November, 2016 Brewery Review

Patriot Gremlin here on Election Day!  Now I know, and hopefully you do too that all of the USA's founding fathers were either brewers (well Sam Adams and T. Jefferson were) or enjoyers of the craft (Now that is definitely true - though wine, applejack, and cider were the top drinks).  So in honor of the national history I will do a quick review of a local brewery to honor their legacy.  The brewery in question is located in the DC area and is named Denizens.  Their layout is nice, with an upper and lower area plus they do have bottling services so you can find their creations outside of their main location (which is important).  However, it will be hard to find anything they make outside of the general DC area.

So in running through their beers, there were four main candidates.  Each was very different from the other and I would argue that these are the best four they had out of the 9 or 10 they had on tap.  So here they are below on a scale of sip, sample, half pint, and full glass (not displaying their branded names).

Sip - Porter: Not my favorite breed in general, but among those who do prefer the more coffee or chocolate-centric flavors, this is the one for them.  Having tried it I would say that it is not too heavy on either flavor and is fairly light as it goes down.  This is what I would recommend for staying in near a fire during a snowstorm.  3.2/5

Sample - Rye IPA: In general I drink a fair amount of IPAs, but I prefer those more with a floral flavor versus the very bitter.  This was not too bitter, which can be common with rye types, but it did have a nice floral finish.  This is a summer and early fall drink right here for me.  3.5/5

Half Pint - Belgian Triple: Do you like sledgehammers?  Because this is a sledgehammer.  Most people will only need one glass of this before they have to hail a taxi to get home.  Still, it had a great taste with a great spice mix, and it was light going down.  I have to say I would have drank more of this, had I not known it was a trap with its 10% alcohol (A. By Volume) content.  4.2/5

Full Glass - Kvass: This is a sour beer, so if you don't like sour beers then quit right now.  I love sour beers, even though they are hard to find.  Kvass is an Eastern European style drink, which has morphed here into a beer.  Typically low in ABV (normally kvass is 0.5-1% ABV, this one is 3.5%), this sour is loaded with flavor.  This is my top by far and the one I would most consistently return to.  4.8/5

Happy / Hoppy Voting!

Gremlin 4 Pres: