7.9/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
12 ounce bottle into tulip glass, bottle in 11/2016. Pours crystal clear deep golden amber/light orange color with a 1-2 finger dense white head with good retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of huge honey, vanilla, sugar cookies, rice syrup, biscuit, apricot, plum, cinnamon, pepper, ginger, red wine, toasted oak, herbal, and floral; with lighter notes of cocoa, coffee, and coconut. Very nice aromas with good balance and complexity of pale malt, vanilla/spices, and wine barrel notes; with big strength. Taste of huge honey, vanilla, sugar cookies, rice syrup, biscuit, apricot, plum, cinnamon, pepper, ginger, red wine, toasted oak, herbal, and floral; with lighter notes of cocoa, coffee, and coconut. Light herbal/spice bitterness and tannic wine barrel spiciness on the finish; with lingering notes of honey, vanilla, sugar cookies, rice syrup, biscuit, apricot, plum, cinnamon, pepper, ginger, red wine, toasted oak, herbal, floral, and light cocoa/coffee on the finish for a while. Very nice complexity, robustness, and balance of pale malt, vanilla/spices, and wine barrel flavors; with a great malt/bitter/spiciness balance, and zero cloying sweetness after the finish. Light dryness from bitter/tannic notes, increasing through the glass. Medium carbonation and medium-full bodied; with a very smooth, creamy/silky, and fairly tannic/sticky balanced mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is very well hidden, only a slight warmth lingering after the finish. Overall this is a very nice spiced imperial blonde ale style. All around nice complexity, robustness, and balance of pale malt, vanilla/spices, and wine barrel flavors; very smooth and easy to sip on for the big ABV. This pulled off the Horchata/Tiramisu idea really well, as stated on the label. Just a touch too strong on the tannic wine barrel presence, but otherwise very well balanced. Would love to try the base beer without the barrel treatment, would likely be an awesome dessert beer. A very enjoyable offering.
Tried
from Bottle
on 19 Dec 2016
at 20:47
8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 10
Overall 7
Bottle: Pours almost black....with a faint wisp of a tan ring. Chocolate fudge, cherry, bourbon aroma. Super-rich....chocolate malt, molasses, coconut, mild bourbon taste. Very sweet.....sticky and rich. You wouldn’t believe its 15%.....(I’m not sure I do)..... That said...It’s really, really tasty!
Tried
from Bottle
on 17 Dec 2016
at 17:30
7/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Slightly hazy copper and bronze coloured body with a bit of a tan head, only about a centimetre tall. Aroma of fresh grassy and citrus hops with some lighter malt notes and a dose of resin as well. Medium-bodied; Assertive grassy and very floral hop flavours at first with some earthy malt and sugars right behind. Aftertaste shows the bittering hops hit hard at first then show a more refined and smooth side with the balance struck just right and despite a lot of grassy hops, a smooth finish. Overall, a nice and well balanced IPA with some fresh grassy and resinous flavours that is more of an East Coast or Midwest IPA than anything else, of course. I sampled this twelve ounce can purchased from Merchant’s in Dearborn, Michigan yesterday on 10-December-2016 for US$1,99 sampled at home in Dearborn, Michigan on 11-December-2016.
Tried
from Can
on 11 Dec 2016
at 13:16
7.6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
22oz bomber pours with a hazy deep gold body that supports a near white head. The aroma offers up pear, apricot, pineapple and then some spicy grassy hops. The taste delivers sweetened fruity notes of pear, apricot and an apple tangerine like sensation. The hops hit midway with some bitterness blended into the sweet maltiness. Pretty nice. The hop bitterness balances out all of the sweetness going on here.
Tried
on 01 Dec 2016
at 17:24
6.1/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
Can. Pour is a clean gold with a thin head and aromas of biscuit and an almost sweaty funk. It’s a very yeasty smell, but not very IPA-ish. Flavor is more like a grapefruit session IPA in that it has a bit of grapefruit (but not too punchy, kind of sweetened) and then pointlessness.
Tried
from Can
on 28 Nov 2016
at 21:11
7.2/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7
22 oz bottle. Pours a deep reddish brown with a light tan head. Sweet fruity candy aroma. Flavor is sweet fruity again, some mix of grape, fig, raisin, apple, and molasses. Strong rum finish and aftertaste. Fairly tasty, but also a bit one-note.
Tried
from Bottle
on 27 Nov 2016
at 03:34
6.4/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
Can. Pours a slightly brownish gold with a finger or so of white suds and aromas of lemony soap or soapy lemon... can’t tell which. Flavor is odd... almost a bit of a toast start to it - like bread toast - before it slide off in that nondescript bitterness of a \"session IPA.\" It’s pleasant enough and if I were on a boys’ weekend I might consider this a worthy addition to the arsenal... something for that \"well... I’d like a beer, but not a BEER\" time of the day. Then again... there are plenty of others that fill that need that have a bit more of a hops direction.
Tried
from Can
on 26 Nov 2016
at 22:14
8.1/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
22 ounce bottle into snifter, bottled in 9/2016. Pours clear nearly opaque dark brown color with a 1-2 finger dense and fluffy light khaki head with good retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a moderate amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas of big milk chocolate, cocoa, caramel, brown sugar, vanilla, toffee, bourbon, toasted oak, wheat, and dark bread; with lighter notes of coffee, smoke, tobacco, coconut, licorice, molasses, raisins, and roast/toasted earthiness. Some increasing booziness in the aromas as it warms. Very nice aromas with good balance and complexity of dark/roast/bready malt and bourbon barrel notes; with great strength. Taste of big milk chocolate, cocoa, caramel, brown sugar, vanilla, toffee, bourbon, toasted oak, wheat, and dark bread; with lighter notes of coffee, smoke, tobacco, coconut, licorice, molasses, raisins, and roast/toasted earthiness. Light-moderate roasted bitterness and bourbon/tannic oak spiciness on the finish; with lingering notes of milk chocolate, cocoa, caramel, brown sugar, vanilla, toffee, bourbon, toasted oak, wheat, dark bread, light smoke/tobacco, and roast/toasted earthiness on the finish for a while. Great complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malt and bourbon barrel flavors; with a great malt/bitter/spiciness balance, and zero astringent flavors after the finish. Light-moderate dryness from bitter/tannic oak spiciness, increasing through the glass. Light-medium carbonation and medium-full body; with a smooth, moderately creamy/silky, and lightly sticky/tannic/chalky balanced mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is decently well hidden; moderate warmth and some barrel booziness lingering after the finish, but not overwhelming. Overall this is an excellent barrel aged imperial stout. All around great complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malt and bourbon barrel flavors; very smooth and easy to sip on, despite the warmth and booziness. This was a lot less roasty than I expected, resulting in a much more intense barrel presence; but still had great malt complexity. I look forward to aging this and revisiting. A very enjoyable offering.
Tried
from Bottle
on 05 Nov 2016
at 20:33
7.2/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7
22 oz bottle. Pours a very deep brown to black with a tan head. Cocoa, dark fruit, coffee mix in the aroma, perhaps a hint of bourbon. Flavor has cocoa, molasses, anise, cream. Not bad, but it could stand to be more flavorful.
Tried
from Bottle
on 29 Oct 2016
at 22:50
8.1/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
22 ounce bottle into tulip glass; no bottle dating, but was just released. Pours crystal clear dark reddish brown color with a 1-2 finger fairly dense light khaki head with good retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Light spotty soapy lacing clings down the glass, with a moderate amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas of big caramel, brown sugar, brown bread, spicy rye, biscuit, toffee, rum, vanilla, and toasted oak; with lighter notes of chocolate, cocoa, nuttiness, raisin, plum, and oak/toasted earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of dark/bready/rye malt and rum barrel notes; with great strength. Taste of big caramel, brown sugar, brown bread, spicy rye, biscuit, toffee, rum, vanilla, and toasted oak; with lighter notes of chocolate, cocoa, nuttiness, raisin, plum, and oak/toasted earthiness. Light-moderate rye and rum/oak spiciness on the finish; with lingering notes of caramel, brown sugar, brown bread, spicy rye, biscuit, toffee, rum, vanilla, and oak/toasted earthiness on the finish for a while. Great complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready/rye malt and rum barrel flavors; with a great malt/spiciness balance, and zero cloying sweetness after the finish. Slight dryness from rye/barrel spiciness as well. Medium carbonation and medium-full body; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/silky, and slightly chalky mouthfeel that is great. Alcohol is very well hidden with only a light warmth lingering after the finish; with zero barrel booziness. Overall this is an excellent barrel aged roggenbier! All around great complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready/rye malt and rum barrel flavors; very smooth and easy to drink for the big ABV. This was a lot smoother and less spicy on the rye than I expected; but the maltster could have been a factor, since some are smoother than others. Very well balanced with the rum barrels without being boozy. A very enjoyable offering.
Tried
from Bottle
on 29 Oct 2016
at 21:42