Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
s: chocolate - lactose - wheat a: slightly hazy golden - nice thin head t: vanilla - nuts - sugars p: creamy - rich - deep o: light coffee - full-of-flavour - enjoyable 12 ounce can - La Bodega: Anchorage, Alaska - 05-October-2021 - US$4,35 - sampled: 17-August-2023
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8
12 oz. bottle, pours a dark amber brown with a small beige head. Aroma brings out a nice rich bourbon character, followed by dark dried fruits and toffee. Flavour is much like the Wellers version: rich and complex, very similar to classic Arctic Devil, with big dark dried fruits, massive bourbon barrels, brandy, toffee, caramel, and brown sugar. The booze is obvious but reasonably incorporate into the barrel, with less spirit character than the Wellers and perhaps slightly more elegance. It's still rather hot and rough, but it's good and a tiny step above the Wellers.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
12 oz. bottle, pours a deep dark brown with a small beige head. Aroma brings out big brandied dark dried fruits, big bourbon barrels, molasses, and brown sugar. Flavour is rich and complex, very similar to classic Arctic Devil, with big dark dried fruits, massive bourbon barrels, brandy, toffee, caramel, and brown sugar. The booze is obvious but reasonably nicely into the barrel / spirit character. Pretty nice stuff, though maybe a bit rougher and boozier than I remember.
mcberko (47456) reviewed Leche Libre from Midnight Sun Brewing Company 2 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
12 oz. bottle, pours black with a small tan head. Nose is dominated by the horchata spice -- loads of cinnamon mostly, with some cocoa and a hint of pepper -- plus some port and oak barrels. Flavour is much the same, but has a dominant cola character, along with sweet chocolate, lots of cinnamon, and port barrels. Nice dark sugars combine with the cinnamon, cola and port notes on the finish. I'm not usually a fan of these spiced stouts, but this is pretty great.
mcberko (47456) reviewed Red RyDer from Midnight Sun Brewing Company 2 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
12 oz. bottle, pours a cloudy dark rusted red with a medium beige head. Aroma brings out a deep, rich caramel malt character, with plenty of dark fruits and big resinous hops. Flavour is massive and very old school American barleywine-like, with loads of resinous hops, rich caramel malt, dark dried fruits, and a hint of spicy rye. Impeccably balanced despite its gravity. This reminds of American barleywines from the early 2010's: hoppier than most IPAs, yet has a humungous malt character. Excellent.
mcberko (47456) reviewed 28 from Midnight Sun Brewing Company 2 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
On tap at Midnight Sun, pours a cloudy deep dark amber / mahogany with a small beige head. Aroma is very expressive on the vanilla and cocoa upfront, with essentially no roast — not getting the oak either. Flavour is chocolatey upfront, with lots of milk chocolate, light vanilla and a hint of roast. Quite gentle for its high-gravity. The hops aren't felt much, and the body is light. Tasty but I've never been super convinced by these pale stout.
mcberko (47456) reviewed Break Up from Midnight Sun Brewing Company 2 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 5.5
On tap at Midnight Sun, pours a clear very pale golden brown it's a small white head. Aroma is crunchy and earthy, bringing out the spelt, along with some lightly estery saison yeast. Flavour is spicy and earthy, with earthy saison yeast, some crunchy grittiness and light esters. The yeast doesn't have an authentic saison expression — seems improperly used. Okay.
mcberko (47456) reviewed Laid Back from Midnight Sun Brewing Company 2 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
On tap at Midnight Sun, pours a clear bright golden with a small white head. Aroma brings out bright Belgian yeast, light esters, candi sugar and some booze. Flavour is estery and boozy, with candi sugar, booze, and estery notes. The Belgian yeast isn't harnessed so well, contributing more of an estery booziness than any depth or flavour complexity. It's alright.
mcberko (47456) reviewed Wolf Pack from Midnight Sun Brewing Company 2 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
On tap at Midnight Sun, pours a clear pale golden with a medium white head. Aroma brings out fresh straw, light grassy hops and biscuity malt. Flavour is semi-sweet and fairly bready, with straw, gentle herbal hops, and bready malt. Needs more hops, but it's clean and decently made. Alright.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Draught at Spenard Roadhouse: pours ruby red with off-white head. Aroma is caramel and earthy. Taste is lightly bitter, low sweetness. Perfectly drinkable.