Southern Tier Warlock

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I am trying to refrain from hopping (ha! See what I did there???) on a soapbox about the term Warlock. Male witches are simply that: male witches, unless we get into a discussion of ceremonial magicians, and that is a whole different category. But we are here to discuss beer, and to keep any religious/lifestyle nomenclature out of it, so I won't go full rant on you. In case you were wondering, I identify as a witch. Not Wiccan, some Pagan, definitely kitchen witch. No, I don't have any warts. No, my skin isn't green (unless I'm wearing green makeup as part of my Halloween costume. Or unless I am bruised and going through the inevitable cycle of rainbow colors). No, I do not worship the devil, if you mistook today for 1692. Yes, the snozzberries taste like snozzberries, just in case you were wondering. This is, quite simply, one of my favorite weeks of the year, hence the pumpkin beers.

This is an imperial pumpkin stout, the darker version of Pumking. I love so many of Southern Tier beers, although Pumking isn't one of my favorites. Not just of theirs, of pumpkin beers. It's too sweet for my taste, but since we haven't properly reviewed it, perhaps I should leave a little mystery? Something to whet your thirst for more? Should we just get to this 8.6% ABV pumpkin stout already? Yes??? Well, then, shall we?

This is supposed to be poured into a goblet. I have goblets, but I did not consider using them until after pouring this. It is an opaque, brownish-black color with a modicum of khaki-colored head that quickly dissipated. The aroma is pleasant: when I first poured it, it was heavier on the pumpkin spice, to the point where I thought "instant palate wrecker". It has had a few minutes to warm, as I moved on and off my soapbox, and now the aroma is more creamy vanilla with pumpkin spices and dark chocolate. Ooooh, I am so making a beer float out of this, and I have the perfect ice cream for it. But we will get to that once I am done dissecting this beer. This goes down dark and smooth. It hits your mouth with a punch of vanilla and toasted walnuts, fading into chocolate mocha, then a left hook of clove and ginger and cinnamon, then a big bite of alcohol booziness, then more with the pumpkin spices, this time around with a little more nutmeg. You can tell there is pumpkin used in the brewing process, but it does not dominate in the taste. The mouthfeel on this is smooth and round, yet it is moderately carbonated.

OK, time for the ice cream... For this particular beer, I have chosen a scoop of black walnut ice cream.

The black walnuts kind of tame down the spiciness of this beer and totally mellow out the end of this. It would also be good with a high-quality vanilla ice cream, but I like how the black walnuts play with the early nuttiness in this. My overall opinion of the beer is that it's good, but a little heavy on the spice.

P.S. I am lowering my rating because it has now been an hour since I last drank this and my taste buds seem singed. Even palate cleansers have not helped remotely. You know the Hot Pocket Effect? Yeah, that is happening in my mouth. After an hour. Not cool (no pun intended). It's enjoyable going down, but a little bit goes a very long way.

3.7/5 caps

-Jennie

Earlier today, I sent a text to Jennie about needing high alcohol beer to assist me in the shitty day that has bestowed itself upon me. I had no idea that I'd be doing 2 beer reviews tonight. It works. It helps wash away the agony of factory work. It makes me wish I was working full time at the brewery I've been volunteering for.

I'm kind of glad this is our last pumpkin beer to review. No offense to any brewery at all, I'm just over the market flood of everything pumpkin; coffee, ice cream, donuts, cake, candies, beer, so on. Side note, yesterday we saw a Christmas display at the local big chain grocery. Today, Great Lakes Christmas Ale released, Thirsty Dog's 12 Dogs of Christmas is out already... for fuck's sake people, it's not even Halloween yet. Fuck it, I'm just going to start buying Easter candy now.

This is dark, nay, black as the night sky. Any head that was once on there is now just a distant memory, much like proper timing of holiday decor in the sales world. The aroma on this is big. Boozy tones blend themselves with your spices and pumpkin, distant notes of dark malts, almost chocolate. The flavor on this is strong. It's your liquid pumpkin pie style beer, with darker roasted malts giving roasted and chocolate flavors to this. There's a slight charred-like bitterness toward the back end to give a reminder that this is actually a beer and not a dessert. There are some boozy notes on that start taking hold from time to time, leaving a numbing feeling in the mouth, like smoking a clove cigarette/cigar. This is definitely a sipping beer, not your College Football Season Beer Pong League sort of beer. This is a heavy, filling beer, like a meal in a bottle. Palate is still wrecked, sigh. I'm glad we saved this for the 2nd review of the night.

Had I not been burned out on the market flood of everything pumpkin, I would be willing to buy a second bottle, but at this point, I'm done. It's time for the over flooding of winter/Christmas/Yule ales. Sigh. I'm glad we have about 3 cases of things to review so we can sit this season out and not get into the epic debate of which Christmas ale is the best (btw, it's Flying Monkeys Smashbomb Atomic IPA).

3.9/5 caps

-Nathan-

Food pairing: Black walnut ice cream
Cheese pairing: Habanero cheddar, because one's taste buds have never been singed enough to bring them back to normal
Music pairing: Omnia, "The Raven"

Southern Tier Gemini

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We delve back into our reviews after a lot on our plates. We'd rather have a lot on our palates. So to kick off our hitting hard and heavy, we crack open a 9% ABV brew; made with 6 different hops and 4 different malts. I love how Southern Tier puts that one their labels (helps out decode it for homebrewers trying to build a clone). I have no idea on the IBUs, I cannot find anything definitive on it.

This pours a a nice copper color with small amount of white head. Decent carbonation, especially for us sitting on it for about 3 or so months. Yeah, I know, we shouldn't have sat on it for long, but with the amount of shit that we had going on, beer reviews weren't a priority. The aroma on this is pine, grapefruit, caramel, toffee, and a faint boozy note.

The flavor is interesting. There's a nice smooth wave of sweetness up front. There's a biscuit note that leads into the caramel and toffee that was picked up in the nose. There's a blast of bitterness toward the backend with some of the hop flavors previously mentioned in the nose. For being 'super hopped', according to the label, I expected more hops. The faint boozy note that you read in the aroma portion is faint after the hop blast (please tell me you're actually reading these reviews and not just clicking the link to make it appear on a second window so you can try and hide from your wife that you're secretly looking at underage Asian goat porn). This drinks smooth with a light sticky, yet dry finish. 

Overall, good beer, wish there was more hop characteristics to it.

4/5 caps

-Nathan-

I think we actually have been sitting on this for longer than three months, probably closer to six. I think it was springtime when we picked this up, and it was definitely before my father got sick. Therefore, there is a really good chance that this was way hoppier when we procured it, and the hops have since died out. I feel terrible reviewing something that should have been drank fresh, but this year has been a juggernaut unto itself and not in a good way.

I would consider the color to be more of a medium-golden, and even after Nathan wrote his portion, there is still some white head sitting on top of the brew. The aroma on this is pine, grapefruit, toffee, caramel, and there's a very boozy note that comes out toward the end. Oh man, I wish we would have drank this fresh; the hops have definitely faded. Nathan described the taste profile on this quite accurately. I pick up grapefruit, orange, toffee, caramel, biscuit, and on the back side, there is a definite, noticeable blast of booze. You can definitely tell that this was once a very well-balanced hop bomb.

Oh shit, there's Nathan right behind me, time to ditch the underage Asian goat porn.

My inner hophead is crying right now. I can only imagine how amazing this was fresh. Eh, I'm already emotional today (just reflecting on my dad and life since, and having just learned of a friend passing the day after he did, and of another partner of a friend passing away this evening. 2014, I'm really over your shit). Shedding a couple of tears over hops lost or fading from their former glory seems perfectly acceptable and even appropriate. Diane and Philip, I raise this glass to you tonight in Wendy's and Dan's memories. And Gemini, I look forward to our next meeting.

4/5 caps

-Jennie

Music Pairing: Elton John, "Candle in the Wind"
Food Pairing: General Tso's Chicken
Cheese Pairing: Blue Stilton