The reason Jamie Emmerson and Irene Firmat started Full Sail in the first place was to build a company that was completely different from the ones where we’d previously worked. It wasn’t about business as usual. It was about finding our calling in life — about truly appreciating our “human resources,” and balancing work, life, family and friends in a way that makes life truly worth living.
Determined to make world-class beer in our own backyard, one of our first, and perhaps best, decisions was to invest in new, state-of-the-art brewing equipment. So we bit the bullet, laid down our borrowed cash, and spent the better part of 1987 installing the new system. Our love for the environment is what drives our sustainable practices, so pure water, local ingredients and responsible processes are poured into each and every tasty pint.
Opaque - tan head that shrinks to nice lacing - smells like hoppy chocolate milk - flavor is mildly sweet and roasty - undertones of chocolate, coffee, and perhaps even plums - finished with a hop bitterness that, at first, I found enjoyable, but soon thought to be out of balance with the rest of the beer - still a great product, though.
2001 version, bottled (at the Rate Beer gathering at Flying Saucer, Addison). Amber couloured. Cork and flower aroma. Very thick with chewy maltiness. This is hop syrup so thick it doesn't make your mouth wet. Flavourful, and rather complex, yet not extremely bitter.
[have had many vintages since, none of which have matched up to the first I had - still really tasty stuff, though] Vintage 1999. Holy crap! I’m in f--kin’ love! This is like Hair of the Dog Fred, but superior in most respects. Burnt orange color, cloudy appearance. Malty sweetness. Roasty notes. Plums, figs, cherries in the finish. Prostrate yourselves and bow down! Aged to near perfection. A great barleywine! Thanks a million brewbandit!
1999 sampled end of 2002. Bright red; richly malty, syrupy aroma...peach, toffee. Still a very syrupy body, with warming malt, peach, pear...alcohol underneath it all. It''s not that I don''t like my barley wines malty (Old Woolly!) but this is a bit much, especially for its age. It should have developed some style by now - it takes more than big flavours to get over with me.