5.6

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 5.5

Courtesy of Per (omhper)
Deep blond color. Smokey aroma, light phenol too. The aroma is ok, but the flavor is much worse: sweetish and artificial, as if they used saccharin, with some smokeyness. Weird.

6

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 6

6

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6

Bottle at home ... deep copper ... sweet rum nose ...light vanilla quite a lot of rum fruity but again it just doesnt cut it. Reminds me of a based rather than a beer.

6.1

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5.5

(Bottle) Pale brown colour with firm, frothy, beige head. Smoky, tarry nose with dried fruit (mainly apricots), wood, heather and evident aromas of Islay whisky. Smokey, fruity taste with tar, dried apricots, Islay whisky and oak wood. Very sweet with heavy flavours of peaty whisky. Too sweet for me, taste is slightly out of balance, not really delivering what the nose promised. Very interesting and a decent try.

5.8

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6

330 ml. bottle. Dated 07 Dec 08. Aroma is something like herbal hop. Copper color with a decent white head. Medium body with creamy carbonation. Comes on bready sweet, with some herbal or floral hop, but not enough to dry it out. Leaves a sweet note in the finish. Arguably the hop is zesty, but what is it? Rather a different stroke at an IPA. Oak arrives after awhile.

6.8

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7

330 ml bottle. Dated 08 Jan 09. Dark copper amber color with an off-white head. Aroma is lightly malt, much like Newcastle Brown. Medium body. Slightly sweet. Rather oaky. Mild, lightly spicey hop. Bitter builds with time. Leaves a tingle behind. Seems a bit of malt whisky notes. Pretty good.

6.1

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

[i] [b] Bottle picked up from Sainsbury’s, Kidlington, Oxon consumed 24-05-08 [/i] [/b] Chesnut in colour with a very rummy nose. I’m not a fan of these Innis and Gunn beers though this one is ok, shares the characteristic oaky, vanilla trademarks of the others but the rum barrel ageing makes this a little more warming, its ok.

6

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 6

A dark mahogany amber ale with a thin dissipating white head. Aroma is pleasantly woody, light olives , a bit of burned sugar, and rather musky. In mouth, I tend to agree with Todd. Lots of residual sugars which do not meld with the oaky notes, a lot of sweetness in final, a bit thin. Overall, disappointing. Bought at the LCBO late 2006.

5.6

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5.5

50 cL bottle, thanks to Jens for letting me have a taste of this! Pours clear and golden yellow with a slowly diminishing and white head. Mild aroma yet with a light hops and solid wooden note. Flavour is quite speciel with distinct notes from the barrels providing a distinct aftertaste that is immensely poweful and lasting, as one coined it: notes similar to those of fresh peeled shrimps shells. Interesting although not my kind of beer.

8

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8

[bottle from Waitrose, Marlow] "Only" 68,000 bottles produced of this. The attractive but unnecessary value-added packaging normally means this beer retails at 50p or so above the regular Innis & Gunn’s, but Waitrose had 25% off bringing it down to a reasonable £1.49. Pours amber with a moderate white head that is slow to dissipate. There is moderate carbonation that is well matched to the beer. Aroma is initially grassy hops, but is soon dominated by vanilla and wood. Taste is overwhelmingly of vanilla and cream soda and vanilla ice cream. There’s possibly (of all things!) some dolly mixtures in there, with oaky overtones; it put me in mind of some Glenturret 10yo single malt whisky I had recently (maybe they both use the same barrels or something?) Behind all this, there’s just a hint of citrus. It says on the bottle that it’s called an IPA because it’s made in the same way that IPA’s traditionally were - adding hops to the barrel before leaving it to mature. That may well be the case, but it certainly tastes nothing like a modern-day IPA. There’s no hint of bitterness here at all, in fact it’s one of the sweetest beers I’ve had. Despite that, it leaves none of the syrupy mouthfeel that strong and sweet beers often leave behind; instead it has a very clean, crisp mouthfeel - despite leaving you feeling like you’ve had a Mr Whippy Ice Cream! To be quite honest, I’ve never known another beer like this - as with most of the Innis & Gunn offerings, it’s very unusual, and very challenging - and I liked this one very much! Provided you think of this as a pudding beer (maybe you could use it as a sauce for your banana split?) and not an IPA, it’s superb!.