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. 

Stew Leonard's Wines - Paramus

Visited: 8/24/10

     Stew Leonard's is clearly a wine store first.  There is a nice beer selection, though, tucked into one corner of the store with a few beers scattered around in featured displays.  The first thing I noticed when going into the beer section was alot of Dogfish Head beers.  At least 25-30% of the craft beers available at the store were offerings from Dogfish Head.  They have pretty much everything Dogfish Head offers.  Dogfish Head beers are quadruple faced (in 4 separate locations) throughout the small beer section, as well as a fifth location up front with their featured items.  

     Despite the Dogfish Head overkill, yes there can be too much of a good thing, there are also some other very good beers in the store.  They have a nice collection of big bottles from Stone and Rogue.  Noticeably absent from their selection were beers from any New Jersey brewers or anything at all from Troegs.  There were 4 or 5 offerings from founders and a few scattered Belgians.  The cold case had several empty slots, which I would imagine are for Oktoberfest and other fall seasonal beers.  

    The staff was friendly and not pushy.  They were available to help me if I needed it.  i didn't get to ask any questions because I didn't really have any.  The next time I'm there maybe I'll ask why there's no Jersey or Troegs or some other fairly standard local beers.
    I'll go ahead and give it 3.5 pints because the prices were pretty good and I may have just caught them a day before a shipment.  Stew Leonard's Wines is worth a visit if its not that far out of your way.  There are locations scattered around New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut.  I've posted a link to the website above.