Sample at the Irvine brewpub. Lightly hazed bronze color with a thin white head that diminishes steadily, and small patches of lacing. Citrus hops aroma. The flavor is sweet at first with malt, followed by moderately bitter hops and citrus. The finish is moderately bitter hops with lingering orange peel and hops aftertaste. Slightly above average overall.

Sample at the Irvine brewpub. This beer is a clear amber color with a thin and compact beige head that recedes slowly. Spotty lacing. Light malt and caramel in the nose, as well as some hops. Medium body with grainy malt and caramel flavors along with some hops here and there. The finish is sweet toffee and malt with a short caramel aftertaste. Average overall.

Sample at the Irvine brewpub. Served with a lemon, this beer is a hazed yellow color with a thin white head that diminishes quickly. Spotty lacing. Light wheat and biscuity malt in the nose. Light-bodied and wheaty with notes of fruit and cloves. The finish is mildly fruity with a wheat aftertaste that does not linger. Slightly below average overall.

Draft @ KLCC Microbrew Festival: Pours a pale gold color with a small white head. Aroma is floral hops and moderate malty sweetness. Flavor begins with a little hoppiness, mostly florals, and finished with a sour lagery malt tail. Didn’t pick up on the rye much, unless this sour malt thing was the idea. A big let down after sampling the strong ale earlier in the festival.

Draft @ KLCC Microbrew Festival: Pours a dark golden color with a large sandy head. Thick lacing. Aroma is rich with dark fruits, citrus, and caramel malt. Flavor is hoppy up front, lots of citrus and some florals. The caramel malt balances it out before a little citrus kick in the trailer. Nicely done.

Draught pint at Redbones on 12/14/06
Medium golden in color with notes of straw and copper. White head is rather dense, well-retained and laces quite profusely. Medium-high clarity, slight haziness.
Dry, almost malt devoid aroma is pungently sharp with white grapefruit, perfumey rye and a strong spiciness that seems somehow heavy. Light soapiness as well. Lemons, more grapefruit and just altogether way too much bitterness and dryness. A bit of white bread and fleeting hints of dough lie behind it. Medium to medium-high strength, but it’s very singular. Very sharp; rye needs to be supported by some sweeter malts, not just heavily bitter hops.
Bitter and acidic immediately, confounding the tongue and quickly fatiguing the palate with bitterness and dryness. Malt sweetness is very brief and mostly it just seems like wet texture. Maybe some toastiness, but that does nothing to help the balance. Rye is again sharp and perhaps a bit nutty, but again, nuttiness does not add balance. Wet, but rather full texture, with medium-tight carbonation. No alcohol or flaws, but just heavily unbalanced and a poorly thought out grain bill/mash schedule it seems.

Draught pint at Redbones on 12/5/06
Unfortunately, the tan-beige colored head immediately fizzles to nothing, leaving a rather still-looking glass of opaque or near-opaque black liquid. I’ll chalk it up to pressurization at the bar or the glass (though this is almost never the case at Redbones), as this beer was anything but problematic and I see no point in taking off points from an otherwise wonderful beer. Furthermore, I see plenty of scores showing quite the opposite experience of mine.
Sticky, vanilla flavored marshmallows rise up sweetly, dotted with sweet dates, light black cherries and the most subtle, yet noticeable, roastiness. Vinousness, bordering on liqueur-like flavors with anise and maybe some cocoa? Rich, unrelenting aroma (though it must be sniffed close to the glass). No off-flavors and quite the rollercoaster of sweet and dry flavors. Fruity and sweet at times, to spicy and roasty with a broad range of complexities.
The flavor takes the aroma and personifies it tenfold. Especially upon warming, it’s just a wealth of rich flavors in the mouth. But as all good beers, it’s balanced as well. Lightly dry char and roast notes balance the sweet choco-caramel and vanilla notes. Dark fruits are perky on the edges and the body is soft, with a sticky, and at times, velvet-like texture. A very lovely anise note is well-placed and balances some fudginess. Coffee flavors are light and stay mostly out of the way, just adding a light complexity. The flavor is so strong and full, it coats the palate and lingers long, with no loose sections. Even undercarbonated, it hardly comes off loose, the malt just adding so much depth and texture. Chocolate-cherry-cola finish with balancing roastiness is phenomenal.

2002 draught chalice at Redbones on 11/28/06
Still and glassy, not hazy, yet nor is it clear. Small whisp of beige colored head immediately fizzles to nothing. A vibrant auburn-mahogany-magenta color is the body. No lacing.
Crystal malt adds a hardness to the nose, unfolding in to breadiness and even a light touch of doughy yeast. Strong, rather narrowly focused citric-like fruitiness is quite sharp at first, combined with the wheat dryness producing the hard, edgy, rather difficult nose similar to Smuttynose’s wheatwine. Alcohol warmth is evident beneath layers of dry caramel and breadiness, with just a pinch of chocolate sweetening things before being cut off by a dry dough and wheat-like finish. But with warming and extended breathing, as is the case with most vintage high gravity beers, the beer takes on a completely new profile. The sharp, focused citric twanginess fully loosens and you get a much more complex, softer array of cherries, oranges, apricots and plums. More caramel/chocolate character can be seen, in a sweeter sense, while the yeast, wheat and breadiness all seem to fade to some extent. Playful spiciness emerges as well, combining with the fruitiness pleasantly, while no fusels come off the liquid and instead the alcohol warmth seems evenly matched by the emerging sweetness/softness. Medium strength of aroma, but it increases as it warms, while oxidation (light madeira) only accounts for about five to ten percent of the nose, and quite inoffensive at that.
Similar story in the flavor; the beer greatly improves with patience. Hard marmalade and crusty/dry crystal malts initially seem too aggressive and unsupported, while wheat is mainly dry and lightly sourish. But breathing allows more varied, softer fruitiness and more sticky sweetness. Fortunately, the dryness never leaves and the beer ends up well-balanced. It achieves the best of both worlds, almost a candied apple sort of flavor. With the hardened candy shell representing the hard, yet still semi-sweet crystal malt and the apple representing the more soft, easygoing fruitiness. Texture is slippery at times, lightly sticky and generally pretty smooth from the wheat. Carbonation is extremely low, would have been interesting to see what it was like with more, but it dosent seem to hurt the beer at this level, just emphasizes its sipping nature. Alcohol warmth is ever-present, but never sharp or obnoxious. Quite complex and in very good condition for four years of age.

Draught at restaurant. Lovely looking beer with straw colour and bubbly whit head. Almost no aroma. Malty flavour with some breadiness, like country barley bread. Hoppy finish some toasty notes.