Beers across two decades

I stopped reviewing after two.

Ommegang Three Philosophers (Blueberry Coffee edition)
Dec. 22, 2019
Somehow, this works. The coffee is not overpowering, and the blueberry has space for its role. The coffee is present but never gets the chance to overwhelm this quad/cherry lambic blend. As wary as I have grown of beers involving coffee, this Three Philosophers does not run into an coffee issues. The blueberry is bright and fits well against the mild cherry influence of the lambic. It’s only 3 percent of the blended beer, but the blueberry complements it well. The elements of a quad that tend to bog down other beers don’t get in the way here,as the fruit and coffee develop new dimensions . Kudos to Ommegang for dropping new canned variations on its long-running big Belgian beer.

Denver Beer Co. Peanut Butter Graham Cracker Porter 
Dec. 30, 2019
Peanut bursts from the nose of this porter, a variant of my favorite everyday dark beer, DBC’s Graham Cracker Porter. The drier character of the peanut butter runs into the oily, viscous qualities of the porter and they work fine. Plenty of dark malt notes like toffee and dark chocolate, but without the heft of a stout.

Nebraska Fathead Barrel-aged Barleywine 
Dec. 31, 2019
Wow, this number is boozy after three years in the bottle. The barrel influence has not faded – plenty of toasted oak notes and vanilla flavor the deep malty flavors of the barleywine. The beer ages for six months in Stranahan’s Whiskey barrels. This is a bruiser, plain and simple. There’s a ton of caramel and toffee, with notes of molasses intervening. It’s a perfect cold weather brew, booziness evident on the nose but hidden well among the other flavors. Bottled at 12.1 percent, an aadditon of brown sugar into the bottle gives it additional life and complexity. Most of the sweeter notes derived from that sugar infusion. Lots of dark fruit, easy carbonation, Fathead adds more layers to a style known for its depth of character.

Jackie O’s Antik (Imperial porter brewed with honey and aged in bourbon barrels) 
Jan. 10, 2020
Jackie O’s brewed this imperial porter in collaboration with To Ol Brewery (Scandinavian slash through the O) – quite a while ago. Carbonation barely registers a lace when poured into the glass, so I’m glad I did not wait much longer. In a lot of ways Antik this imperial porter reminds me of a Belgian quad. The nose is rich with bourbon character, chocolate and booze. Aged a year in a bourbon barrel then several more in a series of beer stashes, the vanilla-oak combo is still quite potent in 2020. The flavors fade when tasting.

Antik culminates with an amazingly smooth finish, silky and obviously influenced by the large amounts of honey used in brewing. Some bitterness arises but overall, it’s a smooth ride. Touting a 12 percent ABV at bottling, Antik does not feel anywhere near that strong, a good but dangerous note. A lot of nuttiness emerges – the bottle was opened at cellar temperature, but it grows more nuanced and textured with each pass. Antik could substitute for a post-dinner port or cherry, and no one would complain. For such a sweet porter, it loses none of its regal character.


Weldwerks Keepin’ Time Double IPA 
Jan. 18, 2020
The Greeley purveyor of fine brews had me at the hops that light up this 9.5 percent ABV behemoth. Keepin’ Time boasts Citra, El Dorado, Nelson Sauvin, and HBC 344 experimental hops, but Nelson Sauvin is key – This IPA has the earthy green crunch of the New Zealand hop. Silly as a favorite hop sounds, I jump for any beer that uses Nelson, since it is not overused (yet) and has a rather unique bite. It starts off similar to Weldwerks flagship NEIPA Juicy Bits, then veers in a fresh direction, never betraying its mammoth alcohol content. Lots of tropical fruit, bright notes of tangerine and lemon, Keeping’ Time has too many flavor notes to keep track of. It’s another triumph for Weldwerks, as most hop combinations including Nelson tend to be for me.