Beer Brief #56 - La Lune Special Ale

Brewery - Borealis Fermentery, Knife River, Minnesota

Beer - La Lune Special Ale

Style - Belgian style special ale brewed with spices

ABV - 7%

Color - Reddish copper with a thick, rocky, off-white head

Aroma - Honey, cotton candy, biscuity malt, bit of stone fruit, herbal spice

Flavor - Honey, caramel, toast, bubble gum, light fruit, strong earthy bitterness

Verdict - A nice Belgian-style that starts off great but finishes much more bitter than I like for this type of beer, so much so that I'm finding it challenging to consider buying another bottle. Of course, that's just my thoughts on the old balance of malt sweetness to bitterness. La Lune does seem well crafted and I am definitely intrigued enough by this brew that I will want to check out the other beers in the Borealis line-up.

P.S. - The name of the brewery, Borealis Fermentery, instantly caught my attention. Being a native Minnesotan who visited the BWCA twice a year during my teenage years, I developed a great fondness for the Aurora Borealis (the Northern Lights) after watching them in the night sky numerous times.

Beer Brief #55 - 120 Minute IPA

Brewery - Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Milton, Delaware

Beer - 120 Minute IPA

Style - (super huge) Imperial IPA

ABV - Anywhere from 15-20% according to the website

Color - Hazy reddish copper with an off-white head

Aroma - Biscuit and caramel malt, brown sugar, green resiny herbal and spicy hops, surprisingly slight alcohol

Flavor - Big rich malt profile, caramel, toffee, a bit of toasted bread, chewy resiny hops, a bit of grapefruit, maybe a hint of mint leaves, semi-sweet wine, alcohol (although not in the levels you might expect for a beer this big), bitterness that struggles to balance the sweetness of the brew

Verdict - This beer does not drink at all like it's ABV would imply. This is a big, rich, sweet brew that obviously used a lot of hops, but not enough to overpower the malt bill and the alcohol. It drinks somewhere between the qualities of a English barleywine and an American barleywine, but with much higher alcohol. Although, you'd be hard pressed to guess that it's ABV is any higher than 10-12 percent. I am really enjoying this, and I think it would make a great after-dinner brew to share with a good friend.

P.S. - I've always wanted to try this beer, but have never been able to get my hands on a bottle of it. (It doesn't help that Dogfish Head doesn't distribute to Minnesota.) I was finally fortunate enough to try this big brew thanks to some friends of mine. I recently saw them when they were up for a visit from Texas and they gave me this very special brew as a birthday gift. Thanks for the tasty experience, Reid and Brenda!

Beer Brief #54 - St. Whatshername

Brewery - Pour Decisions Brewing Company, Roseville, Minnesota

Beer - St. Whatshername

Style - Belgian tripel, fermented with brettanomyces and aged in wine barrels

ABV - 9%

Color - Between straw yellow and gold with a white head

Aroma - Honey, hay, barnyard, cotton candy, white pepper, tart cherries

Flavor - Mellow sweetness, grassy, touch of lemony tartness, leather, dry white wine, herbal bitterness

Verdict - As a fan of brett beers, I have to say this brew is really enjoyable! The fact that the entire fermentation was done with brettanomyces is amazing to me as a homebrewer. It has just the right amount of funk and acidity to go with the tripel malt base, while the wine barrel aging has definitely added a noticeably crisp character to the flavor. I might have to buy another soon...

P.S. - Pour Decisions is no more! I had been a fan of this brewery since the beginning when I attended their grand opening celebration. At first glance, it would seem that this was the end for the Roseville brewery. Luckily, that's not the case. Pour Decisions recently merged with Bent Brewstillery (who had been brewing their beer in the same brewhouse) under the Bent Brewstillery name. According to the website, Pour Decisions head brewer Kristen England will continue to be the head brewer and keep pumping out the beers from the Pour Decisions lineup along with the Bent beers. So, that means we will hopefully continue to see St. Whatshername for years to come!