Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
$10 snifter at the brewpub; ouch! I tried the regular version at the MBG Winter Beer Fest, so thought I’d give the barrel-enhanced version a shot. Murky red-brown body, medium buff head. Distinctly oaky nose with fruitskin and earth. Oaky, fruity body with dusty barrel and cherry pit, musty. I echo BBB63’s comments about this being close to a Flemish Brown Ale. My first impression was De Dolle Oerbier Reserva 2002, minus most of the tartness. A good combination of funk and fruit.
Silphium (4308) reviewed Telewhacker Winter Ale from The Livery 18 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Sampled at the 2nd annual Michigan Winter Beer Festival, Lansing. Orange-brown body, medium buff head. A different take on a brown ale, with firm hoppiness (piney and bitter) tending to dominate the caramely, toasty malts in both the aroma and palate. Creamy and somewhat thin palate.
Silphium (4308) reviewed Belgian Cherry Jubilee from The Livery 18 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Sampled at the 2nd annual Michigan Winter Beer Festival, Lansing. Dominated by a round oakiness with subdued cherry, relatively little sweetness or tartness. Wild and earthy, but not one of my favorites at the fest.
Silphium (4308) reviewed Wheat Trippelbock from The Livery 19 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Sampled at the 2nd annual Michigan Winter Beer Festival, Lansing. My favorite new beer at the fest. Dark brown body, thin off-white head. Great complexity, with toffee, burnt sugars, banana, and chocolate characterizing the soft, creamy body. Warming alcohol on the finish, slight tartness. I drank about 12 ounces of this in total and could have kept coming back for more. Another one I need to revisit.
Clarkvv (16523) reviewed Wheat Trippelbock from The Livery 19 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
Hand bottled sample from the illustrious BigBadBear himself, shared with OldGrowth on 3/14/06 in a tulip at slightly below room temp
The beer is immensely dark, with a soy sauce-like appearance, quite viscous and with very low carbonation, not enough to form a head, but gives a small, deep tan ring of bubbles, and thick legs/residue on the glass. A small head can be coaxed, however, upon swirling. Unfiltered and nearly opaque.
The nose opens up with strong, warming, sweet and rich molasses, soy, port and the signature weizen yeast fruit (bananas, apples) and of course some bubblegum, though it’s more a cotton candy sweetness, adding a feathery-light, lively note to the otherwise seriously intense sipper. Maple, toffee, and just huge, sweet prunes and rich, amplified caramel. Very strong, and one that you can sit and sniff for hours. If there are flaws in the beer, I find none in the aroma. Even a touch of dry, yeast notes and crusty brown bread. I get a light hint of alcohol at one point, but it is fully passing, and even looking for it, I’m not able to find it again.
The flavor, perhaps, is not quite the sum of the aroma, being a bit too soy-like, almost peanut-pecan-like but otherwise full of rich chocolate, gritty, unfiltered wheat and roasted notes adding a balancing element, with bananas foster, caramelized sugars and tons of raisin, prune and light plum astringency. Extremely low carbonation, but it works perfectly, giving a sweet sherry like mouthfeel, very soothing and nearly-syrupy. The wheat works wonders on the palate, as always, in concert with the chocolate and caramel and even being balanced by light hints of earthy roast. No alcohol whatsoever, in the flavor, even after fully warming and breathing.
Silphium (4308) reviewed Trappist Trippel from The Livery 20 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Milwaukee YEHa’05, brought by BBB63. First thoughts: this is a Tripel? OK...dark brown body, thin off-white head. Sweet, fruity aroma, with hints of brown sugar. Dark fruit flavor, alcohol, chocolate, and caramel, with a hint of raisin thrown into the mix. Strong and "dark" for a Tripel. Alcohol is a bit biting and rough. Roasty, chocolatey body doesn’t quite fit the Tripel mold. Interesting nonetheless.
Silphium (4308) reviewed Liverator Doppelbock from The Livery 20 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6.5
Milwaukee YEHa!05, brought by BBB63. Deep brown body, thin ring of light tan carbonation. Toasty aroma with raisin and prune, burnt, heavy fruits and carameled breads. Rather dry, toasty body with a touch of prune and raisins, caramel, and roasty. A bit dry. This was OK, nothing too special.
Silphium (4308) reviewed Jak from The Livery 20 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Milwaukee YEHa!05, brought via growler by BBB63. Orange-brown body, hazy, with a thin beige head. Plenty of citrus (grapefruit) in the aroma, sweet, with caramels and pine. Big perfumey bitter hops flavor, very tea-like with a hint of lemon and other citrus fruits. Before reading this uses Amarillo hops I was thinking more along the lines of the European varieties...ehh, oh well. Too bitter and piercing for my palate, but the malt sweetness did balance that out, if only slightly.