7.4

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5

Draught pint at Horshoe Pub with OldGrowth on 3/4/06
Deep brown, near black-looking liquid is unfiltered with a slow-to-recede light tan head, that leaves little to no lacing in its wake. Thick and heavy looking in the glass, and the head being quite dense, it comes off quite ominous.
The nose is rather muted at first, being served on draught, unfiltered, quite cold to start and in an English pint glass, with a thick head. So, ya, it’s got a lot working against it. But as it breathes and warms, a dry, mildly lactic, dark chocolate and mild espresso note emerges, with some vanilla beans, crusty/bready brown malts and a touch of sweet raisins and caramel, just a hint really.
The flavor is chocolatey and with light bits of fudginess, but mainly quite dry, with light roast notes. The cascades add a resilient amount of bitterness and green, juicy hop flavors, which when combined with the malts come off as rather floral. The unfiltered, chewy texture with the right amount of attenuation (dry, but not too dry), combined with a tasteful amount of hops really works well. Lactic, roast, chocolate, caramel, raisins. . .quite complex all told, and increasing with every sip as it warms. These guys can brew. No alcohol apparency.