Mike Loves Beer -

The Office Gastropub Opens in Delray Beach

January 9, 2010

It is always great to hear about a new bar opening up that is taking their beer seriously. Last night was the grand opening of The Office in Delray Beach. The establishment is owned by the same person that owns Vic and Angelo’s right across the street on Atlantic Ave. From what I heard the place was mobbed last night so I decided to not quite take the trip yet and let the hype die down first.

Over at their website you can take a look at their menu which has a respectable draft list although if the prices are right a little expensive than what you can find most of those brews for. The food as well by pricing looks quite expensive. Maybe with my tax return I’ll take a trip over there.

But I hope they do well and bring craft beer to a new group of people that may have never known about it. If you have gone to The Office please leave your thoughts.

Brooklyn Black Ops

January 7, 2010

/ Beer Review /

14 Comments

Name – Brooklyn Black Ops
Country – United States
Type – Russian Imperial Stout

Appearance – Pours an ink black color with a big light brown head.

Smell – Bourbon dominates the nose. Almost burns the nostrils. Some oak and dark malts can be easily picked up as well.

Taste – You get that bourbon taste at the front then it goes into a smooth chocolately malt flavor with a bit of coffee and a bit of oak. It then finishes with that bourbon sting. Gave me the hard liquor shiver.

I knew going in this was aged in bourbon barrels but I really did not expect it to be so highly noticeable in the smell and taste. For the pure imperial stout qualities this is very good. I am not a big liquor drinker let alone bourbon so that part kind of turned me off a bit. I know many view this as an end all be all of RIS. It is good but not the thing I am looking for really in one. It will probably get better with age as I believe it is recommended but for $20 a pop I didn’t want to grab two bottles without knowing what it tasted like first. I think if it was just aged on oak and not necessarily on bourbon used oak I would have probably gone crazy for this.

Overall Grade – B+

Corsendonk Abbey Brown Ale

January 6, 2010

/ Beer Review /

2 Comments

Name – Corsendonk Abbey Brown Ale
Country – Belgium
Type – Dubbel

Appearance – Poured a deep brown that looked like cola. Had a tan head that was gone pretty quick.

Smell – Dark fruits and candy sugar dominate the nose.

Taste – Sweet malts with dark fruits, raisins and a little bit of candy sugar.

I wanted to have Corsendonk’s Christmas Ale during the holidays but I balked and missed out on it. So I went ahead and got what seems to be the flagship ale of the brewery. I was not disappointed. A very straight forward dubbel with many of the characteristics you would expect. Now some might as why I rate a straight forward dubbel higher than an average saison like yesterday’s review. It’s just my taste I guess.

Overall Grade – B