Alpine Beer Company Boris
Well, fall is here in San Diego, and the weather is still ninety six degrees in the shade. However, it is a great time to be tasting some of the local breweries winter offerings. Big stouts, smoked porters, barrel aged this and coffee roasted that. It never gets old being smack dab in the middle of a great beer town.
Had an eagerly-anticipated taster of Boris on tap at Alpine Beer Company after staring at the bourbon casks looming large in the front of the brewery for months. My initial impression was that the coffee doesn’t overwhelm the taste of the bourbon barrel aging. A good thing in my mind. The beer was well balanced between the coffee and bourbon flavor. Upon leaving, I was definitely excited for more sampling, or what we in the BoozeReviews business call “research.” At least that’s what I tell my wife.
After grabbing a few 22 oz. bottles, we ventured back from the land of the lost to knock back some Duet, Pure Hoppiness, and, of course, more Boris. JDavid was the first one to taste the off putting sour/tart flavor that he likened to fresh-off-the-tree green apples. The moment he said this, I tried to focus in on the flavor he was tasting, and yes, it was there. Could it be? Did Boris turn ugly in the casks in the later stages of aging? Now I’m no cicerone, but something seems to have gone awry in this beer.
Now I’m the first one to jump on the Alpine bandwagon, but Boris kind of made me feel like the first time a girl looked at my dick and said to me, “Pinche pito de pitufo!” My reply was, “It is what it is.” And that’s all I can say here about Boris. It is what it is.
BoozeReviews Score: 60/100
L’Chaim!
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(3 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
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I have a hard time admitting publicly that I don’t like an Alpine beer. I’m hoping I just don’t get this beer. Boris seems “off”. There, I said it.
I agree with what he ^^^ said in the first sentence. I’m gonna have to reserve judgment until I try it again. I was so immersed in our “research” that the details of the Boris tasting have fallen through the cracks.
Can it really be…
Could be the result of a wild yeast going to work on it while it was in the barrel. If there was any residual sugar in the brew when they barreled it, then a native yeast strain could have finished it off during the aging process. Think of the sour/citrus taste of belgian ales– that’s the native yeast you’re tasting a lot of the time. Some people seek out that flavor, so it may have been an effect the brewers were shooting for…. you should ask them, I’d be curious.
Did some more research last night: Over the course of two hours I worked my way through a bomber (by myself- my wife, who admittedly is not a stout fan, took one sip and scowled). Definitely picked up on the off-putting Granny Smith tartness/flavor. Fortunately, it fades after the initial assault, and the finish was quite enjoyable.