New Brew Thursday: 'Bad Dudes 3000' from Long Live Beerworks and Buttonwoods Brewery

Where were you approximately one year ago? A loaded question for sure. For me, I was one of the lucky ones, I was not laid off and my commute was reduced to simply walking across the hallway from my bedroom to my home office. In those tumultuous times two arose, two “bad dudes” and now they have returned. Jokes aside, the amazing team up last year between two of Rhode Island’s best breweries, Buttonwoods and Long Live to create one of the best collaborations that lived up to their hype is nothing short of amazing. When they released the sequel months later it was even better and now that they are returning for round three with ‘Bad Dudes 3000’ the bar is even higher. Do they live up to the hype? Yes, yes they do.

‘Bad Dudes 3000’ pours into the glass a hazy, deep yellow. It has overpowering notes of fresh fruit with melon being the most predominate. The taste? Exceptional. The Strata hop really steals the show with a big melon flavor that gives way to a slight bitterness that lingers just so on the middle of your tongue. The Galaxy, Citra, and Ekuanot hops all play nicely with one another as supporting actors to the Strata. It is super smooth and has a surprisingly soft mouthfeel and coming it 8.5% ABV you’ll be halfway through the glass before you start to feel it. However, in the interest of full disclosure. You can synthesize this entire review down to just one word: Dank. The pour? Dank. The smell? Fruity, but dank. The taste? Very dank. Get yourself to Long Live and buy this beer.

New Brew Thursday: 'Holy Donut' from Lone Pine Brewing

While it has been about a month since I returned from Maine, I still have a few beers from the trip. One of these beers is ‘Holy Donut’ from Lone Pine. As I was looking at breweries in the Portland area, I came across Lone Pine. Upon learning they had this beer that was not only a collaboration with The Holy Donut, one of the best donut shops around, but was also described as an Imperial Double Sour Ale with Donuts, blueberries, vanilla, and lactose I knew it was something I had to try.

‘Holy Donut’ pours into the glass as a cloudy bluish, purplish beer with a light pink head and smells exactly like a blueberry-vanilla donut. With strong notes of both blueberry and vanilla, with a subtle note of a freshly baked and glazed donut it is a sweet and fruity smelling beer. The flavor is awesome. The initial tartness of the blueberry gives way to the sweetness of the vanilla and the lactose before returning at the end for a lingering tartness that stays on the middle of your tongue. The lactose also gives the beer extra body as well, giving it a slightly thicker mouthfeel than your typical sour. Even though it is labeled as an ‘Imperial Sour’ and has an ABV of 7.5% it is extremely refreshing and quite crushable.

While I will not be coming back to Maine anytime soon, you bet that one of my first stops will be to visit Lone Pine.