Chai Solstice
Anderson Valley Brewing Company in Boonville, California, United States 🇺🇸
Spiced / Herbed / Vegetable / Honey - Spiced Rotating|
Score
6.86
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Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Got in a trade with The-Adjunct-Hippie. 12 ounce can into tulip glass, canned on 8/17/2018. Pours fairly hazy/cloudy deep orange/copper/amber color with a 1 finger fairly dense and fluffy light khaki head with great retention, that reduces to a thin lace cap that lingering. Nice spotty foamy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of big cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, clove, allspice, vanilla, orange peel, anise, peppercorn, caramel, brown sugar, and toasted biscuit; with lighter notes of toffee, golden raisin, fig, peach, plum, pear, apricot, red apple, herbal, floral, grass, and yeast/toasted earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of spices, dark/bready malts, and light-moderate earthy hop/fruity yeast notes; with great strength. Taste of big cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, clove, allspice, vanilla, orange peel, anise, peppercorn, caramel, brown sugar, and toasted biscuit; with lighter notes of toffee, golden raisin, fig, peach, plum, pear, apricot, red apple, herbal, floral, grass, and yeast/toasted earthiness. Light herbal, floral, grassy bitterness; and cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, pepper spiciness on the finish. Lingering notes of cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, clove, allspice, vanilla, orange peel, anise, peppercorn, caramel, brown sugar, toasted biscuit, dark fruit, herbal, floral, grass, and yeast/toasted earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Great complexity, robustness, and balance of spices, dark/bready malts, and light-moderate earthy hop/fruity yeast flavors; with a great malt/bitter/spiciness balance, and no cloying/astringent flavors after the finish. Light-moderate increasing dryness from lingering bitter/spiciness. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth and moderately creamy/bready/grainy/sticky balanced mouthfeel that is great. Zero warming alcohol for 6.9%. Overall this is an excellent spiced beer. All around great complexity, robustness, and balance of spices, dark/bready malts, and light-moderate earthy hop/fruity yeast flavors; very smooth and easy to drink with the mellowly bitter/spicy/drying finish; not overwhelming on any aspect. Great balance between vibrant spices and dark/bready malts; with restrained fruity yeast, and earthy hop notes. Mild residual sweetness with lingering bitter/spicy dryness. A very enjoyable offering, and impressive style example as expected. Equally impressive as the Winter Solstice, with more spice complexity. No complaints.
bb (18607) reviewed Chai Solstice from Anderson Valley Brewing Company 7 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Can. Copper beer with a tan head. Malt and cinnamon aroma with vanilla. Caramel and vanilla flavor with spice. Medium bodied. Spice and vanilla linger with caramel.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Sample at The Draft Room. Hazy amber color with a medium thin off-white head that dissipates quickly to an outer ring. Short strings of lace. Chai spices and fruit in the nose. Medium body with flavors of chai tea, fruit and herbs. The finish is spicy chai and fruit. Decent overall.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Deep amber coloured body with a relatively thick-ish tan head, about three centimetres tall. Aroma of pure chai spices with nutmeg, allspice, coriander seed, star anise and the strongest amount of cloves. Light to Medium-bodied: Strong space-based flavours with a big dash of malt and grain with only a touch of sugars and thick body to couple with all those spices, which are evident throughout. Aftertaste shows the light malt characteristics with some milk and lactose flavours with a good punch of alcohol towards the end with a balance given from some light sugars, a touch of grain and mostly from the spices that dominate this beer from start to end. Overall, a nice beer with bunches of flavours from the spice, the malt and a robust quality from the yeast and alcohol punch near the end. I sampled this twelve ounce can purchased from Whole Foods in Arlington (Pentagon City), Virginia on 28-September-2018 for US$2,99 sampled on the train from New York to Washington on 02-December-2018 with my family.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6.5
On Tap Hazy deep amber with a creamy light tan head. Plenty of Chai spice in the aroma. Toasted malts and the holiday Chai spice flavors as well. A little sweet. A bit more like a fall Pumpkin beer. Nit bad, for what it is.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Amber color with a tan head. Flavor combination of sweet vanilla and spice, almost like Indian food that’s sweet.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5
Sampled on draft at Hugo's this beer poured a caramel-tan color with a medium sized foamy beige head that left a bit of lacing. The aroma was chai spice and nothing else. The flavor was chai spice and bread crust. Long finish. Medium body.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Can from Total Wine in Sacramento, CA. Pours bright coppery brown with a beige head. Spicy aroma. Med body or so. Flavor is very spicy. Sort of a cross between mint and cinnamon. Moderately dry. Malt manages to assert itself despite the spice. Bitter? No. Spice? Yes.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
Tap at Hair of the Dog, Phrom Phong, Bangkok. Poured a hazy dark amber colour with a lasting frothy off white head. The aroma is malt, big red berry fruits, herbal tea. The flavour is moderate sweet with a smooth, rich, herbal, floral dry hop bitter palate. Medium bodied with soft carbonation. Not really my style and I struggled to drink this at all.