4.4/10
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Appearance 4
Aroma 4
Flavor 4
Texture 6
Overall 4.5
12 oz. loose bottle from at Sam’s Wines, Downers Grove, IL. The date notches say Sept 27, 06!? I hope their notcher is just off, I’d hate to think Sam’s isn’t diligent about old stock. Pours slightly hazy, dark yellow, as close to amber as it is to pilsener. Malty smell, and some papery oxidation, so it may be an old bottle, but not completely ruined. Decently creamy malt taste, though it was picking up the medicinal taste of old beer already. Hop notes threaded out. I haven’t cared much for Tommyknockers yet, but they seem to always be this close to real improvement.
Tried
from Bottle
on 18 Jul 2007
at 21:26
7.5/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 8
Interesting, unique, but perhaps a touch rough and simplistic. Aroma and flavor are both dominated by caramel toffee and maple syrup. There’s an herbal hoppy finish that is only just there, enough to give some balance to this otherwise pretty sweet beer. Its best trait is a full rounded smooth mouthfeel complemented with a pillowy soft carbonation. Deep garnet color with a medium beige head and nice lacing.
Tried
on 16 Jul 2007
at 00:16
7/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 6
Bottle: Poured a orange amber with white bubbly head. The smell is a bitter hoppy pungent smell. The flavor is very unique as it starts off malty but then the dry hops comes in to make it bitter and pack a punch at the end. Awesome purchase while shopping around Florida.
Tried
from Bottle
on 13 Jul 2007
at 01:36
2.4/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 1
Flavor 1
Texture 6
Overall 1.5
Prune and yeast aroma. Cloudy amber color, medium head, good lacing. Yeast and bread dough flavor. Orange peel finish.
Tried
on 14 Jun 2007
at 21:15
4.5/10
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Appearance 4
Aroma 4
Flavor 4
Texture 6
Overall 5
Strawberry and mint aroma. Cloudy amber color, thick fluffy off white head. There was a dark red ribbon of sediments floating near the top of the glass. Yeast taste and mild hop finish. A bit ovecarbonated. YMMV.
Tried
on 14 Jun 2007
at 17:29
1.9/10
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Appearance 2
Aroma 3
Flavor 1
Texture 4
Overall 0.5
Very cloudy brown color with floating sediments, thin head. Aroma is sweet maple syrup, yeast. Syrupy sweet tase of rotten apples. Sweet and tartness offends the senses. Not at all drinkable.
Tried
on 13 Jun 2007
at 17:26
4.6/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 3
Flavor 6
Texture 2
Overall 5.5
Very weak citrus and hop aroma, barely detectable. Cloudy amber, inordinately thick head, nice lacing. Half the bottle ended up in the head. Weak lemon grass taste. Generic bitter finish, maybe lemon peel. Not much in the way of hops. I’d suggest a cautious pour, but I’m inclined to believe mine was just too old. I’d love to try a fresher bottle or draft. I really must pay closer attention to freshness dating.
Tried
from Bottle
on 12 Jun 2007
at 19:22
1.6/10
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Appearance 2
Aroma 3
Flavor 1
Texture 2
Overall 0.5
Molasses aroma. Muddy light to medium brown color, no head. Powdery mouthfeel, extremely yeasty taste. Yeast finish. I’m convinced this was just a horribly bad bottle. I want a do-over because this was absolutely disgusting. After checking the date, the beer is an entire year past its expiration! I’ll try again and rerate, but be advised this beer apparently doesn’t keep well at all.!
Tried
from Bottle
on 12 Jun 2007
at 15:50
6/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6
Apple and maple syrup aroma, but not strong. Cloudy golden color witha non existent head, but marvelous carbonation. Tart, somewhat yeasty.and apple is detectable. Grass and raisin finish. Great mouthfeel, good taste.
Tried
on 10 Jun 2007
at 07:50
6.8/10
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Appearance 4
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 8
Bottle says drink within 4 months of 10/06, which means 02/07, and I didn’t notice until I was at home with this sixer of it in late 05/07! Still, assuming 10/06 was the bottling date, I’d figure an 8.2% doppelbock could withstand 7-8 months. I suppose it did, but for the oxidation. Poured a lightly hazy reddish amber color with a small layer of foam. Aroma was strongly melanoidiny with that weird grape jolly rancher character I get in many doppelbocks. Rich and bready, with a leafy and earthy hop character to complement it. The flavor much the same but for some mild layers of sherry and cardboard. The beer wasn’t bad because of this, in fact it added some interesting complexity and made the beer feel old (in a good way). However, I’m sure this beer might be really nice fresh, full of rich, clean munich malts. Will revisit again upon next release.
Tried
from Bottle
on 29 May 2007
at 08:05