Musty vanilla and maple nose with a creamy off-white head. The taste is sweet with some spices, vanilla and bready malt. It is balanced at the outset and retains that balance through the aftertaste -- a Dogfish Head standard characteristic. Significant effervescence works well with the sweetness. A hint of sourness in the background as you work through the bottle. The alcohol adds richness but is not overpowering. Well crafted.

Bottle. Slightly hazy, reddish-amber with a medium sized head. Aroma was very strongly oak with smoky notes. Taste was also strongly oak with smoky notes. Sweet upfront with malty flavor sin the middle and notes of vanilla in the finish

bottle at the mondiale ’07.
dark brown color.
aroma of caramel, and bitter, floral hops, and pine.
flavour is caramel, and bitter, and that band-aid flavour is over powering. finish has this piney bite i really dont like. meh.

Rated June 2006. Crystal clear amber color with very thin off white head. Aroma is striking. I smell oak as the strongest aroma. I also get a bit of malt. Nice smoky taste with some malty sweetness for a bit of balance. As it warms the alcohol aroma and flavor become more pronounced. The sweetness also seems to increase in flavor. A good choice when a smoke ale is the craving.

Bottle. A- Mild peat, malt, caramel. A- Dark reddish brown color, clear liquid, off white head. T- Peat, manure, barley, butterscotch, faint spearmint, oak. P- Full body, average texture, average carbonation, complex finish. O- 6+ years old, not sure if that helped or hurt. Really has a barnyard funk to it on the palate. This fades as it warms and turns more into a maple butterscotch mix of sweetness. Very interesting. Oddly enough I don't like the immediate aftertaste but the lingering taste is quite pleasant.

Bottle from Lithy, thanks! Dark brown color. Raisin, grapes and vanilla in the aroma. Oaky, alcoholic flavor with raisin, vanilla, ash, plums and dried fruit. Hint of smoke. Sticky mouthfeel. Interesting beer.

Süffiger, stark holziger Beginn. Nuancen von Vanille, moderate Bitterkeit, weich. Alkoholisch, dennoch angenehm. Steigend nach Vanille, mittellanger Abgang. Gut. 10/9/11/11/12/11

From Aug 2007

I got this one in a trade with Wasatch. Thanks, John!

It pours from 12oz bottle a hazy deep amber with a very small head of foam with a bit of lacing.

The smell is huge on the caramel malt...reminds me of taking a whiff of a JW Lees Harvest Ale or similar brews.

The taste is as big on the caramel malt as the nose. Sweet? Yes it is. Too sweet? Not for my palate. There be big Oak flavours here as well and some vanilla.(says so on the label and it's true) There's also a good presence of dark fruit like fig and a touch of plum and it has just a wee bit of hop bitterness that shows up right before the finish. But as far as the style goes, I don't *want* much of a hop presence; the malt is king here and rightfully so. Great sipping brew and at 11%abv, that's the way to handle this baby though, I have to say, DFH has done a remarkable job of keeping the potent alcohol out of the taste and it doesn't really warm me at all as I swallow this nectar.The mouthfeel is thick and chewy and the carbo is light, just right for the style.

I've had this one before, years ago, and I'm *still* enthralled with how well of a crafted brew this is. Ok, I'll go ahead and say it. It's one of my favourites. Thanks again, John!!