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Bluejacket Brewery Worldwide Release

June 29th, 2012 | 1 Comment | Written by Russ Beck

Churchkey is known in the DC area for having a ton of great beer events; if you’ve been following this blog, you are no stranger to that! Thursday June 7th provided a truly unique and rare opportunity: the first batch from a new DC brewery. Bluejacket Brewery is run by Megan Parisi with DC beer mogul Greg Engert. They actually produced their first beer in Tampa with Cigar City and Funky Buddha Lounge & Brewery. That very beer, Snack Attack!, was on-tap at Churchkey, and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try it. Snack-Attack! is an imperial porter flavored with dry-roasted peanuts, Key West sea salt, vanilla beans, cacao nibs, and lactose. Sounds like it could be strange!

You can read the Washington Post’s article on Bluejacket Brewery here.

Snack-Attack!

Appearance
Black pour with a huge brown head. The retention and lacing are phenomenal. It's a great looking beer.

Aroma
It smells a lot like roasted peanuts and vanilla. Amazingly I can still smell a lot of the roast and chocolate from the porter base. The aroma is so similar to roasted peanuts it scares me.

Taste
The vanilla is bolstered by the lactose, which makes this feel a lot like a milk stout. Very sweet, but you're bombarded by the roasted peanuts. The very back end is highlighted by porter characteristics, but it's picked up by the sweetness from the lactose. A strange and wonderful taste. I thought initially that the brewing process for this must have been intense, but Meg informed me that this was literally the first ever batch produced. There wasn't any taste testing or bad batches to precede it...her entire brewery's release was based on a beer that she had yet to even try. That takes guts. But it worked.

Mouthfeel/Drinkability
As I said this feels a lot like a milk stout. The finish is very dry, and the beer feels thick on the palate. Low carbonation. Extremely drinkable, it's really like a peanut butter sandwich.

Value
Pretty typical for Churchkey at $4.50 for a 4oz pour. I really wish I would have gotten a full pour instead of the taster of this. It was just so good.

Overall
How will this brewery top this beer moving forward? I have no idea, but I can't wait to see. This was a great first run, really one of the most interesting beers I've ever had.

Beer Stats
Style: Imperial Porter
Serving: Draft
Size: 4oz
ABV: 10.00%
BA Score: 86*
RB Score: 83*

*From the Cigar City profile of Snack Attack. Under Bluejacket, there is an insufficient number of ratings on it.

This review was actually the first ever posted onto Beer Advocate for this brewery! Other beers you can expect to see from Bluejacket include a Belgian-style quadrupel with rosemary and local plums, brewed in collaboration with The Bruery, and a Scotch ale containing house-smoked malt, brewed in collaboration with Port Brewing Company. I can’t wait!

Last updated by Russ Beck at June 29, 2012.

Written by Russ Beck

Russ can trace his beginnings in craft beer to sitting in Zeno’s Pub in State College drinking various craft beer options from across Pennsylvania. Since then, he has never faltered in finding new brews, whether they’re rare, delicious, or hopefully both. Russ will be writing on a large variety of subjects, including but not limited to: reviews, homebrewing, and how to take labels off of beer bottles. He’ll drink just about anything, but prefers a nice Stout, IPA, or Weizenbock. Find Russ Beck on Google Plus

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Filed under: Bluejacket, Imperial Porter · Tags: Bluejacket, Churchkey, Cigar City Brewing Company, Funky Buddha Lounge & Brewery, Imperial Porter, SAVOR, Snack Attack