Top Shelf Thursday, September 2013: People's Choice

Top Shelf Thursday turned one year old!  As I’ve probably mentioned about 50 times, we started Top Shelf Thursday last year during Steel City Big Pour Week – this past Thursday marked the 12^th tasting, & we decided to show our appreciation to our loyal Top Shelf tasters by giving curatorial rights to those in attendance.  The first ten folks to sign up each got to pick out a “course” in the flight.  I was pretty proud of the diversity & caliber of the brews picked by our faithful drinkers, who naturally showed themselves to have some damn good taste!

In addition to picking the line-up, I’m going to cede some of the blogging about the individual beers to the attendees as well.  It’s fun tracking folks’ comments & opinions during these tastings on Untappd, so I figured I’d let the drinkers speak for themselves.  After introducing the beers, I’ll let impressions garnered from Untappd give you some feedback & opinion. 

We kicked things off with the Framboise, a traditional raspberry lambic from Brouwerij Boon: “Not as sweet as expected.  Almost a sour.”…”Smells like Lindemans, but super-dry.”…”I liked the dryness.”

Second round was Mean Old Tom, a stout with organic vanilla beans from Maine Beer Company: “Smooth stout.  Cannot taste much vanilla, oatmeal.  Decent stout.”…”Smooth with nice notes of vanilla & a kiss of smoke.”…”Decent stout!!!”…”Nice coffee notes, more bitter than expected.”…”Unripened vanilla flavor maybe?  Not bad.”

With their Trade Winds Tripel, The Bruery substitutes candi sugar – traditional in tripels – with rice to lighten the body & boost the alcohol, as well as Thai basil just for kicks: “Nice.  Smooooth.”…”Smells of pepper & apricot, smooth taste of ripe peach.  Exceptional.”…”Smells of butter.  And tastes of butter!  Sweet.”…”Undertone of rice flavors & a nice sweetness of Thai basil.  Whoa baby.  Great!”…”Soft, sweet, apple-y.”

Spooky, from Blue Mountain Brewing, is a pumpkin ale with cocoa nibs & aged in bourbon barrels: “Yum.  Buttery smell.  Super good.”…”Interesting.  Can’t taste or smell chocolate.  Smooth, almost an ale.  Little smoke.”…”Not sure what I’m tasting but I like it!”…”Get a lot of banana & coconut.”

Trappist Achel Extra, from Brouwerij Sint-Benedictusabdij de Achelse Kluis (whew!) fit squarely within strong, dark Trappist ales: “Dark, nutty, & smooth.  Good stuff.”…”On the hot side, but hits all the right notes.”…”Yum.”

New to everyone was RJ Rockers Brewing, & their Black Perle Dark IPA, made with German Perle hops: “I like.  Bitter.  Hoppy.  Dark.”…”Loving the coffee aftertaste.”…”Almost a stout.  Very heavy.  Great & smooth.  Very much coffee aftertaste.”…”Nice mix of malt, hop, with a decent bite.  Lingers on the palate.”…”More on the stout side of the fence, but very good.  This one’s the dark horse.”…”Starts pretty good but ends too bitter.”

Evil Twin Brewing brought us Yang, a double IPA & the “light” side of their Taiji Black & Tan (with the Yin Imperial Stout providing the “dark” – we just had the light): “IPAAA.  Nice.”…”Initial smell is very fruity & floral.  Almost a honey flavor.  The finish aftertaste is almost a birch or root beer.”…”Can’t take the aftertaste.”

A perennial favorite at The House is Curieux, the tripel from Allagash Brewing aged in Jim Beam barrels: “Kim loves this.  I can definitely drink it.”…”More banana from the oak.”…”Sweet, almost like.  Wheat Belgian.  Buttery, sweet.”…”Good.  Can taste the bourbon after.”

We were already well into the high ABVs by the time we cracked in Old Crustacean, a classic American barleywine from Rogue Ales: “Barleywine.  WooHoo!!!”…”Initial nose is a good barleywine.”…”I get the paint thinner reference.  Assuming this is too young, but then why release it yet?”

Wrapping up was The Bruery’s White Oak, a blend of bourbon barrel-aged wheat wine & Belgian-style golden ale: “I get a little wheat & some white grape.  Smooth for 11.5%”…”A blend between a sour & a wheat.  Not favorable.  Nose of a sour.  Dill taste.”…”Nice balance of the two components.”…”Great beer.  Love the wheat wine flavor.  Mmm.”

There you have it, folks: a year of tastings in the books, with friends made, good times had, & many good (& quite a few great) beers drank.  Thanks to all who’ve made this first year a blast, let’s keep things rolling into a second!