Beer Review: Weyerbacher Unfiltered Double Simcoe IPA

In a fairly recent Beer Advocate review of Boulevard Brewing Double Wide IPA, I noted that more Double IPAs should be offered in Bottle Conditioned corked and caged bottles. It just makes them that much more tasty! I have to think that just maybe someone at Weyerbacher stumbled upon my review because just a few weeks later they announced that they would be doing a limited release of an unfiltered version of their Double Simcoe IPA, which is brewed using only Simcoe hops. I have been a fan of this beer for several years, but had not had it in while, so I was anxious to see what bottle conditioning does to it. I poured the beer into a Duvel snifter a nice hazy dark amber with a very frothy abundant light tan head. I had to wait and let the head die down and then top it off again, and even then, the head lasted nicely. Aroma was a decent amount of nicely balanced pine hops and caramel hops. The taste was a wonderful abundance of pine hops and burnt caramel malts with a nice touch of yeast all blending together very well and leaving a nice bitter but smooth finish, absolutely exceptional! The beer is certainly on the heavy side with a decent amount of sticky alcohol, but it is matched nicely with a smooth slight dryness and decent carbonation that makes it fairly tolerable. Overall, this is certainly a huge step up for an already very special beer. I have to beg Weyerbacher to not just leave this as a limited release, retire the filtered version and just release it like this from now on! In fact, I would hope that many other breweries that brew tasty Double IPAs; Victory, Bell's, Moylan's, Avery, Great Divide, and numerous others, please follow suit, at least do a limited release of your Double IPAs unfiltered in corked and caged bottles!

Beer Review: Big Boss Monkey Bizz-ness

Support your local brewery! Big Boss Brewing Company has been around for several years now after a rebranding of Edenton Brewing Company. The only beer that survived the rebranding with the same name was their Belgian Farmhouse ale known as Surrender Monkey. The name sounds innocent enough but it is actually an offensive racial slur against the French that originated in the aftermath of World War II, most famously used by Grounskeeper Willy in an old episode of The Simpsons. I don't know if that had any factor in the new name this year, but I'm sure it didn't help. Anyway, even under a new name, this one always makes for a great beer. The beer is a little different every year, and many times pushes the limits of the style, sometimes so much it can be debated it is not a Saison, but its always a very refreshing beer that I could certainly see farmhands coming home to after a long day working in the hot sun. This year the beer is known as Monkey Bizz-ness and clocks in at 9.3% ABV and it certainly shows the next morning! This is my second growler of this years batch and it was poured into a Dogfish Head Signature glass a hazy pale orange with a nice off-white head that diminishes to a ring and leaves slight lacing. Aroma is a nice blend of sweet malts, orange peel, slight citrus and a touch of booze. The taste is a nice crisp complex blend of sweet malts and spice with just a hint of sourness, a bit of citrus hops make their presence known while keeping a low profile. The beer is medium bodied with a decent alcohol presence that is not overbearing at all, the beer still possesses all the refreshment you expect from the style. This is where the hangover potential comes in, while there is slight alcohol presence the refreshment hides the alcohol very well and it can certainly sneak up on you. I've always looked forward to the release of Surrender Monkey, and even under its new name, this one doesn't disappoint. Rumor has it another batch will be brewed shorlty and a limited bottle release will hopefully happen. I certainly hope so, as a recent vertical release of recent batches at the brewery shows, this one ages well.