re both releasing a special purple brew and $1 from every pint sold in said brew FROM BOTH TAPROOMS will go to Purple Heart Homes! Each brewery used the same base recipe using purple sweet potatoes and pea blossoms but we both added special fun adjuncts to spice it up a little and make it more purple! You’ll have to go to both breweries and try each version….. double donation, score! Also- our social media managers, Jenny and Scotty, will be swapping social media accounts on Friday, 11/10 to help spread the word and have a little fun! Make sure you’re following both Birdsong and Unknown on their social media channels, there could be some fun giveaways! 
  • Sunday, November 12th 12 pm-5 pm Free Rang Brewing. Oyster Roast and orderfire screening. Oysters + Rocksalt + orderfire + oyster stout = a great Sunday! It’s time for the 3d episode in our 3d season. This time we headed up to Topping VA and sat down with Travis Croxton, Co-owner of Rappahannock River Oysters, LLC. Travis will be on hand with a whole bunch of oysters, they will be roasted and shucked. Shane, the new Chef at Rocksalt will be there with some other tasty bits. Free Range will be releasing, SEA OF COMPANIONS, an 8% Carolina Oyster Stout made with RRO oysters! Oh, and you’ll be able to watch an amazing episode of orderfire. Tickets will be on pre-sale at Free Range Brewing starting Friday, 10/27. 1 ticket is 12$ and gets you 6 oysters and your choice of 3 sauces... There will also be limited tickets for sale the day of the event. All proceeds from this event will go to Piedmont Culinary Guild!

Epic Brewing New England Style India Pale Ale AKA Citralush

Posted on by Evan

IMG_5427

This is on the trend with today’s IPAs this is Epic Brewing (Denver, Colorado) New England Style India Pale Ale AKA Citralush, 7.0% ABV. This is a hazy IPA, unfiltered brewed with Citra Hops.  New England Style India Pale Ale AKA Citralush is part of a series of New England IPAs that will rotate every two to three months. Citralush pours a deep dank hazy orange yellow color with a one and a half finger white head with decent retention leaving good lacing behind with aromas of juicy grapefruit and mild orange and earthy hoppiness with some pine notes all coming together to bring you juicy grapefruit/orange flavors with big juicy hop flavors with nice piney dankness with a mild hoppiness on the back of the mouth and a little bitter juiced hop finish with a juicy citrusy aftertaste that linger on your tongue. This one will surprise you with its good juiciness and that gets an A. The flavor of Citralush is none too overpowering and flavorful, one that I recommend you go for and I would have this again. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!       

Throwback Thursday: Samuel Smith India Ale

Posted on by Evan

This post was originally posted May 30, 2014. 

IMG_2390

One of my favorite breweries in the world is Samuel Smith Brewery in (Tadcaster) N. Yorks, England. I have pretty much had all of they’re beer in the breweries lineup, and they are all great beers. But I found one from Samuel Smith’s that I’ve not had yet, India Ale (IPA). Like all Samuel Smith beers, this is Brewed with hard well water and fermented in ‘stone Yorkshire squares. Samuel Smith’s India Ale 5.0% ABV and an IBU of 46, pours a crisp coppery orange color with a big four finger white bubbly, rocky head that sticks around for quite a while before fading away slightly, leaving behind great strings of lacing around the glass. There is plenty of light coming through the glass with nice carbonation bubbles racing towards the white foamy head. The aroma in India Ale is lightly grassy with a slight malted scent and touches of some light tropical fruit. The taste is very low on hoppy flavor but there is a slight hop flavor present to let you know you are having an IPA. There is a nice small tropical fruit note here with a nice malt backbone to go right along with the faint grassy notes. The taste is much smoother than some American IPAs. The mouthfeel is light to almost medium. Samuel Smith’s India Ale finishes nice but dry and has a nice faintly grassy fruity aftertaste. Samuel Smith’s didn’t disappoint me with this India Ale at all, so Samuel Smith’s India Ale gets an A+ here. A solid smooth drinking English IPA, well balanced. Samuel Smith’s India Ale isn’t overwhelming in the hops department. I highly recommend this to anyone looking to try their first IPA or to anyone who likes beer. So please go out and try Samuel Smith’s India Ale and see what you think of it. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly! 

The Beer News

Posted on by Evan

Here are this Weeks new and happenings in and around the Charlotte area.

  • Thursday, November 2nd Catawba Brewing 12 pm-10 pm passion Fruit Gose Release.
  • Thursday, November 2nd Brass Tap International Stout Day! 7 pm-10 pm. This  We’ll be featuring 6 AMAZING stouts for only $6 each to celebrate the special day!
    We’ll be tapping:
    Founders Breakfast Stout – 10oz – 8.3%
    Brewed with an abundance of flaked oats, bitter and imported chocolates, and two types of coffee, this stout has an intense fresh-roasted java nose topped with a frothy, cinnamon-colored head that goes forever
    Cigar City Marshal Zhukov’s Penultimate Push – 10oz – 11.5%
    Aromas of fresh-ground espresso beans, vanilla and alcohol spiciness dominate the nose in this imposing Imperial Stout. The palate finds strong flavors of fudge, coffee, penuche, and raisin pudding balanced by moderate carbonation and assertive German hop flavor and bitterness, while the sweetness of vanilla and cacao rounds out the beer’s long finish.
    Sierra Nevada Narwhal – 10oz – 10.2%
    Narwhal Imperial Stout is inspired by the mysterious creature that thrives in the deepest fathoms of the frigid Arctic Ocean. Features incredible depth of malt flavor, rich with notes of espresso, baker’s cocoa, roasted grain and a light hint of smoke.
    Stone 2014 Imperial Russian Stout – 10oz – 10.8%
    Stone Imperial Russian Stout is so thick, rich and, well, sinful, you might worry that you’ll be doomed to the fiery pits just for thinking about a sip. This massive and intensely aromatic beer abounds with notes of chocolate, coffee, black currants, anise and roastiness, and its heavy palate is nothing to be trifled with
    Oskar Blues 2016 Ten-Fidy – 10oz – 10.5%
    This titanic, immensely viscous stout is loaded with inimitable flavors of chocolate-covered caramel and coffee and hide a hefty 65 IBUs underneath the smooth blanket of malt. Ten FIDY (10.5% ABV) is made with enormous amounts of two-row malt, chocolate malt, roasted barley, flaked oats, and hops. Ten FIDY is the ultimate celebration of dark malts and boundary-stretching beer.
    D9 German Chocolate Cake – 10 oz – 10%
    Coconut Pecan Stout aged in Brandy Foeders. Tastes like…you guessed it – German Chocolate Cake!!!!     
  • Thursday, November 2nd Sycamore Brewing Patrick Hazy IPA Can Release 4 pm-10pm. The FIRST of our series of hyper-limited can releases! Taproom favorite, Patrick Hazy IPA, will be canned for the first time ever! Hop Bursted and Double Dry Hopped with Citra, El Dorado, Mosaic, and Ekuanot.
    Sycamore brewer, James Early, will be on-site for a tour and Q&A.
    Papi Queso Food Truck will be serving dinner out of our pop-up kitchen. Live music on the beer garden stage. A selection of juicy and hazy IPAs will also be available on draft. Limit 3 4-packs a person. 
  • Friday, November 3rd Triple C Brewing White Blaze Winter Ale Release. 4pm- 10 pm. Our popular Winter Ale – White Blaze returns on Friday, November 3rd in the taproom on draft and in cans! Bleu Barn Bistro has dinner covered!
  • Saturday, November 4th The Unknown Brewing Company Strang Brew Festival 2017. For the 3rd year in a row, we’re working with some of the best breweries to create a festival based on brews no one would expect, or even dare to create, which is why we are celebrating our favorite annual event – Strange Brew! This unique event will include plenty of breweries participating in this epic adventure to compete against one another by brewing, filtering, or infusing the strangest beers ever created.
    Current List of Breweries!
    – NoDa
    – Sycamore
    – Birdsong
    – Triple C
    – Legion
    – Lenny Boy
    – Blue Blaze
    – Dreamchasers
    – D9
    – Rivermen
    – New Sarum
    – Bull City cider
    – Waterline
    – Southbound Brewing
    – Wicked Weed
    – Cabarrus Brewing
    – Granite Falls
    – Double Barley
    – The Unknown Brewing Company
    With your ticket, you will be able to try every one of these brews, several times, and vote on your favorite one!
    ~ Live Music by Ren Elvis and Johnny Zostant
    ~ Plenty of unique great food
    ~ Plenty of fun strange activities for you to participate in
    ~ An epic night you will never forget
    LAST YEARS WINNER: D9 Brewing Company‘s Peter Pepper Beer
    Tickets are limited! Purchase online ahead of time!
    $25 tickets
    Must be 21 years old to attend.     Tickets at Eventbrite.
  • Thursday,  November 4th Three Spirits Brewery Two Year Anniversary. 12 pm -10 pm. Our friends at Three Spirits Brewery are celebrating Two Years! We’ll be there with our Crafts & Drafts Market including local artisans, BBQ, Music & more! We will be closing down the front parking lot to allow extra space for more local artisans, food, and fashion trucks.
    **We will be celebrating with the Three Spirits Brewery theme of Christmas. Be sure to bring your Holiday Spirit! You can bring your own chair if you want to chill outside and enjoy the cool Fall air. We will also have swag for sale including T-Shirts/Hats and Pint glasses.
    Music:
    DJ Festivus 12-3pm
    LIVE: Brangle 3-6pm | Jonesy and Craig 6-10pm
    Crafts & Drafts Market: 2-6pm
    **Parking will be available behind brewery and a block down at the Woodlawn Lynx Station  

Foothills Brewing Craft Happiness IPA Project Intrepid IPA

Posted on by Evan

IMG_5422

I have another Foothills brewing Craft Happiness IPA Project, Intrepid IPA, 6.8% ABV with 66 IBUs. Intrepid IPA is helping service animals and all animals. Intrepid IPA is brewed with Topaz hops and pours a delightful orange color with a three finger fluffy white head that slow to dissipates into some beautiful lacing throughout the inside of the glass giving you aromas of grassy pine notes with nice slight grapefruit notes, and leads into a taste of grassy dank grapefruit pine with a little oniony tingle that as a little hoppy resin on the back that finishes nice and slightly floral with pine and grapefruit with a much similar aftertaste with a slight hoppy character with some earthy tones. Foothill Brewing has done it again and brewed a great IPA and Craft Happiness IPA Project, Intrepid IPA is an A+. This is a beer that is worth trying for yourself I highly recommend Craft Happiness IPA Project, Intrepid IPA. It has so much flavor bursting from it, I’ll definitely go back to this beer again! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!     

Founders Brewing Co. DKML Imperial Malt Liquor Age in Bourbon Barrels

Posted on by Evan

IMG_5419

Picked up Founders Brewing Co. DKML Imperial Malt Liquor, 14.2% ABV at Vintner Wine Market here in Charlotte, NC. This is a Bourbon barrel aged beer is aged in a bourbon barrel and dry-hopped and has corn added. DMKL pours an orange color with a quarter finger white head that fades into a nice halo giving you a strong boozy alcoholic aroma, you definitely can smell whiskey/bourbon on DKML. Taste is strong with flavors of whiskey/bourbon and on the end, you get a big bitter alcoholic note with a warming alcoholic finish and a bitter whiskey aftertaste. If you look past the high ABV.strong alcohol this isn’t a bad beer, I say it’s a C. This beer doesn’t have a lot going on beside the bourbon barrel aging and the 14.2% ABV but those qualities were not too bad. I don’t think this is one that I will come back to anytime soon nor would I recommend it. It was interesting enough. Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!       

Throwback Thursday: Epic Brewing Brainless on Peaches

Posted on by Evan

Originally posted on June 13, 2012.

IMG_0848

You don’t have to be brainless to like this! Here we have a beer from Epic Brewings Exponential Series, this is Brainless on Peaches 10.7% abv. This is a Belgian style ale that is brewed with peaches and on French oak barrels. This is special because they only brew enough for 1,800 one pint six fluid ounce bottle. Lucky me! Well this pours a glassy golden color with a bright thin head. There is plenty of peach scents to this beer. There is a nice small faint scent of grain but I was really looking hard for that, but I found that but it smells just like a true Belgian ale, just with lots of peaches. The taste is nice and peachy with a strong alcoholic flavor. The aftertaste is sweet grainy and yes peachy, and still strong. I found this overall surprisingly good. I thought it would be dark and bitter, with a faint hint of a peach. But I was wrong, so wrong. This was tasty indeed. I was surprised. See not all barrel aged bee is what you think, dark bitter, heavy strong, yeah I know this one was but it was the good kind of strong, and some tend to be thick and not so good with taste but I give Epic Brewing Brainless on Peaches an A. I will be more open-minded toward barrel aged beer since having this tasty fellow. Now go forth and have one of these and tell me it’s not good, bet you can’t! Cheers! Please drink responsibly!  

The Beer News

Posted on by Evan

Here is this week’s news and happening in around the Charlotte North Carolina area. 

  • October 27th Friday 3 pm-10 pm The Unknown Brewing Company Limited Release: “Gamble Everything” Hazy Double IPA. We may be late to the haze craze but we wanted to make sure she was just right! We are proud to announce our special release next Friday will be our brand new Hazy Double Pale Ale titled “Gamble Everything”! This Double IPA is dry hopped with the juiciest hops we could get our hands on and brewed with flaked oats and creamy malts to give this beer a tremendous mouthfeel! The name “Gamble Everything” has always been a part of our mantra…since we started 4 years ago, we have always had our toes over the last edge! See you next Friday at the limited release! 
  • October 27th Friday 4 pm-10 pm Noda Brewing Company Limited Release 2016 BBA (Bourbon Barrel Aged) Between the Berries and Me. We’re tapping a very limited amount of 2016 Bourbon Barrel Aged Between the Berries and Me to really kick-off our sixth-anniversary celebrations! Join us as soon as you can, because this delicious brew won’t last long! Plus, TIN Kitchen will be here serving up dinner and there will be some great live music, from PALEFACE, to keep you entertained! Plus don’t forget to join us for the rest of the weeks anniversary festivities:
    Saturday, 10/28: The NoDa Games
    Sunday, 10/29: Sixth Birthday Bash
    Monday, 10/30: Lucky No. 7 Celebration 
  • October 28th Saturday 12 pm-10:05 pm The Unknown Brewing Company Buzzed City Beer Release Party. The Brewing Process for Buzzed City Beer for Bring Back The Buzz Has Bee-gun! (Is that enough “B’s”?) The tentative dates for the finish given to us by Unknown Brewing Company have us looking to sync the party with the beginning of the Hornets Season! PERFECT!!! 👌 Come and bee the first to enjoy the “Buzzed City” Beer and taste the first sips along with us! The legendary Charlotte photographer Uncle Jut will be showcasing his works and selling his prints! Fitzgerald’s Irish Pub (one of the locations that will carry the beer all season long) will be providing snacks for those who come to get their Buzz on! Brixx Wood Fired Pizza (who will be carrying Buzzed City at all their Charlotte locations) will be giving away coupons for FREE PIZZAS!!! We will, of course, be selling our gear, giveaways and as always raffling off items for local charities! We are still working on a lot of the details like providing a basketball hoop for people to shoot around 😉 BUT we just wanted you to mark your calendar so you can celebrate with us Hornets fans having our own beer! Thank You!!!  
  • October 29th Sunday 3 pm-5 pm Wooden Robot Brewery Down. Stay.For the month of October KeenDog and Wooden Robot Brewery partnered up to bring you Down. Stay. IPA – with $1 from all beers sold going to, Leashes of Valor. LOV raises and pairs PTSD service dogs for veterans at no cost. On the 29th we will be having our wrap party from 3-5 at Wooden Robot, along with a costume contest for your fur friend (prizes for top 3), Leashes of Valor will be there to answer any questions you have. So come out after the game for a good time and a good cause! IPA Wrap Up Party & Holloween Costume Contest. 
  • October 29th Sunday 11 am-7 pm NoDa Brewing Company Sixth Birthday Bash Who says there’s nothing to celebrate year six?! We’ve got so much to be grateful for, including you, our faithful customers! To celebrate the support you’ve given us since 2011, we’re throwing a birthday bash to remember! TIN Kitchen will be serving up a special birthday brunch, plus there will be live music (John Dungan from 2-4 pm and 2 Ukes, a Banjo and a Box from 5-7 pm) and giveaways, and (of course) a special birthday beer release! It’s our Anniversary Ale, a strong ale aged in bourbon barrels sitting at 12.3%! Not only will we be celebrating on this Sunday, but we’ll also be throwing several anniversary-themed events before and after. Stay tuned to our events page so you don’t miss out on any of the fun!
  • November 19th Sunday 1 pm-4 pm Birdsong Brewing Co Fall Oyster Roast by Birdsong and RockSalt! Fall is upon us and we’re celebrating with an Oyster Roast! Our friends from Rocksalt Charlotte are bringing the oysters and the steamers down from Rappahannock River Oysters, LLC and will be on site taking care of the oyster side of things while we serve up a fresh batch of Clustershuck Cajun Oyster Stout brewed with….. you guessed it, fresh oysters! Buckets of steamed/roasted oysters will be $15 & RockSalt will be shucking raw oysters to order for $1 each! The Panthers are off that Sunday and we hope you can carve out a few hours from your pre-Thanksgiving prep agendas to relax with a few pints of delicious local beer and enjoy some super fresh oysters sold by the bucket! This event is family friendly, so all are encouraged to join! 11/19/17 1-4 PM.  Rocksalt Charlotte, located in the Park Road Shopping Center, is our Oyster Roast event partner! They specialize in sustainable seafood and are proud to offer a variety of local craft beer and beverages as well. Check them out for daily oyster specials and more! 

Cabarrus Brewing Co. 600 Ale

Posted on by Evan

IMG_5412

I first heard of Cabarrus Brewing Co. 600 Ale, 4.9% ABV in the local Charlotte newspaper earlier this year. The beer celebrates the history of the Charlotte Motor Speedway and was originally brewed in Concordfor the two NASCAR spring races, The All-Star, and the Coke-Cola 600 which are both in May, and this 600 Ale (a golden ale) was only available at Charlotte Motor Speedway until I saw it on the shelf at Total Wine here. 600 Ale is brewed with 2 Row Barley, Munich and wheat malts from America’s heartland and Herkules Hops. 600 Ale pours a clear crisp gold color with a bright white half a finger head that quickly fades way giving off a semi-sweet corn aroma with a very faint wheat note and has a clean semi-sweet corn/wheat flavor with a brightness to it with a nice clean refreshing smooth finish and a light sweet aftertaste all with a light easy drinking mouthfeel. This beer is definitely a beer that you can drink throughout a NASCAR race. It’s easy drinking and sessionable. Cabarrus Brewing Co. 600 Ale is a B+. It’s good and refreshing with just enough flavor. If you can find 600 Ale I recommend that you try it! Cheers! Please enjoy responsibly!