2010 In Review: 4 New Beers (and 1 wine)

5) King Wally’s Belgian Quad  --  A self-serving promotion of my barely competent brewing skeellz.  It’s light taste belies the powerful 12% abv it packs.  Certainly not as complex as most Belgian style ales, but it cost less than $3 a 22oz bottle. 
4) Pike Brewery Monk’s Uncle – To be fair, this beer probably doesn’t make the list except for the circumstances.  Time after time, no matter what was going on, the Pike Brewery was our #1 meet up place.  And why not – you can have a pretty decent Belgian Tripel for just $5.  In these hard economic times, a dollar saved on one beer can then later be applied to the next beer.
3) Jester King’s Wytchmaker Rye IPA – If you like hops and then more hops with an additional helping of hops on top of more hops, this is your beer.
2) Avery’s Depuceleus --  Apparently the name refers to  a woman that deflowers men.  I have no response to that, but to say this is the tastiest beer I may have ever had.  When the cicerone at The Meddlesome Moth described it as a Lambic aged in zinfandel casks with cherries, I was expecting something sickeningly sweet like a Framboise.  This was a delicately balance sour beer with just the right amount of cheery.  Avery made a painfully limited supply of this beer.  So if you didn’t get to try it, well, maybe in another life.
1) Love & Squalor Pinot Noir – I’ll just plagiarize my review of the Farm Café – “Although a bit on the sweet side, it was full of great noiry flavor and the aroma was amazing.  It may be the one wine I would rather smell than drink but not because it tastes bad.  It just smells that good.”