It seems all of the good tastings are in the winter. The strong ale tasting is a good one for the winter season though. Like last year they scheduled two tastings a week apart. Not many people showed up for this supposedly favorite event this year. It has been a crowded and fun event in the past. I think the Brickskeller did a poor job of advertising it this year. Or maybe its the flood of beer events in DC. Either way it allowed Teri and I to get a decent table. I started the night with a Flying Dog Raging Bitch. It had a well publicized release this winter so I had to try it. It came in at 8.3%. It smelled fresh and hoppy. It tasted a bit full up front but came in to a nice dry hopped taste after warming.
The night's lineup...
| Brewery | Beer | Percentage |
| Devils Backbone/Starr Hill | Kollaboration | 7.8% |
| Rock Bottom Bethesda | Belgian Dubble | 7.9% |
| Legend | Triple | 9% |
| Tupper's | Hop Pocket Ale | ? |
| St George | Imperial Stout | 8.7% |
| Brewer's Alley | Black Frost Barleywine | ~9.5% |
| Clipper City | Heavy Seas Below Decks Barleywine | 10% |
| Devils Backbone | Tectonic Barleywine | 10.5-11% |
| Dogfish Head | Immort Ale | 11% |
This first beer was a collaboration that included not just Devils Backbone and Starr Hill but Blacksburg Brewery as well. Jason Oliver of Devils Backbone represented the beer. They developed the recipe together. The Kollaboration is a tan double bock. You could tell it was big but it was rather mellow tasting. It had a nice slight malt taste. A "nice roast" it was described. Hopefully I'll make it down to Devils Backbone sometime soon.
Geoff Lively is another award winning brewer who had his interesting Belgian Dubble. It was made with dark Belgian candy syrup. He said the syrup allows you to have lots of alcohol without the body. It had a Belgian yeast taste stolen from La Chouffe I think. Geoff said he tries to avoid filtering at all costs.
Billy Spence of St George spoke for Legend since he picked up the beer. It looked quite light but you can taste the alcohol. It had a citrus, banana, bubble gum, taste that all came from the yeast. Billy said the beer went through four months of cellar aging.
The host Bob finally got to talk about his beer after a hiatus when the brewery he contracted out to was sold. Billy from St George said they wouldn't do it again knowing what they do know. It is a long expensive process to brew Hop Pocket Ale. It is aged 6-7 weeks like a lager. They add newly fermented beer to the older beer on a regular basis. It is dry hopped with whole hops for four weeks. Bob said the Pils and other special beers are coming as well as a complex hop beer.
Billy Spence talked about St George's Imperial Stout next. It is an English/German style made in three batches with 2200 lbs of malt each because that is all that would fit in their equipment. It was a bold black beer. It was not too chocolate or coffee tasting; it had a slight sweet smoke taste.
The Brewer's Alley Black Frost Barleywine was presented by Tom Flores and Maggie Lenz. It was an opaque British barleywine. It was brewed with a sour mash instead of hops. It was a malty beer.
Next was the Clipper City Brewery Heavy Seas Below Decks Barleywine. All the Clipper City beers are being relabeled as Heavy Seas. Not many notes on this. It had some hops at 50 IBU.
Jason Oliver brought his tectonic Barleywine. This is Jason's second barleywine. It had that slight aging syrup taste. Probably a fine complex taste if I hadn't already had seven strong ales.
The last beer was Dogfish Head's Immort Ale and the regional rep Devin was on hand to talk about the beer. This was a one year aged 2009 Immort Ale. It is a peat smoked barleywine. It was first brewed in 1996 and was the first oak aged beer in the US. It was quite oaky and smoky.
The Outer Banks Brewery didn't show up for one reason or another. There was some snow out if I remember correctly but we must have gotten home OK. :)
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