Muse - Micro Cuts

I don’t judge bands for changing their sound or allowing themselves to reach full potential in terms of popularity.  I’m happy for Muse and their mainstream success - but this is the Muse I fell in love with :)

That voice…  Those baroque chord progressions…  To think it’s just three guys producing this MASSIVE track is beyond me!

I should have made my description say “FIRST!!!!11”

I guess this actually does answer my question of the freshness of the bottle.  I don’t think it’s an extremely difficult beer to find in the greater Boston area, so I’m going to guess it was released really recently if nobody has checked it in yet.

Seven Lions - Fevers (Ft. Minnesota and Mimi Page)

Holy shit this is some sick liquid dubstep.  Brand new track  - best thing I’ve heard in a while! Top notch in every way!

5 Mile Local Harvest is a series of limited edition beers from Ipswich Ale where they source all the ingredients locally.  So far I’ve been a big fan.  They’re really solid session beers that generally are unique in their own way.

As much as I love the big experimental beers, I’m always pumped to find a beer that can be low in alcohol and have complexity.

Appearance - It’s quite dark for a pale ale, but really quite pretty.  It’s almost like an amber.  It’s nice and clear with a gentle carbonation.  The head forms fairly easily but doesn’t hang around all that long and it doesn’t really lace well.

Aroma - Nice fruity aroma. Nice fresh strawberries.  There’s a cool malt character in there that’s like a dark bread of some sort.  Hard to put my finger on. Really nice aroma.

Taste - It’s quite mild in flavor. It’s lead off with the hop fruitiness and finishes with a balance of malt, sort of I want to say a blend of amber and  pale malts.  It’s slightly bready, a touch of spice.  It’s really all balanced, clean and mild.

Mouthfeel - Low in carbonation and light in body.  I find it a bit underwhelming, but I’m so used to massive beers that I really don’t think I’m the best judge lol.

Thoughts - Unfortunately I don’t know the dating on the bottle, but either it has a little unwanted age on it, or the description is a bit misleading.  They describe it as “…an intense ale…and a massive fruity hop palate.”

I guess I am a bit of a jaded beer drinker and my palate is accustomed to big IBU and big ABV beers but this is not in any way intense of massive.  That being said, this is still a well balanced session beer with personality.

This is definitely a perfect beer for the warm weather. It’s a perfect beer to bring to a BYOB cookout or to enjoy when you get home from work Friday evening. It’s far from perfect (it’s actually sort of like a humble mortal version of Hill Farmstead’s Edward Pale Ale), but it’s enjoyable and refreshing.  I’ll definitely pick it up again if I need a tasty session beer!

Rating - 88/100

I don’t think it was even a week before I stumbled across this beer that I was wondering if there are any non-imperial barrel aged stouts out there.  Voila!

I’m really curious to see if all that alcohol is necessary to have the rich complexity that the great BA imperial stouts have.

This beer comes in at 6.9% ABV and has spent 3 months hanging out in Wild Turkey barrels.

Appearance - Coffee ice cream colored head that forms an easy 3 fingers. The bubbles are fairly large and has mediocre lacing. The beer itself is damn near opaque and basically looks like an imperial stout.  The head is really the only giveaway.

Aroma - Plenty of bourbon notes on the nose.  Vanilla, oak, some caramel.  There’s also some coffee in there too.  Very nice aroma.

Taste - Vanilla, coco powder, some woodiness, roasted dark barley. Definitely bourbon-driven flavors. Finishes dry.

Mouthfeel - Yup, definitely not an imperial stout here.  It’s fairly light in body given what one is used to with this sort of flavor profile.  It’s still slightly creamy though  The carbonation is very mild.

Thoughts - It’s far from perfect, but still I’d say it’s exactly the sort of beer I was looking for.  It gives you that delicious bourbon stout profile while being the sort of beer you can drink 22oz of and still be in the condition to drive.  Also, the classic BA imperial stouts demand attention, this is the sort of beer that would be suitable in a more casual, social setting.

I bought it a couple weeks ago so I can’t remember what it cost, but I believe it was reasonable.  It also has that going for it.

I love the style and would love to see more like it.  I think there is room for improvement.

Rating - 90/100

Varien & Razihel - Toothless Hawkins (And His Robot Jazz Band)

I’m so fucking OK with this.  This is the first I’ve heard from Razihel, so it’s hard for me to differentiate his influence on the track.  This is definitely in character of Varien though, he loves tracks that create a bit of a story or a really distinct atmosphere.

So good!

A Boston-area brewery is creating a beer in the memory of Sean Collier, the MIT officer allegedly killed by the suspected Boston Marathon bombers.

Cambridge Brewing Company is creating a beer for Sean Collier.  While I often can’t help but be cynical about businesses doing anything “for a cause”, I love this.  Maybe it’s because the beer is more a tribute than anything (though they are giving $1 per beer to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute).

I just think it’s awesome that us in the Greater Boston area will be able to raise a glass of Collier Stout in recognition of him.

Unfortunately this isn’t as fresh as I’d like - it’s not past date though.  It was bottled 3/19.  Judging by a quick sniff it certainly smells like it hasn’t fallen apart!

The soundtrack for this beer was a no-brainer: moe. :D

Holy fucking shit a picture where you can actually get a sense of the appearance!  I’ll come up with a better looking piece of paper next time lol

Appearance - Nice rich golden color with a fluffy head.  It laces like a champ, has excellent retention and sticks to the glass delightfully.

Aroma - juicy hops, passionfruit.  Slight resin character.  Nothing really to note regarding malt.  Really nice.  If it’s this good after 2 months on a shelf, I can only imagine what it’d be like when fresher.

Taste - Wow really doesn’t follow the nose at all.  No juiciness here, the hops are prickly, piney, still some resin. There’s a biscuity malt finish that  comes in pretty strong.  There’s also a tad big of unwanted “old beer funk”…not overpowering, but it’s there.

Mouthfeel - Fairly strong carbonation, slightly tannic, light lingering bitterness.  Yup, it’s a pale ale lol.

Thoughts - The aroma really got my hopes up, it kinda fell apart in the taste, but it’s not fresh.  I’ll definitely grab it again when I spot it fresh. It’s still drinking nicely, though MBC does price their stuff high enough that I’d say it’s not worth buying if you happen to stumble across it at 6+weeks on it.

On another note - it’s been way too long since I’ve listened to moe.  After attending Bonnaroo years ago I went through a brief jam band phase…I found moe. to be by far my favorite.  They’re nice and jazzy and their long instrumental sessions are kept interesting, rather than that stupid “hey let’s repeat one lick for 5 minutes and just get slowly louder to inject some excitement” thing that’s really common with jam bands.

Rating (@2 months old) - 82/100

They forgot to mention the latest big beer attack: Third Shift.

Night Shift Brewery must be seriously pissed about that one…