I had this on Nitro, had the I Voted Today, and later got a draft of this for Haley as her birthday ‘gift’ and she enjoyed it as well. So it does come …two-time recommended.

Beer: Shallow Grave (Nitro)
Brewery: Heretic Brewing Company
Style: Porter – American
ABV: 7%
IBU: 33
Untappd Description: Shallow Grave Porter is dark as night, perfect for a cool evening out in the woods. This is a big, dark ale with a complex and rich chocolate and caramel malt character followed by a touch of warmth and light malt sweetness, leaving you ready for more after each shovelful. You will love this so much you won’t have time to dig a six-footer, so make it a Shallow Grave. We’re sure you’ll dig it.

Heretic Brewing Company is a small microbrewery from Fairfield California. Their Untappd description reads: “Ordinary beer is boring; don’t drink it. Embrace your inner Heretic and join us to push the boundaries of beer flavors. We are crazy about beer and passionate about making it. Wanna be a Heretic too? There’s always room for one more.” They have 173 unique beers with a global average rating of 3.84 (as of 11.19.20).

This is a dark brown, but creamy looking porter. The nitro adds a layer of creaminess to the already brown silken look to it. It looks like a good dark brown porter should, not as dark as a stout, but with a heaviness that isn’t in brown ales. It had a very thin dispersed head with nice bubbles, all varying, smooth and creamy, with a lightly brown to off white coloring that dissipated pretty quickly.

Aroma is very deep complex rich and aromatic. Lots of chocolate and caramel notes. Sweet and bitter at the same time, like you are getting sweet candy and also the bitter baker’s chocolate at the same time. There is definitely some malt notes but its a little bit more subdued and hidden behind the chocolate and caramel.

This is delicious right out the gate, it starts with the bitterness of a baker’s chocolate, but very, very quickly, switches to sweeter chocolate, and sweet malt, and sweet caramel, all emphasized and stronger due to the nitro. This has a nice range of flavors amongst these – varying sweetness and bitterness, but mostly staying on the sweet side. I think the base malt gets really added to by the nitro and lays down a very solid foundation for the chocolate and the caramel. Most of the chocolate and caramel is a malty style, but there is some regular caramel and chocolate. The 7% ABV isn’t too high, but I definitely think you feel it with this, it has a bit of a heaviness to it all overall. You aren’t going into this drinking a four pack or a six pack, but this makes for a wonderful beer to drink by the campfire, or at the bar (when we can drink at bars again in Pennsylvania) in winter times. Nitro or not this has a great flavor profile, is exactly what a good porter should be, and will leave you feeling full but satisfied, everything you can really ask for in a beer during these colder months.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Average Global Untappd Rating: 3.84 (as of 11.19.20)

Well, back to writing on those Indy trip articles. They won’t write themselves after all. Until then, everyone stay safe and healthy, cheers!

-B. Kline

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Tickle Parts might be one of the best known beers for Levante Brewing Company; and for good reason. It is a wonderfully well done IPA that is extremely tasty. And usually when a brewery has a super strong, very good beer that gets lots of and lots of positive feedback; they release several variants throughout the years on it. And this just so happens to be one of those variants. This being Passionfruit. Same Tickle Part goodness plus added passionfruit. Does it hold up? Does the addition of passionfruit make it better …. or worse?

Lets find out!

Beer: Tickle Parts – Passionfruit
Brewery: Levante Brewing Company
Style: IPA – New England
ABV: 7%
IBU: 47
Untappd Write-Up: Tickle Parts is an exceptionally dry-hopped New England IPA, with low bitterness, rising hop aroma and a feathery-soft mouthfeel. Anticipate chunks of pineapple and tender clementine juices from the base beer before extracurricular waves of tangy passionfruit burst into existence, ensuring Tickle Parts Passion’s place in the sate-lunar-landscape.

Appearance is a cloudy hazy orange. Exactly like the original tickle parts this looks just as hazy, just as cloudy, just as unfiltered, just as orange, just as delicious.

Aroma is a combination of fruits and hops. You got a lot of citrusy hop notes bouncing around your nostrils, and you get a lot of fruity notes as well, mostly orange, pineapple, and softer clementine. You also get a big burst of passionfruit as soon as you crack the tab on this bad boy, it just explodes out.

This is a soft, pillowy, sweet, fruity, delicious NEIPA. You get all kinds of strong notes and soft notes that work to create a complex soft, juicy drink. You get strong bursting flavor notes of citrus, passionfruit, pineapple, and hop. You get soft notes of clementine, tangerine, orange, and a slight hop. This is smooth, this is not boozy and at 7% its an easy drink and won’t really get you hammered either. The mouthfeel is nice, its soft, its pillowy, its not heavy, its just playful and nice.

My Untappd Rating: ****
Global Untappd Rating: 3.94 (as of 11.19.19)

Chugging away here in November. 19 days down, and 19 blogs done. That makes only 11 more. This month is certainly going fast! Enjoy it all! And Happy International Men’s Day. If your struggling with mental illness, issues, or anything, talk to someone. You don’t need to “man up”.

Cheers all!

-B. Kline