Mighty nice. Then again, i knew i’d like this because it’s a Scotch Ale and i like Scotch Ales so that takes quite a bit of the surprise out of it. But as Scotch ales go, this one has somewhat less character than the one from also-local Rohrbach Brewing, but the “crafty” arm of Genny is still young. The label calls this the “pilot batch” so let’s allow them some time to refine and define.
But true to its caste, this is a hearty slightly rye-ish beer with the body a buxom Scottish tavernwench ought to have, and if it wasn’t beer i’d pinch its ass as it walked by just to see if it dropped its tray or if it’s used to having its ass pinched, in which case it’d just slap me on the return trip when the tray is empty.
Wet and lush taste, heavy malts and a slight sour on the backend. I was looking forward to trying this ale, and it fulfilled my expectations. If they release a “non-pilot” version i’ll try it again, but as it stands right now today, this sixer (6×12 = 72 oz) is the same price as a fourer (4×16 = 64 oz) of Rohrbach’s Scotch Ale, so i’d have to go with eight fewer fluid ounces of a better beer.
Today, this Scotch ale gets a 7.2 from my barbarian tongue.
OK, now it’s the big boy. To tell the truth, this Makumba has been sitten in me fridgen for over a month before trying it. The reason: hard to find a bit of time when a 9.5% alcohol beer is appropriate. Really, try to think of one. Oktoberfest is in Autumn, but this is an IPA. St Patrick’s Day would work for a 9.5 but you’re pretty much locked into Guiness, Harp, and Bass that weekend.
Not a first-date beer unless you date a certain kind, not a game-potatoing beer unless your side is losing badly in the first period, and that much alk would make a really hot day even sweatier. Finally found a time, an excuse to get this out of the refrigerator, and it is quite something.
Not only a cloudy ale, but literally dirty. There are hundreds of tiny things floating around in there, some not so tiny, and they don’t settle to the bottom nor float; they just hang there in mid-beer. The aroma is the closest to creamsicle of any beer i’ve had, rushingly citrus and meaty enough to be food instead of drink.
Zoomingly hopped flavor, no mention of IBU’s on the label, drat, after i just found out what an IBU is! By taste, i’d call it about 60-65 IBU’s. Drinking it is indeed more akin to chewing, since this beer’s body is actually visible. Envision the midpoint between a Highland Silverback and King Kong, then enlarge that specimen a little more. This is one big monkey.
Hops are so heavy that you’re getting nut and root flavors, which makes me wonder what an accomplishment it would be for some brewer to take this exact same beer and age it in a 200-liter oak barrel for two weeks before shooing it out the door? If the hops and hi-alk are already producing esters, why not let that run a little wild? After all, this is the golden age for buying oak barrels in the USofA. So many small distilleries are opening up that it’s easy to lose count. Here’s the rub: the legal definition of “bourbon” means the liquor needs to be aged in “new oak” so every shipment of bourbon creates a barrel without a home. There are now thousands of them on the market now, really cheap.
Well, that’s just one of the possibilities of what Makumba might become, someday. Today, it’s a whomping bad-ass of a beer, frightening in alk and with alpha hoppys, a beer that you have to plan a couple days around. The taste might get it into the nines, but that 9.5% alk limits the uses of the beer. Final rating, a still-good 7.9.
[an hour later] As vindication for that review, i can’t finish that second Makumba. The first 1 and 1/2 Makumbas just wiped me out. G’night.
Could be a great Summer IPA, at last! Sweeter than many, and the hops part of the equation is downright lemony. In fact, if you served me this IPA in a blank bottle and lied and said it was a shandy, i’d believe you. Good pale yellow color, cloudy, bright flavor and a more sane 4.5% alcohol. Yes indeed, the more i get this beer past my teeth, the more it tastes perfect for Summer. Could be because today was 85ยบ and humid and just got off work, so any old beer might taste great rightaboutnow, funksoulbrother.
As far as body and hop elements, this won’t get high marks. Tasty but not fulfilling, and not sphinct-puckeringly hoppy. But for its purpose, it’s excellent. A light and lemony beer for a hot afternoon, and one or three before dinner won’t make you too woozy to eat. As an IPA in the species of IPA’s, this might get a 5-point-something. But because i declare it fit for a particular purpose, as a member of the beer race, the suitable rating is 7.3 and perhaps even higher on an appropriately hot afternoon. Right now it tastes like a 9, but my rational self reminds me that i am just plain thirsty today.
Update… and a week later picked up a real sixer of Bonobos, instead of the 4 bottles which came in my sampler “Primate Pack” from CB CraftBrewing. It holds up, all the elements are there even on an unduressed palate. It’s official, this is the Beer Of Summer for 2016.
Big bottle, and got a good laugh out of me with the warning on the side: “Live Ale!”. And a busy bottle, all kinds of logos and symbols and little pictures of medals Moylan’s has won. Apparently this guy’s ggggg-pappy was personable enough to lead troops in wartime, the RevWar to be precise, and since he was Irish and Guiness has made Ireland famous for stout, making this was a no-brainer! Live Ale!
Hearty indeed, like a stout has to be to keep from being bullied, and a crisp immediate aftertaste, as it should be, and oatey and sourey and lands like a brick in your stomach, all these things are what a nice real live stout does. Moylan’s does these things. It’s not as sour and tarry as Guiness, but then again this is America. We need things dumbed down for us.
One thing in Moylan’s favor, a key in their quest for making an American version of Irish Stout, is that they imported the grains used in the beer from the UK, which might mean Northern Ireland, or which might mean a muddy pitch downhill from Birmingham. What we can tell, is that it’s 5% alk, not too scary, and it sure is impenetrable by normal light.
All in all, a good drink if you like stout, which i do but many (many) people do not. So caveat emptor: this is stout. You either eat it or you don’t. For a rating… well, it’s not Guiness. I like stouts so i’ll put it at 7.5 for being lip-smackery but it doesn’t rise to the standard Guiness sets. No shame, almost nobody reaches that level.
Pretty good, label calls it “citrusy” which i didn’t even know was a word, but does have those hints of tang from hops, which could mimic, on a good day, some soury fruit. Hey, if they can make up words like citrusy, then i can make up “soury”. Slightly cloudy in its quite-pale color, the nose is tangier than the taste, which is a little sweet. On the whole, a fine hoppy beer which the label also calls a “session ale” and i confess i haven’t the foggiest idea what that means. Good taste, nice refreshment with the sweetness, 5.6% alcohol in this bottle, i’d give this one a 7.7.
