5.5

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5

Draught at MW’s 8th Anniversary, 10/17/15.
Chaos dominating the appearance though some lighter mahogany notes do cluster the edges, with a beige-to-tan head that is small and rapidly dissipating. Clarity indeterminable, but assumedly opaque.
Citrus and lightly pine-like hops in the nose are somewhat overshadowed by chocolate notes and light roast. Some soy, oxidation and bits of vanilla dot the nose as well, but it’s not a massive aroma by any means. The massive amounts of various malts whirl about and combine to give complexity but I could do with a bit more of something lighter/brighter to break up that. I guess the hops sort of do that, but the citrus and pine isn’t really the first thing I’d pick. No flaws, and the alcohol isn’t overt in the nose.
Lots of chocolate malt, kind of like the doppelbock I just had, with caramel, toffee and very easygoing roastiness mixed in all to varying degrees. Bitterness from the hops is felt, but only slightly, being quite controlled by all of this maltiness. Some crystal malt-like hardness of texture and iced tea-like notes with either some early oxidation (seems odd) or maybe just that’s some of cominbation of malt flavors. Sweet, rather warming and just too much for me. There’s little finesse or even potential brightness from fruitiness/vinousness or barrel woodiness, which would actually be welcome here, I think. For a beer that must be around 12%abv, it’s well-controlled in that department.