January impromptu visit to Black Forest Brewing CO.

January 10, 2019 Jesse

So, my wife and I make an impromptu visit to Black Forest Brewing Company since we were in the area and needed a place to hang out for a few hours while the kids participated in some activity. We accidentally timed the visit to coincide with two kind of neat events. The first was the unveiling of their logo that a local metal worker made for them which is now proudly displayed above the fireplace. The second was the tapping of the Hopped and Hazed IPA, discussed below.

Black Forest Brewing Co. flight: (l to r) Honey Blonde, Blood Orange Blonde, Konigweisse Hefeweizen, Wittily Pumpkin, Black Forest Cake Milk Stout

So, since my wife is not much of a beer drinker, we thought that ordering a flight of some of their lighter beers would be wise.
I’ll discuss the beers, in order, from left to right.

Honey Blonde – 6.2% ABV 18 IBU – I found this to be a nice, drinkable beer. I could barely detect the honey (I would have liked to have it a little more present). It had a clean finish.

Blood Orange Blonde – 6.3% ABV 22 IBU – Wow! What a great beer. This is the beer for non-beer drinkers. My first thought on my first sip was that this tasted just like a soft drink.A very definite aroma of orange, but it doesn’t overwhelm you when you drink it. My wife got a pint of this. Delicious.

Konigweisse Hefeweizen – 4.9% ABV 12 IBU – This beer is a great example of a classic hefeweizen beer. It started with a distinct “wheat” flavor and finishes very smoothly. I was thinking this would be a good beer to have with dinner.

Wittily Pumpkin Ale – 5.1% ABV 13 IBU – The pumpkin flavor of this beer was very mild. I got a little pumpkin and pumpkin spice flavor at the start of the taste, but it quickly went away and the beer finishes lightly on the palate. Not a bad beer, but not something I would recommend to someone looking for a great pumpkin beer.

Black Forest Cake Milk Stout – 6.4% ABV 37 IBU – The “teaser” for this beer is as follows: “Black Forest Cake in a glass! Sweet chocolate and black cherry in a creamy milk stout.”
I can’t say I agree with this 100%. The aroma is a strong, pleasant cherry but that cherry does not follow through in the taste. I definitely got the chocolate, however (My wife thought it was more of a coffee). I wish it had a creamier mouth-feel.

Holiday Punch (not pictured) – 5.5% ABV 0 IBU – This is a seasonal offering based on their flagship Feuer Wasser (Fire Water) which is basically alcoholic sparkling water. The seasonal aspect is that rather than having the usual syrup flavoring offerings for the Feuer Wasser (berry, peach, tangerine, etc), this is flavored with Cranberry, Blood Orange and Passion Fruit. I seem to remember there being a Cranberry 7-up being sold at one point. This tasted very similar to that. Very light and refreshing. My wife loved it and I enjoyed it a lot as well. Definitely something that you’d want to drink on a warm summer evening.

Hopped & Hazed IPA – 6.5% ABV 62 IBU – We just so happened to show up on the evening they were tapping this east/west IPA crossover.
“East Coast meets West Coast. East Coast juiciness and haziness complemented by the full West Coast hoppiness”
If you’re into IPAs and are looking for a good hazy IPA, this is the one for you. Very citrusy (and slightly piney) beer at the start and it finishes very bitter. I never thought I’d say it, but it was almost too bitter for my liking. Definitely a good beer if you’re into IPAs, though.

Beers we’ve reviewed at Black Forest: