Thursday Night American Craft Beer Tastings

By scot in Beer, Lounge on Friday, March 9th, 2012

Pretty Things Babayaga

Our Thursday night get together was light one participant, Chuck, but the rest of us picked up his slack. We plowed our way through five beers with a focus on stouts. It wasn’t planned that way, it is just the way that it came together.

The list (in the order the beers participated):

• Hopslam by Bell’s Brewery (American Imperial IPA)
• Babayaga by Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project (American Stout)
• Ursa Minor by Rising Tide Brewing Company (American Imperial IPA)
• B.O.R.I.S. The Crusher Oatmeal-Imperial Stout by Hoppin’ Frog Brewery (American Imperial Stout)
• Imperial Stout by Founders Brewing Company (Russian Imperial Stout)

A mighty fine lineup of beers. Hopslam is starting to use the luster of the hops while the malt backbone is coming forward. Babayaga is interesting to say the least. Complex aromas and flavors that aren’t typically together in one beer. Ursa Minor is damn easy to drink and my first try at a weizen stout. B.O.R.I.S. was probably a bit young (date: 2011-12-29), making it a touch hot. I think aging would make this beer round out nicer. Founders was served way to cold. Letting it warm a bit brought the level of the drink up a bit but it wasn’t that beer that I remembered in the past.

Hopefully next week we can have the full group on hand. Enjoy!

Useless Fact: A queen bee may lay as many as 3,000 eggs in a single day.