Stone & Wood Stone Beer 2012

Behold! A beer arriving atop a veritable palanquin of reputation in industry.

Yea verily, this is well respected and sells out nearly immediately each year, but I still managed to be surprised by the  appearance first up - it's actually really dark even for the 7.2%, and near impervious to light.

Big malt and nuts are apparent on the nose. Drinking wise it's like a big malty version of a session ale, kind of similar to the Hitachino XH but without any of the strange notes imparted by the barrel aging and the like that goes through. This is more conventional in a way despite its method of making and clearly accomplished nature, a good strong malt driven big ale played to the music sheet. The finish is reasonably quick and it's balanced to boot although the sweetness does drag it down over time.

Nice beer, maybe not up to expectations, but then maybe the expectations and hype have in fact done it in in a sense. Pleasant and would happily drink again - but not sure it's revolutionary. 7.5

Stone & Wood Jasper Ale

Nice label on this one - it's gently embossed, and actually matches the hue of the beer pretty closely also.

The aroma too suggests good things to come initially but there's also a bit of a metallic twinge that really derails the smoothness up to this point. It's a bit like finding half a worm in your apple. Or your fish.

Happily the beer itself performs well to taste: amber, malty, slightly spicy, and with a lovely nutty / bready finish that is the real star of the show. It's not a refreshing sort of a beer - more a wintery flat companion brew - but could maybe do with a bit more body to this end also as it's relatively light in pushing just 4.7 abv.

Not a bad effort, would happily drink again but loses points for the nose. 6.5

Thoughts on Duckstein

Time to post a few thoughts on Duckstein as it's now the third time I've sampled through their range.

Can't have been too bad considering how quickly the tasters evaporated!

These guys do a good range throughout but oddly it's the Pilsner that's probably the most accomplished of the lot, great taste in this, highly drinkable, a fine example of the style fresh off the vat. Dunkel goes down ok with malty character, and the Altbier sports nice peppery spice notes at the end. The other stalwart from the tasting range is a Hefeweizen that is traditional to the style, predominately banana and lemon, pretty drinkable.

The one seasonal drop this time was a Pale Ale - ie, the only non-German beer in the lineup, and interestingly it was pretty poor, falling well short both of other pale ales, and of the quality found in Duckstein's offerings. As a comparison I found their seasonal oktoberfest beer to be far superior in the past.

So if there's a lesson here it's stick to what you're good at. But all in all a reliable and faithful German brewery, more than respectable. Massive bloody roast pork meals they do there too.