Cloudy, gold/orange pour with lasting head - the aroma has a hint of spices, some honey, bready malt, herbs - the flavor is much sweeter than expected (my experience with "imperial pilsners" makes me expect assertive hops, which this doesn’t have) - chewy and bready - honey and...lavender? - hops come to the foreground late, but never really balance out the sweetness - I can taste the rye malt in this - different - another interesting HW beer, but I don’t like it as much as most of their other experiments.

Tap at Barcade - I don’t detect much of a difference between this and regular Cinderbock - for the most part, the heavy smokiness of the original is gone, and the sweet munich and caramel malts are allowed to come to the front - there is a greater smoothness on the palate than the original, making it dangerously drinkable - because of the decreased smokiness, it more closely resembles BockBock, which is a very good thing.

Dark amber colour. Very hazy. Slight oaky, cherryish, rodenbachy aroma. Very light body and restrained flavour. Hints of cherry. Not much backing the oak and cherry up (malt and mouthfeel I’m looking for) and even the most up-front flavours lack conviction. Oh well, you don’t always succeed every time you experiment.

Bottled. Hazy reddish brown. Wonderful lactic acidity in the nose with vague notes of sour cherries. Light, rounded malt profile. There’s perfumy notes as well as rosehip. Unfortunately the promising aroma doesn’t really carry over into the flavour and it all fizzes out a bit quick. But what an aroma...

I am not a big saison fan but was intrigued enough to pick this one up. Sampled from a 750ml green bottle this beer poured a cloudy caramel color with a large yellow-white head. The aroma is sour, tangy and has light caramel and raisin elements. The flavor is sour and tangy with a strong butterscotch presence The finish is fruity and a bit peppery.

2005 bottle from my buddy Nick (Crosling). It’s interesting, looking at the descriptions of the beer’s color that some say clear copper, some say amber-caramel, others dark chestnut brown. I’d like to further add to the disagreement by calling it blonde (though with a strawberry tinge to it). As in a blonde doppelbock, which I think this is. The cap got jarred a bit in transit, so to prevent any further C02 loss, I opened it only 24 hours after receiving it. Needless to say, it was completely hazy from start to finish. The head is a light straw-beige, creamy and large at first, but eventually receding all the way to a ring and light cover, but never disappears altogether. Quite a bit of lacing as well. The aroma begins with a subtle flowers and herbs note, mixing in delicate light grains, bits of honey and dough, and growing spicier with fresh noble hops as it warms. Fresh yeast is all over the place, doughy and dry and almost a Belgian-like quality to it. Very clean though, is the yeast, and hardly any of the usual doppelbock suspects are present. No melanoidins, breadiness or deep roast. In fact, I just get toasted grains and light caramel as the strongest of notes. The flavor begins with a vanilla cream, cake icing and rich, toasty grains. Fruitiness comes from a light yellow raisin-like note, and there is plenty more dough, dry baguette notes and light white pepper. I was left in the dark as to the alcohol content of this one, not finding any mention of it in the flavor or aroma. Carbonation is exquisitely tight, with finely bubbled carbonation. Texture is pure unfiltered goodness, smooth and substantial, very creamy. I’d love to see Heavyweight make this a year-round and I too hope to get more of this unique and wonderfully crafted beer.

on tap-pours a big foamy beige head with dark brown color. Aroma is vinegar, malt. Taste is vinegar, dark fruit, malt, silky, nice.

2004 bottle, from trade with kramer17801. Dark ruby colored pour. Very foamy and effervesent, like Alka-Seltzer. But then there’s a good, sweet malt smell and flavor Ends up with impressions of hot alcohol and fruitiness.