Friday, May 29, 2015

Alewerks Jubilee VIII

One of the more well-regarded breweries local to the broader DMV area is a Virginia brewery by the name of Alewerks.  Despite living in the area for over two years I had never tried one of their beers, so I decided to change that.  I went all out: I bought a bottle of Jubilee VIII, a strong dark Belgian beer that some drinkers might call a quad.  Previous releases of Jubilee were aged in bourbon barrels; for this release they opted to use rum barrels.


Whether they are called strong dark ales or quads, Belgian beers of this sort generally fall somewhere between dark red and light brown hues with an aggressive carbonation.  Jubilee VIII is one of the darkest reds I have seen in a Belgian beer, almost brown.  The bubbles are quite fine and the head is quick to form, giving evidence to a robust carbonation.  However, the foam recedes quickly.

Jubilee exudes a candied aroma heavy on rum, Belgian invert sugar, dates, and grapes.  There is a light touch of apples buried underneath.  The overall picture is somewhat reminiscent of CuvĂ©e Van De Keizer Blue, but with rum barrel.


A similar (and delicious) flavor profile awaits.  Sugar and grapes start off the show, with a second act of dates and apples.  Jubilee finishes with plenty of rum and some fig-like yeast esters.  As the beer warms up I detect a hint of plums.  The texture of the beer reenforces the sweetness but it is neither cloying nor thick.  The brewers manage not to fall into the syrupy trap many other American brewers do.  Only downside here is a slightly overly boozy finish, but it's easy to overlook.


There's a lot going on here and Alewerks does a commendable job keeping all the elements in check.  Jubilee is an impressive ale and I look forward to trying more from this brewery.


Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Stillwater Surround (oak-smoked stout)

 One of the more recent releases from America's chief gypsy brewery is an imperial stout brewed with oak-smoked wheat malt named Surround.  I've previously had several beers from Stillwater (and reviewed one of them), but Surround is fairly unusual for them.  Normally Stillwater focuses on Belgian-style beers, particularly farmhouse ales.  To my knowledge this is their first attempt at a stout.  Let's see how it fares.

Stillwater Surround looks like many other stouts.  Dark tan foam forms a head about two fingers high, and retains quite well.  Body is pitch black, as expected.


The aroma is a bit tamer than I would expect from a smoked beer, let alone a smoked imperial beer.  There is a blend of chocolate, something akin to plum (very faint), and a light smokey character.  I wonder what percentage of the grist contains smoked malt.  Based on the rather mild character of the smoke, I would venture a guess it was rather small.  Most smoked beers reek of smoke and ash.

The smoked malt was definitely used as an accent here rather than the main attraction, which is fine by me.  It also makes this one of the more accessible smoked beers.  The dominant flavors here are bitter dark chocolate, espresso, and a wee bit of smokey campfire, more or less in that order.  A hint of hop oil comes through as well.  This beer is definitely on the bitter-acrid side of the brewing spectrum.  The texture is full without being terribly sweet.  Truthfully I would have preferred a bit more sweetness to balance out the hop oil and char character, but it's nothing worth fretting about.

All in all, a pleasantly smokey beer that doesn't overdo anything.