7.9/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 10
Overall 7.5
Draft taster at RBY. Tea colored, with a little haze to match. A ring of foam showing some legs on the sides. Fruity English ale nose, followed by light hops. Taste starts out with earthy, even woody English hops. Malt has some sort of sweet apple or berry esters, maybe even a skosh of funk. Closes in on some nice nut brown roastiness. Distinctive hop and malt blend above the call for an ESB. High, bitter finish.
Tried
from Draft
on 10 Jun 2012
at 22:00
6.2/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6
Draft sampler at the Solemn Oats tapping. Just a few breif notes of approval. Hews closely to a Schekerla style smokes helles. Actually, the German version tends toward the bacony side, but this has the character of a smoked Gouda rind. Base style was some room to play.
Tried
from Draft
on 28 Mar 2012
at 19:10
7/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
Draft pint. Ruddy, dark brown pour under a thin, lacy layer of foam. Smell does have a bit of pumpkin pie to it, including a note of spice. Taste has the slight note of pumpkin pie, plus a little creamy note that I get with some pumpkin beer. Some of the bock character adds the spicy note. Hey, maybe a wheat or rye with weizen yeast might add more spice? Very slight vegetal character. Hops are in very gentle balance. Seems hearty, yet drinks easily. Little impression of maple, too.
Tried
from Draft
on 16 Dec 2011
at 23:01
7.9/10
—
Appearance 10
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Draft taster. Big, deep brown head over a black/brown body. Smell of chocolate with a little mocha. Smell is definitely not as deep as a barrel-aged version. Pushed by CO2 for a fizzy texture. Probably pretty young, so I pick up a mild roastiness. Just a bit of bittering hops at the edge of my tongue. Roast is light, not harsh. Emphasis is still on malts and a slightly warming alcohol note.
Tried
from Draft
on 16 Dec 2011
at 22:39
7.4/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Draft at RBY. Takes a couple of sniffs to pick up on the hop aroma at first, and then I think I pick up mostly Northern Brewer. yes, the usual cloudy orange IPA color with a vigorous head of foam. Once I get some on my tongue, it’s plenty more hoppy. Now I get citrus, pine and grapefruit, probably Amarillos or their cousins. Malt character is way in the background, but texture is still a bit thick, making this feel like a hop syrup. To a hophead like I sometimes aspire to be, this is actually kind of smooth.
Tried
from Draft
on 30 Nov 2011
at 22:25
7.5/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 8
Sampled from the tap at 2011 FOBAB. Poured a hazy deep amber brown with a deep yellowish brown head that dissipated to the edges. Aroma had a good amount of smoke with some salt notes and underlying grain and rum. Flavor had an interesting combination of smoke, rye and rum with some sweet grain backing. Interesting beer.
Tried
from Draft
on 21 Nov 2011
at 10:45
6.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 6
Tulip glass on draft. Dark pumpkin-like amber in the glass, with a thin layer of foam. Suddenly my nose isn’t letting in much smell, but a sniff keeps making me think of pumpkin pie spice. Same deal for the taste. Okay, some cinnamon and mace, plus some yeasty hefeweizen type flourishes that help set this apart from all the other spiced holiday beers. Orange peel finally comes front and center toward the end. Develops into a fine holiday seasonal.
Tried
from Draft
on 10 Nov 2011
at 21:28
6.2/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 8
Overall 6
Draft Taster. This is the current "Specialty Dark." Inky black, with a thin ring of foam that gave up the fight to stay in the glass after one round. A mix of catbox hops and roasted barley in the nose is a bit of a shock. The hops and malts continue to bitchslap each other in the taste, too. The choice of hops and malts may actually be injudicious. Or is this a new mutation in the developing Dark IPA style? Either way, this takes some getting used to.
Tried
from Draft
on 10 Nov 2011
at 21:22
7/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Draft taster. Kind of a homemade cranberry wine nose. Garnet brown color is more like a Belgian sour than a Scotch ale. The taste does surely have a foll-on tart cranberry taste. Not totally sour, but definitely puckery and cranberry-y. Brightly acidic. A better choice of base style to match the cranberry taste than almost any other beer with cranberries I’ve had.
Tried
from Draft
on 10 Nov 2011
at 21:15
6.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Taster at RBY. Light, clear gold in color, a short ring of foam around the edge of the liquid. Dry pils malt smell, none of that sweet Frosted Flakes smell of an adjunct beer here. Dry, light malt taste without the extra sweetness. Maybe closer to a Dortmunder style like a DAB. Also, perhaps a tad too bubbly, but those bubble deliver more of the sharp sting of the noble German hops.
Tried
on 13 Oct 2011
at 20:08