Blue Mountain Local Species
A hybrid beer unlike any other. Belgian fermentation, American hops, Virginia foothills deep-well water and Kentucky bourbon barrels. Bizarrely delicious.
3.6
202 reviews
Afton, United States
Community reviews
Draft at Mekong Restaurant - this is a barrel aged version of Local Species. Ours dark Amber with large vibrant white foam head. Barreling adds nice age, caramel and bourbon tones to a very good pale ale.
Draft at South Street Brewery. Clear golden yellow with off-white head. Aromas of floral, citrus, light white wine. Tastes of white wine, floral, yeast, lemons, citrus. Medium body with a dry finish.
This one is good and a little strange. Pours amber with a lacing white head. The aroma is whiskey sweet with a hint of something sour. The flavor is whiskey and wood, with just a hint of the sourness. A little bit of Belgian spice is in there too.
Smell with caramel, floral, Bourbon, come with yellow orange color, white crown, good taste against its look, somewhat sweet but good bitterness, slightly above carbonated, right texture, very good beer
Bottle, courtesy of a kind soul... shared in a location remote of my dining room.
Pours a hazy yellow with a good head and good lacing on the glass.
The aroma is a little funky and fruity with some nice wet limestone basement stuff happening.
The flavor is lightly bitter with a little bit of fruity hop character and some nice minerallity. The barrel character here is left mostly to a minimum only adding a light woody component... which is cool, I do suppose.
Bottle. Clear Amber pour with a big white head. Vanilla, spice, black tea, oak. Dry and oily throughout medium body. Vanialla, bitter, orange peel, oaky and dry finish. Interesting but not my favorite.
750 mL bottle from Total Wine, Chesapeake, VA (best before November 2015 on the cork). Deep orange pour with a frothy off-white head. Aroma of Belgian yeast, light citrus, and faint bourbon barrel. Really nice, unique taste of tangerine hops, wet grass, Earth, vanilla, and oak. Lingering bitterness undercut by booze and wood. Completely original and well done.
75 cl bottle. Pours cloudy orange with a small off white head. Aroma is dry toasted malty, subtle wineous and slight phenolic. Mild sweet, fruity, toasted and vague spiced. Lingering phenolic and slight estery into a medium dry and toasted finish. Somewhat oxidised.
Appearance: medium brownish gold, with a creamy yellow-white head that shrinks quickly to a thick cap. Aroma: big nose of banana, bourbon, vanilla, citrus, raisins, lemongrass, wet wood. Taste: fruity and sweet, almost like a tripel; there’s some good citrus and banana, then a solid vanilla bean shot, with some caramel and bourbon. Finish: lingering, warm, boozy sweetness with caramel, vanilla, and fruit, with just a bit of herbal and floral hops to dry things out. Notes: Interesting. Boozier than expected for a 6.6% abv beer, but not off-puttingly so. Found this an intriguing combination of Belgian ale characteristics married to fruity hops and boozed up by the bourbon barrels. Bottle courtesy of and split with Zoltan, who hated it.
Coppery color with a big white head. Belgian yeast, caramel, malt, light bourbon and hay aroma. Malty, caramel, mild sweetness from bourbon and a mild bitterness. Nice aftertaste. Great beer!
This brew pours a brownish-orange color with a medium foamy white head that diminishes steadily. Small patches of lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of bourbon, fruit and yeast. Medium-bodied with flavors of oaky bourbon, earthy yeast and fruit. The finish is mildly oaky with a fruit and yeast aftertaste. Above average overall.
Bottle from Whole Foods in Upper Arlington. Orange pour with big sturdy white foam head and visible carbonation. Aroma of yeast, spice, citrus peel. Tastes are orange, oak, light candy sugar, pepper, caramel, slight tart. Fairly warm given the abv - but doesn’t detract. Enjoyed this.
Transfer from BA review on 2-18-14-
Served on tap in a snifter
Appearance – The beer is served deep amber color with a one finger of white colored head. The head has a good level of retention, slowly fading to leave a light of lace on the sides of the glass.
Smell – The aroma of the beer is quite heavy of a candied sugar smell mixed with some other aromas of a bready smell. Mixed with these are some more yeasty aromas as well as some aromas of lighter fruits with apricot, pear, and peach all there. Overall it has a rather sweet but pleasant Belgian pale ale aroma.
Taste – The taste begins sweet with tons of Belgian candied sugar tastes and lots of lighter fruit flavors of peach, pear, and apricot. A bit of a bready taste is present from the start as well, with it losing ground as the taste advances on. The fruit and the sweet remain relatively constant throughout however, with the loss of breadiness leaving the beer a bit more on the sweet side in the end. Along with the loss of the bread, comes some lighter hop flavors of a grassy and herbal nature as well as some hints of spice, which when combined with the other flavors end up leaving a rather sweet and fruity Belgian pale ale flavor to linger on the tongue.
Mouthfeel – The body of the beer is on the thicker and creamier side for a brew of only 6.6% adv. with a carbonation level that is on the lower side. For the sweet flavors of the brew the thick body and lower carbonation really accentuated these flavors and made it a little cloying at times, but overall it was still alright as it never become too obnoxious.
Overall – A rather tasty and sweeter Belgian Pale ale. Quite nice overall and one I would certainly do again.
never forget rule #1
first beer after gabf 2014, landed 45 minutes ago.
tawny amber gold. solid foam.
always a classic. straight across the board.
light funk, flipped over. i hate having a temper.
fantastic brew. give me that fuckin screwdriver!!
it ain’t gonna smoke itself..
Yellow pour with white head. Smells like a farmhouse IPA, due the Belgian yeast and hop presence. Didn’t get much bourbon in it, but it’s still pretty tasty.
large shared bottle.
Hazy reddish-amber with a good head.
Smells like a sour. The taste follow to some extent. Odd, barrel-aged wild ale. Neither especially challenging nor appealing.
Red-amber with good, creamy, beige head, fine, good lacing / Musty, earthy light nose of orchard fruit, caramel, cardboard, oak / Light to medium body, acidic, lively carbonation, some tartness, excellent balance and lightly bitter finish / Mild flavors of apple, date, caramel, oak, straw, and just a hint of bourbon (which I doubt I would have picked up but for the label) / Maybe a hint weak, but in the end a stylish, restrained, and easy drinking Belgian with good interest.
This one is kind of all over the place. Aroma is pale ale, body is Belgian, and finish is smooth / bourbon aged. Nothing overly great, but nothing bad either.
Bottle at Craig’s. Pours hazy amber, nose is toffee, caramel, taste is sweet malty toffee, slightly oxidised.
Bottle shared with Yespr, Fonefan, Ferris and ChrisO @ Cask Pub & Kitchen. Clear dark orange to reddish color, medium sized white head that lasts for a decent while and leaves fair lacing. Aroma is lightly malts, lightly sweet, some hops, lightly oxidised. Hard to find traces of bourbon in there. Taste malts, lightly hops, clearly bourbon in the flavor, lightly sweet, a touch of herbs and spices. Medium body and carbonation. Not bad.
Bottle - Sweet aromatic hops and candy sugars with some barrel notes. Hazy copper with a rich white head. Light fruity esters, candy sugars, raisin and a light hop bitterness. Light bourbon notes, light body and pretty easy drinking.
carried over from untapped to try and organize my beers for syncronicity’s sake.
I am unsure about this one. The nose is....beer. I am not really getting much out of it. It is a murky brown color with a pretty long lasting yellowish head. Taste is Belgium yeast. Slight citrus. Slight hops (for style possibly more hops than usual but when it lists it as a hybrid with the hops it is not as much as expected.) I am not getting bourbon. At all. I prefer the bourbon aged beers that are smoother and more of hints of bourbon, but I get nothing from this one. I do get an oak finish. Somewhat unpleasant (or maybe just unique - still trying to decide).
I think this is one to pass on.
First Juneau Beer Geek club bottle share. Thanx Reece.
Okay, so the cork of the bottle says Best by May 2013. I’m reviewing this though past its prime because even now this was quite good tonight.
This was poured into sample glasses, but hey I get the make up of this beer, here’s the rest.
The appearance was a decent looking deep orange color with a thin white head that dissipated within less than about thirty seconds. There was barely any lacing.
The smell started with a decent Bourbon barrel aroma that quickly left within less than about thirty seconds. The light hoppiness has a nice light fruity (apple to peach-like, light cranberry). There’s a light settling Belgian spice of sorts, but I can’t quite right place the actual spice itself.
The taste took the previously mentioned flavors and added a slight sour element that was good to me and wasn’t overbearing.
On the palate, this one sat about a light to medium in body with not too much of sessionability about it as it just seemed like there was a just tad too much going on.
Overall, though not really sessionable to me, still this was a worthy beer to partake in again if I ever saw it.
Bottle. Orange brown pour with tan head. Fruit, light sweet tones aromas. Flavors are fruit like, yeast, oak and bourbon.
July 1st Sunday. This was another unique beer this day. American hops all of the place (citrus, hints of tropical) with a balancing fruity yeast component. Hints of oaks and mild bourbon make for an enjoyably complex brew.
cloudy amber color; floral hop aroma with notes of bourbon and Belgian yeast; a fairly bitter beer with fruity Belgian yeast notes, citrusy hop notes, and hints of oak and bourbon; well balanced
Dark golden color with light foam head... Aroma of vanilla, oak, bourbon, caramel, Belgian yeast... Flavor is smooth, fairly light bodied, notes of caramel, Belgian yeast, slightly watery, earthy, caramel, vanilla bourbon notes linger throughout... Super nice and sessionable, perfect amount of bourbon...
Not exactly a great looking pour although I could have gotten the end of the bottle. Murky brown color with an off white head. Honey sweetness with a bit of lemon in the flavor and aromas. Honey accentuated a bit by the belgian yeast notes adding a bit of light band aid note. Resiny sticky sweet finish.
Fruity aroma and also a fruity taste. Flavor is a bit of floral hops and a nice smooth finish.