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. 

Copper Mine 12 x 12

     So in my mini-bio section of this site I mentioned that I completed the Andy's Corner Bar 100 Beer Club in 2007.  The premise of the club is drink 100 different beers over the course of the year and get your name on a plaque and some free swag.  It was more difficult than it sounds because Andy's only had 8 taps(10 if both beer engines are in use).  There were alot of bottles though so it helped.  In the past year I started the Copper Mine 12 x 12 Beer Club.  In order to succeed here you have to drink 12 different beers over the course of a month for 12 months.  The thing that helps with this challenge is that every month its basically a reset.  If you like a beer you can have it count towards your goal again as long as its in a different month.  So in theory you could drink 144 different beers(there's 20+ taps here so it's slightly easier) or you could drink the same 12 different beers each month for 12 months(just hypothetical because there's only 1 or 2 beers that Vito keeps in stock year round).  So I began my quest in March 2010 and as of today I'm 1 beer short of my 7th month.  The months don't have to be consecutive.  In this post I'm going to list the first month of my quest and each beer will be hyper-linked to its BeerAdvocate description.  I'll try to post a month each night.  And as I complete a new month I will also post that(I'm at 11 for January so I'll easily finish that at the Smuttynose event on 1/27.  Make sure you attend that).  And please comment on the site and on facebook.  I see the hit counter go up but I want to know who's actually reading. 

Copper Mine Pub 12x12 Beer Club
Month 1 - March 2010
1) Flying Fish Exit 16 Wild Rice Double IPA
2) River Horse Hop-a-lot-amus
3) Boulder Hazed & Infused
4) Smuttynose Old Brown Dog
5) Troegs Nugget Nectar
6) Avery/Russian River Collaboration Not Litigation Ale
7) Defiant Muddy Creek Lager
8) Ithaca Cascazilla
9) Ithaca White Gold
10) Ithaca Ground Break
11) Victory Prima Pils
12) Stone IPA

13 Beers of Festivus Day 6: Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard

Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale
Stone Brewing Co., Escondido, CA
American Strong Ale
7.2% ABV
IBU: Classified
BA: A-
RB: 99(96 style)
Consumed at home, purchased at Buy Rite, Jersey City(I think it was like $4 for a single)

    So let me again apologize for lateness, but we're going to catch up and be on track tonight.  Second I have to tell you that you're not worthy of drinking this beer.  The label clearly tells you so.  So if you can get past that fact then you'll have the pleasure of tasting a really good beer.  Arrogant Bastard is a very hoppy bitter ale brewed by Stone.  Oaked Arrogant Bastard is that same beer aged with oak chips floating in it.  If you're not sure what oak tastes like then go lick a tree because the oak flavor is clear in this beer.  The same spicy chinook hops flavor comes through as dominant in the oaked variety, but there's a little something extra in the flavor.  OAK.  The thick creamy head dissipates a little but stays around through the entire drinking process.  The smell is that of unfinished wood furniture.  This is a man's beer.  This beer is not for rookies and I recommend tasting Arrogant Bastard prior to Oaked Arrogant Bastard.  There are also two more Bastard varieties; Double Bastard and Lukcy Bastard(spelled correctly), which is a blend of the previous three Bastards( and another beer in my cellar).  That having been said, when you're ready for the bitterness and the cost of this beer, I highly recommend Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale.  This is a clear 5 out of 5 pints and I hope you all have the chance to taste it one day.  It is a year-round permanent brew so no need to wait for the right season.  If you're an advanced craft beer drinker, then go track one of these down and give it a try.  Happy Festivus to all and check back shortly for Josh's review to catch us back up to where we should be.

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.