7.4/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
2015-01-14, vintage 1995, 8-3-5-2-10=28
Old leather aroma, deep, with huge phenol content. But the flavor is too oxidized, salty, and a bit acidic, meaty. Fairly alcoholic too
Weird beer, still interesting historically, but not good enough.
2012-11-06, vintage 1995, 12 years old, 8-4-7-3-15=37
Black ink. Nice aroma, soy sauce, dark chocolate, roasted nuts, some Sherry, hence light oxidisation. Dense, oily mouthfeel; at first the dark chocolate is very nice, but it’s followed by a strong presence of soy, molasses, even salty, Sherry, and some oxidisation. Minimal alcohol perception.
Chocolate pudding.
Very controversial: excellent chocolate, too much oxidisation.
2005-03-12, vintage 1997, 8 years old, 5-3-6-3-12=29
Pours black and oily. Strong aroma of soy sauce; some nuts and phenol. Closer to an Italian digestive than to a beer; Madeira and Porto wine (but hidden). If just the soy sauce character was less evident….
Tried
on 14 Mar 2005
at 08:24
6.8/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 7
Pours almost black, minimal beige head. Scents of caramel, coffee beans, roasted malt... it’s aroma is its best feature. Tastes about like you would expect, nothing earth shattering. Malty, roasty, blah, blah, blah. Nice beer.
Tried
on 08 Mar 2005
at 22:28
6.6/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Pours a hazy, dirty gold with a understated head. Aroma is mild and fruity... apricot? Fruit comes first, then wheat follows with a mild hop finish. Pretty good offering for something a little different.
Tried
on 05 Mar 2005
at 22:31
7.2/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 8
I never thought I would like a Sam Adams so much. Aroma is complex with wheat, spices including coriander, apricot. More orange rather than cloudy yellow like I expect a wit. Flavor of wheat, spices; again with coriander and others, and citrus; sour grapefruit. Sour while drinking it, and a nice sour finish. Nothing like a gueze, but still sour. Best Sam Adams beer ever.
Tried
on 27 Feb 2005
at 18:35
7.4/10
—
Appearance 10
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Bottled (BB 11/2005)
Dark ruby, almost opaque color, nice creamy expresso head, lace. Aroma is chocolaty roasted and has cold coffee and tinfoil, some grassy hops, which are a bit out of date. Good medium to full body. Good roast, sweetness is not overwhelming. Chocolaty sweetish aftertaste with some mild late bitterness.
Dark ruby, almost opaque color, nice creamy expresso head, lace. Aroma is chocolaty roasted and has cold coffee and tinfoil, some grassy hops, which are a bit out of date. Good medium to full body. Good roast, sweetness is not overwhelming. Chocolaty sweetish aftertaste with some mild late bitterness.
Tried
from Bottle
on 24 Feb 2005
at 10:20
6.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
2005 bottle at Sunset Grille. Dark black pour, with some deep garnet-burgundy highlights on the edges, filtered and no sediment, per usual for the brewery, but somehow, not offensively clear. Small off-white head, mostly dissipating. Aroma of black malt, licorice, sweet caramel and light coffee. Flavor begins with an easygoing coffee-with-sugar in it sweetness, some lightly earthy notes, like licorice root or ginger. Cola and caramel notes really take over, and there is a decent maltiness to it. Medium bodied, not thin and watery. Ends on a lightly dry, hops and toasted grains flavor. Notes of milk chocolate, cream and coffee linger on pleasantly in the aftertaste. Extremely unnatural carbonation detracts from the mouthfeel, as it does with all of their beers, IMHO, but other than that, I’m very impressed with this one.
Tried
from Bottle
on 24 Feb 2005
at 09:00
6.6/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 10
Overall 6.5
[At GABF 2004, Denver] An amber beer with no head, but the liquid makes "curtains" on the glass like a strong wine or liquor. The aroma is woody with strong notes of alcohol, but also overripe fruits, sherry, and bourbon. The flavor is powerful with notes of plums, other overripe fruits, and loads of alcohol, that burns the throat, as a strong sherry. The end is dry woody. An experience - but to me, not a beer.
Tried
on 21 Feb 2005
at 17:36
8.6/10
—
Appearance 10
Aroma 9
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
2012-04-01, at Mikkeller Bar, Copenhagen, 9-5-8-4-17=43
Hazy dark amber color. The aroma is immensely rich, with malt, caramel, vanilla, light phenol, alcohol, light fruit. Very thick and viscous, sweet malt flavor, caramel, wood, vanilla, strong alcohol punch, raisins, figs; the mouthfeel then gets oily; late final oxidisation and astringency.
A very interesting beer.
2006-02-17, 8-5-8-3-16=40
Beautiful dark copper color. Still.
Phenolic malty aroma, with delicate notes of fruity Porto wine, alcohol, sweet oak.
Burning alcohol flaming on the tongue, leaving behind traces of toffee (strong), sugars, malt, caramel; salty and thick. Balanced flavors but unbalanced alcohol perception, killing.
Because of the alcohol, the final is too short, with some caramel and sweetness.
An experience, for sure, but yet not the state of the art.
2005-02-12, 9-4-9-5-19=46
Flat, amber color. Smells like cognac; some nuts and malt; mono-dimensional; but the nuttyness comes out later, and this is an improvement. Sweet alcoholic cognac with some malt and sweetness. Well, it’s a strange but very good beer! Thanks Jeppe for sharing this sample!
Tried
on 15 Feb 2005
at 04:07
6.6/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
Seems pretty similar to the old Spring Ale. Cloudy copper, large head. Somewhat herbal and spicy aroma, maybe some coriander but the rest is indistinct. Flavor has many layers but still indistinct, bitterish, semi-dry finish. Decent.
Tried
on 11 Feb 2005
at 19:53
7.1/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 6
Texture 8
Overall 6.5
Bottled. Clear copper, white quickly disappearing fizzy head. Very pleasant aroma of fruity hops with hints of caramel. Pleasant palate. Very wellbalanced taste, mainly of hops with a bit bitter ending.
Tried
from Bottle
on 08 Feb 2005
at 11:01