yespr (55501) reviewed You Enjoy My Stout from Cambridge Brewing Company 18 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6.5
Sample from tap at the brewpub. Pours pitch black with chocolate creamy brown head, lastin for about 30 min. Aroma is coffee and with clear burbon like alcohol presence. Flavour is alcohol dominated, almost taking out the coffee/roasted malt notes. Dry with raisin notes. Alcohol dry finish. Too alcoholic for my taste.
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
BA version, at brewpub on 6/1/07 - inky black in the snifter, with a frothy, well-sustained head for such a strong beer - powerful (but not overpowerING) oak and vanilla aroma, with hints of bourbon and red wine, some anise and brandy, background roasted malts - nice and dry for such a strong beer, with very prominent tannic, red wine character (probably the most I’ve experienced in a beer) - bittersweet bakers chocolate, black cherries, notes of black coffee far in the back - oak and bourbon come through a bit more when warming, along with some alcohol warmth in the throat, adding a nice touch on top of the red wine flavors - this stuff is great - one of the most well-executed barrel-aged imperials I’ve ever had.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 8.5
So there is a good story here. I was unsure whether I wanted to drive to this brewpb from my hotel room. You now, strange city, work tomorrow, have not had enough sleep lately. I went on the site and saw that CBC had there Flanders on, so I had to go out. Got lost but find my way there. Came in and asked for this unfortunately the keg needed replacing so I asked for the DIPA. After that U got this beer and then I asked for a growler but they would not sell it to me, so I had to settle for another glass. It was poured into a half tulip half flute glass, big head, dark, dark red body. Absolutely no clarity. Aroma is all Flanders, starts with slightly spoiled sour cherry, some present vinegar, a nice cookie dough maltiness peppered with cocoa. Its very acidic and spikey beer. Completely dries out my mouth, I need water after every sip. Tingles every part of my mouth. Just an excellent palate. A lightly vinegar aftertaste and I keep burping cherry juice. Recommended and do yourself an favor and order 2.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
9oz glass @ brewpub. Thick head and copper color. Aroma is resiny hop with bittered caramel. Overall I would describe it as a sweet and bitter hop juice. Taste starts with a grapefruit and tropical fruits hoppiness and leads to a candy sweet caramel maltiness. Finishes off with a long sweet bitterness. Bitterness is strong and always present but never overwhelming. This beer is definitely returnable.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Draught pints at Redbones porter and stout dinner on 3/12/07 and again on 3/16/07 at Redbones
Dark cocoa-flecked tan head is medium in size and shows strong retention for a chili beer. Dark brown body has a medium-high clarity and a chestnut-mahogany hue on the edges. Little/no lacing, probably inhibited by the chili oil.
Not much chili in the nose, and only a dry pinch of baker’s chocolate powderiness. But more fudgey chocolate notes emerge, especially with warming. A bit of vanilla and slight caramel malt sweetness, but overall a rather reserved, somewhat weak aroma, though that seems to be the norm with many spiced/peppered dark ales.
Flavor is a whole nother story, though. Dry chocolate with a pleasing chewiness and light fudge character. Bit of vanilla cream sweetness and slight roastiness emerging, as the chili finally comes on in the finish. Very spicy, with a slow burn that builds up on the palate, while all the while the chocolate lightly complements the heat. Light caramel and more stickiness, with low carbonation. Delicious and the best chili beer I’ve had easily. Think of it as a double IPA that is balanced through the middle but with tons of hop bitterness on the finish.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
Draught pint at CBC on 3/11/07
Pale golden color is augmented by copper-peach notes from the carapils and aromatic malts. High clarity with a small layer of off-white head that fades readily to partial-cover, leaving little/no lacing.
Sweet, lightly fruity aromatic malts in the nose seem to be about on par with the hops in strength. Lightly juicy, rather floral and with a light undercurrant of orange blossom honey and spicy herbs. Very soft on the nose, overall, and growing more floral as it warms, with strong honey notes from the malt emerging as well. Moderate acidity on the finish seems somewhat out of place, however. Not a huge fan of ahtanum hops....
Honey flavors from the malt and yet a coarse graininess from the two row as well. Dry, very well-attenuated, but with sticky honey and bready acidity building on the finish. Lots of zesty nectarine, lime and light tangerine notes from the hops, but they seem weighted down by some excess hop oils and the acidity. Low to medium carbonation, no alcohol noted.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
Clear golden with no head - earthy, herbal aroma, with background hints of raw grain - fairly dry and somewhat tart up front, followed by a tiny bit of sweetness, a fairly strong herbal character (which mingles with a medium hop profile), some saffron and mild grain - finishes with a little more tartness - not bad - seems like it was designed to have a somewhat weaker character so it would go well with many different types of food.
Clarkvv (16523) reviewed Chilly Willy from Cambridge Brewing Company 18 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Draught pint at CBC on 2/4/07
Not sure yet how this is made (if the beer has pepper extract added, if the peppers are thrown in to the serving tank, if the peppers are thrown in to secondary, etc…) but I’ll ask Will and get a better commercial description on here.
Same color as the Winter Ale, since the peppers dont change the color. A light cherry-red with stronger grayish-brown overtones. Off-white/beige head is small and retention is somewhat impaired by the peppers.
Nothing in the nose that is significantly different from the winter ale, though the hops seem more muted, that’s for sure. They probably did a lower IBU batch of winter ale so that they could highlight the pepper flavor better. Same sweet, dry caramel malts, though some spiciness does emerge on the finish. But it’s extremely subtle and could be mistaken for white pepper or even a hop note. Aroma is rather reserved overall, as well.
Hops and dry maltiness, bit of crusty bread, light fruitiness and some soft caramel maltiness for the flavor. A tingle begins about halfway through, on the palate, and slowly grows stronger until you have a capsaicin burn on the finish, generating some controlled heat and actually a nice combo of flavors with the light caramel malt sweetness. I have a very high tolerance to spiciness, but this still didnt seem overdone at all and I was actually left a little disappointed that it wasnt more burning. I liked it alot, but then, I also really like chili beers.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
EBF 2007 - I was told that this batch was aged in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay barrels - not sure if some of the previous ratings were for this batch or not, so to be on the safe side, I’m not going to enter it as a new beer - this was one of the hits of the festival for me - nice red pour with a white head that has a slight pink tint - huge tart/sour cherry aroma with suprising funkiness considering there is, as far as I know, no brett involved - nice, mouth-puckering sourness, which was a nice change from all the big, sweet, bourbon-aged beers of the night - a funky and almost salty taste comes in, reminding me, almost, of certain Cantillon lambics - a little bit of oxidation, and the wood and wine from the barrels really start to come out near the finish - I thought this was really good stuff.
Clarkvv (16523) reviewed Half Wit from Cambridge Brewing Company 19 years ago
Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
Draught pilsner-ish glass at the brewpub on 1/19/07. Kind of an odd glass to serve it in. Or actually, the narrow body makes sense to highlight the bubbly effervescence, but the blossoming, highly convex mouth neither holds the head, nor the delicate aroma. Oh well.
Small, bubbly white head immediately fizzles to a ring and then nothing, thereafter. Head can hardly be coaxed with swirling. No lacing. Medium-high clarity, certainly transparent, but with a slight haziness from some unflocced yeast. Soft straw-brass body.
Dry grains in the nose show a light huskiness from the base two-row malt. Definite phenols (white pepper, very light plastics) give a distinct and authentic feel to it, while light orange peel adds livliness while not being overdone. Very dry, all the way through, with no soft, comforting honey malt tones that would seem to support my thoughts that there is little/no pils malt in this. But that’s ok because the graininess is very dry and refreshing and the spritziness from the light citrus tang adds substance/complexity in place of pils malt. Don’t get much coriander, which is a good thing, as it’s done very cautiously here. Just a bit of leafy spiciness I suppose. Medium strength of aroma, more dry fruitiness emerges with warming.
Hay, straw, light biscuits and baquette notes all create a very dry beginning. Some sweetness combines with citrus (soft orange and tangerine) notes to produce a more round flavor but the brisk carbonation never allows it to get truly "sweet". Light coriander dryness on the finish with a bit of sweatiness from the yeast (minerals, phenols) gives it unique character making it not just another hoegaarden. Sort of halfway between hogaarden and Ommegang’s ultra-dry, almost saison-like wit. I think more breweries need to experiment with very minimal spicing and see what they can do with this yeast. It’s quite refreshing, with the moderate amounts of acids it puts out and the manageable, reserved esters. Very light body, some wateriness, no alcohol.