Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 3.5
Notes from June 2009 Bottle shared around the table at a tasting this past weekend. Poured into my Yards mug. Dreary rust brown color. Minuscule amount of head. Smell is of old leather, band aids & something like fruit punch. I'm a bit weirded out by this one, but curious enough to keep going. (Hears the move theater yell, Run you idiot, run!) :o Tastes of hairy/stale bread, more leather, more plastic, acrid smoke, burnt caramel, cream, & a fresh(wha?) note of grassy hops. I feel lost. Mouthfeel was actually alright, with mellow carbonation & it not being very sticky, but I obviously had other concerns. Bad dog. : -
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5
Single from 2 Feet Brewery in Maine. Pint glass at home a few weeks later. Clear, soda steam, magenta pour. Sweet, non-descript berry Kool-aid, creamy Motts, sweet plastic, soft acid, weak tartness, malic finish, syrupy, weak carb, bittersweet leaning sweet. Good berry essence, forgettable cider. Juicy juice.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5
Single can from Two Feet Brewing. Pint glass at home a few weeks later. Super veggie, floral, honey, astringent nose. Clear, pale, magenta-tea pour with some lingering fizz. Oily, crispy, caramelized, cooked down berries, muffin mix, light astringency, malic acid, iced tea tannic finish over a little malt booze. Thin, sweet, flat, low tart, boozy, a little trashy. A little hard to stomach. Sugary & cheap.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 3.5
12oz can from 2 Feet Brewing. Took it home & chilled it for a few days in the fridge. Stemless wine glass. Clear, neon watermelon, active pour. Dusty sulfite, sugary, pineapple nose. Sugary, malic acid, chemmy red flavor, Cherry Jolly Rancher. Crispy, thin, cheap booze, dried pineapple sulfite flush. Embarrassing soda trash. Vodka mixer.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5.5
Pours deep mahogany into a shaker. White head with little retention recedes to skim surface. Sourdough and pumpernickel aromas. Dark sourdough, molasses and dry, sour overripe berries before the dirty earth finish.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Canned some time in September, I believe, drunk 12/24/18.
Pours a nicely clear, cantaloupe-peach-golden with a small, off-white head that is well-formed and shows moderate retention.
Nose is indeed musty with marmalade, a bit of sweat and light fruit cup-like sweetness. Hints of buttercream, grapefruit and pine with no alcohol or flaw, but nothing particularly interesting or alluring to smell.
In the mouth it's also odd with sweet, caramel-forward malt on the back of honey leading to white grapefruit that quickly is overtaken by buttercream and/or butter toffee. It lingers, syrupy-like, with growing sweetness and ending on orange lollipops and light pine. Low, somewhat engaging carbonation, pretty reasonable attenuation and at least the alcohol is well concealed and it's not horribly resinous. I do like that it's an approachable West Coast style IPA.
Clarkvv (16523) reviewed Building 5 Rye IPA from Penobscot Bay Brewery 7 years ago
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6.5
Bomber drunk 12/24/18.
Clear, bright copper with a massive, off-white head as all of their beers seem to have. Retention is annoyingly strong.
Nose is nutty, lightly fruity rye and fruity yeast with pine-forward and white grapefruit hops adding a fair bit of acidity, but probably due to the age of the bottle, not too aggressive or intensely resinous now. Malts show biscuit, caramel and toasted barley with no alcohol and a good deal of plastic from the yeast.
In the mouth it's extremely floral/perfumey with lemon balm and strong pine though the resin doesn't attack the palate. The strong attenuation and tight carbonation keep it drinkable even if the pine/grapefruit/lemon hops are wholly uninteresting. Lingering caramel-accented base malts and fruity, pine-heavy hop notes with moderate-to-heavy acidity. Clean, as long as you don't mind the heavy plastic house yeast character. Alcohol well-concealed.
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6.5
Bomber, undated, purchased August, drunk 10/19/18.
Massively carbonated leading to a glassy, milk chocolate-to-ebony color with a rich tan head that is hard to get rid of.
Nose doesnt yield much. Light lactic notes, cola, dark chocolate and very low maltiness. No alcohol or flaw though. This one isn't infected.
In the mouth it's similar. Pretty mild on the flavor, with lactic acidity, high attenuation, a watery, light body and strong carbonation. Milk chocolate, very light dark chocolate, light vanilla and hints of coffee with light dark fruit and a bit of caramel on the finish. While you're not going to mistake this for Single Shot, it's fine and drinkable, especially when taking in to account the relatively low abv.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 3 | Flavor - 3 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 2.5
Bottle - pours dark brown tan head - nose and taste of cardboard, lightly rotted vegetable mass, top soil, milk sugar and chocolate - light body. Overcarbed.
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
Bomber, assumedly fresh, drunk 7/18/15
Very, very carbonated pour is of utmost pale gold with a massive, white head that is well-retained. Unfiltered, with sediment left behind.
The nose is all ginger, with light waxiness from the fermented honey and a touch of tartness, as well. Little/no malt, as the residual honey seems to provide the balance here. I do get a bit of light spiciness/floral notes from the hops, on the finish, which mix with the ginger to give a sort of kaffir lime/lemongrass note. No alcohol, and no flaws.
Flavor is quite gingery, not too much so, thankfully, but you’re certainly not mistaking this for a Czech pils, that’s for sure. The honey is actually quite enjoyable too, providing light stickiness and sweetness to balance, but is also not overdone. The hops, just as in the aroma, mingle with the ginger to create a lemongrass note, which further deepens the spiciness. Carbonation is natural, texture is soft and unfiltered and no alcohol or flaw is found.
On one hand, there’s very little malt here and the texture is a bit thin. I do get a bit of wheat. I don’t know, I suppose the honey provides the sweetness lacking from the malt, and to be fair, the honey flavor is delicious, though unlike nicely extracted, well-attenuated maltiness, this would get fatiguing if you tried to drink it as a session beer, I think. I do like the cleanliness here as well; not a brewing flaw to be found. This is my first beer from Penobscot and it will actually cause me to try another, so I guess that’s saying something. Worried about their malt extraction, though hopefully I’m proven wrong in my next beer I try of theirs.