Flat 12 Bierwerks - Glazed Ham Porter

Glazed Ham Porter

ABV: 6.3%
IBU: 34.1
SRM / Coloring: Dark as the night

Everyone typically associates the holiday season with either turkey or ham, that's just the way it is.  Personally our family goes turkey, but the ham is a golden standard that has men and women alike pulling raw slices from a dish and acquiring taco-neck syndrome to reel it all in. 

I saw this and thought there's no way that they were able to put the essence of a glazed ham into a beer.  First off, it would taste awful funky, and secondly, how would you even go about doing it in the process?  Just throw a whole ham into the fermenting tank and let that puppy marinate for three weeks?  My mind was being thoroughly freaked and so I had to try this bad dad out.

This beer is more of a complimentary style to go with while eating ham rather than actually tasting like it.  It's a super dark porter, borderline stout that starts off a bit sweet like brown sugar or caramel, somewhat similar to the glaze on a ham.  Despite all that though it has a smokey flavor added in with a kick of bitterness on the back end as if it were whiskey barrel cask conditioned.  Definitely a winter beer and for those really interested in maxed out taste.

Flat 12 Bierwerks - Nunmoere Black ABA

Nunmoere Black ABA

ABV: dunno
IBU: ugh
SRM / Coloring: Jet Black

I was kind of disappointed in myself on this one.  I got a tweet from Flat 12 about the tapping of their bourbon barrel Nunmoere Black ABA on the tuesday before Thanksgiving, and without reading the tweet fully (which in itself is monumentally idiotic since it's less than 150 characters) I assumed that the tapping was for Black Wednesday.  For those of you who are socially inept, Black Wednesday is the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and one of the biggest drinking days of the year.  Everyone comes back in town and wants to go turbo max with old friends before being tied down with the family.

I thought, "Oh what a grand idea, tapping the American Black Ale on black Wednesday," only it wasn't on Wednesday.  The tapping was for black Friday, so I show up at the Brewery for an unveiling and it ain't happening.  No sweat though, there's still beer to be had, and on tap is the original Nunmoere Black so I decided to go at it and give it a review.

I wish I had made it downtown for the bourbon barrel Black tapping because it would undoubtedly be fantastic.  Bourbon barrel aged beers tend to have an oaky / smokey flavor added to the beer which would have complimented the hops and bitter taste of the Nunmoere, just like being next to a bonfire.  However, the regular Nunmoere was somewhat lacking that extra edge and just came off as being dark and bitter with little other character.  This would be a beer to sample alongside the bourbon barrel cousin so you can really notice the difference the barrel adds.

Flat 12 Bierwerks- Half Cycle IPA

Half Cycle IPA
ABV: 6%
IBU: 104
Color- Amber/Gold

When it comes to beer, as I've said before... I'm an IPA drinker.  I enjoy that hoppy bitter flavor in beer, and this Half Cycle IPA certainly has that going for it.  As RT and I were at the Bloody Blonde tapping party, I certainly couldn't settle for just one beer and one review.  Here I tried the Half Cycle IPA and think I found one of my new favorites. No doubt.

This beer is hoppy and bitter, which is exactly what you would guess when looking at its IBU over 100.  It was initially easy to smell the aroma of hoppy IPA flavor, and was reassured of the hop and malt flavor upon my first taste.  The thing about this beer, though, is it doesn't leave that dry bitter aftertaste every sip.  Its got a clean, refreshing aftertaste, which is what I look for in a hoppy IPA.  Making a bitter beer like the rest is easy, but pulling off a clean aftertaste certainly calls for praise.  This is the kind of beer that makes you wonder, "How did I finish this already?" and, "Why haven't I gotten another one yet?"

If you are ever in the downtown area, and feel like you need to try something new... I encourage you to drop by Flat 12 brewery and grab a pint.  With temperatures in the 70s all the way up to November, this has been quite the fall season for brewery visits.

Flat 12 Bierwerks- Bloody Blonde (Tapping Party)

Bloody Blonde
ABV:5.5%
IBU: 25
Coloring: Golden orange

Our visit to Flat 12 came on their tapping party for their new beer called the Bloody Blonde.  And, as far as beer and tapping parties go, RT and I rarely miss the opportunity to try something new.  This wheat beer is brewed with blood oranges, which is a very tart (almost like grapefruit) flavor.  The brewing process yields a very golden orange color as evidenced in the above picture.

This beer yields a decent citrus flavor without having a very wheat-y taste too it.  You can certainly detect the blood oranges in its aroma and flavor.  It is not very bitter at all, and in fact has a very crisp taste to it.  It wasn't nearly as sweet as I initially thought it would be, but definitely leaves a sweet aftertaste.  If you are a wheat beer drinker, this would certainly be a great new concoction to try out.  Grab a pint, fill a growler, or just taste a sample... you really can't go wrong with this new Bloody Blonde.

Flat 12 - Joe Brahama Brown Coffee Ale

Joe Brahama

ABV: 5.1%

IBU: 28.5

SRM / Coloring: Deep Brown

Honestly they should call this Coffee Bitch Slap Brown Ale. RR and I ran down to the Flat 12 brewery on October 28th for the Bloody Blonde tapping party, which I might add is a fantastic blonde variation (see RR's post for more), but it isn't quite my cup of tea. In the tasting room I asked the guy behind the bar for something darker, to which he said,

"Well we got our standard porter and our milk stout. And then there's our Brahama, but that's pretty intense."

Either he was just giving me fair warning or he was a true salesman trying to peak my interest, at any rate I had to go for it. In the beer world, this would be a middleweight title contender, light in body but with a strong southpaw jab that can put you on your ass. In both smell and taste you get an intense coffee punch to the senses, but it isn't a thick smooth taste like with a porter, it's more of a sharp clean taste almost like an iced coffee. It looks like a porter, it smells and tastes like a porter, but it has the body of a bock or a lager. It's a crisp and cool beer with that strong coffee bite on the front, but instead of the bitter end with a normal cup of coffee you get a smooth sweet after taste which they attribute to infused lactose. Not a beer for the faint of heart or taste, you gotta know you want a strong and flavorful drink.