Cask at GBBF 09 ....brown ... sweet odd nose ... sweet toffee light hop ... quite unusual.

Cask@GBBF2009. Deep amber colour, small head. Aroma is wood, yeast, malts, caramel, earthcellar as well as some mild spicy and herbal notes. Flavour is quite much the same. Ends in a rather dry palate.

Cask@GBBF 2009. Dark nut brown color, not much head. Light caramel and perhaps some tartness in the nose. Watery palate. Some hard caramel, woody malts and light grassy hops in the aftertaste. Also notes of dark chocolate. Very American version of altbier.

Thanks to decaturstevo for sharing this one. Dark brown, ruby tinged body that throws up an off-white head. Leathery malt aroma. Sweet overall with some sourness that leads to a tangy finish.

This beer came to me in my beer club - I have never heard of the brewer before. Sampled from a 12 oz brown bottle this beer poured a dark brown color with a large tan head. The aroma is somewhat faint but has elements of roasted malts, molasses and fruity hops. The flavor is quite bitter with floral hops and only a hint of roasty malts. What malts there are combine with a molasses element and finishes long on the tongue.

Pours dark brown into a shaker. Creamy micro head with good retention. Deep caramel malt and pine hop aromas. Slightly fizzy with upfront dry caramel with a sour, bitter hop finish.

2006 bottle consumed on 4/13/06 and numerous festival draught samples in the past two years
Mostly clear amber-bronze body with some lighter beige and hay tinges, settling out darker in the middle with a highlight of chestnut. Off-white head is small, but retained at cover well, with light lacing. Beer is bottle conditioned.
Fruit and nuts in the nose, like a moist trail-mix bar, some piquant orange, cranberry, cherry and apple notes are slowly driven off by sugary brown base malts finishing dry on a lightly toasted, somewhat bready note. Hops are marginal, contributing some minor fruitiness and plenty of hay and dry brush-like notes. Some lightly sour toasted sourdough notes can be felt on the end. Sticky caramel and pale malt sugars dull the end.
In the flavor, the roast is a little heavy, adding oily astringency and too much dryness on the end. Not terribly off to-style, but just bullies the rather highly attenuated malts. Not that the malts are overly attenuated, leading to some fairly substantial caramel and dry toffee sweetness, bit of brown breadiness to give it a full feeling on the palate and then an almost soapy, acidic finish with the dry, soily hops and bittersweet malts. Sugars build up at first, leading to too sweet a beginning, without much depth (simple caramel and pale sugars as mentioned), and then the spritzy carbonation clears the malt as the melanoidins and breadiness build up. It never regains a balance, ending lightly sour, astringent and peachy-fruity (over-ripe, spoiled peaches). Expansive, albeit natural, carbonation creates a very spacious mouthfeel. No alcohol apparent.