Straight to Ale Liberation #4

Smitty's picture
Fri, 05/01/2015 - 14:54 -- Smitty
Container: 
Bomber
Looks: 
3
Smell: 
4
Taste: 
4
Mouthfeel: 
3
Overall: 
4

By Straight to Ale, Blue Pants, and Yellow Hammer brewery, in celebration of the passing of a 2012 law allowing the sale of bombers in the state. Cracked open on a pretty cold and snowy day, right before dinner.
At first pour and in less than ideal light, this beer looks to be a deep black. However, if you turn up the lights you'll notice the deep chocolate brown coloring. The head is an off white, though it comes on a little late and doesn't last very long, unfortunately. There are a lot of woody smoked notes in the nose of this beer, which contrasts with some of the other lighter caramel malt aromas and a slight fruity brightness from the moderately high alcohol and floral hop notes.
The smoke comes on quite strong in the taste, with caramel and roasted malt flavors balancing out the fruity alcohol flavors. The bitterness is primarily from the alcohol, with roasted malt and hop flavors providing some nice flavors but not much in the way of bitterness. The alcohol also helps keep the aftertaste pretty short and unobtrusive. As the beer warms up more dark fruit, chocolate and other roasted notes become more prominent, although the flavors still balance out the bitterness. This beer does have a nice feeling in the mouth - smooth and medium body with enough carbonation to keep things refreshing.
This beer would pair well with just about any beef or pork dish (especially something smoked!) - I had most of mine with roasted chicken, and the beer flavors highlighted some of the more subtle smoke flavors in the chicken. Smoked beers can vary wildly between beers where you can't taste the smoke and where you can only taste the smoke, and this beer strikes an excellent balance between the two. If you have access to some smoked meats or cheeses, this would be a great beverage pair with those!