100 rater. This is an amazing feat, I do not know how a brewery can make an old ale look, smell, and taste like a bad bock. Pours light amber, almost full clarity, small head. Aroma is cheap warm country macro lagered corn-fruitiness. You know if nuts could go rotten they would smell like this. Taste is not as bad, fortunately. Taste is again full of lagered fruitiness and a not so bad nuttiness. Taste like paper as well. On the heavy side of a light body, a slightly over-carbonated feel. A rather weak and passable brew. 4/2/6/3/9.

I don’t know if I have re-rated a beer almost 10 years after the first time with nothing in between, especially without ever drinking within that period. Apparently, they were calling this an old ale about a decade ago. I guess a lot changes over time. The pour is much prettier than, what could have been an overly, old bottle. A slightly rosy clear amber color with a medium head that fades quickly into some light lacing. Aroma is moderately strong with malts dominating. Malts are very Scottish like with soil and ground malts, lightly tinged with sweetness. Some clean earthiness. Sort of like a malt candy in a wet and dark climate. Flavor has a little vegetal character but its overtaken by a similarly lightly sweet and ground/earthy maltiness. A little effervescent carbonation to complete the mouthfeel. Much nicer and definitely in the Scottish style that the first time I had this almost a beer lifetime ago. This will stay as the current rating.

Crude like crude oil. 12 oz brown bottle, Erie brewing has to be one of the most underrated micro-brewers around these parts. Pop the lid and you get the typical mild roasted aroma of a stout with hints of chocolate within. When you pour this stuff into the clear mug there is a rush to form a head no matter how gently you pour. Big tan brown head. Big bubbles all thru the head. Most heads are foam; this is really bubbly, like bubble bath. The brew is black and dark, opague like the used oil out of my shovelhead. Even with it’s opaque looks, I can still see many streams of beautifully fine carbonation rising within. The flavor of this borders on imperial stout. It is a little too bitter for a sweet stout but does not really insult my girlie taste buds. Then it starts to behave like a regular stout but the viscosity of this is definitely much thicker than those watery stouts. Eventually the big head of foam settles to a regular quarter inch head. This sweet stout has some of the best carbonation I have had in the style. It is rare to find a sweet stout that has such pleasing bubbly tingle on the back of your throat – I like this feel. Overall a good example of sweet stout without the sweetness. The carbonation adds a dimension that is usually absent from this style. Pretty high alky content for a sweet stout.

A lightly hazed amber ale with a thin creamy white head. A sweet caramel aroma with light vinous notes, and warming alcohol. In mouth, a good caramel malt base with some decent British hopping, not floral or citrusy, warming alcohol finish. Bought at Party Source Fall 2006.

I liked this better than the Railbender. Flavor is a little bit of grass, a little bit of hops, well balanced, but fairly uninteresting. Comes off crisp and clean.

Pours an orange haze with a small head. Aroma is floral and grassy, but weak. Flavor could be better balanced. Strong alcohol is obvious, but it buries a nice caramel-like sweetness with some fruit and hops. Body and mouthfeel are more syrupy than I wanted although I wouldn’t go so far as to call this an Old Ale.