1 Feral Raccoon(They/Them)

Back at this tumblr shit after years gone. Heavy metal, swords, beer, mead, whisk(e)y, ttrpgs, and wrestling are all things I'm into. This account used to just be a beer review blog but now it's feral shitposting hours. Also, ACAB, antifasc, and fuck terfs. a they/them.

[themetalbeernerd]

God jul! I’m really bad at posting here especially because shitposting here is hard. Had a good day! Cleaned my house and did laundry, had therapy, communed with the gods and my ancestors, had a whistle lesson, then cooked a bomb ass dinner and read a bit of one of my fave viking history books! Neil Price is a real one. And later tonight I get to watch WRASTLIN

[themetalbeernerd]

Tonight’s dnd. We are basically fighting the dm’s cat and his two fire elemental friends everything is fine.

[themetalbeernerd]

Oh yes. A good evening.

[themetalbeernerd]

NY By Night.

I am being Incredibly Normal(tm) about Alexander Ward right now catching up on this fucking show what the fuck.

[themetalbeernerd]

I’m back bitch.

NEW GENDERS AND MORE CHAOS LATER AND I’M BACK ON TUMBLR BUT IN MY TWITTER DEGENERATE BRAIN LET’S GO. My new hyperfixations include 16th century longsword fencing, Old Gods of Appalachia, and more ttrpg nonsense. Oh, also, The Locked Tomb. I am a Locked Tomb queer as well. Goblin era has begun.

[themetalbeernerd]

ehhhhh.

I know Tumblr is a piece of shit because they banned the smut but. Should I still write/record beer reviews here? I haven’t made one in a hot minute and I miss word vomiting about beers I like here.

[themetalbeernerd]

Do you take recommendations of beers to try?

Always! Though I may not be able to get it if it’s not in my area. And I won’t review a thing I can only get on draft(unless I can get a growler)

[themetalbeernerd]

Odell Brewing Company-Lugene Chocolate Milk Stout

18

ABV:10.5

IBU: 18

Temperature: 40 F(ish)

Glassware: Stout Glass

There are two types of breweries in my book. The first type is one the type that has insane shit as their year round brews. Crazy ABVs or IBUs and tons of specialty ingredients that aren’t the big 4. The other is one that sticks with traditional beers and styles and does one of stuff every once in a while to get their creative juices flowing. Odell seems to be firmly in the latter camp. I’ve had a few of their year rounds and seasonals, and they’re solid fucking beers. They’re the type that you could see on the shelf and if you’re in the mood for a specific style, you know what you’re getting. This one, however, jumped out at me. For one thing, it’s a bit over 12 ounces and it was $6 in my local store. Also, it’s an imperial stout aged in rye barrels, and has chocolate in there as well. These things are all things I enjoy, except the Rye barrel thing if it’s not done carefully. Lets see if it lives up to the hype, shall we?

Appearance-This is stout 101. It pours a beautiful, silky smooth black. Not a black tinged with reds or browns, this is pure darkness here. The head is a wonderful coffee-with-cream shade and stays at about a finger perpetually, not an easy thing to do with a beer at this ABV. The retention seems to be pretty dece when it comes to lacing around the glass as well!

Nose-This thing is fucking divine. Usually when a beer is aged in a rye barrel I’m afraid of getting that spicy barrel note overpowering everything, but they managed to make it the backbone on the nose instead of the headliner. The thing you notice the most is the chocolate. Oh gods do you notice the chocolate. It really does smell like boozy chocolate milk.

Palate-Yeah, I usually reserve this section to wax eloquent about how great and complex a beer is. But this one, just kind of isn’t? It’s not a bad thing, mark you. It just caught me by surprise. It literally does what it sets out to do. It’s basically like you put some chocolate milk in some rye whiskey and let it sit for a while. The chocolate and lactose sweetness are obviously the highlights, but, luckily, the rye spice is just there in the back to add a little bit of complexity and to cut through the booziness.

Mouthfeel-This one will actually be short and succinct. Creamy at the front, boozy in the middle, and dry at the back. Somewhat drinkable, but be careful with that ABV.

Overall-I like this beer. Of course, I like Odell, and want them to do more barrel aging and malty stuff, so I bought it because of soapbox reasons, but I recommend it. It’s a great winter warmer, especially now that we’re getting into those colder months where an IPA or a pils might not warm the cockles of your heart. If you can find it, seek it out!

[themetalbeernerd]

Avery-Uncle Jacob’s Stout

Avery Brewing Co, for me at least, are synonymous with the oak barrel. Their barrel program is one of the most interesting in the world, and don’t just stick to the Whiskey barrel, like so many American craft breweries do. They use wine and tequila barrels, and brew anything from wild sour ales that are around 4.5% to massive 15+% ABV bombs. This crazy ale is the latter, clocking in at 15.5% ABV. For Avery, the Whiskey barrel is one of their favorite things, so they named this beer, apparently, after the first distiller to name his whiskey Bourbon, specifically. So if I don’t basically think I’m drinking a stout and a bourbon on their own with this thing, I’ll be incredibly disappointed.

ABV: 15.5

IBU: N/A

Temperature: around 55 F

Glassware: Belgian Goblet

Appearance-Looking at the bottle, you kind of expect a beer like this to look a certain way, and luckily, my expectations were met! This thing is a sinister looking deep dark motherfucker. There was a surprisingly large espresso head at the start, but it dissipated almost immediately. It’s hard to tell if there’s any carbonation whatsoever, but with the head at the start, there should be.

Nose-Ok, this nose actually reminds me of drinking a whiskey, with the good and the bad. One of the things that hits me right off the bat is the alcohol heat. Unlike most beers of this type, you can’t just stick your nose in the glass and smell it. This is an UNFRIENDLY beer at the start. It actually burns your nostrils. After that, though, you get, right at the top, a deluge of vanilla notes. Underneath that, there’s a wonderful 50% dark chocolate note. The only really friendly notes are at the bottom, with a light biscuit and raisin.

Palate-Smelling this beer and tasting this beer is one of the most wild 180 degree tonal shift ever. When in the nose you get that vanilla, booze, and chocolate notes right up front, on the palate it’s the opposite. I’m weirdly getting an almost cherry and raisin note at the front end. All those other notes come roaring up behind when you let it sit in your mouth for a while. However, everything is bookended with those dark fruit and raisin notes. Weirdly, if there’s any whiskey barrel going on in there, I’m not necessarily finding it.

Mouthfeel-Like I said with this earlier, this is NOT a friendly beer. If you’re not careful it will fuck you up. As is expected from a beer that’s over 10% alcohol, this beer is a thick, chewy thing. There’s just barely enough carbonation to not make it syrupy. All throughout, there is a huge, thick, clinging alcohol heat as well. It’s not a warmth either, it’s definite heat. I know with these 15+ beers its hard to regulate that, but sometimes that’s the tipping point between drinkable and non drinkable. This toes that line with each sip.

Overall-This beer is...interesting. It threw me a curveball on the nose and palate, but overall, it’s pretty cool. I don’t know if I’ll ever get another, but I’m glad that Avery’s pushing the limit when it comes to their barrel program, and making all their stuff relatively affordable. If you’re a massive barrel aged beer nerd like I am, I’d say check it out. If the ABV scares you off, maybe just walk on by Uncle Jacob.

[themetalbeernerd]

Darkhorse+FFF Oil of Gladness

I love Barleywines. They’re one of the most unique beer styles of all time, in my opinion. They are also the great middle ground of beer. You can have deep, boozy, malty, sweet ones; or on the other hand, you could have super hop heavy ones. This one, a collab beer between the crazy people of Dark Horse and Three Floyds should be on the later side. Both breweries have shown their love of the hoppiness. So I’m pretty much ready for an intensely hop forward beast.

ABV: 11%

IBU: N/A

Temperature: 40 degrees ish

Glassware: Duvel goblet

Appearance-They weren’t kidding when they gave it the name “oil”. This beer is a dark, brooding thing. There’s also a gorgeous ruby color shooting through when held up to the light. The head is a light milk-in-coffee color, and stays pretty well for a beer that’s so high ABV and has been sitting around since last October.

Nose-This may be one of the more complex barleywines I’ve ever sniffed. The malt side and the hop side battle for dominance and not one gives to the other. Each time you sniff you get a huge boozy character, but right next to it you get a massive fist of hops punching you in the face. The sweetness comes from a burnt sugar quality, along with maybe some molasses, if my nose isn’t playing tricks on me. The hops are pure dankness, but with a mildly tropical finish.

Palate-Ok, so the complexity is still here and seems to be the point of this whole damn beer. The first thing that you notice is the hopiness, followed by massive sweet booziness, and then the hop stuff continues. This time though, it morphs from the dank character off the bat to a more grassy and citrussy thing on the end, which I kind of love. Also, the sweetness is definitely a little less pronounced then on the nose.

Mouthfeel-The mouthfeel on this is the only really standard part of the beer. There’s a whole lot of alcohol warmth and booze by the bucketloads. This is definitely a sipper for sure. There is a surprising amount of carbonation though.

Overall-I had high hopes for this thing and it definitely delivered on EVERYTHING. This is definitely the middle ground between malty and hoppy beers, so if you’re staunchly a drinker of one or the other, I’d highly recommend giving this beer a try just to get a good taste of the other side, and then going for it!

[themetalbeernerd]

God dammit tumblr Im drunk and want to shitpost but I have to keep this blog somewhat professional.

[themetalbeernerd]

Blackberry Farms Tripel

“I Know, I know,” you’re probably thinking, “you JUST reviewed a Blackberry Farms beer just a few weeks ago!” And I’ll reply that yes, I did, but I am firmly on the BBF hype train after that first taste, and scouring their website, found out they they have a line of Abbey-style ales. Regular readers(heh) of this blog will probably know that I’m very very into all things big and Belgian, so I’m already on board. Having sampled their newer style Belgian beers(the brett), I’m quite excited to dive into their samplings of the more traditional old styles. So I decided to start with the middle ground of the Abbey beer: The Tripel. It’ll be middling in alcohol and intensity, so it’ll be really easy to figure out if they have the flavors down pat or not.

ABV: 9

IBU: 24

Temp: Mid 40s

Glassware: Duvel goblet

Appearance: These guys are not messing around when it comes to appearance. The beer pours a beautiful golden hue with a massive, effervescent, floaty pure-white head. There’s a huge amount of carbonation visible in the ale, especially as one pours the beer into the glass. It’s also slightly hazy, and clearly unfiltered.

Nose-The first thing that hits your nose is the banana from that wonderful Belgian yeast. The malts come through as a toasty and slightly sweet honey note. There may be some earthy hops way in the back to balance everything out. And tying everything together is a wonderful almost black pepper spiciness from the yeast as well.

Palate-Yet again, to the tee what a Tripel should be palate wise. From what I can tell with their middling beers, the yeast is the star of the show. Huge banana and spice notes balance out the huge sweetness from the malt. This time, I’m getting barely any hop quality at all. If it’s there, it’s just there to make the sweetness less cloying than it could be.

Mouthfeel-When you first take a sip of this beer, your mouth and tongue immediately get assaulted by wonderful, effervescent carbonation. It definitely mellows out after a short time to a well balanced warming alcohol note, and finishes mildly dry. This beer is wonderfully drinkable.

Overall-This is definitely a better way to start out on Blackberry Farms then that IPA was. I love brett, but not everyone does. This is probably one of the more approachable styles as well. I’d recommend this for anyone who loves Abbey style ales, and is a malthead in general!

[themetalbeernerd]

Deschutes-The Abyss 2017

”Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster…for when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.” So stated Nietzsche, way back in the day. So it is today, with the deep dark, barrel aged stouts we have going these days. This one is quite aptly named The Abyss, so we have that going for us. This is going to be a monster of a beer, clocking at 11.4% and aged in multitudes of barrels with lots of specialty ingredients, is also going to be a complex beast. As long as it doesn’t start staring at us, though, we’ll probably be fine.

ABV:11.4

IBU: 80

Temperature: 40-ish F

Glassware: Duvel goblet

Appearance-This is the type of gorgeous looking stout that I’ve come to expect from Deschutes’ barrel room. It’s a pure, deep black. There’s absolutely no room for light to touch this abyss. The head pours a surprisingly massive deep espresso colour. It’s surprisingly not quite as viscous as a lot of this kind of thing, but I’m sure it’s going to be just as intense as most stouts of this caliber.

Nose-Immediately as I opened, then poured the beer, the smell permiated the room. Sugary molasses. Oak. Coffee. Chocolate. Vanilla. These scents rise to the top, lower, and come back constantly. Not one really rises to the top to be the domineering note. There’s also a wonderful hop earthiness balancing everything out.

Palate-When you first take a sip of this thing, the first thing that hits you is an overwhelming sweetness. The main culprits of this definitely the molasses and the vanilla beans that are used copiously in this beer. Luckily, they get immediately counterbalanced by the licorice and cherry bark that cut through it immediately. On the back you get a huge, lingering woodiness from all the different barrels the beer was aged in.

Mouthfeel-This is definitely one of the most complex mouthfeels I’ve ever had for a big, barrel aged stout. And that’s probably one of the most pretentious things I may have ever written. As you drink it’s super thick and chewy, yet dry as hell. The finish is also one of the dryest of any beer I’ve ever drank. One of the interesting things as well is that it’s super boozy right up front, but the finish is clean as hell. This is going to be dangerously drinkable…

Overall-This is definitely a graduate level BA stout. It’s a love-or-hate type beer. There’s flavors in there that, if up your alley, you’ll adore, but if you don’t like a certain aspect, you’re gonna have a bad time!

[themetalbeernerd]

Blackberry Farms Brett Belgo IPA

I have only heard of Blackberry Farms recently. Their name was dropped by none other than brewing legends Evil Twin, who, from what I can tell, just brewed a collab beer that I will now keep an eye out for. That, however, is the future, and we must, alas, keep our heads in the present. Luckily for us, the present includes what promises to be a super interesting IPA! This specific IPA was brewed using hops I have never heard of(Motueka and Jarrylo), is aged in oak, blended with their signature Saison, and then aged with a house Brett yeast. I’m quite excited for all the insane farmhouse notes and pleasant IPAness that I’m about to experience. 

ABV: 6.3%

IBU: 36

Temp: around mid 50s F

Glassware: Belgian Duvel glass

Appearance-As you pour this beer, it definitely lives up to the “belgo” part of its name! It pours a slightly hazy, deep golden colour, with a MASSIVE head. This thing sticks around like nobody’s business, all light and effervescent and such. Apart from that, the looks are nothing special, really.

Nose-Now, I can see what all the fuss is about with these guys. The farmhouse notes that most American centric craft brewers(at least in my neck of the woods) seem to shy away from are here in spades. There’s also a surprising amount of sweet malt notes in there for an IPA. I can definitely smell hops, but they’re not quite as prevalent. They’re possibly the slight earthiness I’m smelling, but I’m not sure, as I don’t really know the notes those hops are supposed to give off.

Palate-Again, I’m getting huge farmhouse notes. The saddle, leathery notes, and some earthiness. Again, there’s a lot more Saison here than any IPA I notice. The hops that I notice are light and grassy and really don’t hold up to the intense notes of all the wild stuff in there.

Mouthfeel-The mouthfeel of this thing is pure Belgium. It’s effervescent and bubbly as hell. There’s barely any alcohol warmth noticeable at all, which is good for such a low ABV beer. Other than that, it has the classic mouth puckering nature of most sour beers, and is drinkable as hell.

Overall-I personally have mixed feelings about this. If it wasn’t called an “IPA” I would have loved it a LOT more than I did. I was looking for all the hoppiness, and I barely got any. I definitely got the “brett” part, which I definitely enjoyed, but, alas, not much of the IPA. I’d recommend this for fans of wild Belgian beers and that’s about it, really.

[themetalbeernerd]

Avery-Coconut Porter

I did a video review thing! I may switch to Youtube permanently, but we’ll see. I like writing, but I needed a change, so yeah. Here we are!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZMJi_rNn8o&t=21s

hope you enjoy! Tell me if you don’t!

[themetalbeernerd]

Dogfish Head: Olde School

Dogfish Head are probably one of the more fearless craft breweries out there in the world. They love experimenting with culinary ingredients, different barrels, and brewing processes. I love them for that fact. Another reason I love them is for their stupidly high gravity beers. If you see a Dogfish with a yellow caution sign cap, look out. It’s at LEAST 15% ABV or higher. Enter Olde School. This is probably one of their more traditionally brewed beers. Though, as befits their love of the culinary ingredients, Figs and Dates are added in there. To be fair, these are flavors that will only compliment, as they’re notes that you taste in quite a few Barleywines anyway. I’ve only had this beer one other time, but I remember loving it. Hopefully it’s just as good this time.

Style: Barleywine

Special Ingredients: Figs, Dates

ABV: 14%

IBU: 85

Temperature: around 45-50 F

Glassware: Snifter

Appearance-The ale pours a nice, russet hue. There’s a very small and quickly dissipating just off white head. It’s quite hazy and opaque. There’s also not a huge amount of visual carbonation. It’s all pretty standard for an American Barleywine.

Nose-Barleywines are one of those beers that just always have an awesome nose profile. The two things that hit me immediately are the figs and dates that were added. It gives a deep, sweet and earthy quality to it. There’s also a huge amount of booze behind everything.

Palate-This is one of those beers that’s flavors get more and more intense as time goes on. It seems that each sip kind of unlocks another flavor. At first, you get a huge hit of the fig flavor, then the dates. After that, you get a nice malty sweetness, and maybe a touch of earthy English hops in there. The tail end of it is just a lingering toasty flavor along with some warming alcohol.

Mouthfeel-Like I said in the Palate section, this is a beer that lingers. I’m quite happy it came in a 12 oz bottle, because any more and I’d probably just be done. It’s super thick, and the small amount of carbonation just adds to that. The finish is surprisingly dry, however. The alcohol also doesn’t get too hot, just stays nice and warm. Great for the wintery march night we’re having as I type this. Take your time with this monster!

Overall-I love this beer. Pretty much anything with that aformentioned caution cap I’ll buy. I love it when brewers push the limits, be it ABV, ingredients, IBU, oak aging, weird yeasts, or anything like that. It keeps life interesting, and keeps us wondering what the hell these breweries will do next! If you’re a lover of English style ales, and anything with a double digit ABV, I’d recommend picking up a 4 pack of this!

So yeah, what do you think of this beer? Do you like it? do you hate it? send me a message or an ask if you had a different experience! There are always beers I love that the next person might not want to touch with a ten-foot pole. And as always, enjoy.

Skoal!

Website: https://www.dogfish.com/

my social medias:

https://www.facebook.com/themetalbeernerd/

https://twitter.com/metalbeernerd

[themetalbeernerd]

Einstock-Icelandic Toasted Porter

If there was a place that you wouldn’t think would have a beer scene, Iceland is one of those countries that springs to mind. A tiny island just beneath the Arctic Circle doesn’t really sound like a place that would make people brew good beer. But then, in a place where you can get 23 hour long nights in the coldest parts of the winter, what else is there to do but drink? At least make it a good beer, right? Enter Einstok, a brewery that simultaniously loves where they are from, but at the same time brews primarily English style ales. Their roster is pretty much comparable to one of the many English breweries out there. So how does this classic English style hold up being brewed by a people who used to be the conquerors of England? Let’s find out, shall we?

Style: Porter

Special ingredients: Icelandic roasted coffee

ABV: 6%

IBU: N/A

Temperature: around 40 degrees F

Glassware: Stout Glass

Appearance-This is pretty standard fare, if solid in it’s execution. It pours an inky black, like, say, an Icelandic winter. No light enters or escapes. I see no visible carbonation, but I assume there is some, based on it’s light, frothy just off-white head. It lingers pretty decently, but seems to dissipate disappointingly quickly.

Nose-They’re not kidding when they call this thing a “toasted” porter. The very first thing that hits you is the slightly burnt toasty quality to the thing. Underneath that there’s a fair amount of semi sweet chocolate, and just the barest hint of malt sweetness.

Palate-You know that huge toasty quality that I mentioned earlier? It almost feels nonexistent in the palate. Sure, you get a bunch of dark chocolate maltiness, but the roast is far more in the background than it is on the nose. I kind of wish that they would have emphasized that a bit more. Other than that, it’s pretty standard Porter fair. A nice mix of dark malts, with a slightly earthy hop note on the end.

Mouthfeel-If there’s anything that’s even more standard than the Palate, this is it. It’s nice and light for a dark beer, clocking in at 6 percent ABV. It’s quite drinkable. There’s a nice creamy quality to the middle, and the finish is nice and dry, but not cloying.

Overall-If you want an entry level porter this is a great one for you. I seem to be knocking it a bit in my review, but I actually respect a lot of breweries for making solid examples of style. In the age of breweries Imperialising everything and adding crazy ingredients and barrel aging, the new generations of beer drinkers and brewers still need good foundations to go off of.

So yeah, what do you think of this beer? Do you like it? do you hate it? send me a message or an ask if you had a different experience! There are always beers I love that the next person might not want to touch with a ten-foot pole. And as always, enjoy.

Skoal!

Website: http://einstokbeer.com/

my social medias:

https://www.facebook.com/themetalbeernerd/

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