1113. Rapscallion Premier

1113. Rapscallion Premier



I went to the Muddy with some labmates on February 4th. They've expanded to six taps, so now there's a better chance of having new beers.

Beer Stats:

Brewery: Rapscallion
Alcohol: 7.00%
Serving: Tap
Style: American Blonde Ale, BJCP Style Guide

Appearance: 4.0 | Smell: 4.5 | Taste: 3.5 | Mouthfeel: 3.5 | Drinkability: 4.0

Overall: 3.85


Rapscllion Premier pours a clear copper-amber. It's topped by a fluffy, off-white head. The aroma is sweet and fruity. There are notes of caramel, citrus, juicy fruit, a mild resinous hop character, and hints of graininess.

This beer is sweet overall. Toasty malts upfront move into bready and caramel malts with hints of citrus and fruit. The finish is mildly bitter with a grassy hop flavor. This beer is light bodied with prickly carbonation.

This is a nice easy drinking beer.

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1112. John Harvard's Twelfth Night Wassail

1112. John Harvard's Twelfth Night Wassail

A friend and I went to John Harvard's for a few beers on January 17th. We split a pitcher of their wassail.

On another note, this post auto-publishes on March 1st. If you're reading this it means I'm turning in my dissertation today.

Beer Stats:
Brewery: John Harvard's Brew House
Alcohol: ?
Serving: Tap
Style: Winter Warmer, BJCP Style Guide

Appearance: 3.5 | Smell: 3.5 | Taste: 3.5 | Mouthfeel: 3.0 | Drinkability: 3.0

Overall: 3.4


This winter warmer pours a cloudy, copper-amber color. It's topped by a thick, dense, off-white head that fades to a film. The aroma has two layers, the spices, and the underlying malts. The spices are strongest, with notes of cinnamon and clove, along with a bit of orange peel. The underlying malts are at the border of caramel and chocolate, all over a faint graininess that seems characteristic of the house Belgian yeast strain, which fails to give off a lot of fruit.

The spice bites upfront, a little bit of heat. It moves into a sweet maltiness: candies flavored with a bit of cinnamon. The underlying coarse graininess hinted at in the aroma comes out next, and remains constant with a moderate sweetness, and a building spice, both from the alcohol and spices. The beer ends sweet with a slight kick of bitterness that seems more spice derived than hop derived. Not overly spiced for the style, but it doesn't pop either. This beer starts off smooth and moderately thick, but ends disappointingly thin.

This is a spiced beer, so not surprisingly it's not one to drink a lot of. The spicing isn't overdone, but the backbone seems a bit thin. So overall it averages out.

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