Location: Deano's Vino
I was out on Saturday night with the wife for evening out and we stopped by for the St. Patrick's day party with the Hoosier Beer Geeks at Deano's Vino in Fountain Square. It was really nice to just relax for a bit and have a couple of good beers and good conversation. They had three special beers on tap for the occasion. Brian Boru from Three Floyds, Brutal Bitter ESB from Rouge, and Black Majic Java Stout from Barley Island.
I started my evening off with Rouge's Brutal Bitter ESB. I've never had it on tap and that was
lower in IBU's compared to the Three Floyds, so I started with that. The beer poured a nice orange/gold color with a small off-white head on it. It had a nice nose of hop and pine resin on it. It wasn't an overpowering nose, but it was nice. The flavor profile wasn't a big as I had hoped for. Solid flavors of sticky pine and some sweet caramel malt come through nicely. It was crisp on the mouthfeel with medium carbonation. Overall, this is a pretty good offering, but I am little ho-hum over it. It is almost like an IPA for beginners. I can't bitch that much, this was a good beer, and I was neither unsatisfied or had my socks knocked off by this beer.My second beer of the night was Brian Boru from Three Floyds. I've had this beer in bomber
form, but never on tap. I was told that there were only four kegs of this in Indiana and two of them were at Deano's. Pours a deep copper approaching an almost ruddy hue. Wonderful scents of sticky caramel, spicy floral aromatics, and pineapple are apparent. The taste is a well balanced combination of a toasted bready malt and sticky caramel with a nice compliment of hops in the flavor profile. This beer was my winner of the evening. Overall, just a very clean and easy drinking palate pleaser.A big thanks to the Hoosier Beer Geeks for putting on another great event with some very tasty brews.
Cheers!
Matt
3 comments:
Brutal Bitter is quite quaffable, but I'm with you, that Brian Boru is outstanding. I've only had it in bomber form, and we don't see much Three Floyds in Virginia at all. Used to be more widely available here, but now it's nowhere to be found.
For balance and drinkability, as well as being a memorable version of a style that has a fair amount of forgettable versions, Brian Boru would get my vote, too.
If I recall correctly from my reading of Brewmaster's Table last evening, the IPA style was developed because regular English bitter styles didn't travel well - thus more hops were added. So I'd imagine calling Brutal Bitter "an IPA for beginners" is pretty accurate stylistically.
Thanks for the write-up, Matt!
Post a Comment