Hill Country Beer Club

Black
October 24, 2014

Kevin and Elaine's House
16:00:00

Brewer	Beer	Vintage	Score
Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales	Bam Noire Dark Farmhouse Ale		77
Goliad	Presidio La Bahia Black Hefeweizen	2014	83
Stone Brewing Company	Rick And Robbie's Sprocket Bier		87
Nebraska Brewing Company	India Pale Ale	2014	91
Shmaltz Brewing Company	He'Brew Black IPA	2013	86
Texas BIG BEER Brewery	Texas Crude	2014	83
Boulevard Brewing Company	Grainstorm Black Rye IPA	2014	88
Brewery Ommegang (Moortgat)	Game of Thrones Valor Morghulis	2014	87
Founders Brewing Company	Breakfast Stout	201	84
Boston Beer Company	Samuel Adams Fat Jack	2014	87
Harviestoun	Old Engine Oil - Engineers Reserve	2014	89
Uinta Brewing Company	Dubhe Imperial Black IPA	Dubh	89
Odell Brewing Company	Fifty Niner	2014	84
Deschutes Brewery	Black Butte XXVI	2014	91
Brooklyn Brewery	Black Ops	2013	88

Who Offered: BRANDY, CHEETO, DAVO, FATBOY, LARA, MAVERICK, MOJO, PAGMAN, SANTA, STEPH, THUMPER, WESTEXANS

Who Drank: FATBOY, LARA, MOJO, PAGMAN, STEPH, THUMPER, WESTEXANS

Summary

77	Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales Bam Noire Dark Farmhouse Ale Strong Ale \| 4.5% ABV \| Unknown IBU Offered By: MAVERICK

Club/Brewer Notes:
Dark, smooth, delicious. Aromas of worn leather and cool autumn nights. Notes of sweet plum and toasted raisin, hints of coffee and cacao. Lingering tart and refreshing finish. Only available for a few short months. Not to be missed.

83	Goliad Presidio La Bahia Black Hefeweizen Dunkelweizen \| 4.7% ABV \| 10 IBU Offered By: BRANDY

Club/Brewer Notes:
We crafted this unique offering to honor Texas' most historic fortress. It has the traditional flavors of banana and spicy clove brought together with a smooth dark chocolate center.

87	Stone Brewing Company Rick And Robbie's Sprocket Bier Black Rye Kolsch Style \| 5.4% ABV \| Unknown IBU Offered By: STEPH

Club/Brewer Notes:
Impressively dark and amazingly balanced.

91	Nebraska Brewing Company India Pale Ale American-Style India Pale Ale (IPA) \| 6.9% ABV \| 73 IBU Offered By: WESTEXANS

86	Shmaltz Brewing Company He'Brew Black IPA Black IPA \| 7% ABV \| Unknown IBU Offered By: STEPH

Club/Brewer Notes:
Death seems so obvious: the end of life, no mas, kaput. But Humans stand an optimistic animal. Many traditions suggest alternate endings: Resurrection, reincarnation, rebirth, afterlife. Even the atheist view of Eternal Oblivion doesn't seem quite final, more of a shift in spiritual states of (un)consciousness. As usual, Jewish tradition prescribes... Food. 7 days of family, community, and bagels (beer!), called, Shiva, meaning "7" in Hebrew. The flip side to the 7 days of Creation with the 7th as a holy day of rest. The first meal of Shiva is "the comfort meal." And the number 7 provides powerful mojo: 7 Jewish wedding blessings, 7 Liberal Arts, 7 Lucky Japanese gods, 7 stars of the Big Dipper, 7 colors of the rainbow, 7 seas, 007 license to kill, 7 dwarves, We are 7 by Wordsworth with a child's view of death, 7 deadly sins, Best of 7 finals in NBA, NHL, MLB, 7th Inning stretch, no. 7 on Elway & Tiny Archibald. George Costanza yearned to name his firstborn, "7" as a living tribute to no. 7 Mickey Mantle. The 7 Award however must go to the immortal George Carlin for 7 Dirty Words, inspired by another hero Lenny Bruce. Coming into 17 years of beer, and Year no. 1 with our own Brewery, we commemorate this conversion with Death Of A Contract Brewer, our Shmaltz homage to new life - L'Chaim! Jeremy Cowan, proprietor

83	Texas BIG BEER Brewery Texas Crude Robust Porter \| 7% ABV \| Unknown IBU Offered By: WESTEXANS

Club/Brewer Notes:
This Beer is a very dark robust porter. It is close to black and has a very roasty flavor, but it also has a very clean flavor for such a dark beer. In all of our taste trials, this beer is the favorite of most. To be so dark and rich in flavor, it is very drinkable and not too heavy. Voted "Best Porter" in the Rockies/Southwest in the 2012 United States Beer Tasting Championship.

88	Boulevard Brewing Company Grainstorm Black Rye IPA Black IPA \| 7.7% ABV \| 65 IBU Offered By: FATBOY

Club/Brewer Notes:
Just when you thought it was safe to come out of the root cellar, along comes Grainstorm, a big, wet wallop to the senses. In the glass, dark and turbulent clouds gather. A high-pressure system of pungent hops collides with a stationary front of barley, wheat, and rye. The forecast: a veritable monsoon of flavor, with surges of roasty malt, microbursts of hops, and a chance of golfball-sized hail. The extended outlook calls for unseasonably pleasant enjoyment

87	Brewery Ommegang (Moortgat) Game of Thrones Valor Morghulis Abbey Dubbel \| 8% ABV \| Unknown IBU Offered By: PAGMAN

Club/Brewer Notes:
The phrase is a part of a strong theme speckled throughout HBO�s fourth season, which started airing in March. As Arya Stark sets out to avenge those who have fallen, she adopts it as a mantra against the people she wants dead. The label art features a two-headed coin, which was given to Arya by Jagen H�ghar, one of the "Faceless Men of Braavos" assassins who can change their appearance on demand. Each cork is fire-branded with �Valar Dohaeris,� the traditional response phrase to �Valar Morghulis� meaning �all men must die.�

84	Founders Brewing Company Breakfast Stout Stout \| 8.3% ABV \| 60 IBU Offered By: THUMPER

Club/Brewer Notes:
The coffee lover's consummate beer. Brewed with an abundance of flaked oats, bitter and imported chocolates, and Sumatra and Kona coffee, this stout has an intense fresh-roasted java nose topped with a frothy, cinnamon-colored head that goes forever.

87	Boston Beer Company Samuel Adams Fat Jack Double Pumpkin Ale \| 8.5% ABV \| 25 IBU Offered By: CHEETO

Club/Brewer Notes:
This rich and luscious brew indulges in flavor with over 28 lbs. of pumpkin per barrel, for a full bodied sweetness and deep russet color. Classic pumpkin pie spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice ignite a warmth and spark that's deepened by an undercurrent of roasty smoked malts. The result is a delectable brew full of enveloping layers of flavor and spice.

89	Harviestoun Old Engine Oil - Engineers Reserve Old Ale \| 9% ABV \| Unknown IBU Offered By: SANTA

Club/Brewer Notes:
The intensely flavoured but incredibly smooth Engineer’s Reserve is our fabulous Old Engine Oil brewed up to 9% ABV. Three hop varieties - grassy Fuggles, spicy East Kent Goldings and fruity Galena - are combined with roast barley providing a slightly burnt, toasted coffee character. Enjoy a bottle after dinner and take time to savour the earthy, hop fruity flavours of this spectacularly dark, rich beer.

89	Uinta Brewing Company Dubhe Imperial Black IPA American Black Ale \| 9.2% ABV \| 109 IBU Offered By: LARA

Club/Brewer Notes:
Toasty, chocolaty dark malts, with hops.

84	Odell Brewing Company Fifty Niner American Wild Ale \| 10% ABV \| Unknown IBU Offered By: DAVO

Club/Brewer Notes:
Its bold honey and caramel sweetness lavishly caresses the palate as elements of toasted pecan and almond attach to earthy sweetness. Medium-full in body, the wild ale carries a thin barleywine sweetness that is easily overlooked because of its pithy citrus bitterness, its musken brine, its cellar-like pungency, and its uncomfortable yet charming leather character. Dehydrated pineapple, apple and apricot offer a unique sweetness and fruitiness to an ale that's normally reserved to more sour and dry distinction.

91	Deschutes Brewery Black Butte XXVI Imperial/Strong Porter \| 10.8% ABV \| 64 IBU Offered By: MAVERICK

Club/Brewer Notes:
Our 26th anniversary imperial porter was aged in bourbon barrels and dry spiced with theo chocolate's cocoa nibs, revealing hints of vanilla and chocolate. Pomegranate molasses and Oregon cranberries complement the robust flavor with a hint of fruits and just enough tart to make you smile.

88	Brooklyn Brewery Black Ops British-Style Imperial Stout \| 11.5% ABV \| Unknown IBU Offered By: MOJO

Club/Brewer Notes:
Brooklyn Black Ops does not exist. However, if it did exist, it would be a strong stout concocted by the Brooklyn brewing team under cover of secrecy and hidden from everyone else at the brewery. The myth is that this supposed “Black Ops” was then aged for four months in bourbon barrels, bottled flat, and re-fermented with Champagne yeast. Presumably such a beer would raise a rich, fluffy dark brown head and it would combine chocolate and coffee flavors with a rich underpinning of vanilla-like bourbon notes. A beer like that would be mighty nice, but it would be hard to make more than few cases – it could never be sold or released to the public. They say that the brewmaster revealed the beer to a few other people at the brewery only after it had been barreled. The rumor going around is that the brewery plans to drink the beer themselves over the holidays and give some to their family and friends. That’s what they say. But frankly, there’s no evidence for any of this. This beer is obviously a figment of people’s fervent imaginations. People tend to get loopy around the holidays. Everyone go home now – there’s nothing to see here.