7.5/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 8
Pours deep amber with a slowly fading head.Nose shows coriander and doughy wheat, witbier-style. Also some Belgian phenols bringing things back towards tripel territory.Very similar flavours, more of the same with a hit of soft booze later. Some citrus notes too and a little cinnamon.Could use more carbonation.A massive improvement from 2011.
Tried
on 05 Feb 2014
at 18:07
7.2/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
(Bottle) Slightly hazy golden with almost no head. Nice complex aroma with peppery spice and hints of rich malt and yeasty esters. Full body with creamy carbonation. Taste has a rich spice on caramelly malt start and develops complexity leading to a finish that combines hoppy bitterness, peppery spice and alcohol heat. The specific flavours are hard to distinguish and there is a vegetable hint that doesn’t seem quite right to me. Nonetheless, a very good Christmas beer.
Tried
from Bottle
on 18 Dec 2013
at 04:53
3.6/10
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Appearance 4
Aroma 4
Flavor 4
Texture 4
Overall 2.5
Comes out almost flat, aroma has syrupy hop, but also diacetyl. Same palate, sticky sweet but dull hops and there’s diacetyl in there as well.
Tried
on 09 Nov 2013
at 09:19
5.6/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 5
Texture 4
Overall 5.5
A raspberry rum barrel wheat. Hazy tan. A bit lively, the fruit is big on the nose, but hardly on the palate. A bit thin, malts drop out.
Tried
on 09 Nov 2013
at 07:52
5.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 4
Overall 6
Pours black with a gigantic head.Nose shows liquorice, roasted malt and a metallic/mineral like note.A mixture of roasted malt and an acidic tang as flavours with a hit of coffee in the finish.Carbonation is too high.
Tried
on 31 Oct 2013
at 19:02
9/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 9
Flavor 10
Texture 8
Overall 10
From a 330ml bottle on 8/10/2013. Pours a cloudy deep amber with a huge head out of the bottle, which thankfully eventually subsides. The aroma is dominated by peat - like sniffing a Laphroaig, with just a touch of caramel and butterscotch. This is a sweet and complex beast in the mouth, with citrus and stone fruit, honey, marmalade, and toffee all featuring. The peatiness is also prevalent in the flavour, and there’s a big, lingering hop bitterness valiantly battling against the prevailing sweetness. The texture is oily and the body full. Being a HopDog, it’s a bit over carbed. These guys really need to get this problem fixed, as it happens too regulalry with their beers. Notwithstanding this minor quibble, this is an amazingly complex dessert beer, and dangerously quaffable for 10.5%. Outstanding stuff. Rating 4.2.
Re-rate 24/3/2014. No carbonation issue with this one! This is one sensational, sweet/bitter nectar. Rating 4.3.
Re-rate 5/5/2014. The carbonation is good again. The complexity on display here is simply amazing. Arguably the best Aussie beer I’ve had to date. In fact one of the best beers I’ve tried period. Rating 4.4.
Further re-rate on 26/5/2016. I’ve been drinking lots of this, after discovering HopDog is still selling boxes online. Just grows on me the more I drink. Damn this is a magnificent creation. Sweet, smoky, complex, unique. Fucking marvelous gear.
Final (?) re-rate on 2/11/2016. Possibly my last bottle of this delicious elixr. I think I bought out HopDog’s last stock and then searched other online stores for their remaining bottles. Farewell my magnificent friend (rating unchanged).
Re-rate 24/3/2014. No carbonation issue with this one! This is one sensational, sweet/bitter nectar. Rating 4.3.
Re-rate 5/5/2014. The carbonation is good again. The complexity on display here is simply amazing. Arguably the best Aussie beer I’ve had to date. In fact one of the best beers I’ve tried period. Rating 4.4.
Further re-rate on 26/5/2016. I’ve been drinking lots of this, after discovering HopDog is still selling boxes online. Just grows on me the more I drink. Damn this is a magnificent creation. Sweet, smoky, complex, unique. Fucking marvelous gear.
Final (?) re-rate on 2/11/2016. Possibly my last bottle of this delicious elixr. I think I bought out HopDog’s last stock and then searched other online stores for their remaining bottles. Farewell my magnificent friend (rating unchanged).
Tried
from Bottle
on 08 Oct 2013
at 03:02
6.4/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 6
Texture 2
Overall 6.5
Pours amber with a large head.Nose shows floral and fruity hops along with Belgian spicy phenols. Also a doughy yeast notes.More spicy and floral hops as flavours along with Belgian spicy hops and some light malt.Carbonation is much too high. Annoyingly so.
Tried
on 25 Sep 2013
at 02:07
5.3/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 5
Texture 4
Overall 5
Bottle. Black with a large tan head. Aroma of blackcurrants, mocha, licorice. Rather farmyardy. Thin body, no oaty smoothness here. Astringent taste with coffee, blackcurrants, jarring citrus notes. Not without its charms but something’s awry with this one.
Tried
from Bottle
on 05 Sep 2013
at 05:28
7/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
Bottle. Amber with a huge loose white head that collapses to an inch. High bead; doesn’t seem quite so carbonated in the mouth and highish is OK for me for this sort of thing. Aroma of dough, flowers, pineapple, nectarines, cloves, vanilla, orange sherbet. Light peachy sweetness, no caramel. Moderate bitterness, finish is drying and lightly spicy. Yeasty, but the lightness of the sweet fruit allows the finish to cut through well.
Tried
from Bottle
on 27 Aug 2013
at 07:12
7.1/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
From a 330ml bottle on 10/8/2013 Pours near black with a medium tan head. Has quite a strong chocolate aroma with a touch of coffee in there as well. Chocolate and mocha dominate the flavour, though the sweetness in moderate and tempered by a nice, quite distinct roasty, dark chocolate bitterness. The body is medium, as is the carbonation (very pleased to come across a HopDog where the carbonation is not explosive!). While it may not have the X factor, it’s still a very solid, well made, enjoyable stout.
Tried
from Bottle
on 10 Aug 2013
at 02:41