DuClaw: Sweet Baby Jesus

The best part of having friends living in Virginia is every once in a while they come up to visit family and bring me a mixed case of beer with them. The best part of that is getting a beer that I probably once saw while reading various beer news sites and then suddenly remembering that I wanted it, and then it's right in front of me. That beer today is DuClaw Brewing Sweet Baby Jesus! a chocolate peanut butter porter. I had to wait for the right occasion to drink this guy, and the fourth time my truck broke down in about two weeks seemed just about right.
The peanut butter smell is immediately present as soon as carbon dioxide gets cracked from bottle. The nose is all peanut butter. The first sip is basically like drinking a deliciously smooth reese's  cup. Big tastes of chocolate malt with a hint of smoke and coffee and immense peanut butter. The finish has very little bitterness from the english hops. This is defiantly a dessert beer and an excellent one at that. Next time you end up in Virginia I strongly recommend bringing back a feel bottles to end your Thanksgiving dinner with.

Trillium Brewing: Part 1 of a (Probably) Never Ending Series

I was excited to hear about Trillium Brewing opening in Boston proper early this year. As a resident of Boston, getting a brewery right down the pike from me was awesome. I was cautiously optimistic when I was able to order a Trillium beer from The Publick House, Beaver Hat, a Pale Ale that might've been the best Pale I've ever had by a Massachusetts brewery. Being able to easily get drafts from The Publick House meant I was a little lazy about going to the seaport district but I finally put on some pants and got a couple growlers. Immediately I regretted not going earlier, because walking into the tiny little shop to get growlers had that beautiful smell of cooked cereal malts that reminds me of some of the best breweries I've been too. Anyways, waxing poetically is boring, let's get to the beer.
Grass Hopper is a pale ale made with locally sourced malts and Massachusetts hops. It lives up to it's name with delicious citrusy hops that give it a very earthy grassy taste, and reminds me of freshly cut grass in a middle of a nice hot summer day. Unbelievably fresh tasting with minimal bitterness in the finish. If Trillium can bottle this and sell it for 10 bucks a 6 pack they'll be the best selling Ale brewery in the state.
Valley Buckwheat is another locally sourced malt saison brewed with, obviously, buckwheat. First sip is very different. It's incredibly musty, like smelling an old attic or something. The second sip is less musty, and much more blending of what reminds me of a German pilsner and a Belgian Saison. Every sip, as it warms up, gets better and better. The last sip is a blissful mix of cloves and pepper and earthy malt sweetness. Amazingly drinkable.
This was my first set of growler fills from Trillium but it will hardly be the last. I have friends coming up from Virginia that are all about hops, and I'm sick of hearing about how Bell's Two Hearted Ale is better than anything they can get here. I think Trillium will change their opinion.

Narragansett Private Stock: Imperial Black Steam

Narragansett Brewing has been trying very hard lately to up their game from being just a brewery that makes cheap adjunct lager, to a brewery that makes both easily accessible beers and rich full flavored beers that are both drinkable and complex. For the winter from their Private Stock collection comes an Imperial Black Steam beer. Steam beer is one of the few styles of beer that is indigenous to the United States, being traced back to somewhere around 1860 as a beer made with lager yeast but fermented at higher temperatures.
Narragansett's version is the strongest steam beer I've had before, and is definitely the only black version. The smell is wonderful roasted coffee, with some chocolate and a bit of anise star in the background. First sip is an excellent mix of smoke and chocolate and some burnt dark bread. The mouthfeel though is somewhat lighter than I expected despite it's color. At 9% alcohol I expected some burn but it actually finishes very smooth. While I've been a fan of Narragansett beers, this is their most complex beer I've had from them and will be great again on a cold winter night.