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| The unfortunate Santa on the left started out as a candle, but lost his head as the night burned on. |
Day 358 / December 24, 2011
Southern Tier Brewing Company / Lakewood, NY
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A
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NG
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P
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G
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VG
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O
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Here’s to the Old Man.
On Christmas Eve, I cracked open a Southern Tier Old Man, brought over
the previous night by HHH.
The taste opens with huge tangerine citrus hops. Orange & grapefruit
are there as well, but stronger than in the nose – as is the rind. Firm
bitterness. The great citrus / tangerine hop character is joined by a bit of
resin and a touch of pine that really sticks around in the finish with some
spicy & earthy notes and some rind. Toasty grain & biscuity pale malt
provide a nice base along with a touch of caramel sweetness, hints of bread
crust, and dark sugars.
OK, I didn’t write that. I didn’t
even taste that. I just copied some dude’s
review from Beer Advocate. But I
definitely did enjoy it, as a strong, rich winter ale.
Chime in readers (both of you) – do you distinguish this level of tastes
in your beers? Because I don’t, and I
don’t think I’d want to. You’d spend too
much time analyzing your beverages and less time enjoying them and the company
of your friends. Not every beer’s gonna
be great, hopefully most will be good, and some are just cold, wet and have
alcohol. And yeah, some suck, but I’m
sure you know better than to avoid them.
Unless you’re some crazy blogger, out to drink 365 different beers in a
year.
And here’s to my old man, who passed away back in 2004. Merry Christmas Dad, I miss you.
No, I do not taste my beers, wine, bourbon, or anything else to that extent. If I am with a bunch of like minded people and the main topic is the tasting, I may try to identify a specific flavor or two, but usually stick to general qualities. The type of comment you copied is laughable; although I am sure some people have palates like that. As a point of reference, a friend of mine who does a whiskey blog posted a review where he and a friend literally spun the spice rack to pick flavors, and ended up with a bunch of comments agreeing with him and expanding on the fake flavors. Awesome.
ReplyDeleteJeff, that citrus hop characteristic is one of my personal favorites in a beer...southern tier really has stepped up as a brewery. I think my pub in the 'hood has this one. I'll have to check it out and report back.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I will miss your blog, I've thoroughly enjoyed it. Nice work!
OK, citrus hops I get and can taste - but can you really distinguish tangerine, orange, grapefruit AND the rind, as well as resin, pine (which sticks around in the finish) and biscuits and bread crust?
ReplyDelete