First off, let me just say that when I saw that the local class six was stocking Southern Tier, I was ecstatic! Not only have they stocked it, they’ve kept between six and ten different ones in stock at any given time! This is one heck of a brewery!
In the last week, I’ve been shopping for an upcoming trade, which I’ll write about when the time comes. Some guys on BeerAdvocate.com are doing a BIF with both homebrews and commercial beers, and my target (and his wife, more importantly, lol), like Southern Tier. Thus, I’ve been shopping up.
I got some of their wonderful Pale, which rates a 95 on ratebeer.com. I also got some of their IPA, another great beer. Yes, both of those will be in the box!
Some other favorites from Southern Tier are Imperial Iniquity Black ale (fantastic!), and Choklat (wow, this stuff is like drinking a friggin’ fudge brownie, heavently hash ice cream sunday).
Their 2xIPA is also just amazing. Drink Southern Tier Beer!!
They even make a wheat beer and a different pale ale that are always available here, plus a porter.
You know, when I picked up this beer for today’s review, I actually thought it was the regular Un*earthly IPA, which I’ve had before. The regular version is an oily hop-bomb IIPA which I happen to really like.
I didn’t even realize that today’s purchase was the oak aged version until I had already popped the top, and was rinsing out the bottle for re-use for home brews! What a terrific surprise! I could tell right when I smelled the first pour that this one was different!
The regular Un*earthly is quite good, in fact I gave it a 4/5 on BA. That’s what I thought I was drinking. But this one is better. Oak aged is better. It might even be some sort of beer cliche, but it’s usually true, so get used to it. Craft beer lovers love oak aged beer!!
Southern Tier Oak Aged Un*earthly IPA
Great looking, coppery to light brown, mostly clear, rising bubbles, good head and lace.
Smell: Hoppy as hell. Oaky. Smooth malt character.
Taste: A complex array of vanilla, fruits, hop oils, and perhaps bourbon comes through on the taste. There’s plenty of malts but there is also a lot going on here, so they’re a bit more subtle than you’d think.
A relatively full bodied beer with a lightly oily hoppy, woody finish, and some alcohol warming. The oak aging seems to take a little bit of the sharp, oily bite away from the regular version and mellow it out nicely!
This beer really is amazing. I picked it up not realizing it was oak aged, and boy was I surprised! Awesome job on a great beer from a great brewery!
Southern Tier. It’s good beer. Cheers!
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