Friday, May 11, 2012

Garrison Martello Stout

Today's beer is another beer I've been hoarding in my basement for some time.  It comes in a 500mL narrow bottle with a pry cap and 4.8% alcohol/vol.  The Garrison Brewing company is relatively well-respected, so I have decently high expectations for this beer.


When opened, I could immediately smell lots and lots of chocolate malts.  It poured a dark brown colour with a small tan head.  The bubbles were almost completely undetectable due to the darkness of the beer.  After the pour, the chocolatey aroma had completely disappeared and was replaced with with a smell I couldn't quite place.


The first sip went alright.  I found the beer to have an exceptionally weak flavour.  There wasn't anything off per se, it was just weak.  There was a faint coffee flavour to it.  The feel in the mouth had a little bit of bite.  The beer had a bitter aftertaste that came slowly and was probably the most noticeable part of the beer.  The beer wasn't unpleasant, but I don't think I would waste my time with it again.

Friday, May 4, 2012

Grand Teton Bitch Creek

It's been a while since I've had a beer.  So what better excuse to drink one tonight?

I've heard a bit about today's beer.  It's not available here in Manitoba, so props go out to my sister for getting me a bottle for Christmas.  It comes in a 355mL brown bottle with a pry cap.  It has a surprising amount of information on the bottle for beer nerds: 15.0 plato original gravity, 54 IBUs, 6.0% alcohol/vol, and it's bottle conditioned.

When opened, I got a facefull of hops, and maybe a little fruitiness?  Wasn't quite sure what to make of it.  The beer poured a dark brown with some sediment in it, and few bubbles.  The fruity aroma was much more noticeable after the pour and the hoppiness was scaled back.

The first sip was very bitter.  And sour, too.  I wasn't sure if the beer had gone "off" or if this was an intended flavour.  I didn't enjoy this beer very much, but finished it anyway.  I couldn't think of any good qualities to note for this beer other than it had a fairly soft feel in the mouth.  I don't think I would drink this beer again unless somebody convinced me I had a bad bottle.