I forgot about my Beer52 subscription; last time I've used them I thought I had canceled the next order, but it seems I've only postponed it and to my surprise I had another one of their lovely boxes arrive last week.
This is an autumny selection, there's a few porters/stouts and some strong beers in there.
On Saturday I shared the Backwoods Bastard with a friend. This is a Founders Brewing beer and I was quite happy this week's box contained a few of their beers as I've heard about them but don't remember actually having anything they made.
At 11.6% this is one of the strongest beers I've had. It was an interesting drink, the aroma wasn't appealing at all though. It smelled just like a sweet ripe stilton; a bit off putting coming from a beer but intriguing never the less. Taste wise, it wasn't bad really: oak, smoke, sweet malts and you could taste the bourbon. I am not a fan of bourbon or scotch but I was able to drink and appreciate this beer. Can't say I would have wanted more than the half a small beer I had though. I don't think I will buy this beer if I see it in a shop in the future but I do not regret trying it.
Now ... for today's beer I went for another one of the Founders beers; their Centennial IPA. This is the classic of American beer, it became one of the benchmarks for the Beer Judge Certification Program used in all American based beer judgings so I looked forward to trying it.
It smells great, lots of hoppy and floral notes in there and some caramel which I did not expect.
It pours a clear dark amber with a frothy white head. At 7.2% it is not a light beer, I usually like my beers weaker than this especially the IPAs.
Taste wise, it is a bit sweet for me, the malts are caramely and they mix with a hoppy note. The hops are the dominating flavour and are cutting through the sweetness nicely.
Overall, this is a pretty nice brew, except for the sweetness I can't really complain about it. Oh, and the strength, I wouldn't want a session on this alone.
And... that's about it for now.
Cheers for following along!