5.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 5
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6
Sample at the Palatine brewpub. Pours a clear pale orange color with a medium off-white head that diminishes steadily. Rings of lacing on the glass. Bready malt aroma with an underlying fruity character. Medium, smooth body with flavors of biscuity malt, light hops and a touch of fruit. The finish is short and malty. Barely average overall.
Tried
on 30 Sep 2009
at 22:44
6.5/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Sample at the Palatine brewpub. This beer is a clear golden color with a wispy white head that disappears quickly. Aroma of mildly spiced hops and fruit. Light body with flavors of hops, tart fruit and a touch of honey. The finish is fruity with a bready malt aftertaste. Decent overall.
Tried
on 30 Sep 2009
at 22:36
5.5/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 5
Sample at the Palatine brewpub. This brew is a clear golden color with a thin white head that burns away quickly. Spotty lacing on the glass. Aroma of grassy hops and malt. Light, crisp body with flavors of mild hops and bready malt. The finish is short with a grainy malt aftertaste. Standard unimpressive brewpub gateway beer.
Tried
on 30 Sep 2009
at 22:23
6.6/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
Draft at Downers Grove Emmett’s. Reddish brown color with a half finger of tight foam in Emmett’s "honest pint" glass. Must be a fresh batch because there’s a lot of fresh hop in the bouquet. Taste brings out a little citrus hop, and then a good pucker of noble hops. Dark crystal malt sweetness. A bit "burpy," but that helps spread the bittering to all parts of the mouth. Another solid Emmett’s beer.
Tried
from Draft
on 10 Sep 2009
at 21:56
6/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 6
Draft, Downers Grove. I seem to have a problem, either with Emmett’s German-style lagers or with the Dunkel style itself: my pint had a noticeable tang of dead yeast. I once made a Dunkel with a "no-boil" kit (that I boiled anyway) and got the same result. Well, this pours a deep brown, with red highlights and a brownish, creamy head. Dark malt smell, just a little sweet, with notes of light chocolate. Taste brings up those roast malts. Mostly pretty smooth, but again that autolysis. Yeast bite may be the cause of a slight sour cherry underlayment.
Tried
from Draft
on 22 Jun 2009
at 10:04
6.2/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 5
Flavor 6
Texture 8
Overall 6
English pint draft at Downers Grove. Waiter tells me this edition is 6.5% abv. I don’t doubt it. Looks is light golden yellow with a thin layer of bubbles leaving some lacing, quite to style. A sweet, somewhat corny smell. Taste reminds me somehow of an amped-up Hamm’s. Not as sweet as it smelled; clearly there’s maize in it, more to get more alcohol than to keep the color pale. Hops to me tasted like the German kind, and there may have been some green hops used. They seem to be tinkering with this recipe each time, and it’s getting better.
Tried
from Draft
on 22 Apr 2009
at 15:24
6.4/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
Draft, Downers Grove. Dark brown color, but with bright highlights, no haze. Stable, brown egg-shell foam for head. Smells nutty, with some honey and roastiness. First taste shows kind of a runny mouthfeel, standard for the Emmett’s house style. Beyond that is a nicely balanced session beer. Impressions of roasted porter malt on top of nuts and honey. A slightly earthy British hop note in balance. As usual for Emmett’s a sturdily built beer that runs within the borders, not to extremes.
Tried
from Draft
on 19 Mar 2009
at 09:00
7.1/10
—
Appearance 10
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Draft in a goblet at Downers Grove Emmett’s. Nice honey gold color in its goblet: hey, I’m generous to beers that look good. Honey smell, too, with a backing of alcohol. Taste is solidly to style, more honey and candi sugar, a note of yeast, a bit of clove and fruit ester. Some spiciness grows halfway through. Served way too cold for this style.
Tried
from Draft
on 30 Nov 2008
at 17:52
6.1/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
Draft at Downers Grove, English pint glass. Slight letdown after the Patriot’s Pride. Dark amber color, but clear, like the Okto’s we all like. Same scrum of light foam as with most Emmett’s brews. Munich malt smell with yeasty overtones. Taste starts out with too much banana-y weizen esters. Thankfully, that impression recedes. It seems to have lagered too warm and lost its chance to finish. Still it does improve further down, and I can get a nice taste of Vienna malts and ticklish spicy hops.
Tried
from Draft
on 20 Oct 2008
at 11:00
7.9/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Draft at Downers Grove, English pint glass. Now they call it an "English Brown Ale," and I’m liking this a lot. Opaque, dark brown under a thin scrum of foam that rises up on the edge. Bracing malt smell laced with familiar English hop nose. Taste is beautifully nutty and roasty with strong tea notes. This suggested Fuggles hops (like I know) with some mint around the edges. A slight burn from prickly carbonation, where the alcohol is hiding. Would like to see this on a cask pour.
Tried
from Draft
on 20 Oct 2008
at 10:54