Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
375mL bottle drunk 8/3/24. Clear brass-applesauce. Thin white head. Juicy, spicy apple. Brandy adding depth and intensity. Attenuated, honey and white bread malts. Juicy almost. Nicely aged. Soft, rich, malty, juicy apple and spicy brandy. Pepper and malt drying out nicely with more juicy apple. Clean, no alcohol. The base is a robust, on the stronger, sharper side triple and the apple brandy doesn't mitigate that, but impressively, I don't think it exacerbates it either.
Aroma is Belgian yeast, apple, oak, caramel. Taste is nice and follows aroma with a nice lingering finish.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Brewery draught, 7/30/24. Lightly hazy blueberry served on ice....bit of pinkish head. Heavy black pepper, blueberry skin, seed and softer than expected gin character adding lots of fruit and moderate florals. No booze, very aromatic, very interesting. Wow that IS very intense, I see why they suggest icing it. Rich, intense, syrupy malts with strong bitterness from the gin. Blueberry throughout, somewhat lightening the mood. I like all the malt here, to stand up to the gin barrel aging. This would be pretty insane straight; definitely too much. As is, still pushing it on the gin, but it's endearing and highly flavorful.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
Brewery draught, 7/30/24. Rich, coppery amber. Clear. Off-white head is sizeable, well-retained. Biscuity with a bit of caramel and toast. Scant mineral, low hop. Clean. Good base malt mixing with the medium malt creating a toffee and toast flavor. The malt is lovely, but I wouldn't hate some hop. There's basically none. Just a light, peppery bitterness as an afterthought. But it's clean and malty and dries out appropriately in the finish.
iphonephan (11573) reviewed Arquebus from Cambridge Brewing Company 2 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
From a bottle vintage 2017. Pours a hazy cider with an off white head. Aromas of honey and toffee. Flavors are sweet brown sugar with some wine barrel grape notes in the finish. Seems to have aged well.
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 10 | Flavor - 10 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 10
Brewery draught, 1/27/24. Dark, hazy, amber. No head. Yeah...there's the PX...salt, graphite, fig, date, vanilla, oak, golden raisin. WOW. So this is a beer?! Or is it an incredible Jerez???? My God. The lines have blurred. Addendum: Is this really a 5.0? No, probably not on a purely technical rating. It is a bit dominant in the sherry flavor and could probably use a pinch more dryness at points, with maybe a touch fuller body, even. But I'm giving it a 5.0 based mostly on innovation/uniqueness. And also, I frickin' LOVE sherry.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
2016 brewery draught, 1/27/24. Lightly hazy/glassy, amber-honey. Minimal head. Big white grape. Spice, liquor, chalk. Very, very fruity. Soft, sweet, spicy, leathery, lots of strawberry skin. Excellent maltiness with almost a hint of tobacco. Lots of strawberry lingering. Juicy.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
2014 draught at the brewery, 1/27/24. Hazy amber. Thin ring of white bubbles. Juicy! Fruity, bit of mineral and chalk. So playful for its age, with excellent earthiness and no booze. Soft, juicy, malty, rich grape and earth with ebullient fruits. Not much in the way of oak or barrel but certainly a lot of wine...
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9
2022 brewery draught, 1/27/24. Hint of haze, deep caramel-amber. Spotty, frothy, beige head. Rich, rich malt, savory, spicy bourbon. Clean and rustic with ample dryness and spice. Speck of toffee to sweeten the deal. Very lovely. Raisin, cherry, fig, vanilla. Spice and hints of drying graphite. Nicely attenuated by now, with no booze and tons of pepper throughout the long finish.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
2022 draught at the brewery, 1/27/24. Light haze, deep amber. Small, spotty, off-white head. Hoppy, yeast, caramel. Not boozey, but piney, lightly resinous. Soft, caramelly, juicy, pretty low on hop acidity, actually. But still pretty basic, albeit malty and dry enough. No booze.