Year of New Beer: Gas Station Bananas, Rock House Brewing (Lexington)

Written By: Dion on 06/19/2020

I have no idea how many different beers I've tried. My best guess places it somewhere between 6 or 7,000. I do know for certain that I've tried a new one every single day since January 1, 2012. That's 3,092 days. I say all that to say this...even with the explosion of craft beer over the last five years, it can get boring. I mean, there's only so many things you can do. But over the last two or three months, as this pandemic has had a devastating effect on their businesses, Lexington breweries have ramped up the creativity to ridiculous levels. Rock House has been at the forefront, cranking out some fantastic small batch beers. This one is next level. It's just Bananas Foster in a glass. Beautifully blended notes of spiced rum, brown sugar, toffee, banana, cinnamon...everything is in there, and each element is done to near perfection. Whereas the tiramisu beer was a touch heavy-handed in the rum department, this is spot-on. The aroma translates to the tongue about as well as anything I've ever tasted. Rum and cinnamon counter the burnt sugar and caramel, with the banana building as the glass warms, bringing along a subtle breakfast pastry note. Unbelievable how easy this is to drink at 12% ABV. I love when a brewery has so many good beers that I begin to question which one is my favorite. And I love having so many local breweries capable of evoking those questions. To the crew at Rock House, I say thanks for the creativity, and please, please make this again.