7.6

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

Draught at the brewery, 2/18/22. Medium copper with some deeper hazelnut hues and an off-white/beige head atop that is small and shows moderate-to-low retention. Good clarity. Smells of brown sugar, honey, slightly spicy phenolic notes, minimal, lightly earthy hops and lingering caramel and brown bread. In the mouth it's soft, with an almost slippery/sugary texture, engaging carbonation and hints of hazelnut, molasses and moderate phenolics on the end. Malty and comforting, but still properly attenuated. Minimal hop character but not none. Some light bitterness helps with balance. Clean, or at least as clean as it should be. Quite on the money. They've nailed all the malt liquor checkboxes (maltiness, texture, spicy/phenolic/alcoholic finish, minimal hop character). I enjoyed it.