Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5
Reviewed from notes.
The appearance was a mellow sort of pale yellow to orange color with a slim white little head. Stringy lace.
The aroma had some sweet wheat, some citrus, light banana sweetness and then some grassy hops.
The flavor leaned towards the sweet side full of banana and citrus and that sweet malted wheat. Damp banana and citrus in the aftertaste and finish.
The feel was light bodied with a fair sessionability about it. Carbonation felt fine. ABV felt as projected.
Overall, well, it does the trick for some beer flavored water sort of thing going on. Maybe not a whale but there’s really not any flaws in this, that’s what it has going for it.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
Reviewed from notes.
The appearance was a semi-dark copper/auburn color with a finger’s worth of white foamy head. Super light stringy lace.
The aroma had some rugged and roasty dark malts, some nuts/pecans, light vanilla, some black cherries and a touch of some earthy/grassy hops. Some herbal/basement-like danky breadiness comes in to balance as it warmed.
The flavor seemed to blend most of this together somewhat nicely in a refined sort of semi-sweet malty manner. All seemed to ride together into the aftertaste and seemed to miss the point of finding it’s way to the finish.
The feel was about medium bodied with a fair jumpy sort of sipping quality about it. Some dryness seemed to touch my tongue here and the ABV felt fine.
Overall, some day I’ll probably be an \"old crusty\" man, when that happens and I’m probably not far off yet, I could see myself coming back to this. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll find my way back to Michigan and if I’m lucky, I’ll just fall off into Lake Huron and no one will miss me, probably the way I’d like it.
deyholla (22727) reviewed Vat 33 IPA from CJ's Brewing Company 12 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 6
On tap at the Plymouth location. Pours a clear amber with a near white head that dissipates to the edges. Aroma has light pine and grassy hops backed by earthy grains. Flavor is similar with mores grass notes and a musty grain backing. Finish is thin.
deyholla (22727) reviewed CJs Golden Lager from CJ's Brewing Company 12 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 4.5
On tap at the Plymouth location. Pours a clear pale yellow with a white head that dissipates to the edges. Aroma has an earthy, musty corn note with light sweet grains as well. Flavor is sweet but also quite musty with an odd wet wood note.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 7
Sampled from the tap. Poured a really dark brown with a yellow brown head that dissipated to the edges. Aroma was full of sweet grains with caramel and alcohol. Flavor was similar with sweet grains and caramel, a bit of alcohol and a slight roasted note in the finish.
Clarkvv (16523) reviewed Vat 33 IPA from CJ's Brewing Company 21 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
2004 draught at MBGSBF. Pours a light yellowish-copper with a small white head. This was the highest IBU offering they had (I think somewhere around 45) and I was in the mood for hops at this point, so I gave this a shot. Smells very papery/floral. Dry and perfumy on the nose, I wondered if it would be balanced. Flavor turned out to be a good, lightly juicy, but mostly dry bitter hops sensation. Not too much malt as these American I.P.A.s seem to lack, but the hops were fairly aggressive and if you were looking for tons of hops, this probably satisfied you. However, I was looking for tons of hops and tons of malt, which it didnt quite provide. Medium body, pretty decent fluffy palate, but no real malt backbone.
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
2002 edition on draught at the 2004 MBG summer beer fest. Been turnin this review over in my head for some time. This was one of my favorites at the fest, a toss up between this and the Kuhnhenn Simcoe Silly. But anyways, I’m glad a barleywine really came through and shined. Pours a beautiful dark dark mahogany with some dark yellowish-browns around the edges. Quite opaque and has a small but lasting beige head. Aroma is lightly dry, but has hints of caramel sweetness, with some hints of cinnamon ice cream like notes, vanilla and a touch of dry and moderately bitter hops on the end. Flavor begins with a dry sensation, the age being immediately discernable. A bit of oxidation (just a hint) and then it develops in to a full caramel malt adventure, thick and sweet, but not too much so. The hops are still apparent, and as Joe notes, are quite sharp and piney, adding a big kick to this already huge alcoholic monster. However, it mellows out some and there is a lingering caramel/vanilla/toffee finish with plenty of complexities that make you stop think, and sip it again. Though I’m not a huge fan of heavily hopped barleys, this one was classy and nowhere near over-the-top with hops. Sure they were there, but I enjoyed it, and the dark malty notes, light roastiness and sweet caramel all balanced it very nicely. I bet this stuff will be incredible in another couple of years but alas, I probably wont ever see it again, and who knows if any is even left. . . .