Almost perfectly clear deep dark brown coloured body with almost no head at all, but a beautiful deep ruby tint towards the bottom. Aroma of very soured, tart blackberries, raspberries, cherries and a light lime note as well without any real malt seemingly here and a dash of foeder and oakiness, but no real alcohol in the nose as well - very light throughout and fruity with some sugars here - nice in the nose. Medium-bodied; Strong tart berry flavours dominate up front with a light maple syrup note of extreme sweetness (somehow not cloying, though) that perhaps is the sassafras (although i love a real sasparilla) but some lighter polished notes come from cedar, oak, woodsie and dry finishes, with more sugars at the end. Aftertaste shows a lot of the berry soured and tart qualities with a lot of alcohol warmth at the end from the feeling, but nothing really comes across as boozy or deep/pungent here, the sugars come through and go down and the fruits show more with a light soured and tart quality, but nothing to the effect of 14 per cent! Overall, a pretty nicely structured beer that doesn't have a bit malt bill at all and is surprisingly easy-drinking without any cloying sweetness, so at 14 per cent, without it being cloying or pungent, this is already a winner. A neat beer and one that should/could be sampled by almost anyone - nice and in about the right format (a single twelve ounce container). I sampled this 12 ounce bottle purchased from Total Wine in Springfield, Virginia on 20-October-2019 for US$5,99 sampled at my house here in Washington on 29-September-2022 almost three years later.

$5.39 bottle, TW-SP. Pours amber, some small bubbles, no head. Aroma is vanilla, tart stone fruit. Flavor is vanilla, sour stone fruit (not horribly sour), root beer (guess that's the sassafrass), bread crust. This is an interesting combo.