Doug's Project 365

Beer Advent Calendar day 20: Rockport Brewing Jetty Juice, New England IPA. The third NEIPA in the lineup. This one is less tropical, less floral, more pine along with citrus, so perhaps more seasonally appropriate. Just don’t tell them I’m drinking it out of a Trillium glass.

Beer Advent Calendar day 19: Tröegs The Mad Elf, holiday ale brewed with cherries and honey. This one is a little Too Sweet For Doug. There are some interesting flavors under there that I hope come forward as may palate adjusts.

Beer Advent Calendar day 18: Baxter Stowaway India pale ale. This is the bitterest beer in the lineup so far. I’d say it’s seasonally appropriate if only because of the amount of it consumed by New Englanders at various ski lodges throughout the winter.

Beer Advent Calendar day 17: Bent Water Horchata Relic, imperial stout with vanilla beans and cinnamon, aged in rum barrels. What was I saying about non-extreme beers? This one is 12.3% ABV — just 2 percentage points less than the Malbec I had with dinner. Cinnamon is very assertive, almost hot (backed up by the alcohol I’m sure). Glad I’m not driving!

Beer Advent Calendar day 16: Allagash Day’s End. “Ale brewed with Lambrusco grape must, Angelica root, and bitter orange, aged in bourbon barrels. Inspired by the Boulevardier cocktail.” See, this is why I’ve essentially stopped homebrewing. If I tried something like this it would turn out the flavor equivalent of Kindergarten Brown. But the pros have the experience — and the practice runs — to pull it off.

Beer Advent Calendar day 15: Jack’s Abby Red Tape Amber Lager. Tonight’s selection continues the theme of beers I would walk past (and probably have) in the beer store, but are pretty good. Or maybe it’s just a confirmation of my status as a Beer Omnivore, that any beer past a certain level of quality tastes good to me.

Beer Advent Calendar day 14: Zero Gravity Extra Stout. Yup, it’s a stout, and a pretty good one. This beer is a good example of how the selections for this calendar are notable for being good, rather than (with one notable exception so far) extreme brews.

Beer Advent Calendar day 13: Dublin City Brewing Renegade Red Ale. So far this is the most non-local beer, from Dublin, Ireland (beating out Sierra Nevada by a few hundred miles). This is a very nice beer, with a surprising amount of flavor (roasty / grain giving way to hop bitterness) given the low ABV (4.2%).

Beer Advent Calendar day 12: not beer at all! Today’s selection is Stormalong Happy Holidays Holiday Spiced Cider. In pie form I would like these flavors. But as a beverage it’s too one-dimensional, too far in the sweet direction. I may add some cocktail bitters to try to balance things out.

Beer Advent Calendar day 11: Notch Dunkel, Munich-style dark lager. The 2nd Munich dunkel in the calendar. Compared to Beer 7, this one is significantly darker with more roastiness and bitterness.