Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 10 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
Bottle Pours black except for the dark brown edges, with a very little head and slight lacing. Aroma is very nice chocolate, prunes, caramel, purple grapes, licorice. Flavor is dominated by charcoal smokey burnt wood. Coffee and bittersweet chocolate. Feel is mildly thick not as silky smooth as some can be. Slight bitterness at the end, but as expected. As it warms, the smooth mouth feel is better, and the bitter trailer is not as noticable.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Relatively clear amber body, thin off-white head with some clumping. Piney, grassy hops and light caramel aroma. Toasty, biscuity malts are highlighted by zesty, piney, spicy hops. Rather thin-bodied. Hops tend to overwhelm the malt backbone over time. A solid offering overall.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6
Bottle. Dark brown, almost black with a decent off-white head. The beer had a strong aroma that kept reminding me of a cheap vanilla milkshake. Vanilla, a sweetness, maybe a slight chocolate - but I kept coming back to vanilla milkshake. Otherwise it was definately a smooth beer. There’s a roastiness to it, but some slightly bitter and nutty characteristics, but overall is fairly mild. Easy to drink. Didn’t like it as much as others, but maybe it was just that for some reason I couldn’t get around the vanilla milkshake connection my brain wanted to make.
Clarkvv (16523) reviewed Hop Rod Rye™ from Bear Republic Brewing Company 21 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 5
2003 bottle Pours a great amber-red-brown with some yellow and beige tinges. Plenty of creamy beige colored head, sediment apparent with a dull copper shine to it. Aroma has hops, dry hops, floral hops, spicy hops, more hops and some more hops. There is some rye and alcohol in there as well. Flavor: Sweet jesus!! turbocharged is right! This is just hops and alcohol duking it out for dominance. Who wins??? Not the person drinking this stuff, that’s for sure. Sure there is some rye in there, but it keeps it dry and spicy, while the hops are just INCREDIBLY bitter. The alcohol is highly noticeable. I don’t know what else to say, some residual malt sweetness, but not enough to speak of. This stuff needs a major balance adjustment. Wow, I had to force myself to finish this stuff, and it wasnt terribly easy.7/4/5/1/9
2004 draught Ok, I can see somewhat better why people like this, as this one still had the huge hops bitterness, and alcohol burn, but there was a better body than remembered and a bit more creamy malt sweetness to balance. Still not anything tremendously unique or balanced, IMHO. Rye is noticeable and adds some spice, but also keeps it rather dry.7/4/6/2/11
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
Pours clear copper, with a thick light tan head. Aroma is pure pine with some caramel/toast malt balance. I’m picking up some British hops (East Kent Goldings?) as well as the ubiquitous piney American hops. Caramely, sweet malt body. Not bad, not excellent.
jgb9348 (11828) reviewed XP Pale Ale™ from Bear Republic Brewing Company 21 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Amber coloured body with a thin off-white head. Citrus cascade aroma. Subtle hoppy/sweet taste with little else. Smooth aftertaste very clean and fresh. Overall, decent but lacking in many areas. I had this beer on draught purchased from MacGregor's in Rochester, New York on 12-January-2004.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
This is an OK Imperal Stout but I expect more. Very coffee-like taste to itbbut its very light. Its has no bitterness but I like my Imperial stouts to have substance.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
I think I have officially had one too many imperial IPAs, because they now cease to excite or wow me - "yup, that's an imperial IPA," I say when I taste it, "sigh" - hoppy, moderately sweet and quite buttery, just like pretty much every other IIPA I've ever had - not as balanced as some of the greats, like T Floyds or 90 Minute, but quite thick and tasty none-the-less - I won't lower its rating just because I'm bored with the style, but man, am I the only person who feels this way?
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
The hops immediately brought Rogue Skullsplitter to mind. The body is red as advertised, clear, and topped by a thin off-white/light tan head. Aroma has lots of citrus and pine hops, and also caramel. Hops definitely dominate the flavor profile with a piney, spicy, citric character. Hops flavor is built on a malt foundation of caramel, brown sugar, and dark fruit. These elements blend well together and this beer is smooth around the edges. Thanks Dan (jah noth) for the bottle!
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Dark opaque berar with a nice resilient moka head. The nice thing here is the aroma evolved as the beer warmed up...initially smeeld of hops and cinnamon herts, but then the aroma evolved to chocolate and vanilla moka...wow. Bitter chocolate chunks linger in the mouth with a sweet aftertaste, creamy and full bodied. 3 spoges for this baby which goes well with a bleu.