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February 2018 - BEER AWESOME

Month: February 2018

BeerAwesome reaches into its goody bag for a Gingerbread Stout

Hardywood
Gingerbread Stout
9.2% 22OZ Bomber

GBS hardywood

I’m excited to finally get to this one. I’ve had it in my fridge ALL YEAR (great and timely joke, way to start 2018) and now it’s finally getting its turn in the spotlight. This is a great Virginia beer and is one of the few beers I’ll order whenever I see it on tap, but that’s enough about my own preferences. Time to take the “i” out of review and bring you another entertaining revew.

This pours dark, like the ending of The Mist or a basement without any working lights. Pretty decent head on it as well, and when you smell it you get a sleigh-full of roasted malts, and some sweet notes with spices in there as well.

Hops – 2.2 Some, maybe, sure, but they aren’t the point here.

Malts – 7.1 Yes, it’s malty but it’s also mild and smooth. You’re in for a real treat with this.

Carbonation – 6.7 It’s pretty bubbly for a stout, but it’s not harsh in the mouth.

Character – 6.9 Nice. Being a milk stout it’s pretty subdued on that front, letting some of the ginger, honey, spice and sweetness cut through.

Palate – 8.5 Everything comes together nicely here, like family members that show up on time with food that wasn’t bought from whatever was leftover at Shopper’s on Christmas Eve. You get the full tour, front to back, of everything without a single element dominating the experience.

Overall – 9.1 Look, it’s awesome. There’s another “BA” beer website featured on the label and it’s hard to not subtract points for that fact alone. But what’s even more bananas (you never type the correct number of “na”s the first time) is that those wrong, uninformed cavemen gave it a 100. Perfect score. That means no beer, no variation of GBS itself, could possibly be better. That’s just a total newbie thing to do and I’m not surprised. I rated this really high, because it’s so damn tasty, but I won’t pretend that it’s the best beer in the world (which is what a perfect score would mean). Is it fantastic and did I have to fight the urge to open it every time I saw it in the fridge? YUP. But I did, so that you could have this. Also, I do wish it was just a little more boozy. The alcohol content itself is plenty, but I like that little bite where you can tell it’s more potent than usual beers. Bottom line: RUN RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN, TO BUY MORE OF THIS BEER.

BeerAwesome Year in Review (FINALLY)

Friends, friends of friends, and people misled into reading this.  I want to thank you for joining me on a delicious journey, despite a drought of recent content.  I wanted to take this time to give you the thanks you deserve, let people know where this is headed and wrap up what I think is working.

Where do we go from here?
Well, the plan is more of the same (but better), and lot of the new.  I’m going to add video content, a new written segment, and a lot more reviews.  I’m comfortable in the process now, but I won’t let that comfort zone be a breeding ground for mediocrity.  You readers, followers, and friends I’ve harassed deserve at least goodity. I’ll add a facebook poll for the page (shoutout OUR FACEBOOK PAGE ) to see what you want more of, whether it’s thought pieces, events, interviews or videos.  You can also follow along on Twitter and Untappd to see the most up-to-date happenings.

 

And finally, what did I like the most this year?

That’s a tough call, so I’ll give the honors to two beers I really enjoyed.  Long Trail Brewing’s Barrel Aged Unearthed was crazy good and so was Adroit Theory’s EBK [Here We Go].  Good job, everyone.  Let’s keep drinking. To 2018!