8.4/10
—
Appearance 10
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Pours a hazy red-tinted gold into a tulip. Fluffy white micro head calders as it slowly recedes leaving spider lacing. Fruity pine and resin aromas. Crisp and full with upfront juicy fruit and vanilla/ caramel with a lasting bitter resin finish.
Tried
on 13 Sep 2007
at 18:54
6.6/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
Getestet beim LCRBM Hopfiger, stark würziger Antrunk, vermischt mit dezenter Süße. Der malzige Ton scheint vorerst noch zurückhaltend und legt erst nach dem Auftreten eines herben Tons so richtig los. Zuletzt süßer. Leckere Mischung. Test vom 11.9.2007, Gebinde: Glasflasche Noten: 11,11,10,11,11,11 - 10,85
Tried
from Bottle
on 11 Sep 2007
at 12:03
8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Dark red-brown, hazy; no head left but small coloured rim. Very vinous, higher alcohols, fruity esters and smells of fruits on brandy. C-hops taste, sweet cognac, dried, chocolate-drenched raisins, as from a -yes - decadent childrens’ fondue. Unfortunately the hops make the end quite wry. Very well-bodied, alcoholwarming. Nice, terribly powerful beer, vinous as none. Pity about the raw finish.
Tried
on 10 Sep 2007
at 11:45
7.6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Blind tasting at sk8vikings porter / stout tasting, beer no 6. Pours deep brown to black with a lacing brown head. Thick chocolate and liqourice aroma. Thick and smooth mouthfeel. Liqourice and chocolate flavour. Clear alcohol presence. Warming with with slight bitter note and chocolate note.
Tried
on 09 Sep 2007
at 05:59
8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 10
Overall 8
75 cL bottle from Servall (10% on the bottle). Post-99, as the gold medal is memorialized on the bottle. The aroma is dark, ripe stone fruit, but like overripe peach rather than plummy. The color is ripe reddish fruit flesh, and the head just went poof. Full bodied. Near creamy carbonation. Starts ripe stone fruit, almost toffee, definitely chocolate, maybe cherry skins. Vanilla is very low key, until the finish. The finish is relatively dry, fruity notes, but not a great deal of bitter. Maybe a bit of orange oil. Whatever it is, it is pretty complex. This was a dusty bottle, and the only Grand Cru left in the store. Besides that, it was at a "sale price". The bottle was red and gold, rather than gold. If anyone has an idea how old it was, please share. I’m guessing 4-6 yrs. The palate is reminiscent of a mature Gales. And such a large bottle.
Tried
from Bottle
on 04 Sep 2007
at 22:16
7.1/10
—
Appearance 10
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Very good of Oslo2116 to share this incredibly rare treat. Bottle number 220/234. Even as I am extremely grateful to try this, I am terribly disappointed because AleSmith has ruined an excellent beer with a crappy bourbon flavor. They might have used a different a different barrel, oak chips, Calvados, Port barrels, but instead, dialed-in bourbon. Bourbon aroma and bourbon flavor. Hardly recognizable as a Scotch ale any more, without the complexity and flavor of the un-ruined, regular version. Considerable malt is present anyway, as well as sugar, but bourbon has covered all there was to love. Palate seemed a little thin. I feel bad about this review because I know this beer is kind of a big deal and I love thick, sweet vinous Scotch ales, but the bourbon isn’t for me.
Tried
from Bottle
on 04 Sep 2007
at 01:00
8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
bottle shared by bdigi66 - Pours copper with a lingering head. It has a nice citrus hop aroma. There’s really good hop flavor with citrus and pine notes and enough malt to balance it. Medium bodied, crisp hops finish... this is an excellent brew.
Tried
from Bottle
on 03 Sep 2007
at 00:44
7.6/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Thanks to goldtwins for ordering this bottle for me - I was going to save this for sharing, but I’ve had a tiring week, and sometimes you just need to be selfish - slightly hazy, deep, dark amber beer, with a foamy, lasting tan head - sweet caramel malt in the aroma, with some light spices, hints of gingerbread, and the expected, woody alesmith hop profile - yup, there’s some seriously sweet caramel flavor here, but it’s balanced quite with a mixture of hops, wintery spices (nutmeg,cinnimon), and alcohol heat, all in fairly good balance - finishes with lingering alcohol warmth, some dried cherries, and, of course, those ever-present hops - it’s tasty, and well-balanced, but still comes across as brash and a bit too powerful - I’d like to try this one again with some age on it.
Tried
from Bottle
on 30 Aug 2007
at 20:40
8.4/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Bottle. Pour is a coppery orange color and sports a pretty large head (about three figners of foam at first). Aromas are mindnumbing. I am fairly giddy at this point as I’m picking up the pine and pineapple that means good IPA hops and a slight caramel backbone from the malt. Flavor is much more bitter that I anticipated. The malt definitely is there and holds the hoppy bitterness in check, but as far as IPA’s go, this one leans to the hoppy end of the spectrum. This is interesting considering that the Winter version heads much more in the malt direction if memory serves me well. Either way, I’m not sure which of the twins I would rather take home.
Tried
from Bottle
on 22 Aug 2007
at 20:50
8.4/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
What a wonderful way to start off! Aromas of orange and pine burst out of the bottle and are detectable as I’m pouring. On closer examination I can pick up some caramel/vanilla type malt and a touch of pineapple. Appearance is a beautiful dark amber with a subtantial frothy head. Some lacing is detectable right off the bat. Flavor is sweeter than I expected, at least before the hoppy kick at the end. Sweet caramel malt flavors give way to a burst of crisp pine hops with a bit of a citrus interlude as a transition. Really nice! My only slight complaint is that the malt is a bit overbearing up front and it comes off a bit syrupy for a split second before the transition to hoppy bliss.
Tried
from Bottle
on 22 Aug 2007
at 20:43