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. 

FIRST REVIEW!!!!!! Founders Devil Dancer

Name: Founders Devil Dancer

Brewery: Founders Brewing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Style: Imperial IPA(Triple, that's pretty rare)

ABV: 12%(not for the faint of heart)

IBU(International Bitterness Units): 112(official) 200(calculated)

BeerAdvocate Rating: A-(B by style)

RateBeer Rating: 99 (98)

Location Sampled: The Coppermine Pub, North Arlington, NJ

Date: July 31st

Price: $8 for 8oz. draft served in Chimay goblet (picture above)

      I'd like to ad a disclaimer to my first official beer review.  DO NOT DRINK THIS BEER IF YOU'RE NOT READY FOR IT.  Ok now that I got that out of the way, Founders Devil Dancer is a very heavy, very hoppy, very delicious beer.  But if you're going to eat or drink anything else in the same night as Devil Dancer, make sure you have Devil Dancer last.  It will fry your taste-buds for hours.  This is one of the hoppiest beers I've ever had and that says alot if you know me.  I like the hops.  

      Alright down to the details, Devil Dancer poured a slightly hazy reddish-amber with very little head. There was not a very complex portfolio of flavors because the spicy hops flavor smacks you in the face.  If anything I tasted some pepper but that faint due to the overwhelming hops.  

Recommendation: I'd suggest that you don't try this beer until you are about 3 years into your craft beer experience.  It's just too hoppy and sampling this earlier in your beer career might scare you away from craft beer.  This is a good beer for a once a year sampling and 8oz. may have been a bit too much.  If you happen to have a bottle of this I'd split it between at least 2 people.

Rating: 4.5 pints (out of 5) I'd drink it again but I'm a hophead and I'm always searching for the next hoppiest thing.  The only reason its not a 5 is the fact that it's more of a novelty beer.  Go out and search, there aren't alot of triple IPAs out there and there's a good reason for that.  It's just too strong for some people.

      So thank you everyone for visiting my site and reading my first beer review.  Comments and suggestions are encouraged.  You can contact me at hopallaaron@gmail.com.  Please also add me on facebook, just search Hoptical Allusions.  Visit the site often and I'll post on facebook every time there's a new blog post.

                                                                                                                  -Aaron