Dark amber colour. Chewy, strong toffee aroma with some piney, earthy hoppiness. Lots of chewy richness in the body. Sticky, to the point where the late alcohol has little effect on the palate. Lacks focus, though, this one. It’s mostly just big, and doesn’t take me to any particular place, certainly not enough to justify the effort I have to make to drink this resinous monster.

Draught pint at Redbones, 11/22/05. Pale-copper and grapefruit skin colored body, moderate chill haze with a foamy white head, moderate retention and clumpy lacing. Aroma is right away grapefruity and very dry, making me at first wonder if this was not actually an IPA. But not much like a west coast IPA in malt profile. From the nose it is dry, with just a even, clean pale malt character, hints of dough, with more citrus and floral nots from the hops. Flavor is not as bitter as the hops might suggest from the nose. Not heavy on the bittering hops, but still a fair amount of citrus flavor, light biscuits, pale grains and a gentle, but consistently present bitterness. Malt complexity is lacking and it really leaves the hops to do most of the work, giving mostly orange, grapefruit, light melon and floral notes. Mouthfeel shows moderate carbonation, small bubbles giving an engaging texture, but the body is only medium to light in sweetness and substantiality. Smooth, to lightly watery texture. No alcohol apparency. We ought to just start a new style. These intensely citrus-hopped low-malt sweetness mid gravity beers made predominantly in the west don’t seem to have much in common with the Premium bitters of England.

On Tap at the brewpub A nice redish amber with a thin fine head and sopay lacing. Aroma sweet and hoppy but not a strong as the style would suggest. Flavor was hoppy and bitter but balanced nicely by the sweetnes that was a bit fruity. teh ABV was certainly there but seemed appropriate with all the other flavors. Nice

Hazy dark amber colour with a rich, caramel head. Fresh pale and chocolate malt aroma. Earthy, chocolate malt flavour with foresty hops. Kind of mild in the bitterness department for using such a high alpha (Warrior) hop. Way too middle of the road.

On tap at the brew pub. Very dark brown but clear. Thin tan head and wispy lacing. Plenty of dark roast/charcoaly note in the aroma. Flavors wer similar and with a thin light body that is common for the style I find. Burnt dark roasy bitter aftertaste.

On tap at the brew pub. Dark brown color with a thin light tan head. Aromas were dark and sweet of wood and caramel. Flavors were rich and woody wth some brown sugar and oak barrels. Not too much hop bitterness and a heavy feel. Not bad.

On tap at the brew pub. Light golden amber color and very faint pale grain aroma. Very light flavors of pale malts and a thin feel. BB’s lawnmower beer I suppose

On tap at the brew pub. Fairly dark amber color witha modest off white head. Sturdy malt backbone and fairly strong hops as well in the aromas. Flavors were similar. Hops were citrusy and seems fairly strong for the style. A bit more like an IPA