Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
750ml Bottle Pours out a dark brown topped with a tan head. A great aroma of smoke, vanilla, and brown sugar. Tast was crazy it was like a sour ale almost. Picked up more of the smoke and sweetness. Pretty ODD brew. Thanks Jordan
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Thanks to JoeMcphee for picking up a few bottles of this for me - hazy copper/gold beer, with a fizzy head that disappears almost completely, leaving a beer that looks quite a bit like unpasteurized apple cider - the brandy is strong in the aroma, as is some sweet caramel, giving the aroma an initial caramel apple character - underneath this there are some spicy and floral aspects, with hints of cinnamon and nutmeg, making it more like apple pie filling - a really good start with the aroma - not as sweet as expected, and it is actually semi-dry and spicy at first - a strong alcohol/boozy presence swells up underneath this fast, though, giving the beer an occasionally antiseptic property (my mouth is tingling, like when I use listerine) - the alcohol astringency continues throughout, and kind of squashes a lot of the good stuff lurking underneath (lively spices, touches of vanilla and oak, a pleasant fruitiness, apples being most prevalent, an almost toasted coconut character) - mild diacetyl develops late, as does subtle apple skin tartness - I don’t know what the problems were with this beer that delayed it’s release, but I don’t think Scott fixed them all - maybe age will mellow this - but it will need a lot of it.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Bottle: Pours a dark brown with a smaller tan head and spotty lacing. Aroma is smoky and retains a detectable amount of bourbon. Hints of vanilla. The flavor is smoky, woody, sour, and tart. Chocolatey presence too. Lively and slightly acidic. This was delicious - thanks Jordan!
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Thanks to tronraner for sharing this one at decaturstevo’s tasting. Deep, dark mahogany pour, big off-white head. The aroma is big and fruity with lots of dark dried fruits. Along comes some smoke and an acidic touch. The flavor is as complex as the aroma, and follows it pretty much. The hops come in at the finish with some bitterness that is almost lost to the slightly sour, wine like finish. Interesting, and very well done.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 3.5
Had the pleasure of sampling this at the 1/27/2008 Pittsburgh ratebeer.com gathering upstairs, Sharp Edge Creekhouse. It will be a long time, if ever I am invited again and I see a spread of bottles like I did there - ever again. I am not good enough for the beers that were that we sampled! For example, how about this beer; C.L. Xtra Gold, provided by John, thanks Lukin! Winish aroma, typically alarming sweet as with many trippels. Big foamy head, cloudy. Good tingley carbonation, more than expected for the style. Some bitter bite. Mild medicinal qualities on the finish. Not as good as Chimay Triple / Blanche (White) or CBW millenium trippel but certainly better than Urthel Hibernus Quentum Tripel or Merry Monks.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 8
Shared by Stine. I appreciate the opportunity to try this rare beer. Lightly sour, but good sour, yeast flavor. The bourbon is there in the aroma and flavor, but it is mild, like bourbon should be when it is in beer. Some sweet malt and light coffee. Exceptionally well balanced, rich, and very smooth on the palate.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8
Boy how time flies, I have been holding on to this since the release (about 6 months) in my bar (room temperature), I was advised to not let this sit too much longer. There is an interesting story behind this beer. The Rum barrels must have been pretty old and they had something growing in it and it must of been strong if it survived the rum. I had this early on, a non-blended cask at Barcade, which was all freaking alcohol. This bottle pours with a strong infection-looking fizzy dark tan head and the darkest brown, almost black body. The head never fades, always a centimeter high and very sticky on the sides of the glass. Aroma is strong and starts with light sour strawberry, not brett-like at all. There is some paint thinner in there , seems to be coming off the sourness/bacteria/infection and alcohol. Basically, its a beautiful mess of bacteria, fruits, rum-alcohol, and some sweet brown sugar. Taste is also alcohol heavy, a bit too much for me. There is a bit of sweet molasses like roast and some plastic. Mouthfeel is slick yet still has an above average carbonation. Just a medium body and easy drinking despite the long burn in the throat and chest. Its rough around the edges but settles a bit once you let it breath in the glass for a little bit. I would love to see it the second time around on these barrels with the sourness and less alcohol.
750mL capped bottle, St Paul snifter/tulip glass.
Appearance - 3 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 3 | Overall - 14
Draft. Hoppy, crisp and drinkable APA. Golden body with a slight off-white head. The aroma is not in your face, but does give you citrus, pine and more than a hint of flowers. Some caramel in the background. The flavor is lightly to moderately bitter and lightly to moderately sweet. The medium body has a watery texture. Bitter, floral aftertaste. Very drinkable.
Appearance - 3 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 14
Bottle. Batch 1. The best thing about this concoction was that the bourbon was nicely integrated into the porter. The worst thing was that the overpowering oakiness made you work to get at all the other nice things about the beer. Slight tan head atop dark brown-black body. The aroma, which is better than the flavor, is full of tart cherry, dark chocolate, caramel, bourbon and slight smoke. The flavor is moderately sweet, moderately bitter and moderately to heavily acidic. The beer has a distinct tartness to the flavor and finish. Dry and sour at times, too. The light to medium body has a thin texture. Fizzy carbonation contributes to a champagne-like mouthfeel. The beer was served too cold and improved quite a bit as it warmed. A lot going on in this beer. Still, I had a hard time getting around the sensation of licking a cedar plank every time I took a sip.
Appearance - 3 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 15
Draft at Ginger Man, NYC. This struck me as the stereotype of a double IPA — big citrus flavor and lots of bitterness. Dark orange body with little head, but what is there is off-white. The aroma is filled with grapefruit, resin, pine and orange peel. There is a slight hint of grain, perhaps warm bread, in the background. The flavor is moderately to heavily bitter and lightly sweet. Alcoholic warmth starts to creep in after two or three sips. Medium body and watery texture with average carbonation. Nice sensation of smoothness followed by raspy bitterness.