Uff-da

12 ounce bottle brought to me by a friend. Pours a chocolate brown color with a medium tan head. Low head retention and lacing. Big malty aroma with caramel and maple notes. Taste is sweet malts, caramel, chocolate and sublte dark fruits. Medium bodied.

A bit too sweet for my taste, but not a bad beer. Very dark in the glass. Not much head. Some chocolate and caramel hints in the flavor. Easily drinkable and creamy mouthfeel. Nice to see a brewery that tries so many different things and does them all so well.

Bottle: Poured a deep burgundy color bock with a large foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma consists of loads of caramel malt with a nice mix of toffee and molasses. Taste is also quite rich with some nice touch of caramel and a sweet finish including notes of toffee and molasses. I thought this was still easily drinkable while maintaining quite a malt bill along the way. I very much enjoyed this one and wouldn’t mind having regular access to this.

Bottle, from trade with akevitt. It pours a reddish brown, clear body with a beige head. The nose is malty-sweet with a touch of oxidation, as well as slightly burnt caramel and some dried fruits. Caramel and roasted malt makes up most of the flavor, followed by a little oxidation and some dried fruits, and a little warming alcohol. Full body, slightly sticky, with a long roasted finish.containing some burnt caramel. It’s a nice beer that I wish was more full-bodied and slightly more flavorful. (080216)

Medium yellowish beige head. Deep dark red barely translucent body. Mild roasty caramelly aroma. Deep burnt roasty sweet coffee and licorice taste with alcoholic notes. Fruity. Dry fruity roasty licorice aftertaste. (0.355l bottle from yngwie.)

Courtesy of Gillard. Pours brown with thin tan head. Sweet aroma of dates and mild caramel. The flavor has the same tones with light dark fruitiness from dates, plums and raisins. Form the malts are roastiness and caramelization.

Bottle from buckyboy; Nose of sweet chocolate, caramel, and roasty nutiness; dark clear walnut with a small tan head; flavor of coffee, chocolate, and roastiness; medium body with chocolate and very light hop bitterness in the finish.

Late 2005 bottle from StewardofGondor, drunk on 6/10/06. Careful pour reveals medium-high to high clarity. Wonderfully deep magenta highlights, with brass and earthen tones near the edges and surface. A chestnut-coal brown from most outward appearances (not held to the light). Head is medium-beige and fades quickly to cover, providing ample lacing. Rich nuttiness is alleviated immediately by creamy vanilla tresses tipped by chocolate covered prunes. Inviting and boisterous for its strength, neither coffee nor bock-like wininess is overdone (or underdone). As usual, New Glarus shows off its strong-point (balance). Taking a sip, I’m surprised by the thick, chewy, nearly imperial stout-like cakey malts. Gooey chocolate and graham crackers roll about in the mouth, as yeast and melanoidins dry things out, while simultaneously adding that strong, dark fruitiness that adds complexity. On the very end, a hint of chocolate-tipped cigars is felt as the (roasted?) malt adds a touch of tobacoo/ashiness. With some time, the thickness lets up a bit as bready malts replace it. But the prunes and raisins never fail, and certainly the chocolate goes nowhere. I’ve seen doppelbocks that arent as strong as this stuff, but to its credit, it remains drinkable, not alcoholic and balanced in its attenuation. The carbonation is another plus here, as it seems natural and is very engaging without being intrusive. It’s been a while since I’ve had such a balanced and complex bock as this. Most just pulverize you with malt or deliver too much breadiness and oiliness. I could see a bit more crisp yeast bite on the end making this that much more special, but it’s difficult to gripe here. I’m getting peanut skins and very light tobacco on the finish, with the lively, lightly acidic dark berry notes leading all the way to the end and balancing the malts perfectly. New Glarus does it again.