I read in the local rag that the new specialty beer shop,
Bruisin Ales in town was offering a free tasting today. This shop has an unbelievable collection of premium brews on their shelves, so I was in.
Their featured brewery was
Weyerbacher, an East Pennsylvania outfit that specializes in big beers.
The tasting started out with the Hop Infusion IPA. It was tasty, with good balance, plenty of hoppy bite, and 6.2% alcohol. But it didn't stand out in my mind as anything particularily special as compared to other good IPAs widely available.
Next up was their Imperial Stout:
Old Heathen. This one was awesome. From it's chocolaty malty nose to it's super smooth and tasty finish, this beer impressed me as perhaps the best stout I've had. I'm not generally a huge stout fan, but this one knocked my socks off. 8% alcohol was easily balanced by the swirling flavors.
Third in line was Blithering Idiot, their barley wine. A good example of the style, I think, but I don't like barley wines a lot. At 11.2% alcohol, it had some nice malty flavors, but was overly alcoholic for my taste.
They finished up by pouring
QUAD. Wow. Very very impressive monster ale in the Belgian quadruple style. 11.8% alcohol, with the body and complexity to match. I will have to buy a bottle of this in the future. Super beer that was Grand Champion in the 2000 and 2004 at United States Beer Tasting Championship.
I came away from the tasting with a lot of respect for this brewery that I had never previously tasted. I recommend their beers highly, especially the QUAD and the Heathen.
I couldn't leave the store without a bottle or two, and I was intrigued by the
Houblon Chouffe Dobbelen IPA Tripel: a Belgian Triple style with the addition of aggressive hopping, so I picked up a 750ml for $8.50. I also grabbed a 22 oz btl of
Pisgah Brewing Co. Cosmos: a rich dark ale specially brewed in a small batch to commemorate some milestone of theirs, from one of my regions better brewers, for $8.
Free tasting = $16.50 spent on 2 bottles of beer. Good marketing, eh?