Holidaze in Hoboken

Hoboken Vine Holiday Party

My employer celebrated it's annual Holiday Party back on December 2nd at Cafe Michelina in Hoboken.  It is a BYOB so I won't review the experience but the food was delicious and prices very affordable.  Since it is a BYOB I decided to clean the cellar out a little and bring some goodies.  Below is the list:

Jack's Abbey Jabby Brau 90 on Beeradvocate 96 on Ratebeer(100 by style) #3 American Pale Lager
Sierra Nevada/Dogfish Head Life & Limb 2 89 BA 98 RB (92)
Russian River Redemption 91 BA  99 RB (100) #5 Belgian Pale Ale
Cigar City Warmer Winter Winter Warmer 88 BA 97 RB (87) #26 Old Ale
Dark Horse Crooked Tree IPA 88 BA 96 RB 95
Pretty Things Lovely Saint Winefride 88 BA 97 RB (100) #3 Euro Dark Lager
Schlafly Pumpkin 93 BA 96 RB (98) #2 Pumpkin Ale
Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout 98 BA 100 RB (99) #17 American Double/Imperial Stout #46 Overall
Deschutes The Abyss 2011 100 BA 100 RB (99) #6 American Double/Imperial Stout #20 Overall


Hitachino Nest 3 Days 86 BA 85 RB (64)  This beer had special meaning for the tasting.  Nest 3 Days was created when a massive earthquake struck off the coast of Japan March 11, 2011.  The earthquake's magnitude was measured at 9.03 making it the most powerful ever recorded in Japan and one of the 5 strongest earthquakes ever recorded anywhere.  The was in the mash process at the time of the quake and was left unattended for 3 days before power was restored.  Likewise Hurricane Sandy made landfall in New Jersey on October 29th and caused heavy wind damage and devastating flooding from storm surges along the entire Atlantic coast of New Jersey and along the banks of many rivers including the Hudson River.  Hoboken experienced massive flooding and our humble little wine shop was no stranger to said damage. (Picture above)  We were completely closed for roughly 3 days following the Hurricane and are still not at 100%.  This beer is a symbol that we as humans can not be kept down and will come back stronger each time we get hit.  Japan will recover.  The East Coast will recover.  Hoboken Vine will recover.

Aaron Hordych - Hoptical Allusions

Don't Call it a Comeback

Possibly going to the great beer state of Vermont twice between now and February for the sole purpose of beer.  I'll take good notes on all the places we visit and beers we drink and post it all on the blog as soon as I can.  Been busy with beer lately.  Crossed the 1000 mark on Untappd and hosted a highly successful cellar cleaning party with some amazing beers.  I'll see if I can post the list or what I can remember of the list.  Well that's all for today, but I'm back and here to stay.

Cheers,

Aaron

As always add me on Facebook here and keep drinking good beer.

McNeill's War Lord Imperial India Pale Ale

War Lord Imperial India Pale Ale
McNeill's Brewery
Brattleboro, VT
American Double/Imperial India Pale Ale
8.5% ABV
BA: B
RB: 90(39)
Tasted from 22oz bottle poured into Ikea 25oz snifter

     I'm back people and this time I'm going to post alot more often.  Today's beer is McNeill's War Lord Imperial India Pale Ale.  I have to be quite honest that I was surprisingly happy drinking this beer.  It poured a deep amber brown with a big 3-4 finger head(my pour was a little less than ideal) but in the big $1.99 Ikea 25oz snifter it looked formidable and awesome.  It gave the nice piney, citrus smell of a west coast IPA and the pleasant bitterness of a true East India Pale Ale.  At 8.5% its in the mid-range of a Double IPA but it was a little boozy to the taste.  The saving grace of this DIPA from a small Vermont brewery was the price.  At $6 retail for a bomber, it provided some nice bang for the buck.  Drink this a little on the cold side because at cellar temperature the booze really comes though.  Very little of the best Vermont has to offer is available outside Vermont but I'm glad it's starting to filter out.  War Lord is absolutely worth the $6 so go out there and give it a try.  I'm giving McNeill's War Lord a 3.5 pints so it's not worth running around the world to find but if you see it I'd give it a taste. 

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.