Bottle. Pours a clear golden color with a small white head. Has a fruity malty hoppy aroma with spicy grassy hints. Sweetish maty hoppy bitter grassy flavor. Has a fruity malty hoppy bitter grassy finish.

Bottle: Poured a deep copper color ale with a large foamy head with good retention and some mild lacing. Aroma consists of citrus and earthy hops with some clear bitterness. Taste is also dominated by citrus and earthy hops with light resinous feel and some dry caramel malt notes as well. Body is slightly fuller then average with good carbonation and no apparent alcohol. Well brewed with great drinkability factor though lacking some dry-hopping.

trong orange taste with some grapefruit in the aftertaste. Nice earthiness with some spices discreetly thrown in. R

Bottle thanks to Dany. Pours burnt orange with white head. Good lacing. Nose/taste of caramel, pale and sweet malts with spicy hops. Taste also has some grapefruit rind. Slightly bitter. Full body. A bit boozy at times.

February 2005 bottle consumed at Dieu du Ciel at the RBSG on 7/9/2005. Big yellowish head with medium-sized bubbles rising. Orange-golden body has a light shimmer to it, with a small amount of haziness. Head is well-retained. Aroma is earthy, leafy and quite dry, with hints of nuttiness. Light oranges as well, not terribly bitter or perfumey. Flavor begins with lemon rinds, tea leaves and white pepper. Very odd and unique take on the style, and it took me a few minutes to get my bearings straight with this beer. Very dry malt continues the dryish flavored trend and there is a bit of fruity/peachiness from the hops (or is it the yeast?). Mainly a floral hops flavor, not a tremendous amount of bitterness. Some light orange zest lingers on the palate, while lacing covers the glass well. Creamy mouthfeel and well balanced to the extent that it dosen’t go over the top with hops bitterness. But unique dosen’t always mean great, and I’m a little less than enamoured by this one. Too dry overall and just sort of peters out at the end. Haven’t been too blown away by DdC’s bottled beers, thus far. I think that might be more a comment on their lack of focus on bottling and less a comment on the beers’ quality. Once the laws change and they bottle higher volume, I bet things will get worked out better.

October 2005 draught Tremendously fresh and delicate aroma boasts complex hop notes as poignant and strong as any West Coast DIPA. Tangerines, honey, light cherries and plenty of honeydew melon. Very sweet, with candied oranges and apples in the background. Immensely sniffable. The flavor has a strong pine and floral hop bite, with tight carbonation delivering a softly sweet caramel malt and tons of pale malt sugars. Grapefruit grows, and bitterness climaxes in the middle, allowing the malt to steadily grow on the palate. Leafy and crystally, very green with a bit of warming on the end. Very substantial body. 9/4/8/4/16. Rating is an average of the two.

July 2006 bottle drunk on 2/25/07
Not much exciting hop aroma. A bit of juiciness and some cherries with light melon are the extent of the fruitiness. Lots of alcohol and sweet caramel, though not cloyingly so.
The flavor has a slight medicinal note, it seems, and some very raw alcohol that keeps things dry. I let it breath and warm for about 45 minutes but it never really lost this flavor. Towards the bottom of the bottle, it got a little cleaner, actually, maybe the yeast dulling some of the phenol/alcohol notes. Hops have faded a bit too much. Nice sweet texture still, though. Obviously not a beer that should be experienced in bottle, but rather fresh on tap, where it’s delicious and highly aromatic/flavorful.

RBSG bottle #50 2005 This started out with a huge, creamy light brown head that stayed the whole time. Medium amber color. Light malt and piney hop aroma. Smooth full palate delivers a nicely hopped crisp IPA with a good malt to hop balance in the flavor.

Hazy brown orange color. Citrusy, hoppy nose with grapefruit and oranges. Mouth starts malty, then hops, then back to the malts, very well balanced. All finishing dry and puckeringly bitter, which was a nice pleasent surprise.