Crooked Stave's Nightmare on Brett Leopold Bros Brrl Review

This one was tapped about 5 minutes before I got to the barrel room. Serendipitous it seems. 

Pours very dark brown, murky, almost black. Like a nightmare. Except it's pretty close to heaven. Large off white/tan foam, some rockiness. Head settles to a thick collar. Nice lacing. Rich, but a bit too frothy for a Baltic porter. Who cares, really? Besides the rating 

Aroma is full of stuff. Chocolate, leather, caramel, char, vanilla, faint florals, spice and some woodiness. Sour for sure. The aromas don't really come through until the first sip 

And yowza, that's a great first sip. Up front blast of sour dark cherries, then pure sour stuff with some funk spice. But the ending and finish are great. Chocolate, smooth caramel (like a Werther's candy), rich yet faint butterscotch just under the surface, vanilla, leather, blackberry...and on and on.

Served at cellar temperature as it hadn't cooled down since being tapped. Fine with me. Dammit, Jim, that's good

I can see this one as an introductory sour beer. Yes, it's powerful. Yes, it's complex. The sourness is intense, but the way it leaves and gives way to the other flavors is just shy of super duper. 

Firestone-Walker Pivo Hoppy Pils Review

Ehhh...not sure why this is listed as a German Pilsener since pivo is Czech. Yet the Saphir hops are German, but not noble, although they replace a noble. Confusing, but I'm rating it as a Pivo

Looks great. Light straw golden, good white head. Settles to a thin film. 

Aroma is hop forward, and more than just a little. The light biscuit malt is present in the background. 

A good tasting beer, a bit too much hops for a pivo pils. Still, it isn't overpowering. Spice and grassiness are at low levels. Malt is very thin. Nothing bad with this beer and would rate it higher if hops were tamer.

Pretty close the Czech pivos but a bit heavier and thicker.  A bit more hops that had more intensity than the Saaz. Not quite as clean, but good nonetheless