April 9th, 2010 beckel
Damn sinuses. Discouraging me from opening the myriad of delicious brews building up in my fridge. Hard life. I know; but I figured it’s damn time to finally open something new. While finally getting around to picking up my bottle of Fritz and Ken from The Four Firkins and some other delicious brews Alvey so kindly gave me a bottle of this brew to give to my girlfriend of the same namesake. So of course I had to try some too. Moylan’s newest release is brewed in an attempt to revitalize and honor the classic “Dublin Style” Porter and inspired by their founders daughter. Pours a very dark brown hue that appears almost black and creates just over two fingers of loose light chocolate brown head that largely fades after a few minutes leaving some gentle lacing and about a millimeter of tight bubbles behind. Aroma is full of wonderfully rich dark malts, robust semi sweet chocolate esters and clean coffee notes. A variety of dark malt esters are present in the flavor and very similar to the aroma with coffee and clean lightly roasted malts playing a focal role and chocolate notes backing them up creating a very nice flavor profile. Very gentle malty bitterness and very little sweetness. Over all one nice flavorful but easy drinking porter and at 5.0% ABV a very sessionable one. Body is medium and the mouthfeel is clean but a tad bit thin. Making this ale even more drinkable which Chelsea particularly enjoyed. If you enjoy dark beers with clean coffee and chocolate notes that will not overpower the grain bill this is one you can drink all day, or at least a few 22’s. Give it a shot and ride your bike.
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March 9th, 2009 beckel
So I’ve been far too busy recently, but what are you going to do, tiz the way of life sometimes. Last Tuesday I had a very enjoyable ride over to our local Brewpub, Town Hall for their Lion Brewing & Moylan’s Brewing tapping. Though I am a fan of the flavorful simplicity offered by Lions Imperial Stout and curious what they have to offer in their Imperial Lager I didn’t end up consuming either as I was distracted with the Barleywine wisely named Twisted Reality from Town Hall that had just been tapped on Monday. The ale pours a nice date like color with some nice red hues and is incredibly opaque allowing almost no light through. Aroma had a decent amount of citrus initially but it was immediately nullified by the caramely sweet malt characteristics and a solid dose of bitterness. Flavor is of delicious pitted fruits that are complimented with rich smooth malts and a good dose of bittering hops to round it off. Enjoyable floral and citrus notes are present but very subtle due to the massive bittering, I detect mostly orange. Head is a creamy tan color but not much was present as it was a bar pour into a modest sized sniffer. Body is quite light for a Barleywine and the mouthfeel is smooth making this solid 9.9% ABV brew very drinkable. I was quite pleased with the brew and would encourage anyone else who likes big beers to try it. The balance of flavors was done very well and I am a big fan of the wonderful hoppy bitterness present. After my first Barleywine I couldn’t help but try some Moylan’s Double Kilt Lifter as I have never had the opportunity to try the double strength stuff and thought the original Kilt Lifter was decent. The aroma was quite sweet with some malt coming through but largely sugar and a cherry like scent as well as other pitted fruits and a hint of sherry. Color is very deep but bright red and slightly translucent. Flavor is sweet and relatively fruity, almost a bit tart. Body is amazingly light and this brew goes down pretty smoothly. Alcohol is a bit more noticeable than some ale’s because of the sweetness but not particularly intense considering its 11% ABV. I did not realize this until now but apparently it was a special for their 1000th batch brewed. Similar to what Town Hall just did with their Imperial IPA, though unfortunately I missed that. The Double Kilt Lifter was a bit too much on the sweet side for me, but you have to get those sugars to ferment from somewhere. Not a bad beer I could just do with a bit more bittering to balance. I ended up finishing the evening with a few more Barleywines and another, this time full pint size glass of Moylan’s Double Kilt lifter when the distributor arrived with a few of their brewery glasses for us to take home. I also ended up with a good amount of Lion Brewing schwag including a small or medium womens shirt….so if anyone has a gal that likes Lion Brewing let me know, though I’m tempted to wear it just for good measure. Hooray for good beer, good conversations, and a safe ride home. Give it a shot and ride your bike.
Town Hall Twisted Reality Barleywine
Moylan’s Double Kilt Lifter & Sweet Potato Fries
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January 26th, 2009 beckel
The legal system may be full of fail but at least I have good beer. Today we have a very well reputed ale from Moylan’s Brewery hailing proudly from Novato, California. I was a bit concerned I had missed my opportunity to sample this ale when I walked into The Four Firkins and saw none in the fridge but Alvey was wise to limit the purchases to one per person so he had been storing the bottles in the back and I was lucky enough to get his very last one. The bottle says this ale is a tribute to hops worthy of a king, and from the aroma I get just from opening this bottle leads me to believe they’re telling the truth. As a winner of many awards in the past few years and recommendations from others I am sure this will be a delightful treat and a wonderful way to make a bummer day more festive and enjoyable. Aside from their California pride the bottle also encourages us to recycle and drink safely, probably a good warning for a bottle that also states it is triple hoppy and 9.2% ABV. This ale pours a vibrant orangish red color that is largely transparent and produces about three fingers of fluffy white head that remains for many minutes. Aroma is lovely, the hops produce an immense array of fruity and floral scents, from strawberry to melon to orange with only a little bit of bitterness coming through. Wowza. I am rarely surprised by the multitude of hop flavors in an ale and I am happy to say this ale has surprised me pleasantly. This is one heck of a hoppy ale and does it’s name proper, if one were to freeze this ale on a stick I’m not sure how many licks most people could get through. Initially I get many different hoppy bitter flavors, as those calm down you start to notice the citrus and floral flavors reminding me largely of orange and apricot as well as a bit of malty sweetness. The flavor is then wrapped up with some more bitter hop flavors just in case you forgot you were drinking a hop bomb. The body of this beer is medium and the mouthfeel is quite smooth. The 9.2% ABV of this beer is well hidden behind the multitude of hop layers though a bit more noticeable as this ale warms. If you are a fan of serious hops it would be in your best interest to at least sample this beer if you have the opportunity. Certainly not for the faint of heart nor for those who do not enjoy bitter flavors. This ale is probably best in moderation but would be wonderful with a nice spicy Asian dish or something similar as it complimented the slightly spicy andouille sausage I got from Kramarczuk’s very nicely. The more you drink this ale and allow it to warm up the more the sweeter fruity and floral flavors stick out it is certainly an intriguing ale that I plan to drink more of when the opportunity arises. Give it a shot and ride your bike.
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November 30th, 2008 beckel
Moylan’s Brewery from Novato, California crafts a number of award winning big beers that I have wanted to sample for some time. I had the opportunity to taste a few at the Autumn Brew Review but by that time of the day my ability to properly critique beers had diminished to say the least. Good times, but next year I will need to write a lot more down, or perhaps bring a audio recording device. After venturing to Surly Brewing yesterday for some growler action, we were both happy and sad to see them sell out of growlers by 12:30. At the time we got in line (~12:20) they were left with only bender, and a very limited amount at that (they appeared to be selling only 2 per person). After waiting in line for a bit a friend was lucky enough to get the last growler which we shared and then being a Saturday, hopped back on our bikes and proceeded to get proper reserves at Broadway Liquor Outlet en route home. I picked up some Surly Furious and Cynic Ale, as well as a bottle of Avery & Boulder Brewing’s Collaboration Not Litigation Ale and the ale we are here to talk about Moylan’s Kilt Lifter Scotch Style Ale. Though this ale has a large visible warning on the side stating “Live Ale! – Keep Refrigerated” I found this brew sitting on a shelf at room temperature. As this store has only recently started stocking much craft beer I can pretty safely assume it was only on the shelf for a short period of time, hopefully it hasn’t had the opportunity impact the taste too much. This beer pours a light brown color somewhat like a date with some nice red colors coming through when brought to light. Produces a bit over an inch of light tan head that settles within a couple of minutes. Aroma is marvelous, dates, raisins, and maybe plums are most dominate rounded off with some malt and a bit of alcohol. The flavor is similar to the aroma but the malt is much more prevalent. Smooth malt flavors are accented by fermented pitted fruit flavors that create a very balanced ale. Body is relatively light and the mouthfeel is very smooth making this a very easy to drink strong brew. Thought this ale is 8% ABV you will likely not notice until you drink your fair share of it because the lightly caramelized malts and robust but balanced dark fruit flavors completely overpower any alcohol flavor that could be present. This is a wonderfully delicious ale, if you enjoy a balanced malty brew with fruit hints this will be a wonderful accompaniment for your next meal. Give it a shot and ride your bike.
Our bikes at Surly Brewing Company
The last drops of Surly Bender
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