bottle - Pours very dark brown and smells of dark roast malt and a hint of chocolate. It’s a straightforward porter with the expect roast malt flavor, decent balancing bitterness, a medium body, a bit of chocolate, and a roasty finish. Pretty good.

Bottle pour to shaker. Hazy dark amber. Malty, slightly sweet. More amber than ESB, overall.

12oz bottle from Binnys Schaumburg. Pours a hazy orange-copper color.. Massive foamy white head. Earthy dry wheat, funky aroma. All signs point to mild infection. Its not entirely undrinkable, with a big zesty, piny hop bill, it sort of survives. Comes across pretty big for 4.9%. Decent ingredients, but pretty weak execution.

12 oz bottle. Pours an orange amber with an off-white head. Toasty caramel toffee aroma. Toasted biscuit and caramel flavors with some aged hoppiness, toffee, earthy, red apple hints. It’s pretty tasty.

Nice. The mosiac comes through

12 ounce bottle into pint glass, best before 6/15/2013. Pours lightly hazy golden amber color with a nice 2 finger dense and fluffy white head with great retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lasts. Nice soapy lacing clings down the glass, with a good amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of lemon zest, orange zest, grapefruit, citrus rind, floral, grass, light pine, bread, light honey, and floral earthiness. Nice and pleasant aromas with some pretty dank feeling hop notes with a fair amount of malt balance; and decent strength. Taste of lemon zest, orange zest, grapefruit, orange rind, floral, grass, pine, bread, light honey, and floral earthiness. Good amount of earthy pine bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of citrus, citrus zest, floral, grass, pine, bread, and floral earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Nice flavor balance of dank citrus and floral/pine hop flavors; with a light amount of malt balance and some moderate astringent bitterness after the finish. Medium-high carbonation and light-medium bodied; with a very crisp and sticky mouthfeel that is good. Alcohol is very well hidden with zero warming after the finish. Overall this was a good session pale ale. Good balance of hop flavors, and very smooth to drink. The astringent bitterness knocked this down a bit, but otherwise it was an enjoyable pale ale.

Bottle pour to pint. Mildly sweet caramel malt and mild hoppiness. Smooth and pleasant.

12 ounce bottle into snifter, best before 6/3/2013. Pours slightly hazy ruby red color with a 1 finger dense cream colored head with good retention, that reduces to a thin cap that lingers. Nice spotty lacing clings on the glass. Aromas of caramel, raisin, pine, grapefruit, orange zest, toast, floral, bread, light peat, and floral earthiness; some slight phenols, but not much. Nice and pleasant aromas with good balance of hop and malt complexity. Taste of caramel, raisin, grapefruit, orange zest, pine, toast, brown sugar, floral, light chocolate, bread, and floral earthiness. Slight pine bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of caramel, raisin, citrus, pine, floral, toast, brown sugar, light chocolate, and floral earthiness on the finish for a bit. Very nice balance and complexity of malt and hop flavors; with a great balance of moderate hop bitterness and malt sweetness; and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Light-medium carbonation and medium-full bodied; with a creamy and slick mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is very well hidden with only a slight warming noticed after the finish. Overall this is a very good hoppy scotch ale. Nice complexity of hop and malt flavors with great balance; and very smooth to sip on. A very enjoyable offering.

Bottle. Toffee malt aroma. Medium amber with moderate head. Mildly sweet toffee malt and pepper flavor. Nice body. Solid.