Southern Tier Review #1

Southern Tier Iniquity Ale

This post begins my first of many reviews of the offerings by the fellas at Southern Tier. My local beer mecca, aka Total Wine & Spirits, carries a handful of their brews and tonight I decided to try their Imperial Black IPA “Iniquity”. I’ve had a few experiences with great Black IPA’s before, the Hop Karma by Terrapin and Stone’s Sublimely Self Righteous; so I had some high expectations. Let me just say this did, wait a minute … *sip, does not disappoint. The nose is roasted malts and chocolate and just a faint of citrus, it really smells amazing. The first sip is almost like a porter, but with just a touch of hops at the end. With each additional sip the IPA flavors start to come through more and more–think of chocolate covered grapefruit. Yes, it really is this complex. You can definitely tell this bad boy is 9% ALC, drinking this right now on an empty stomach was probably not the best idea. Nevertheless, this is one delicious brew.

Rating: 9.5/10

Welcome and um…you’re welcome

Welcome to Delicious Brews, a blog about beer, damn good beer, and maybe sometimes damn good coffee, but probably mostly beer. I’m a recent college graduate, which means that I’m currently looking for a real job and have a lot of free time on my hands. I wait tables to make ends meet and with the little extra money I have, I spend mostly on beer and food. I figure why not. They both make me happy, and seeing how I spent the last five years of my life buried in books, writing pointless essays and getting into some serious debt, I deserve it. So this blog will serve as a way for me to share my appreciation for the good things in life and hopefully you find something here that can make you life happier too.

Dogfish Head Punkin Ale

Ok now that we got all the boring stuff out of the way let’s get to the good stuff. Went to a local Taco Mac this evening for dinner with some friends and finally had a chance to try out the Punkin Ale on draft from the always fantastic Dogfish Brewing. The appearance was a clear amber that got darker near the top. The head was small, white and laced the glass nicely as I drank it.The first sip is like getting hit in the face with a pumpkin pie. I mean there is a lot of spice in this bad boy, nutmeg, cinnamon and probably an actual pumpkin pie thrown in for good measure. It’s a delicious brew, in fact I’d say it’s pretty damn phenomenal, but with food it was hard to finish. It’s already a bit on the heavy side at 7% abv and when you factor that in with the sweetness, it’s not really a sessionable beer. With that said I definitely recommend it, just not along with a buffalo chicken sandwich and a side of fries. Drink this beer on it’s own and a couple hours after a meal and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it much better.

You’re welcome