Jack’s Abby Craft Lagers – Mole Barrel Aged Framinghammer

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Baltic Porter, Cinco de Mayo, Framingham, Jack's Abby Craft Lagers, Massachusetts, New England

¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo amigos!  I’m celebrating tonight with a beer from local favorite Jack’s Abby that drew its inspiration from a delicious Mexican sauce.

Beer Name: Mole Barrel Aged Framinghammer

Brewery: Jack’s Abby Craft Lagers (Framingham, MA)

Style: Baltic Porter

ABV: 13%

Description: A variant of the brewery’s popular Framinghammer porter aged in bourbon barrels with cocoa nibs, chili peppers, and cinnamon sticks.  Read about how it all comes together here.

Appearance: Poured a thick dark cola brown/black body with a minimal amount of fizzly tan lacing around the edges.

Smell: Sweet chocolate mixed with cinnamon

Taste: Creamy chocolate and sweet dark malts upfront were joined mid-sip by rich grains and a hint of cinnamon.  Finish is warming in more ways than one with chili peppers blending in boozy bourbon barrels influences.

Mouthfeel: Slick, full body with minimal carbonation.

Hype: Framinghammer and its variants are all well-respected, sought after brews but hype isn’t necessarily the right word here.  Jack’s Abby has sufficiently upped its production and distribution to the point that anyone who wants these can get them without lining up or having to put in a lot of legwork.  The bottles don’t sit on shelves long, but they are readily attainable (at least in my area).

Overall: The brewers hit their mark on this one a delivered a beer that clearly brings to mind the food that inspired it.  I don’t think this is something I would want all the time but would consider it again as a novelty dessert beverage.   The chocolate notes stood out nicely against the heat in the finish and the interplay between the different components kept me going back for more.  Best you enjoy this one slowly (and, of course, responsibly).

Exhibit A Brewing Company – Sunday Paper

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Beer, Beer Review, Craft Beer, Exhibit A Brewing Company, Framingham, Massachusetts, New England, Stout

I seem to have an unofficial theme of local stouts going on this month.  It wasn’t planned, but I sure am enjoying it.

Beer Name: Sunday Paper

Brewery: Exhibit A Brewing Company (Framingham, MA)

Style: Imperial Stout

ABV: 9.9%

Description: An imperial stout brewed with locally sourced malts and fresh roasted coffee.  Check out the brewery website for a bit more information.

Appearance: Dark, black body with thin, foamy tan head.

Smell: Slightly sweet with hints of lightly roasted coffee.

Taste: Very smooth, creamy malts mixed with subtle notes of light roast and sweetness.  The finish offered a hint of espresso mixed with just a touch of heat.

Mouthfeel: More than medium bodied but not quite thick. Minimal carbonation.

Hype: I really enjoyed my last two offerings from this brewery and was hoping to keep the streak alive while branching out from their double IPAs.

Overall: It was good, but ultimately not really something that stood out for me.  I think it was almost too smooth for what it was and could have done with a slightly bolder flavor and definitely a bit thicker mouthfeel.  Wasn’t bad, but got overshadowed by some of the other beers I’ve had recently.

Exhibit A Brewing Company – Hair Raiser

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Beer, Beer Review, Craft Beer, Exhibit A Brewing Company, Framingham, Halloween, Massachusetts, New England

Only one more day until Halloween and a hair-raising good time!  Sorry, I couldn’t resist.  Coming at you with another brew from Exhibit A Brewing Company.

Beer Name: Hair Raiser

Brewery: Exhibit A Brewing Company (Framingham, MA)

Style: Double IPA

ABV: 8.0%

Description: Packed full of Galaxy, Mosaic, Azacca, and Cascade hops this double IPA seeks to raise your hairs (and perhaps even one or two hares as well).  Mine was canned on 10/5/2017.

Appearance: The body was super hazy and had an almost ghostly golden-yellow glow.  A thin layer of white foam floated across the top.

Smell: Pineapple juice upfront, followed by raw piney hop bitterness.

Taste: Lots of juice upfront, with pineapple, tangerine, and mango leading the way.  The fruits then blended into a warm, hoppy bitterness combining hops and pith.  The finish was an excellent balance of juicy fruit and bitterness that peaked a few steps before becoming overly aggressive.

Mouthfeel: On the higher end of medium with slightly less than moderate carbonation.

Hype: No hype, but I did have some high hopes after liking my last beer from this brewery.

Overall: Very big fan of this.  It reminded me a lot of Trillium’s Headroom coming out of the can with its glowing, thick hazy body and bitter juicy aromas.  Taste wise it was a bit more balanced, though, having less intense levels bitterness and heat, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  New England IPA fans need to check this one out.

Exhibit A Brewing Company – The Cat’s Meow

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Beer, Beer Review, Black Cat, Craft Beer, Exhibit A Brewing Company, Fall, Framingham, Halloween, Massachusetts, New England

Having had one as a childhood pet, I have a special love of black cats.  She was named Eddie, after Edgar Allan Poe, and that cat and I had a real affinity for one another; sharing in common a healthy appetite and more than a few personality quirks.  She was never really comfortable around a majority of the people she encountered, though I rather quickly became one of her favorite humans.  Black cats also happen to be a popular Halloween image, so picking up a can of this beer was an easy choice.

Beer Name: The Cat’s Meow

Brewery: Exhibit A Brewing Company (Framingham, MA)

Style: IPA

ABV: 6.5%

Description: Labeled “catnip for humans,” this IPA was brewed with Citra, Mosaic, and El Dorado hops.  You can check out the website for more about this beer and all matters related to the brewery.  Oddly enough, this was another brew canned on 09/18 – the day of my wedding anniversary.  Considering how much my wife and I love Halloween, this must be some kind of sign.

Appearance: It had a cloudy, just barely translucent golden-yellow/pale orange body topped by a thin layer of white foam.

Smell: Fruity, citrus sweetness with a piney bitterness on the backend.

Taste: Started out with a light, slightly sweet malt presence upfront.  That was followed by a mild blend of fruits featuring various tropicals, orange, tangerine, and grapefruit.  A subtle haze of hops came over the beer on the finish, bringing in a mix of resinous pine and floral bitterness.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied with a decidedly creamy feel to it.  Less than moderate level of carbonation.

Hype: I’ve been pretty eager to check out what this brewery has to offer for some time now, but for whatever reason haven’t done so until now.

Overall: I liked this a lot.  Subtle yet flavorful with a nice balance of tastes, this made for a very nice introduction to the brewery.

Jack’s Abby Craft Lagers – Copper Legend

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Beer, Beer Review, Framingham, Jack's Abby Craft Ales, Massachusetts, New England, October

It seems fitting that I begin my October celebration with a Marzen style beer.  My wife and I recently celebrated our copper (7 year) anniversary and one of my gifts was a six-pack of this lovely offering from Jack’s Abby.

Beer Name: Copper Legend

Brewery: Jack’s Abby Craft Lagers (Framingham, MA)

Style: Marzen

ABV: 5.7%

Description: The brewery’s take on an Octoberfest beer with a name that may or may not have been inspired by a plumber.  You can read more here.  Came in a six-pack of tallboy cans.

Appearance: Poured a cloudy copper body topped off by a fizzy white foam.

Smell: Slightly sweet caramel malt and lager yeast.

Taste: Faint caramel sweetness mingled with rich bready malts.  These flavors tapered off towards the finish as a mild wheaty presence became slightly more pronounced underneath the lingering sweetness.

Mouthfeel: Just a tick above medium bodied with perhaps an equally small tick below moderate carbonation.

Hype: I had fond memories of this, but there’s not much in the way of hype for this one.

Overall: I enjoyed this.  I had my first can maybe a day or two after my first Sam Adams Octoberfest of the year and would have to say that I prefer this one.  Might be time to make these a fall tradition as well.

Jack’s Abby Craft Lagers – Bourbon Barrel-Aged Framinghammer

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Beer, Beer Review, Craft Beer, Framingham, Massachusetts, New England

I picked this up not intending to review it, since I was sure that I must have done so at some point already.  Since it turns out that I haven’t, I figured I might as well.  As a fan of this beer and its variants for a few years now, I did this more for fun than experimentation.

Beer Name: Bourbon Barrel-Aged Framinghammer

Brewery: Jack’s Abby Craft Lagers (Framingham, MA)

Style: Baltic Porter

ABV: 10.0%

Description: Stylistically similar to all those big imperial stouts I’ve been drinking lately, you can read a bit more about this barrel-aged version of the brewery’s popular Baltic Porter here.  My .5 liter bottle was dated 03/07/2017 and cost a reasonable $10 downtown.

Appearance: Poured a thick black body topped off by a thick, two-plus finger head that formed without much encouragement.  The foam gradually settled down to a thin coating as the beer went on.

Smell: Light mix of oats and sweet bourbon.  Inviting, but not as strong as I was expecting.

Taste: Rich, sweet dark malts upfront set the tone for this beer.  Following up on this were hints of vanilla, grainy oats, and an extremely subtle bit of roast.  A sweet bourbon presence carried this through to the finish, mixing with oak and vanilla along the way and leaving a pleasant lingering sweet heat at the end of the sip.

Mouthfeel: Smooth, thick body with low carbonation.  Accentuated the beer perfectly.

Hype: This is a very respected beer, but the hype isn’t really what it once was.  When this first started being released it flew off the shelves, but since then the brewery has ramped their production way up and can better meet demand.  Doesn’t make it any less tasty though.

Overall: Excellent beer, every bit as good as I remembered.  Highly recommended, definitely check this out if you haven’t already.  I also highly recommend picking up any of the variants you may find as well.