Yesterday I ventured out to my local Total Wine and Whole Foods to gather the 12 beers for this special Christmas series. Unfortunately everyone else was out as well and the seasonal offerings were picked over with few left to choose from. I still found plenty of good options as people seemed to overlook the winter warmers, barley wines, imperial stouts, and Belgians. I think that I ultimately ended up with a nice eclectic selection to review over the break.
The first beer out of the gate is Life & Limb, a collaboration between Dogfish Head and Sierra Nevada. Both breweries turn out some great beers but usually at different ends of the spectrum. I was immediately intrigued at how this would turn out. Here is what their website has to say about the beer:
"Life & Limb is a 10% ABV strong, dark beer that defies style characteristics- brewed with pure maple syrup from the Calagione family farm in Massachusetts and estate barley grown on the Grossman 'farm' at the brewery in Chico, CA. The beer is alive with yeast-a blend of both breweries' house strains-bottle conditioned for added complexity and shelf life, and naturally carbonated with birch syrup fresh from Alaska."
This unique combination of ingredients has Sam Calagione written all over it and I definitely expect this beer to follow the off centered mantra of the East Coast brewer. Enough reading, let's get to tasting this beer.
- Package: 24 ounce bottle
- Appearance: A dark brown with some ruby and garnet hues; Well filtered without any yeast or cloudiness; A thick creamy head sits about 2 fingers high and lingers for quite a while.
- Aroma: A roasted sweetness hits the nose. Maybe a touch of some coffee and dark sugar sweetness. I also detect some of the alcohol.
- Taste: The beer starts with the sweetness you would expect from the aroma but quickly moves into a complex fight between alcohol and hop bitterness. The first few sips are really a struggle to comprehend. Things seem to improve over time but I am not sure if that is just because I have over powered my senses. I get a medicinal quality out of the beer. Probably not a brewing defect, but more of an interaction between the sweetness, alcohol, and some harsh bitterness.
- Mouthfeel: Creamy with a relatively tight carbonation. Smooth but a little thinner than expected based on the pour and head.
- Finish: The beer finishes with a long lasting hop bitterness. There may also be some grain astringency. It does not leave me wanting to rush back to another taste.
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