Three Floyds - Zombie Dust

Zombie Dust from Three Floyds has a ton of hype for this beer and is a huge hit with all of my friends from the East Coast mainly people from Chicago i know.  Three Floyds is located in Munster, Indiana where they are most famous for the Dark Lord Day where thousands of people stand in line to get a bottle of the Russian imperial stout named Dark Lord. The rants and whines i hear from them saying this is the best pale ale and nothing on the West Coast can even compare and how they would do unmentionable things to have a few sips of this liquid crack.  It is time for judgement and my turn to try this East Coast undead pale ale and maybe i will become infected with searching high and low to get another bottle.

Appearance - Pours smoothly into the glass with medium foam which then resides quickly.  After the initial pour this beer has a good amount of bubbles floating around the glass which shows decent amount of carbonation.  The color is similar to other pale ales i have drank from the east coast like Bells Two Hearted Ale and Cigar Citys Jai Alai with its nice dark golden hue.

Smell - Floral but with small notes of Amaretto liquor sweetness.  The initial smell of this got me excited because it has that nice floral smell but at the same time it has the rich hop smell of a good pale ale.  Before taking a sip i can already sense this has huge flavor packed inside.

Taste -  Wow I am converted to a zombie!  First sip has pine flavor, tropical fruit, floral flavors & a small hint of bitter hops at the end.  This is somewhat of a flavor profile between the two i mentioned earlier of Two Hearted Ale and Jai Alai.  This pale ale has the sweetness and the same hop character as the Two Hearted ale but it has the tropical fruit notes like the Jai Alai

Mouthfeel -  Even though this came out piney i would love to say it wasn't as sticky as many of the pale ales i have tried that are similar to this.  The carbonation was perfect in that it wasn't overly carbonated but carbonated enough that you can drink a lot of this at one time with no problem.

Overall -  I am converted to this beer it is amazing and now I can also join the hunt with my friends to accumulate more of this undead ale.  The ease of drinking this was way to easy and if i had a 6 pack of this it could spell trouble.  I am used to the huge flavors of the West Coast Ipas and this beer seems like it could become a session beer but at the 6.4% abv i know it would ensure a nice hangover the next day.  If I ever saw this on tap i would get a few pints of this.  If i was able to buy bottles of this I think i might have a new addiction to this ale.  I must say this has been one of those beers that deserves the hype and is perfectly made!

Nectar Ales - Black Xantus

Trying something more tested and true after the disaster holiday beer from The Bruery on my previous post. The descriptions i have read about this beer is that it is a bourbon barrel aged stout witch brewed with coffee in it.

Appearance - Dark brown lacing with a good sized head on the initial pour.  The head is a dark brown and the rest is a very dark brown almost molasses color which makes this a one of the darker colored stouts that i have seen in awhile.

Smell - Bourbon, burnt wood smell & cherries.  For a 11% abv beer i do not smell any up front alchohol or booze smell form this so i can already tell this might be a great balanced stout.

Taste - When tasting this it almost tastes sweet like how sweetened vanilla soymilk hits your mouth.  It quickly balances out and at the back of your throat you can taste the slight bourbon burn which then turns to the coffee flavor.  The coffee flavor is sweetened and is a pleasant taste versus lots of other stouts that add coffee into it because a lot of them are overpowered and this has a nice balance from the bourbon barrel flavor.

Mouthfeel - This is a easy drinking stout i wish it had more of the mouthfeel of creaminess like you would get from a guiness or even a Fifty Fifty Eclipse stout but hell i can't complain because this the taste of this is overly enjoyable.  This also has more body than most because it is not as watery as some other stouts that i have tried to drink.

Overall - This is an amazing balanced stout but for some i could see this being more on the sweet side.  I have no problem dissecting the flavor profiles which i find sometimes gets really confused in other stouts. This is one of those stouts that you wish could be year around because of the balance in flavor and is not overdone.

If i had a chance to buy this beer i would have no problem shelling out cash to buy this again.  I feel this stout is one that would not age well because of the coffee profiles would be lost with age.  Next year i will be surely enjoying more of this beer and buying more than one bottle!

Bruery 5 Gold Rings

Pretty excited about this holiday beer by The Bruery because the last offering of 4 calling birds was an amazing tasting ale and even before that three french hens was exceptional to drink and wish i had more of those bottles to enjoy.  Since this is a themed beers for the holidays and they release these every year i hope i can hold onto my collection when they hit the 12th year and celebrate by doing a vertical when the time comes.

Poured into a tulip glass.

Appearance - Pours a light orange/salmon color. The color is almost the same hue as a bottle of peanut oil but a little bit more pink. The pour starts with a fast foaming head which dissipates quickly.

Smell - Pineapple, nail polish remover, strong apple cider or some sort of high abv fermenting fruit liquor. The smell of this before the sip i know it is going to taste like its posted 11.5% abv.

Taste - Booze Booze Booze! After the taste of rubbing alcohol subsides i do taste the subtle farmhouse style ale which i correlate with golden belgians. The aftertaste is sweet where i can taste the pineapples but it has a crazy taste like windex or some sort of industrial cleaning solution flavor to it because of the booze flavor.

Mouthfeel - Low carbonation so it is quite easy to drink but at the same time it is hard because of how hot this bottle is.

Overall - Kinda disappointed after last years holiday styles from The Bruery have been amazing and wish they could have made this fifth one a little bit more palatable. After tasting this i tried hard not to pour this down the drain but after i was done with one cup of it i had to pour the rest down the drain. Maybe with age it will tame down this beast because i have had success with other beers i thought were to hot in the beginning like damnation 23.

If this wasn't part or a series for a vertical i would have not bought any more of these bottles but i would be interested in seeing what age will do with this because when damnation 23 came out it was hot as hell but when i sat on it and aged it and tried it a year later it definitely mellowed and was enjoyable. 

Brouwerij De Molen - Kopi Loewak

Not sure what to expect from this beer because it is the first i ever had from this brewery and haven't heard much likes or dislikes about this brewery.  Things i have seen from this brewery is that i know people collect this far and wide and has a decent amount of following that they sit and age these beers.  This brewery seems to have put out a lot of different styles of beer and seems to be always experimenting with different styles.  While looking on BA they seems to have tried attempted to make a steam style beer.  Currently they look like they do a extensive amount of making of different stouts which is pretty interesting since most of the breweries i have seen from Belgium are more into making obviously Belgian style beers and sours.

A: Popped the cap and instantly it foamed right to the top but did not foam out.  Instantly poured into a tulip and poured 1/4 beer and 3/4 foam which almost foamed out.  The foam color was milk chocolate foam with white haze it later dissipates quite quickly and leaves a nice ring of foam around the glass.  The beer is coffee black colored and no visible bubbles are seen in the beer.

S:Smells of cheap coffee like folgers with some sort of sweetner but has huge notes of alcohol. 

T:Roasty, Malty, Burnt chocolate, Cheap Coffee upfront it actually ends up having a caramel and almost burnt butterscotch flavor to it.  The upfront roasted flavor profile of this is a little too much and wish it had more upfront sweetness to balance this out.  Coffee is predominant in the flavor of this beer and if i knew more about the Kopi Loewak Coffee profile it might make a small bit of difference on how well they did on reproducing this taste within the beer.

M:  drinks smooth really good carbonation at first but after 30 minutes the carbonation falls dead .

O:  Would want to try this with a good year on it but would try it again if i saw it on tap!!


Would i want to buy this breweries beers again adn try their different styles of beer and i would say HELL TO THE YES.

Would i want to try this beer again i would have to say yes but with age on it because fresh right now it seems to be going in all sorts of directions and when aged i feel it might have more of an apparent flavor profile all the way through and be more pleasant.

Till next time... next on the list got some monsters beers to try and hopefully i take some notes :)