Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
12 ounce bottle into pint glass, best before 11/12/2018. Pours slightly hazy/cloudy deep ruby red, light copper/brown color with a 2 finger fairly dense and fluffy light khaki head with fantastic retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lasts. Thick foamy lacing clings on the glass, with a good amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Fantastic appearance. Aromas of caramel, brown sugar, brown bread dough/crust, toasted biscuit, nuttiness, peach, plum, pear, apricot, and red apple; with lighter notes of chocolate, cocoa, coffee, herbal, wood, floral, grass, pepper, and yeast/toasted earthiness. A bit too fruity/yeasty aromas, but not overwhelming. Nice and pleasant aromas with good balance and complexity of dark/bready/light roasted malts, fruity yeast, and light-moderate earthy hop notes; with solid strength. Taste of big caramel, brown sugar, brown bread dough/crust, toasted biscuit, and nuttiness; with lighter notes of chocolate, cocoa, coffee, peach, plum, pear, apricot, red apple, herbal, wood, floral, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness. Light-moderate herbal, floral, woody, grassy, peppery, roasted bitterness on the finish. Lingering notes of caramel, brown sugar, brown bread dough/crust, toasted biscuit, nuttiness, chocolate, cocoa, coffee, fruit, herbal, wood, floral, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Very nice complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready/light roasted malts and light-moderate fruity yeast/earthy hop flavors; with a great malt/bitterness balance, and no cloying/astringent flavors after the finish. Fairly crisp finishing. Light-moderate increasing dryness from lingering bitterness and carbonation. Medium-high carbonation and medium body; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/bready/grainy/sticky, and lightly chalky balanced mouthfeel that is nice. Zero warming alcohol for 5.8%. Overall this is a very good English brown ale. All around nice complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready/light roasted malts and light-moderate fruity yeast/earthy hop flavors; very smooth, easy, and fairly crisp to drink with the mellowly bitter/drying finish; and despite the over-carbonation. Well rounded malt complexity, balancing earthy hops, and restrained fruity yeast. A very enjoyable offering, and well made style example. Just a bit too yeasty overall.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
12 ounce bottle into pint glass, best before 11/17/2018. Pours slightly hazy deep ruby red/brown color with a 1-2 finger fairly dense and rocky light khaki head with great retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lingers. Nice spotty foamy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Fantastic appearance. Aromas of caramel, brown sugar, toffee, roasted nuts, brown bread dough/crust, and toasted biscuit; with lighter notes of chocolate, cocoa, coffee, raisin, plum, fig, pear, red apple, herbal, floral, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness. Nice and pleasant aromas with good balance and complexity of dark/bready/light roasted malts and light-moderate fruity yeast/earthy hop notes; with solid strength. Taste of big caramel, brown sugar, toffee, roasted nuts, brown bread dough/crust, and toasted biscuit; with lighter notes of chocolate, cocoa, coffee, raisin, plum, fig, pear, red apple, herbal, floral, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness. Light-moderate herbal, floral, grassy, peppery, roasted bitterness on the finish. Lingering notes of caramel, brown sugar, toffee, roasted nuts, brown bread dough/crust, toasted biscuit, chocolate, cocoa, coffee, dark fruit, herbal, floral, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Great complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready/light roasted malts and light-moderate fruity yeast/earthy hop flavors; with a great malt/bitterness balance, and no cloying/astringent flavors after the finish. Light-moderate increasing dryness from lingering bitterness. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/bready/grainy, fairly sticky, and lightly chalky mouthfeel that is nice. Zero warming alcohol as expected of 5.2%. Overall this is a delicious English brown ale. All around nice complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready/light roasted malts and light-moderate fruity yeast/earthy hop flavors; very smooth and easy to drink with the mellowly bitter/drying finish. Very flavorful and not watery for the ABV. Great rich and well rounded English malt complexity; with restrained fruity English yeast, and balancing earthy hops against sweetness. A very enjoyable offering, and spot on style example.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 4.5
Bottle sample at a tasting at troubles' place. Thanks Alexey. Hazy amber. Honey, caramel, oxidation, fruitiness, sweet, flowers, a bit of spiciness, alcohol.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Bottle pour into shaker pint glass from Total Wine & More, Danvers. Appearance is dark, dark brown with ruby (virtually opaque), with nice sparkle at the edges of the glass, finger-width of fizzy light brown head with poor retention and no lacing. Aroma is rich, roasted malts, coffee, chocolate and whiff of earthy bitterness. Taste is mild anise, roasted malts, earthy bitter, European hops. Palate is light-to-medium bodied with thin, smooth texture, average-to-lively carbonation and dry finish as taste with lingering pleasant earthy and roasted bitterness. Overall, the aroma is killer but the taste doesn't quite measure up and it's a little thin and overcarbonated.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 3 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Pours dark amber with a very thin head. Slight ale aroma. Tastes like a light English ale with a very strong aftertaste of blueberries. Palate is sweet and imbued with the blueberry influences. Crisp and easily drinkable, an excellent beer that isn’t overwhelming while also heavily incorporating the blueberries.
Good, but Sea Dog still reigns supreme in Maine blueberry beers.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
22oz bottle pours out black topped with a tan head. Nose is nice dark chocolate nutty roast malts. Taste is more of the nice dark chocolate dry roast malts some coffee.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6.5
Bottle pours out brown topped with a small head. Nose is spice ginger molasses sweetness. Tatse is more of the nice molasses but the ginger takes over.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
12 oz bottle bought in Bar Harbor, Maine. Clear amber pour with a foamy khaki head and very good retention. Spotty lacing. Light blueberry nose. Taste is a smooth ale with a light blueberry flavor. Not overly fruity. Well done.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 10 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
From Jul 2008
I got this bottle in a trade with Vermonthiker. Thanks Tom!
This pours a pitch black with a 2 finger head of tannish foam. I see some great lacing and the foam does shrink rather quickly but there's still a fine broken layer near the end of my session.
The smell is first and foremost of roasted malt followed by coffee, a touch, nah, a good amount of dark chocolate and I can sense some hop presence lurking in the background.
The taste is...ahhh. Very very tasty. Big roasted malt followed almost immediately by some dark chocolate, some coffee, some sweet/milk chocolate maybe caramel malt? that gave this Stout an overall sweetish but not too sweet overall flavour, some toffee, some dark fruit when I swish it in my mouth, a slight tartness in the background that I'm guessing comes from the hops. Wow. This baby is complex to the max but...it's so smooth and easy drinking(it's off the charts in my book) that it's scary. I love a good dry Stout and, though this definitely has some sweet notes to it, this one is pleasing me muchly.
It's just shy of a full mouthfeel, the carbonation is on the light side but fits it to a tee, and it finishes with *that* dry, roasted malty goodness. What a brew! I can see why it is so highly regarded and sought after. I'm so happy I got a chance to try it so another thank you is in order to Tom!!