Oskar Blues Death by King Cake

Oskar Blues is one of those breweries that usually finds a way to pique my curiosity with each new release. They always seem to release something fun & creative on a large scale. When I think of fun & creative recent beers I really enjoyed from them, last year’s Guns-N-Rosé immediately comes to mind. That, and their amazing Barrel Aged Ten Fidy variants. The Hot Buttered Rum was my particular favorite from the series.

What I am trying to say is their expanding catalog is full of great beers that, when available in limited quantities, would get me to call in a favor to my Uncle in Colorado or even drop everything and go chase down a can. Locally, in Western New York their beers no longer require the intense chasing they used to. However their brand new white porter Death By King Cake did give me that urge to chase it down. This happened for two reasons. The first being, I love their Death By Coconut Irish Porter, so playing off of that name is a smart way to get my attention.. The second being, I had never tried a white porter before and I wasn’t really sure what that was.

When I finally got my hands on a can, I cracked it open, poured it into a glass and felt something I wasn’t used to with Oskar Blues: disappointment. Most of the promised adjuncts were missing from the aroma. There was a hint of vanilla, a touch of chocolate and a whole lot of grains, especially corn. The closest comparison I had for the beer is Genesee Cream Ale. That’s why I chose the glass in the picture above. The taste was pretty close to Genesee Cream Ale as well but with a noticeable vanilla creaminess. Call me crazy but nutmeg & cinnamon are fairly strong flavors and I honestly could not find them here. Same goes for the orange peel which is also strangely missing. I got a hint of chocolate but really had to look for it. All I really got out of Death By King Cake was the taste of an inexpensive cream ale in a 4 dollar can.

This is a really disappointing beer from a fantastic brewery. On paper, it sounds like a great idea but the execution is lacking. The price point does it no favors either. I would recommend skipping this one and hope that this was an anomaly in the Oskar Blues catalog.

Overall rating: 2/5

Oskar Blues & Cigar City Bamburana

From the moment the Oskar Blues & Cigar City breweries announced Bamburana, a double barrel aged collaboration imperial stout, I had been counting the days until I could get my hands on some. It took longer than I hoped but it finally hit shelves in Western NY. I was so excited to purchase it that literally moments after it hit shelves I found myself in the car going to purchase it. I am a huge fan of both breweries and had extremely high hopes for this beer. Everything about it sounded fantastic and I am pleased to report that Bamburana did not disappoint.

Bamburana gets its name from amburana, a South American wood. It is a wood that adds unique flavors and reduces acidity. It successfully accomplished both in Bamburana. In fact, this is one of the most unique stouts I have had in awhile.

Bamburana spent time in both whiskey & brandy barrels but in both the aroma and on the palate they only play a complimentary note. Dates, figs, chocolate and the amburana wood are front and center here. The aroma caught me off guard in that aspect. Figs, dates, cinnamon, molasses, chocolate, caramel, an earthy woodiness and smoke shine with brandy complimenting the fruitiness. On the palate, the fruitiness of the figs and dates, along with notes of dark cherry and brandy come through initially before savory notes of cinnamon, licorice, molasses, ginger, coconut, caramel, vanilla and fudge. There is also a subtle espresso note, with a touch of whiskey before a tobacco, woody, spicy finish. With each sip, I found myself enjoying Bamburana more and more. It's a full-bodied, velvety smooth-sipper that offers a ton of complexity. In short, I am a huge fan of this beer.

These two amazing breweries have brewed a fantastic imperial stout. Since Oskar Blues contract brews some of Cigar City’s offerings I hope this is the first of many collaborations to see a wide release. That is looking to the future though. In the meantime, I highly recommend picking Bamburana up as soon as possible,


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Beating The Cold With Beer - Oskar Blues 2015 Tequila Barrel Aged Gubna Imperial IPA, Night Shift Village Lager, Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale

It is absolutely freezing in the Northeast. Temperatures are below zero, wind chills are below zero and I am fairly certain we now live on Hoth. The good news is there is hope in the forecast ahead and slightly warmer days are on the way. For right now though, the best bet to beat the weather is to stay inside. What I mean by that is, stay inside and open some fantastic beers.


Last night, I took a very long look at what was in the refrigerator and after some careful deliberation, I decided to open up a can of Oskar Blues Gubna Imperial IPA Aged in Tequila Barrels. I was particularly intrigued by this beer because it was canned on December 16, 2015. A little over two years is a lot of time to change a beer and when I took my whiff of the aroma I saw the first casualty of aging was that the hop bite had drastically faded. The aroma of bready malt, wood, caramel and some earthiness stood out the most, with just a little bit of tequila in the background. When I took my first sip, I was not sure what to think. It was woody, earthy, bready and spicy, and while this should not have been surprising it somehow caught me off guard. As I worked my way a little deeper into the glass, I started to fall in love with it. There were some really interesting notes that began to emerge as it started to warm a little. There were nice hints of citrus, mango and pineapple. The tequila was there too and that kept confusing my senses. It was like merging irresponsible college drinking and responsible craft beer appreciation. In this beer, worlds were colliding and eventually I found a way to love it even more. Like the Rum Barrel Aged Death By Coconut I reviewed a few weeks ago, Oskar Blues has another barrel aged winner here. I hope to try this one fresh one day to see how it compares with the 2 year old version. For tonight however, this 11% treat provided a nice bit of warmth on this cold night.

Overall rating: 4.25/5


When it gets cold out, I sometimes crave a lager. I think this has to do with great memories I have drinking lagers on cold nights in college, as well as some fantastic nights drinking PBR in the backyard of one of my favorite bars. After some pondering, I settled on Night Shift Brewing's Village Lager and it was delicious. It seemed to hit all of the flavor notes I was looking for. It was grainy, bready, slightly fruity and had a nice bit of spice on a finish that was crisp and clean. At 4.8%, Village Lager is perfectly sessionable and is something I would love to regularly have in my refrigerator.

Overall rating: 4/5


Finally, I opened my last bottle of Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale. While there was nothing to celebrate on this cold night, Celebration Ale remains a seasonal favorite in our household. This is a beer I largely attribute my love of craft beer to. I do not think it is necessary to break down its flavor notes. This is one of those beers you should have already tried.

Overall rating: It's awesome!


That wraps up my first night of beer tasting to beat the cold. While this particular weather event is not as bad as I assumed it would be, it certainly has left me with no desire to leave my couch. For me, this is just one of those times of year where there is nothing better to do than stay in, read a book, write a blog, watch tv or play video games. Then again, I try to find a reason to do those at any time of year, so I guess the cold does not matter. Stay warm out there, everybody! Cheers!



Rating Scale:
1. Repugnant and undrinkable
2. Acceptable but forgettable
3. Good, worth a purchase
4. Excellent, a step above the norm
5. Truly Exceptional. Drop everything, BUY IT NOW!

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Thanks for reading. Sláinte!



 

Oskar Blues Rum Barrel Aged Death By Coconut

The first taste of liquor I ever had was at a friends birthday party. The alcohol being passed around was Captain Morgan's Parrot Bay. In case my mother is reading this, it was totally a 21st birthday party...totally. We sat around in a circle, waiting for our turn to take a shot out of the only shot glass we had available. When it came to my turn, I blown away by how smooth, warming, and easy to drink Parrot Bay was.

I only had Parrot Bay once more after that night. It was a Duty Free Store purchase on the way into Canada. While it made for a nice hotel room beverage for an uneducated palate, it took a toll on mostly everyone in the hotel room. I have practically little to no interest in ever drinking Parrot Bay again. That is a type of booze for a younger(definitely 21, Mom) person. However, when I took my first whiff of the aroma of Rum Barrel Aged Death By Coconut, I was instantly transplanted back to my younger self and my days of drinking Parrot Bay. Except this time, there was a bit more sophistication behind it and I really enjoyed it.

On December 9th, Oscar Blues Brewery in both North Carolina and Colorado released their Rum Barrel Aged version of their coconut flavored Irish porter Death By Coconut. I am fortunate to have an uncle in Colorado, so just in time for the holidays I asked for a favor. I really wanted to try this beer, not only because I enjoy regular DBC but because this sounded like a blend of my early days of drinking with where I am now. I received a text from him saying “mission accomplished,” and a week later the beer was in NY. I placed it in my refrigerator and gave it a night to chill, I opened it the next night.

It is difficult to describe how big the amount of rum was in the aroma of Rum Barrel Aged Death By Coconut. It was practically jumping out of the glass. As I was trying to take a picture from above, I was about a foot away and I could smell the rum practically just as much as I could with my nose close to the glass. There were other notes in the aroma, like coconut, molasses, vanilla, and chocolate, but they all seemed to be hidden behind the rum. It was almost shocking how strong the rum was in the aroma, and it definitely foreshadowed what was to come when I took my first sip.

In simple terms Rum Barrel Aged Death By Coconut tastes like coconut rum with a beer backbone. The rum is there right up front and it is there on the finish. Non-barrel aged Death By Coconut definitely has a strong flavor but after some time in a rum barrel, the strength of that flavor is greatly diminished. Coconut and chocolate were all that really stood out from beer after the barrel aging. Take those flavor notes and add the sweet flavor of vanilla from the barrel, and you get sweet, decadent, dessert beer. Not having the biggest sweet tooth in the world, I wanted there to be more roasted bitterness to balance out the sweetness. As it warmed, some roasted bitterness did come out in the finish but not enough to stand up against the intense sweetness here. I could complain about this but I will not. This is a rum barrel aged coconut porter, being on the sweet side is to be expected. I mean, when was the last time you heard someone say rum is too bitter? Exactly.

From a critical standpoint, I wished the base beer would have been able to stand out a bit more but overall, I am very excited I got to try this beer. I felt a bit nostalgic as it brought back memories of trying that Captain Morgan Parrot Bay and merged in with my present day love of craft beer. While I have zero interest in drinking Parrot Bay again, I would be more than happy to drink this again. If you like rum and you like Death By Coconut, you will enjoy this beer too.

Overall rating: 4.25/5

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Oskar Blues Passion Fruit Pinner Throwback IPA

Two years ago, I fell in love with passion fruit. Over the course of my honeymoon in the Dominican Republic, each day I tried my best to eat the entire resort out of it. Every morning I would fill an entire plate with it and then go back for seconds. I considered it a healthy way to start the day before I began a steady diet of beer, liquor and heavy food for the remainder of it. Since then, I have avoided eating passion fruit. I feel nothing could ever come close to the fresh, beautifully tart flavor I enjoyed there. However, if there was one way I was going to enjoy its flavor, it was going to be in beer. Some beers have beautifully recreated that fresh passion fruit flavor. For example, Avery Brewing Company's Liliki'l Kepolo lets the fresh passion fruit flavor shine wonderfully. By the way, if you have yet to try that beer, drop everything and go buy a can. It's that good. But this is not a review of Liliki'l Kepolo(although maybe it should be), this is a review of the brand new offering from the Oskar Blues Brewery, Passion Fruit Pinner Throwback IPA.

Before I get started with the tasting section of this review, I want to say I am a fan of the base beer, Pinner Throwback IPA. For me, it ranks just below Founders All Day IPA as an easy to find, go to option for the style. It's light, easy to drink and has just the right amount of hop flavor for a sessionable beer. So after reading about my love of passion fruit, as well as my positive feelings toward the base Pinner, you might think this was going to be a positive review. Unfortunately, that is not the case.

Pouring a beautifully clear golden yellow with a light fluffy head, Passion Fruit Pinner Throwback IPA's aroma filled me with optimism. It was full of passion fruit, orange, grapefruit and biscuity malt. From the aroma alone it seemed like Passion Fruit was going to be the perfect compliment to the beer. Sadly, all I could do after taking my first sip was grimace and wonder how such a promising idea could go so wrong. The initial flavor brings stale fruit combined with bitter hops  before finishing unpleasantly sour, slightly spicy and still being complimented by stale fruit. The passion fruit flavor is definitely there but it completely reinforces my fear of trying the tropical fruit I loved in the Caribbean here in the United States.

Unlike other beers I have reviewed, I tried my best to find something I liked about Passion Fruit Pinner. After all, I foolishly bought a six pack thinking there was no way I would not like it. Instead of finding anything positive, I continued to be greeted by the same cluttered stale fruit flavor that makes me thankful this is only out for a limited run. Oskar Blues is a typically reliable brewery and Pinner Throwback IPA works on its own. Again, I recommend trying it if you are looking for an easy drinking session IPA. But if you see the Passion Fruit Pinner on shelves buy almost anything else in the store.


Overall I would rate Oskar Blues Passion Fruit Pinner Throwback IPA a 1.5/5. This is muddled mess of a beer from a normally reliable brewery.


Rating Scale:
1 - Repugnant and undrinkable
2 - Acceptable but forgettable
3 - Good, worth a purchase
4 - Excellent, a step above the norm
5 - Truly exceptional　

To discuss this blog or all things beer follow me on Twitter & Untappd at@ACraftyLook

For more beer reviews go to: http://acraftylook.blogspot.com/

Thanks for reading. Sláinte!