First impression: Watery with only hints of sweet malts and smoke. A little chocolate, perhaps. Lots of fizz. My first impression didn’t change by the end. This just seemed too thin to raise it above average.

This brewer is a bit hit and miss with me. This was the first time I had this one . Sampled from a 12 oz brown bottle this beer poured a medium golden color with a medium sized soapy white head that faded quickly. The aroma is sweet and lightly fruity. The flavor is crisply malty with a hint of crisp hops. There is a light peppery undertone. The finish is sharp.

Hazy light golden color with a very thin and fizzy but lasting white head. No lacing to be found. The aroma is a little fruity along with mild hops. Light-bodied and bubbly with fruit and wheat flavors. Kind of a watery texture too. The finish is short and lemony. I am against any beer that makes reference to something secreted from the human body. Even without that this is a below average beer.

2005 bottle from Julio’s consumed 5/28/2005 at OldGrowth’s BBQ. Having mixed feelings about the Looking Glass series thus far, I went in to this with no expectation. Pours a completely cloudy/opaque orange-yellow body. Looks like tangerine juice with extra pulp. White head immediately fizzles away to nothing, no lacing. Aroma smells sharp and heavily wheaty, with a big acid tanginess, and plenty of sour/tart citrus/wheat notes. Light hops are noted as well, with a grainy maltiness, some vanilla and bits of dough. Flavor is grainy malt, sour wheat and vanilla cream. Some light tangerine notes, lemon on the end and a bit of bananas and light sugar throughout. Carbonation is low and pleasant, but the body is a bit heavy and watery, so maybe in retrospect it could use more carbonation. Lots of wheat always seems to give beer a thick, heavy mouthfeel without as much actual flavor. Interesting stuff though, IMHO, I like the fact that it is completely unfiltered.

I just managed to try this one on draft and from the bottle in the last 2 days. Of the 2 versions I like the bottle better and this rating is for the bottle. The beer poured a bright copper color with a medium sized yellow head. The aroma is strong with fruity hops. The flavor is strongly sweet with a nice fruity hop character that reflects the Amarillo characteristics quite well. This makes a nice showcase beer for the Amarillo hop. The mouthfeel is fairly thick and syrupy.

04-05 bottle thanks to Larry Pitonka. Clear peach-orange, with some golden-copper hues and a small white head, very rapidly dissipating to nothing. Aroma is pretty eye-opening, more hops than I was expecting. Not horribly citrusy in the nose, but pretty green and juicy, with some sweet fruitiness as well. Maybe a touch of malt. Flavor begins with hops and ends on hops. There is a strange, light sour/butterscotch flavor that I’m not too keen on, but the hops flavor is pretty true, for what they are trying to accomplish. A bit of spoiled peach/meatiness plays with the hop bitterness and it gets boring, to my tastes, towards the end. Medium body, at best, horribly filtered and hard tasting. Is this pasteurized? I think so. Poured out the last quarter or so. On a positive note, I couldn’t detect much, if any alcohol.

Winter 04-05 bottle. Clear, filtered ruby-amber body, with a deep magenta shine to it, looks quite the sight (except that it’s filtered) with an, at first, good-sized yellow-beige head, that slowly recedes to cover. Aroma has some nutty and fruity yeast notes, with plenty of cascades, nutmeg/cinnamon and light toffee. Flavor starts out with a dry, woody/nutty/earthy spice mixed with roast. Why is it that these spiced beers are alwasy too dry and astringent and combine not only the dryness from hops, but also the dryness from spicing. I think they ought to pick one of the two and go with it. Anyways, some light caramel notes make their way in to the flavor, but it’s too late, and by that time, the body is already thinning out on the end. Bitter hops are everywhere, unfocused spicing, dull feel on the palate, too much astringency, cheap, soad-like carbonation, unsubstantial body. . . . .but other than that, I love it!

(Bottle 35,5 cl) Jesus, this beer is dry, excessively dry. And bitter to the point where my tastebuds go on strike. Amber, unfiltered with a dense head that never completely disappears. Dryhopped with "Crystal" and "Centennial" for aroma, but also adding a wasteland of bitterness. Hard to drink.

Pale golden color. Very nice hop aroma, fruity (grapefruit and abricots), lighlty cheesy, aggressive. Very strong bitterness, fruity (grapefruit, grapes, abricots). Rough, extreme, quite enjoyable. Thank Jens (Ungstrup) for this bottle.