Black Forest Brewing November 2019 Visit

December 2, 2019 Mike

Real life and holidays came between us and our regularly scheduled Thirsty Thursday visit the last couple of weeks. Non-beer related events demanded my attention last week, and then this week we had Thanksgiving to contend with. So what are we to do? Well schedule it for a different day of course. Full pint Friday? Who knows, maybe it’ll catch on 🙂

Black Forest’s facebook page has been just chock full of new, holiday themed beer releases this past week, and they were just a bit too enticing to miss. Chocolate Cake, peppermint, and gingerbread were among the flavors they were playing with. On top of all that, we haven’t had a visit in too long.

The decision on where to go and when was made on pretty short notice, but even still, Bill, Jerry and Dave all were able to join us. As a matter of fact, Jesse, Bill and I arrived fairly early, and Jerry and Dave were already there.

Peppermint Milkshake IPA – 6.7% ABV, 40 IBU. The rim of the glass is coated with Peppermint candy, and I really enjoyed drinking this beer. The peppermint made me think that I was having trouble making out the flavor and aroma of the base beer, it was barely bitter with the added sweetness of the candy, and I thought that I could taste some of the classic citrus and pine flavors, but I wasn’t really sure.

Jerry had a sampler size of this milkshake IPA, without the candy on the rim, and he let me give it a try, and I was surprised at how much peppermint flavor there was in the base beer. Festive, tasty, and slightly hoppy, this was a winner in my book.

Rudolph the Brown Nosed Reindeer – Belgian Strong Dark Ale – 12% ABV, 24 IBU. First off, this might be one of my favorite Holiday beer names! I didn’t realize this was a Belgian Strong Dark Ale until I looked it up just now, but that makes complete sense now. With the name, and the flavors, I was thinking it was something like an Imperial Brown.

It’s really rich and thick, with a decent amount of booziness to it. After you finish the taste, you get some warming in your chest. I think this one would be amazing on a cold winter’s night. I didn’t pick out the chocolate and cherry flavors as their own entities, for me they blended together to give it a bit of complexity to the richness.

Black Forest Dunkel Weiss – 5.7% ABV, 15 IBU. The tap list at Black Forest Brewing is pretty lengthy, and I’m a fan of German beers, so I had to stray from the holiday selections a bit. The Dunkel was really tasty, the cloves and banana flavors weren’t prominent in this glass, but it had a nice bready flavor, and I quite enjoyed drinking it.

[Jesse]
I have had the good fortune these past few weeks to be able to visit Black Forest Brewing Company on a fairly regular basis – about twice a month, on average – so I’ve had more of an opportunity to sample some of the many beers than Mike has. But even with my more frequent visits, when we were deciding on a place to visit this week and Mike suggested BFBC, I readily agreed.

Oma’s German Chocolate Cake – Sweet Stout – 5% ABV 35 IBU – Obviously meant to taste like it’s namesake cake, this beer really hit the mark. While the coconut dominates the flavor profile, the chocolate comes through as the beer warms.

The one thing that really surprised me about this is that the coconut did not become overbearing as I kept drinking it. It didn’t “build up” or overwhelm my palate. If you’re a fan of coconut, this is the beer for you.

Nightwatch Pale Ale – 6.2% ABV 40 IBU – I was eyeing another of the holiday beers when I saw a sign for the Nightwatch Pale Ale and thought that I had to give it a try.

From the BFBC Untappd description:

“BFBC & Elizabeth Brewing Co first collaboration beer features a charity blend of Veterans Day Hops in this Black Pale Ale. Easy drinking salute to America’s Veterans standing watch so we can live in freedom! 6.2% ABV, 40 IBUs

Learn more about how YCH donates $3/lb of hop sales to the Wounded Warriors Family Support program! https://www.yakimachief.com/veterans/”

I don’t typically equate German beer styles with pale ales, but, I have to say, these folks knock out amazing pale ales. I’m not very familiar with the dark pale ale style, but if they’re all like this, consider me a fan. This was a great beer. Malty and slightly sweet with definite hoppy finish, but it’s amazingly balanced.

Alpine ALTitude – Altbier – 5.5% ABV 40 IBU – Definitely an easy drinking beer, this one. Malty and sweet, I didn’t notice much of a hoppy finish.

I was going to give the Roggenbier (Rye Beer) a try, but it seems like the keg was kicked (that’s when I decided to try the Altbier). But, since we were visiting on Black Friday, they happened to be running a BOGO special on crowlers. Coincidentally, the only crowlers that were left were the roggenbier. So, as I type this, I have the roggenbier chilling in my fridge.

It seems to me that Black Forest Brewing Co. has really hit their stride. At most other breweries, even one that I rave about and recommend to out of town guests, there are a few beers that just don’t “do it” for me, whether it’s me or the beer, I don’t know. But I have not had one beer at BFBC that I don’t like.

Beers we’ve reviewed at Black Forest: