Bottle. Caramel malt and pine hops aroma. Brown amber color with moderate fluffy head. Pine hops the predominate flavor with caramel malt less apparent. Very nice hoppy amber ale.

Bottle. Pours bronze-ish red with voluminous head. I find the aroma kind of weird, like hops, water and leather. Taste is pretty straightforward hoppiness, with some creaminess and an underlying sweetness. Maybe a tad bit out of balance, but it’s one of Magic Hat’s better brews.

Raisin, thistle, and pineapple aroma, good strength. Cloudy ochre, thin golden head. Pretty strong, decent balance of grapefruit peel and caramel. Light lemon peel finish. Very much like an IPA, but dark. It loses some oompf as it warms.

Hazy dark copper-orange body, thin to medium buff head. Bitter, rindy hops punch the nose with grapefruit notes. Toasty malts are subdued. Sweet, toasty body with notes of berries and citrusy, bitter hops; pine cones. The body thins with warmth. All in all a pretty good beer.

Fresh bottle drunk on 3/4/07
Appearance rating is just so meaningless. Despite being pasteurized and sterile filtered, because it’s so fresh, it yields a big beige head that is very-well retained all the way to the bottom of the glass. Even a moderate amount of lacing. Give it another 3 or 4 months and the head probably wouldnt even last two minutes. My point being that it’s silly to rate appearance when it all depends on how old the bottle is. Oh well, rant over.
The aroma was pleasantly surprising. Lots of fruity hops and malts. Tons of apricot/peach/nectarine aromatics, with a slight spicy edge that adds complexity. Crystal malts don’t seem overdone, though there is a significant hardness, almost a leatheriness. A toasty, dry, crackery-like breadiness sits on the end rather dull-like, but enough hop aroma and the freshness of the beer allow it to hang in the balance, for the most part. Pretty clean, with only light minerals and buttertoffee apparent. Still, as much as I appreciate the dryness and hop aromatics in the nose, the malt just seems a bit stripped (from filtration). Too hard even from the nose, but that’s pretty much standard for Magic Hat. Alcohol is not apparent.
If the hop aromatics saved the nose, the hop flavors certainly don’t save the flavor. Light hop fruitiness is gone before you can blink and leaves a trail of acidity in its wake. Hard, crackery/papery malts are way too dry and provide no suppleness in texture. Forced carbonation is a bit obnoxious as well, exacerbating the hardness (as well as the mineral character). Hop bitterness/acidity controls the finish, with light caramel and dough flavors, but very little sweetness. The sweetness that is apparent is just a light sugariness, not a soft, deep maltiness. Acidity, buttertoffee, iced tea flavors (crystal malt) and minerals all make for a very awkward finish. Warming does not produce any thing better.

Nice deep amber coloured body with a thinnish tan head. Aroma of fresh hops, strong metal, caramel malt and a bloody scent. Medium-bodied; Strong hoppy flavour, potent malt and an alcoholic twang that lasts for a while. Aftertaste shows some of the hops along with the bitterness and a touch of the metallic tastes, finished with good malt. Overall, a decent amber, one with some good hops, but not a showstopper. Worth trying if you can find it for under $1 at Trader Joe’s, but otherwise - skip this one in favor of something else more flavourful. I sampled this 12 ounce bottle purchased from Trader Joe’s in Falls Church (Bailey’s Crossroads), Virginia on 20-February-2007.

Clear deek amber body with a small creamy white head. Caramel and floral hops aroma. Grassy hops flavor with some caramel in the end.

Bottle. Dark amber color. Very hoppy aroma, like brewery hoppy aroma. The flavor is less hoppy than one would expect, and it wasn’t too bad, though there wasn’t much to this except for the strong hop aromas.

Color is dark amber...smells hoppy...very tasty..hearty..nice malty fullness with just the right amount of hops...nothing too over the top but a pleasant mouth feel, a bit creamy with a bitter finish ...a bit of wateriness in the body, but i tend to notice that in general with their brews..it is in no way discouraging