Cloudy amber pour with large foamy head - classic, piney, crisp, slightly caramel malt aroma, with faint herbal qualities - semi-tart up front - some grainy, bready, yeasty chewiness - spruce/pine dryness at the back end - pretty solid.

Draught pint at Horshoe Pub on 4/22/06
Bright auburn-orange/cherry-tinted body has an array of beige, tan and straw colors all mixing about in its unfitlered, cloudy body. Frothy head is two-fingers high, beige and rocky, being retained quite well and providing light lacing.
Lightly spicy German hops are the first note I get, followed by light cherries and apples and finally a strong, caramel, perhaps caramunich maltiness. Fresh yeast is nutty, lightly soily/mineral-like and quite apparent. Some crystal malt dryness seeps over the hops and really seems to control things more than the hops do. Sweet buttercream and dry earthiness create a good balance, but just don’t leave enough room for the hops. Perhaps some centennial or cascade bitterness, lightly citric and quite dry, without being overly aromatic.
The first few sips are heavily yeasty, earthy and dirty, with what is either light phenolic character or just oddly spicy German hops. However, looking in to it further, it seems to be absorbed in to the palate and I can’t find it again. Bready German malts, strong toffee and caramel sweetness with some playful fruitiness and moderate citrus all combining to create a strong IPA, but the strength lies in the malt and yeast, not the hops. Hops are again, more bitter and less aromatic, with some aspirin-like character, though somewhat saved by light fruitiness and leafiness. Body is thick and unfiltered though, with residual sugars in support of the mouthfeel and a moderate amount of carbonation. Munich malt sits too domineering on the end, in my opinion, and it just becomes too sweet and bready/doughy without enough hop brightness. No alcohol noted.

Pours deep orange/amber into a shaker. Head quickly subsides to skim the surface and leaves lacing. Grapefruit and resin notes. Fairly slick and a little one dimensional -- while it does begin with up front floral hops, it quickly moving to strong bitter grapefruit finish that catches in the jowls.

As everyone put it, a decent beer but nothing to write home about. Pours with little head, slightly lucid beer with an orange tint. The taste had nothing distinguishable neither did the aroma.

Winter 2004-2005 bottle drunk on 2/23/2005. Pours a caramel brown with some darker mahogany hues and a small off-white head. Filtered, very clear body. Aroma of heavy spicing, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, etc... Caramel stickiness seems a bit too sweet, with little to no lager crispness. Flavor starts out with heavy spicing, dry and lightly astringent. On the heels of the spice, comes some of the sticky-sweet (or should I say, sickly-sweet) caramel flavoring. Seems cheap and artificial. On the finish, there is some light lager yeast, and more drying spice. Papery astringency disrupts the body, and the disjointed nature of the beer (dry spice, cloying syrupy sugar) makes me shake my head and slowly pour it down the drain. This one is all over the place, and I don’t think the lager yeast works with the syrupy sugary caramel flavor and overly dry spice. With some tweaks to this beer and significanly less filtration, this could have potential.

A respectable vienna - strawberry blonde in color, herbal aroma with a touch of sweetness - quite hoppy, even for the style - a mild grainy maltiness - finishes clean

2004 draught @ Ithaki. Looks the part, good mix of browns and ambers, quite bright with a small white head. Aroma of very light brown malts, hints of sugar and a good dose of bitter hops. Flavor is very hoppy up front with some touches of caramel towards the finish, but it never really brings enough malt and you get a dry, almost metallic finish that is too bitter and just seems like another average APA. Medium body, somewhat watery on the finish. It’s drinkable enough, but quite unspectacular.