Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Taster at RB Yorktown. Golden pale color, very similar to the Pils they have on tap. I’m sure I’m not that sophisticated that I can pick out English malts, just the nice, earthy charms of Goldings hops. Taste reveals a great mild bitter. Carbonation brings little pinpricks of hop goodness to all parts of my tongue, but this may be even better on cask. Toasty mild malts, English style hops are not afraid to show off their pedigree, not that they’re stuck up about it. Great as is, may be even better on nitro.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Draft Mug at RBY. I’m a little disappointed in this. Overloaded with hops and preventing any subtleties of Belgian brewing show through. In the mug, it’s brown with red highlights and a carpet of lacy foam. American hops in the nose. Taste at first is equal parts piney hops, and fruity esters from Belgian yeast. But after a couple more swallows, clearly the hops will rule this brew. Way too pushy to be balanced by the malt.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
Mug club draft. Cloudy straw color in the glass, and by that I mean real straw, niot the light yellow crayon. Stiff meringue style head. Smell is subdued, with just a bit of pale malt, fruit esters and alcohol warmth. Taste is what we’d expect of a Belgian Pale Ale. I thought there was some wheat malt in it, leading to those fruity esters with a hint of bubble gum. Saaz is such a standard hop that it’s hard to say where it stands out. there is a bit of a floral component coming in. A slightly yeasty finish.
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Draft at RBY. Cloudy amber beer with a darker brown center. A stiff meringue of IPA foam releasing a sweet smell of malt. Taste has sharply bitter hops at the start, then orange citrus and pine that stays at the tongue and the roof of the mouth. Plenty of toffee malts. Almost a syrup texture. It just wants to be drunk. Feels like a double IPA, but alcohol is just at the upper edge of a regular beer.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Draft at RBY. The server was sampling this out but didn’t have brewer Timothy’s information or a name. She just knew it was the corporate White Bier brewed with pomegranate. Hazy yellow with a meringue white head.Nose has just a touch of extra tart fruit.Taste is still mostly wit, but there is a little tartness like pom or cranberry over the malt base. A little more fruit in the "comeback" (burp).
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
A real molasses smell, so that’s a good kind of start, but also a slightly spicy nose, either from hops or ale yeast. Black color with a thin ring of foam around it. A nice, sweet porter taste, that again is right up front with its molasses composition. A bit more fizz than the style may warrant, being as it’s not on cask or nitro, but it still goes down very nicely.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Mug Club draft. A bigger grapefruit smell without the catbox I’ve associated with this hop since I first encountered it in Gumballhead. Very hazy gold with a thin head. Juicy fruits in the tongue. More of that puckery bitterness as I work my way down. Another fine hophead’s delirium.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Draft @ FoBAB 2009, Chicago, IL. Pours a black color with a small tan head. Has a roasted malty chocoalte and licorice aroma with oaky vanilla hints. Roasted malty chocolate and coffee flavor with hints of bourbon and vanilla. Has a roasted malty oaky vanilla and chocolate finish.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Draft @ FoBAB 2009, Chicago, IL. Pours a black color with a small tan head. Has a roasted sweetish chocolate aroma with hints of whiskey. Roasted malty chocolate and oatmeal flavor with hints of bourbon and vanilla. Has a sweetish roasted malty chocolate and vanilla finish.
McDermottDrink (4593) reviewed Flash! from Rock Bottom Yorktown 14 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
Draft at RBY. In a tall wheat glass, it shows the cloudy yellow color of a witbier. Thin white head on top. Smell has lemony notes and an estery Belgian ale smell. Taste is indeed a wit with lemon to the fore.However,I also get an impression of tire rubber. Might be the peel, might some sulfur in the yeast that I don’t usually ever pick up, but hey, it’s been another crazily bad day. Still some unique spices here, still likable, and I’ll try this again next time.