Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Bottle from Kensington Wine Market Beer, Calgary
Golden color, with a thin persistent layer. It has a light aroma of toffee and fudge, very nice. Quite mellow mouthfeel, lean malt flavor, with vanilla and cookies, sweetish; there is also a touch of citrus fruits, maybe even sour. The final is not strong, with this mix of vanilla and citrus fruits. Not bad, but definitively strange.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
[300ml bottle from Sainsbury’s, Reading] This is the 3rd I&G special edition beer I’ve tried, and was looking forward to it immensely. The previous two had been intriguing and slightly bizarre - the Cask Strength had tasted of green bananas and a million other things, whilst the IPA had been like a cream soda. Therefore my only expectation of this beer was of the unexpected! I drank it in an unusual location - my wife and I had rented a day boat on the Thames to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary, and I drank it drifting past the Queen’s back garden with views of Windsor Castle! It comes in the usual slightly over-packaged but nevertheless impressive cardboard box - the box is black this time. It pours a deep, rich but slightly dead-looking mahogany colour with no head. The rich, heady, tempting aroma is dominated by oak & red wine; it’s like sniffing a good Rioja. There’s some slight carbonation. The taste is... well, the taste is exactly as you’d expect from the commercial description. A mellow, woody sweetness like an old ale leads through some vanilla into a big hit of dark rum and an alcohol kick in the aftertaste, although this is not overpowering and it’s well balanced against the soft oaky foretaste. There’s is a slight syrupiness, but far less so than for other beers of this strength. Overall it’s another top-notch concoction from Innis & Gunn, possibly the most balanced beer I’ve tried from them. If . However, it lacked the surprise factor of the other two - I was almost disappointed that it didn’t taste of something peculiar like hedgehog and chewing gun! Having said that, perhaps the surprise here is that it’s an Innis & Gunn special edition that actually tastes of beer and what it says on the bottle, and isn’t totally strange!
CloakedDagger (37227) reviewed Island Cask from Innis & Gunn Brewing Co. 17 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 4.5
(Bottle 33 cl) Courtesy of fiulijn. Slightly hazy deep golden with an off-white head. Weird aroma of burned rubber and ashes. Medium body with very sweet malts and then again Islay notes of smoke and tar. No bitterness. But terribly disharmonious and pretty gross. 200608
RuneBlix (26316) reviewed The Original from Innis & Gunn Brewing Co. 17 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 5.5
330ml bottle at Le Mirage in Tromsø. Pours a dark amber body with a slowly fading, off-white foamy head. Aroma in the direction of dark honeyed oak. Malty taste mixed with vanilla and wood. Low, but noticeable bitterness to the finish. Well bodied. Not exactly the perfect drink to meat (19.07.2008).
Harrisoni (26233) reviewed Island Cask from Innis & Gunn Brewing Co. 17 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 2 | Flavor - 2 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 1.5
RBESG08 grand tasting 2008. I hate the aroma simply because I don’t like Islay whisky. Some toffee in mouth, not awful, but a subtle Islay flavour. Not off or bad, but just not my flavour.
Pinball (15907) reviewed The Original from Innis & Gunn Brewing Co. 17 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
normally i don’t like aged beer, or beer with cognac flavor. This one is different, very enjoyable beer, drinkable, notes of honey and whiskey, buttersmooth. enough bitterness to balance the sweetness. i could buy this again for sure.
Marko (22181) reviewed Island Cask from Innis & Gunn Brewing Co. 17 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8
Bottle, RBESG08 grand tasting Hmm, no ratings from RBESG so far... and yet the notes are there. Hope I’m not crazy. Orange body, small head. Dusty papery nose. Smoke. Smokey sweet taste. Fruity and something else. Liked it quite a bit it seems.
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 4
Appearance: Clear golden/copper. Alright amount of head. Aroma: Oak and slightly herby. Caramel. Taste: Oaky and smokey. Caramel again. Unpleasant taste. Info: 330ml bottle, 30/3-2008
CH-303 (4723) reviewed The Original from Innis & Gunn Brewing Co. 17 years ago
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 4
Appearance: Light brown, good amount of creamy head. Aroma: Smoky, oaky. Wood. Taste: Oaky, smoky. Info: 330ml bottle, 26/9-2005, 26/300
yespr (55501) reviewed Island Cask from Innis & Gunn Brewing Co. 17 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5
33 cL clear bottle. Pours clear and golden orange with a lacing white head. Dry tar and woody aroma. Flavour holds a solid dry pipe smoke note arising from back of the nose. Dry yet also mild sweet caramel malt body. Ends with a mild sweet flavour once the smoke note disapears.