Boulevard - nommo First tasting

Ok so this is probably going to end up more of a rant than a review, so I am going to call this a first tasting rather than the former... Even if it is a short rant.
Ther noise of this beer is rather off putting for a good beer. I like the taste and the spices that make up the flavor profile, but the smell is, well, different to say the least. I almost thought that I got a funky bottle when I first poured it, and almost poured it out. Then I took a drink and realized that that was the way it was supposed to smell.
The only real likeness that i could compare it to is wet musty moldy cardboard.  No really... I really dont understand how they could let that happen.  I mean who thinks, "we have this great tasting beer,  but it smells kinda funny...  Oh well,  let's send it out anyways."?
I also found it to be a little over carbonated and thin. Neither of which make it bad,  just not what i was hoping for.  But maybe this is just a beer that needs a year or so under its belt to really be great,  not just good.
All things aside,  i like it so far.  The cloves and anise flavor are subtle as to not over power your tastebuds, while the slight banana leaves the finish clean. This is definitely a brew that i am going to have to stash a few bottles in my "file cabinet of goodness" to let mature.  If for nothing else to let it de-carbonate a little and thicken up...

Deschutes - Conflux #2

I have had a really long past month,  one of my closest friends over the years died for reasons that i will not go into in a public forum,  but after the end of a long work week and mentaly preparing my self for his funeral tomorrow i decided to go on a beerster egg hunt.  Thankfully i found Conflux at gomers south and a 2 year vintage bottle of Arcadia Ales -Cereal Killer.  The latter is getting stashed into my file cabinet of goodies,  but one of the two bottles of conflux is being enjoyed as we speak. And i am impressed and totally get the 2 colaborations now.  Now i am even more excited to tour deschutes when i am in portland in early October.
Ok so this review isnt really a review.  Its more of a rant,  but here it goes...
I have heard alot of people complain about the differences between the two beers...  If they wanted the two to be the same,  they would have just made one damn beer. I think their whole basis of this is their own interpretation of the same idea.  Granted i dont know descutes product explicitly,  but from what i understand they venture more into a hop-centric brew and then lets face it,  boulevard really shines in the unfiltered wheat.
So the Deschutes version is a little hoppier with more lemongrass and citrus. Where as the Boulevards rendition is more smooth with a more earthy undertone and the definitive huge head that surrounds their smokestack series. Neither are bad. Neither stand out as being better.  They are simply two breweries combining their efforts to create something special but in their own unique style.  I really applaud this myself and i wish more breweries would take this as an example,  and do more beers in this vein.

Boulevard colab #2 first taste

So I have been spending more time recently actually enjoying beer than I have writing about it. But I will make an exception for this.
I love this beer. I think I may have to go out tomorrow and try to snag a couple more bottles for the future, since once this is gone it is done... It is basically exactly what it says it is, a white IPA. In my opinion it has a flavor profile of Avery's White Rascal and a thinner Modus hoperandi. It is slightly meaty like a Belgium white, with a big mouthful, but with a good clean fresh hop bite and a slightly spicy overtone.
My only real beef with this beer is that it is a one off brew. If this was a year round brew it would be a go to beer no matter what time of year it is. It is refreshing in the time of year that is right now in the mid west, the 82nd layer of hell, but is still kind of warming that goes well in the winter... Basically this beer is all around awesome.

Arcadia Ales - 2009 Cereal Killer

Holy Jesus, now I am glad that I saved this beer for a night that I can actually enjoy it. This beer is awesome. Like mind blowing awesome, like heavy, like Michael j. Fox heavy.
I'm having to much fun drinking this right now to go to far in depth... but here is the skinny... there is nothing skinny about this beer. Huge body. Chocolate and malt undertones. A good brown sugar hit to the tongue and a Carmel/toffee finish.
Pours like a black hole. No light escapes this beer. Very little carbonation, but what do you expect from a 2 year old barleywine?
OK so enough writing for me, and enough reading for you, now go drink some.

Ok so now for a morning after edit... There is no way that this beer is still 9% after 2 years. With how hazy my recollection of the night before is, I imagine that this beast has got to be 12 plus at least by now. But do I regret it... Not at all, that better was simply epic.

Founders - porter (aged 3 1/2 mo)

OK so this is another aged porter post, but this one was aged in my file cabinet of goodies. I had set to open this guy up on the 20th of last month, but got caught up at work and completely spaced on it till now.
OK so the non fridge aged is very much the same but really not at the same time. The regular aged really did not seem to take the bitter edge off as much which did not let the chocolate come out as much. The overall booze was much stronger as well.
The overall effect was very odd to me... I figured the bottle that was in the fridge would age more slowly and that the two would come out backwards from what they did... overall I am just perplexed on how or why 2 beers could come out different like this... oh well we shall see how the next one comes out in another 3 months. Only time will tell...

Founders - Porter (aged 3 mo in fridge)

Alright, right off the bat I have to admit that I know you shouldn't age beer in a fridge... its just been in the fridge for 3 months and I have a couple of bottles that I am progressively aging in my file cabinet of joy that I will compare it to.
OK so I am going to cut to the nitty gritty on this one, as if you read this you more than likely know this beer already. So I am going to talk about the differences between a new bottle and this one. If you haven't drank this beer, go drink one already.
OK so the first thing I noticed was that there was far less carbonation and less pshhhhh when I opened the bottle. Oddly the body seems to be vastly bigger as I found this beer kinda thin for a porter when I first had it. One of the largest differences is that there is mucho less bitterness, which I find very nice. The overall burnt coffee taste of this beer really turned me off straight off the shelf, but now it is simply an afterthought in the finish of the beer. This lack of bitter really leaves the toffee and chocolate flavors in the forefront and they really shine, it just rounds out the whole flavor profile all together and it finishes far smoother all together.
 All around this beer is far better with a couple months under its belt in short. It makes me anxious to try my bottles of gnarlywine and other founders porters (amongst other undisclosed beers) in the future. If I was founders I would age all of my stouts and porters slightly before shipping if this is the way they turn out... just sayin. I would buy a lot more of your product if I could just pick one up and it taste like this.

Anchor brewing - Bock

I just don't like it.
 For being a "spring time" beer, it seemed to be to porterish to me to really taste right... The flavor profile of this beer is like a cross dresser... just not sure which side to take...