7 for 7 - The Beer Thrillers

Beer Review: Fall Hippo (Boneshire Brew Works)

BKline — Sun, 07 Nov 2021 22:06:00 +0000

Fall Hippo by Boneshire Brew Works

Fall Season

It is certainly that time of year… fall; and you can feel it in the crisp and cool air. And that means this time in the Hippo series, it needs to take a ‘fall’ turn and change, going from blue to red to pink to… fall. While maybe not a color like the others, fall is definitely a feeling, and works well for the series’ evolution.

(Check the links at the end of the review to read our beer reviews of some of the other hippo’s as well as other Boneshire Brew Works links.)

Mug Club

As you can see, my beer in question here is in a mug rather than a normal glass or anything. Sunday (Halloween Day, October 31st), me and a friend stopped in around noon to enjoy their 5th Anniversary ‘Shire’ Pastry Flight (you can read that here: Multiple Beer Reviews – Shire Pastries) and also get to try the new Fall Hippo. And lets just say, we enjoyed all five new beers.

The mug club is such a good deal if your a regular. Most breweries have them, and their typically relatively the same across the breweries with some different perks and add-ons and bonuses. One of my favorite perks is that the mug is 20oz rather than the normal 16oz, so all of your beers you get are 20oz pours rather than 16oz pours. Thats a big perk in my opinion, especially when you go often enough.

(Only downside is taking pictures for the blog, without the clear glass, but the overhead view is still good, and you still get an idea of the beer anyway.)

Beer Review

Fall Hippo by Boneshire Brew Works

Beer: Fall Hippo
Brewery: Boneshire Brew Works
Style: Fruit Beer
ABV: 4.5%
IBU: None
Untappd Description: Next up in our Hippo Series, Fall Hippo. Brewed with Cranberry, Pie Spices, and Lactose. Fall desert in a glass.

Aroma is pretty on point with the description, and is certainly a fall desert in a glass aromatically. You get the cranberry and pie spices right up in those nostril canals when you lean in for a good whiff. Its not quite “pie on the window sill cooling” strong, but the notes are all present and you can smell them.

Appearance is hard to tell from the picture (but you can check Untappd for numerous other pictures here – Untappd: Fall Hippo). But, overall, it has a lovely pinkish, off cranberry coloring to it. Like a lighter, more diffused cranberry, maybe a cranberry mixed with water and other juices or similar. (Note: I am not saying its watered down, just trying to give an apt description of the appearance.)

Taste is lovely for this fine beer. Very enjoyable. This is a completely comfortable, ‘kill a four pack in one sitting’ smooth, easy beer. This is a wonderful all day sipper, you can crush a four pack (or more!) of these, and have no problems. Its not too tart to give you acid reflux or anything, and its not too heavy ABV that it’ll get your head swimming. You get a notable cranberry tartness to it, but its not too much, not too overpowering, or lip-puckering or anything like that. And its not too tart or acidic that it’ll you acid reflux or anything like that either. You can pick up the pie spice notes, that gives it this little extra ‘kick’ to it. There is a slick, smooth, slightly creamy feel and taste to it (feel moreso, taste is subtle) which is from the addition of the lactose (or I might be overreaching and thinking thats what its from). Its a very well balanced beer, nothing is overpowering or too much, everything is pretty much good accordance with each other. The mouthfeel is on point. There’s no slickness or cloying to it. It just tastes nice and smooth and light. Its also easy on the head with the ABV, though the lactose might make it not so easy on stomachs. All in all, this is just a smooth, easy drinking beer, that you could sit around the fire with, or sit around all day watching some football games (or early morning futbol games) and be fine at the end of the day, so thats just a win all around right there.

My Untappd Rating: ****.25
Global Average Rating: 3.86 (as of 11.7.21)

Boneshire Brew Works on The Beer Thrillers

Click below to read any one of our (is it a hundred yet?) articles on Boneshire Brew Works:

Small Brewery Sunday Giveaway

(Edited to add this heading and paragraphs – 11.23.21)

We are offering a free four pack of Fall Hippo through our blog and Facebook page. You can read more on how you can be entered to win this free beer here:

Small Brewery Sunday Giveaway

Be sure to follow the instructions for your chance to win free beer!

Thanks For Reading

Thank you everyone for reading. It means so much to hear feedback from everyone, so if you have any thoughts, likes, dislikes, questions, or concerns, be sure to leave them in the comments section! And make sure to hit the subscribe and follow, as well as follow us on our social media accounts.

Cheers!

-B. Kline

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Beer Review: S’Mores LazaRIS (Boneshire Brew Works)

BKline — Fri, 08 Nov 2019 03:00:46 +0000

S’Mores LazaRIS by Boneshire Brew Works (Photo taken at the 3rd Anniversary Party)

Undoubtedly the biggest, baddest, best beer and possibly the most popular one that Boneshire Brew Works is known for is LazaRIS. It’s their flagship stout, and their biggest, boldest, darkest beer (Dark of the Forest coming in a close second.) (Also, be on the lookout soon for a review of LazaRIS – the original – by J. Doncevic soon.) So, over the past three years there’s been a few varieties and variants done by the brewmaster Alan Miller of Boneshire Brew Works; some of which include Coconut, Pumpkin, Pumpkin Spice, Tiramisu, and a few others – and now finally a s’mores version. And I think Alan might have outdone himself on this one.

For the 3rd Anniversary Party, Alan – and Boneshire Brew Works – released a few variants of the mainstay staple LazaRIS. Including a firkin of the Tiramisu, a coconut one, the Pumpkin spice, and s’mores. The Tiramisu, coconut, and Pumpkin Spice ones were done before, but the s’mores was a brand new one. So thus I decided to start there with my reviews on it. And I’ll let J. Doncevic do a full write-up on the original LazaRIS to give this some more meaning. Once he gets his review up, I’ll link to it, so you can read up on it and get a better understanding of this beer.

Out of all of the variants released (and re-released) at the 3rd Anniversary party, this by far blew me away, and was my uncontested favorite of the bunch – unsettling and toppling the previous – Tiramisu one. Though, the original LazaRIS is equal to all of these for its own unique reasons, I feel like this s’mores variant is leap years above all of the other variants, and is just my absolute favorite.

S’Mores LazaRIS by Boneshire Brew Works (photo taken at the Halloween Bash Party about a week after the 3rd Anniversary Party) (Daughter’s game of Chutes and Ladders going on in the background)

Beer: S’Mores LazaRIS
Brewery: Boneshire Brew Works
Style: Stout – Imperial / Double
ABV: 9.5%
IBU: None
Untappd Write-Up: Our Russian Imperial Stout, LazaRIS, with the addition of s’mores flavorings.
Original LazaRIS Write-Up: LazaRIS rises from the dead with with its rich and complex flavors of a Russian Imperial Stout.

The original LazaRIS stout is certainly rich and complex; and this version is no different.

Aroma is very heavy malt, caramel chocolate like notes, sweet vanilla notes, with a bready biscotti or graham cracker like smell lingering on the underneath of it all. The malt and grain notes are strong, roast, caramel chocolate, and give it a good backbone to the adjunct additions of marshmallow, graham, and vanilla.

Appearance is your typical stout look; like I’m constantly saying in this blog. Its Razor Ramon hair dark black. Its heavy looking, its thick looking, its full bodied, like a good woman (or man). There is a thin head to this, not a big foamy head, but a small circling ring with white going to brown foam, there is a lot of bubbles to the head that are varying shape and size.

Now lets move onto the real gem of this beauty; its taste. Hmmm mmmm hmmm mmmm. The taste is so fantastic. There is booze, there is depth, there is heavyness, thickness, there is wonderful malt, wonderful grain, wonderful notes of all of the adjuncts, there is just so much flavor and complexity, so much richness and decadence to this brew that its much to list and describe. Starting with first notes; you get a caramel and roast malt taste on initial impression with some booze heavyness to it but not overpowering or disturbing, this then seeps into the malts going more chocolate and roasty and toasty; but then the adjuncts quickly take over – you get marshmallow and vanilla notes. Quickly you get the full dark cooking chocolate for the s’more, and then a nice underlying bready, biscuit, graham cracker flavor that gives it a nice soft ending, a nice backbone to it all that ties in perfectly with the roast malt, the caramel chocolate malt, and the heavy grain bill. Making this just one fantastic, wonderful, rich, tasty, complex beer.

That makes this one fantastic and perfect beer on a super ugly Pennsylvania fall-into-winter day like today. ESPECIALLY when that day happens to also be National Stout Day.

Still on tap at Boneshire Brewery on Derry Street in Rutherford, so be sure to stop in! It certainly won’t last much longer!

My Untappd Rating: ****.50
Global Untappd Rating: 4.02 (as of 11.7.19, National Stout Day)

So, funny thing about this article, this was meant to be done SOOOOO MUCH EARLIER in the day…. but so much in the day came up and happened. (Joys of your days off being consumed by kiddos and doctor appointments, and drama rehearsals, and bingo, and all kinds of things.)

But I originally grabbed a can of Edmund Oast’s and Westerbrook’s “There’s Nuttin’ Butter Than Cam Pants” – thinking it’d make for a perfect stout on National Stout Day, and a great beer to review for it…. well, lo and behold my surprise when I realize after pouring it and taking my first sip (appearance was the first give-away) that it was actually in fact a barleywine. *Face-Palm*. Well, what else was I to do but make sure I had a fantastic stout later in the day to make sure I do a stout review on Stout day?

Needless to say, this was a great stout for the day. Such a super ugly, dreary, miserable mess of a day, but a super wonderful, fantastic, rich, beer from one of my favorites breweries, definitely made it all better! I can’t recommend this beer, and this brewery enough or more. So make sure you stop out and check them out on Derry Street in Rutherford PA (located in between Harrisburg and Hummelstown Pennsylvania; right by the 717 Armory).

And yes, I know, yesterday I hinted at getting two blogs today done; and I wanted to. But it just didn’t happen. Normally, this review would have been done early in the day, and then a second review done up later today (like NOW time) if I had the chance. But unfortunately, life does intervene. But no worries, still got it done, and still on target for 30 for 30; now sitting comfortably at 7 for 7.

Cheers All!

-B. Kline