Recent Acquisitions

Josh and I made a little early evening trip to Cable Beverages and DeCicco's(Ardsley) to check out their beer selection and hopefully find something rare.  Here's what we grabbed.

Me
Southern Tier Cuvee Series Two(Cable)
Southern Tier Cuvee Series Three(Cable)
Dogfish Head Squall IPA(Cable)
Stone/Green Flash/Pizza Port "Highway 78" Scotch Ale(Cable)
Southampton Altbier(it tastes like honey nut cheerios, Cable)
Captain Lawrence 5 Years Later(16oz growler DeCicco's)
Cigar City Jai Alai IPA(split 6 with Josh, DeCicco's)

Josh
Harpoon Single Hop ESB(Cable)
Lagunitas A Little Sumpin' Sumpin' Ale(Cable)
Green Flash Hop Head Red(Cable)
Cigar City Jai Alai IPA(split 6, DeCicco's)

Also last week we put together a case share group for Shangy's out in Emmaus, PA.  PA law requires you to buy a case of beer from distributors.  Recently they have bottle shops where you can buy singles but the prices are very high comparatively.  The prices for a case at Shangy's and other distributors are incredible.  Usually even beating the wholesale prices of a case in New Jersey.  Also PA has much better distribution.  So we put together 8 guys and grabbed 4 cases as a test run and split them up giving us 3 beers each.  It went great and I look forward to doing it again as soon as I deplete the reserves in my fridge.  Here's what we picked up on the trip.

Avery Ellie's Brown Ale(cans)
Brew Works Hop'solutely
Bell's Two Hearted Ale
Bell's Kalamazoo Stout

Through a trade I acquired 3 Bell's Hoplams and thanks to a member of the share group I also received 2 more.  Also picked up, in the last few weeks, Sierra Nevada Hoptimum(Whole Foods Paramus) and Southern Tier Cuvee Series One(Whole Foods Paramus),   We'll hopefully review just about every one of these beers.

Bolero Snort Round 3 Oak-Aged Longhop

Oak-Aged Longhop
Bolero Snort Brewery
Bergen County, New Jersey
IPA aged in Grand Marnier barrels
6.6% ABV
Tasted in my new IKEA brandy snifter

     I won't start this review by rehashing my comments of the original Bolero Snort Longhop.  You can read that review here.  What I will do is compare the two. 
     First, this is not just an oak-aged version of a beer that took on a little oak flavor.  This is an oak-aged version of a beer that morphed into an entirely unique beast.  In the adult fridge of OJ, some purple stuff, and Sunny D, this is what Sunny D wishes it could be.  This beer has a strong citrus flavor, which is not unique to beers.  Most West Coast IPA's are loaded with citrus.  The uniqueness of this beer comes from the citrus being overwhelmingly oranges.  Grand Marnier as we all know is an orange liqueur.  And if you didn't know that, you would after your first sip of Oak-Aged Longhop.  My nice big glass allowed all the hoppy orange aroma to swirl around and float right up my nostrils down the nasal cavity and right into my brain.  My sweet and bitter taste buds soon followed to confirm, "yes indeed the orange flavor is there and its here to stay." 
     The beer poured a slightly deeper, browner orange than the original and had a bit less head.  The aroma slapped me in the face as it was coming out and hasn't gone anywhere in the 10 minutes I've been savoring this beer.  Bob and Mel have done it again.  I can't wait for Oak-Aged Longhop to be a once yearly brew that is snatched off the shelves with such ferocity as Nugget Nectar or Kentucky Breakfast Stout.  Bolero Snort has swung for the fences and knocked this one well into the parking lot.  An emphatic 5 out of 5 for this beer and I can't wait to see Bolero Snort wedged in between Stone and Rogue on our shelves in the not too distant future.