Southern Tier Back Burner

We said before that we would be trying a lot more from Southern Tier, and the Back Burner is the next one up. I also believe that this is our first, maybe second, barley wine that we have had so this should be interesting on multiple levels.

It pours dark brown with a off-white head and and has a strong aroma of dark malts and fruits with a good presence of alcohol. The taste is far less strong than the smell and has a solid base of dark malts, fruit, with a warm alcohol flavor at the end. The smoothness is intoxicating (you see what i did there?)

Appearance - 3.6

Smell - 3.8

Taste - 4.0

Texture - 4.2

Overall - 3.85/5

Southern Tier Back Burner

Ahh...Southern Tier...we meet again. Time to touch on a category that we don't venture into too often - barley wines. Let's see how it fares.

It pours an opaque, golden color with a slight red hue. It has a simple head that collapses in a timely matter. It has an extremely alcoholic smell. With strong tones and roasted malts. It reminds me deeply of the World Wide Stout. This does not taste nearly as strong as it smells though. It's very ale-ish and reminded me and Fonnie of the ReJewvenator 2008 which was an American Strong Ale. It had bits of dark fruits, hops and malts in it. Very intriguing taste. The texture was very smooth with a hint of carbonation at the beginning. Surprising for a 10% brew, there is almost no alcoholic bite - impressive, Southern Tier.

Overall, this brew started off not seeming too promising. But, thankfully, it came back with the taste of a hearty American Strong Ale. Great brew - good job again, Southern Tier.

Appearance - 3.8
Smell - 3.5
Taste - 4.2
Texture - 4.1
Overall - 3.9/5

Brew Tasting the Nineteenth

And we're back! We're gonna start the final stretch off with a new category of brew by an oh-so-familiar company - Southern Tier. Here's to a solid finish of the year. Listing after the break.

1) Southern Tier Back Burner

Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA

This is a personal review of mine. I've had the 120 Minute IPA (quite possibly the strongest brew I've ever had), so I figured I should try out the roots of this fine brew and half the brewing time.

It pours a very golden color with a simple head and transparent body. It has a fruity smell with oranges in the aroma but not much else. It tastes quite bitter - like any good IPA will. It has that classic hint of orange and tart as well. But, it has a pretty thing complexion. It goes in slightly carbonated and once the bubbles part, bitterness sets in with that slight orange taste.

As I've noted before, I'm probably not a huge fan of the IPAs unless the alcoholic content is so high, I can't notice the taste (in the case of the 120 Minute). This was a decent brew and it was really nice to have with pizza (the meal I had while I reviews this). Just, if you're not a big IPA guy, don't expect this to change your mind about them.

Appearance - 4
Smell - 3.6
Taste - 3.8
Texture - 3.7
Overall - 3.78/5