Hypnopompa Imperial Stout

Let's start off with an admission: I'm not a huge admirer of weird flavored beers, and this one, in addition to uncontroversial vanilla flavoring, there's marshmallow flavoring.

Fortunately, marshmallows really don't have their own flavor. Marshmallows always have the flavor of whatever you flavor them with, "regular" marshmallows are flavored with vanilla.

So, what I'm saying is that the beer doesn't really taste like marshmallows because marshmallows don't taste like anything.

After those brief introductory remarks...Hypnopompa pours a deep, deep, mahogany-ish almost-black. The head is a nice healthy, frothy, two-finger tan head.  No marshmallow, but a very obvious vanilla taste, since, you know, they brewed it with vanilla beans. But the tastes that result from interplay of the malt and the hops include brown sugar, caramel, dark chocolate, and molasses. The 11%+ ABV doesn't really overwhelm the tastes, but you can feel a bit of heat at the back of the palette.

We all thought Spring was hear and that it was time for lighter beers, but it was winter today, so I'm glad that I had a stout in the fridge.

Empyrean Brewing Good Life Lager

It's been a while since I've had one of Empyrean's beers, probably the Summerfest that I had at the 2019 Zoofest, but before I get to this offering, a quick reminder of the difference between lagers and ales.

Most craft beers that you will encounter, especially in small batch breweries, are ales. Ales are brewed using top-fermenting yeasts and are fermented at relatively high temperatures, generally 55˚ - 77˚ F.The heat releases the various flavors hidden within the malts and hops. An ale might taste like dark fruit, or coffee, without having any added flavorings. A lager is brewed using bottom-fermenting yeasts at lower temps, 40˚ - 52˚ F. Lagers (which include pilseners and bocks) tend to be clearer, as opposed to the cloudiness of unfiltered ales. They often are described as having a crisp, clean taste. Most of the major breweries' (Budweiser, Miller, Coors) main products are lagers. In addition to the cooler fermenting temperatures, lager, after fermentation are stored in a cool environment (lagering). This process isn't real convenient for small brewers, who cannot afford to tie up their equipment while their beer lagers.

Good Life Lager is a tip of the hat to Nebraska being known as "The Cornhusker State", and is brewed with corn. This isn't as unique as one might think. Most mass distribution lagers are in fact brewed with some corn, in addition to barley, which is typical the main grain used. Corn has the effect of lightening the beer, both in appearance and taste. It also tends to sweeten the finished product. Good Life is indeed slightly sweet and pours a transparent golden hue. There's a subtle creaminess. It packs a respectable 7+% ABV and the bitterness clocks in at 24...so not too hoppy. Even though it's not overflowing with competing flavor profiles, there's enough complexity to make this not a guzzle-it beer or something to "wash down" your food. It's a taste experience all its own.

Brickway Jalapeño-Pineapple Pilsner

Before I discuss the beer, I'm going to tell you a little story:

A few years ago I worked for a guy who had zero tolerance for empty shelves during a holiday week. First thing in the morning we'd make a list of all the items that we were out of. Next we'd call other stores in the same chain and see if they could help us. If that failed we would each be given lists and head to competitors to empty their shelves. One Christmas Eve I had been given the assignment to but three things: Bisquick pancake mix, canned pineapple and, for some reason, jalapeño jelly. Standing in line with a shopping cart full of these items I began to attract attention. When asked I laughed and told people "when the wife gives you a grocery list, you don't ask questions". But that answer didn't satisfy. They wanted to know what in the world she was making that required cases of Bisquick and canned pineapple, and jalapeño jelly. So I improvised. I told them that my wife was from The Falklands and she made her special Jalapeño-Pineapple Pancakes, a Falklands traditional recipe, for everybody at church every Christmas Eve. When I got back to the store and told this story, everybody wanted me to actually make some of these magical pancakes, which I did for several years.

When I saw this beer on the shelf at Moran's, I just had to get a can, even though it sounded somewhat strange.

Pilsners in general are light, clear and refreshing, a great example of the lager style of beer. The underlying beer underneath the added flavorings seems pretty solid, but it's difficult to tell since the pineapple taste is very strong. It's cloudy, not clear. Since pilsners tend to be so clear you could read a newspaper through a full glass, I can only assume that it's the pineapple that's causing the haziness that in an ale I would credit to it being unfiltered. Barely a hint of jalapeño, just some spiciness hiding out behind the pineapple.

Overall, nothing special, but nothing really offensive either. A "meh" 5 on the IGB scale.

Rogue Dead Guy Ale

Dead Guy Ale is brewed in the style known as maibock. See the following link for an explanation of  the bock and maibock styles:
https://ill-gottenbooty.blogspot.com/2011/02/bock.html

Dead Guy Ale pours a coppery-amber color with a frothy white head. My first impression of the taste is that it reminds me of some of the better Belgian ales. There's a hint of pineapple and a bit of caramel. It's fairly hoppy at 40 IBUs, which is about what you'd expect for this style. Since it's somewhat springlike out today, I find it appropriate to be sampling a bock, a style that's typically associated with Spring. It's not overly complex and there's not a lot going on beneath the surface, but it's a good choice if you like hoppy brews, but not so hoppy that it takes the enamel off your teeth.

Cosmic Eye Brewing - Your Friend Death Imperial Stout

"This beer contains NO: vanilla, marshmallows, cookies, breakfast cereals, coffee, chocolate donuts, chilis, milk, sugar, or syrups. It does contain water, hops, yeast, oats and a whole bunch of dark malt. As always we kept the ABV in check so you can drink an entire beer yourself and still function. Yay!"
~ ~ Quote from the back of the can

As the quote above indicates, there is nothing in this beer that wouldn't pass the German beer purity laws (maybe the oats, not sure). I'm perfectly okay with added flavorings in moderation, but the truly great beer experience lives in a beer that derives all its flavor from...the beer. Your Friend Death is brewed in one of the traditional styles: the Imperial Stout. The Imperial Stout was an English ale that was brewed for the Tsar of Russia - he had taken a liking to the working man's stouts and porters and had asked to have some shipped to Mother Russia. In those days of no preservatives, beers were prepped for long journeys in two ways: by brewing it either with a lot of hops (like the India Pale Ale) or a lot of alcohol. Russian Imperial Stout had a high ABV to help it make the trek to St. Petersburg. Modern brewers have taken to using the adjective "imperial" to indicate a higher-than-usual alcohol content.

Your Friend Death pours a tarry black with a robust tan head. The 8.1% ABV isn't what's classified sessionable, but still low enough so that you'll retain your senses after one or two. The bitterness is fairly intense, at 66 IBUs, but it's not the kind of hoppiness that will peel paint or take the enamel off your teeth, just a nice edge that complements the silky smooth maltiness. Despite there being no added flavorings, there are appreciable coffee, chocolate and vanilla notes. The mouthfeel is creamy and thick. Really, this is everything an imperial stout should be. 9.75 on the IGB scale.

New Belgium Honey Orange Tripel

Traditionally  the four varieties of Belgian Abbey Ales are abbey ales, dubbels, tripels and quardrupels or grand crus. Legendarily the regular ales were for the common people, the dubbels went to the local nobility, the tripels to the bishop and the quads they kept for themselves. I'm pretty partial to quads myself, especially the bourbon barrel-aged variety, but today I'm drinking a tripel.

As is usual for a tripel, New Belgium's Honey Orange Tripel pours a bright golden hue with a healthy snow-white head. The honey makes it a bit sweeter than I consider optimal, but doesn't detract from the taste. The orange peel gives it a nice tang. The 25 IBUs put it in the middle of hop bitterness territory. It clocks in at 10% ABV, as the brew warms up, the alcohol heat becomes more evident. Honey Orange Tripel is at once a light summery ale, yet packs a punch, and still has that elegance that you'd expect from a high-end offering.

If it weren't for the cloying sweetness, I'd give this a solid 10, but it will have to be a 9.25 on the IGB scale.

Boulevard Chocolate Ale

Ordinarily, any beer that has chocolate in any form added to it is a stout or a porter, not so with Boulevard Chocolate Ale. The base beer seems to be an amber ale, medium hoppiness (24 IBUs). They describe it as a "strong ale", and the ABV is  8.7%. The hue is coppery, with a two-finger amber head. There's definitely some chocolate in the taste profile, but it isn't overpowering as you get in some ales that add chocolate. In addition to the obvious chocolate there are subtle notes of caramel, toasted bread and oddly enough, some blueberry and floral notes. Despite the added flavoring, the overall beeriness comes through, pushing the additions to the side. Boulevard does it again! 7.5 on the IGB scale.