200th rater. Bottle provided by Willblake at the NYRBG. Amber, copper color. Nice aroma of hoppiness and black bread at once. Taste is zingy bready. A bit thin. A nice hoppy alt, different. Medium-low body.

12oz bottle Enjoy by Sept20 06-pours a big foamy to rocky tan head with red color. Aroma is sweet medium malt, hint of caramel. Taste is medium malt, alcohol, secondary hops with bitterness. OK carbonation.

Dark reddish copper that pours almost more like a cola with lots of fizz than a head. Either way it dies down real quick and leaves very little residue. Aromas are sweet, malty and caramel... almost a bit syrupy with some fruit in the mix, too. The flavor is really different than I was expecting. The syrupy character comes through and it almost starts like a barley wine or something, but then does a head fake and things get a little funky as it settles into a bitter hop finish that could be a bit more smoothly transitioned, but I like it. It does have a bit of an astringent alcoholic character that is a bit much at times, but then considering the ABV it’s really to be expected.

Thanks to Argo0 for this one! Caramel brown body with a touch of haze under a choppy, tall, light tan head that sticks to the sides on the way down. Bready malt aroma. A touch of unpeeled cold bananas. Sweet with just a bit of hop bitterness at the end of the finish. Good body, but nothing really exciting overall.

Sampled at 3Floyds Dark Lord Day. Nice foamy pour atop an appealing dark body. Guess I’d just call it a good "dark beer" smell, malty rich, and free of distractions. Taste is light toasted malts, with caramel and just a bit of porter malts, all well balanced with strong German hops, a bit spicier than usual. Hints of smooth ale taste.

Tap at Waterfront Ale House, Brooklyn - Hazy light red in color - lots of fruity esters in the aroma, mostly strawberry, some citrus to compliment the moderate hoppiness - a little on the sweet side - lots of sticky, caramel malt sweetness and sugar-covered light fruits - hops are assertive, but still not enought to counterbalance the sweetness - some darker roasted malts and a smokiness come in near the end, making things a bit more interesting - I salute Victory for not going overboard for their anniversary ale, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it very much.

Draught pint at Sunset Grill on 3/23/06
Frothy, but small and mostly diminishing beige head atop a bright auburn-magenta-tinged copper-amber. Light chill haze to it, with some minor lacing.
Nose is surprisingly bursting with fruity hops. Well, perhaps not bursting, but they are large, round and full of yellow fruit notes. Plenty of ripe peaches, predominantly, with a light brassy-mineral note of alt yeast, deep toasted grains providing fair depth with no sign of alcohol. Light poundcake sweetness is quickly curtailed by bitter, dry, tettnang-like soily/hay notes. Of medium strength is the aroma.
The flavor continues the hop trend, with bountiful bitterness wedded to lightly sugary pale malts, with a tastefully done toasted malt, vienna-like huskiness that seems to offset the juicy hops perfectly. Very impressed with the abundance of hop flavors and bitterness without any suggestion of PNW. Good for them. Fairly nominal texture, with mostly tight carbonation, perhaps a little too expansive at times, but deep enough malts, peachy-fruits from the hops, hay, sweat and grass as well, and no sign of alcohol in the flavor. Darkens, with more sign of the roasted malts, as it warms, but nothing to get worried about. Balances the drinkability of an alt with the added flavor and gravity of a sticke alt.

This is a very interesting and complex beer. Sampled from a 12 oz brown bottle this beer poured a dark caramel color with a large tan head. The aroma is bready with an element of ripe fruit and a complex spicy undertone. The flavor is bready, yeasty and spicy with some caramel and pepper. There is a bit of an alcohol burn. The body is moderately thick and smooth.

Amber color with a thin reamy white head. Dark malt aroma with some hints of smoke. Sweet flavor with hints of caramel.

Dark amber body, medium off-white head. Cerealy, grassy aroma, toast, and caramel. Toasty body with light caramels and delicate sweetness giving way to harsh, astringent, bitter hops that last through the finish. The end result was like chewing on the backyard leaf pile after it burns and smolders awhile. Almost medicinal in quality. I’m going against the grain here, but this was not enjoyable.