12oz bottle courtesy of Dickonsonbeer. Pours murky orange with a small head. Lots of light in the beer but still low clarity. Small head. Aroma is grapefruit skins-hoppy strong. One can smell the bitter assault. Taste is more relaxed with felt bitterness on the tea-like citrus hoppy beer. Medium body and rather refreshing. Moderate carbonation.

Pours light orange into a Tumbler. Bright white head slowly recedes to skim surface. Orange and yeast aromas. Sharply carbonated upfront sour orange rind. Lasting lemon yeast finish.

From a 12oz bottle had a creamy, foamy, lacing white head with a body that is a translucent orange and looks a bit like well... leather! Smells heavy of hops, orange, lemon, grapefruit, pine and leather? Maybe not. Flavor is the same, very bitter and astringent on the end. Feels heavier than a typical IPA, not really a session beer either even at 5% abv. Worth a try, gotta support a brew pub trying to branch out too.

EBF 2007 - had to try this one, both for the name and the unique recipe - reddish purple pour, with minimal head - very earthy, vegetable aroma, though not specifically of beets - the beets are there in the flavor, though, along with notes of other root veggies, like taro and parsnip - moderate sweetness ads on almost fruity aspect to the otherwise heavy vegetable flavor - I’m not a big fan of beet, and because they’re so apparent I didn’t enjoy this as much as I could have, but I have to give them credit for making something so unique.

Growler, from The Tap. Dark black body with a small creamy brown head. Sweet roasted malt and chocolate aroma. Dark chocolate flavor with some strong bitter, and some sweet coffee flavor.

Pours bright amber into a shaker. Off-white conglomerate head leaves spider lacing as it recedes. Pine, grapefruit and resin aromas. Creamy sweet grapefruit from front-to-back. Lasting bitter grapefruit rind finish. Big beer flavor in a low abv...makes it sessionable. I’d prefer more balance, though.

Draught pints at Redbones on 9/11 and 9/14/06.
Very deep, canteloupe-meets-copper body, with blood orange tints. Spectacular clarity with still some material left in suspension, giving it that glassy look that signifies both the lack of filtration and the proper resting/racking of the beer. Gentle carbonation make its way up, randomly, throughout the liquid, creating an off-white head that is wispy and sticks well to the glass, though is not all that bountiful or retained.
Sharp, very pungent hops fly off the liquid. Plenty of melon and lemon with a strong, English-hop grassiness, though obviously some higher AA hybrid (as in, it’s not just your average 3-5AA goldings). But the American portion of hops slowly takes over, wrestling control as the very light crystal malt begins to show midway through, giving a slight toasty/sourish edge laden with caramel. Melons and even a glimpse of pine, with hard citrus on the backend keep the nose on its toes. There’s just enough of the herbal/grassy hoppiness to meld with the melon notes and keep it more aromatic than bitter, however, and it hangs in fair balance all the way through. No alcohol noted, some light pale sugars flit about, fresh, though very clean, yeast is lightly apparent. Strength of the aroma is medium-high.
A kick in the jaw comes upon first sip from some excessive, floral, almost resinous hoppiness that is quite bitter and acidic. It settles down in to a moderately round caramel sweetness, bolstered by pale malt sugars. It remains edgy though, and has an almost spicy character to it which reminds me very much of Back Road’s Midwest IPA that I just drank. Moderate to moderately high carbonation is a bit annoying at times, but certainly keeps the sweetness in check and helps delay the acidic/bitter onset of the hops. Though in the end, it still builds up on the palate, there being a fair bittering addition, it seems. But there is still quite a bit of hop flavor going on here. Leafiness, floral notes, light herbs and melon. A touch of wateriness is noted on the end, and it sweetens somewhat too much as it warms and breathes, but still a carefully crafted APA. No alcohol noted in flavor, texture could be a little more soft/creamy.

Draught pint at Redbones on 9/8/06.
Very dark, nearly-opaque black/brown body has a light-tan head perched atop it. Very well-retained and lacing quite profusely.
Buckets of chocolate malt are manifested in the nose, which has a good deal of roasted bitterness. Some nuts, soy, a hint of vanilla bean and molasses, it all makes for quite a complex aroma. The base malt sweetness, however, is full and thick, allowing for the roasty/ashy/acrid notes to take their aggression out on the sweet malts and not on your nose. Hop apparency is very low, maybe a touch of leafiness thrown in for good measure, but it’s difficult to discern amidst the malts, which this beer certainly focuses on. No alcohol in the nose. Medium-high to high strength of aroma.
Where the nose has the benefit of clearing itself in the smoke-free air of Redbones, the palate is not so fortunate. Though it begins strongly enough, by the end of the glass, the palate is near beat-to-death by the huge tar-like roastiness that hangs on the finish. The chewy, thick, fudge-like-consistency of the malts certainly helps balance this sensation, and the carbonation is appropriate, delivering a lightly brisk wave of respite, but in the end, the bitterness just builds too heavily (for me anyways). Still, it’s wonderfully brewed and probably wouldnt bother most dark-beer lovers. The lack of hop flavor certainly goes a long way as well towards helping keep balance. Some notes of hazelnut, vanilla, chocolate graham crackers and creamy vanilla all help add complexity. Tone down the malt bitterness (near astringency) about 33% and this would be world-class stuff. Lovely texture, unfiltered and all. No alcohol apparent in flavor.

Growler consumed on 8/4/06.
Little to no head, which fizzles rapidly in to nothing, leaving no lacing. Unfiltered body is lightly hazy and a very pale, soft peachskin color. Some light bubbles trail upwards.Soft nose, very understated, I guess.
Apples, lactic acid, strong wheat and just a touch of grassiness. Some lemon and lime emerge as it warms, but very reserved even after sitting out for a while.
Tart flavor, fully lactic at the start and then moving in to a clean, dry, nutty wheatiness and very light pils-like malt dryness. Extremely attenuated and well-done. Not worty in the least. Some hard mineral character builds up, but I don’t find the lactic acid to overpower in the least. Almost like a mix of plain and vanilla yogurt in terms of strength of the yeast. Spritzy, but relatively quite light on carbonation. Very light body, smooth, even wheaty texture with some lemon on the end. Ridiculously quenching and drinkable (I drank 3 glasses in about 5 minutes).

Cask pint, freshly tapped on 6/19/06 at Redbones.
Medium-high clarity shows very good brightness from the outset. Cherry-red with some auburn and darker ruby hues is the body, complemented by a large, mostly well-retained off-white head that provides light lacing in patches. The beer seems a little bit colder than I would expect, as the cask must have just been pulled from the keg room. Some light carbonation seems added, as they do at Redbones sometimes.
Anyways, ripe hop acids, deep leafiness and mountains of fruitiness rush forth, bursting with cherry, orange and lively, sweet pears. Green, dense, chewy, acidic hoppiness is immediately at odds with dark caramel and heavily sweet pale malt sugars in the nose. Some prickly bits of grass and flowers, and really nothing in semblance of pine or heavy citrus, thankfully (for my tastes). But acidic and very hickory-nut skin-like. Pungent, I suppose. No alcohol in the nose, with a medium to medium-high strength.
The flavor is not as malty as suggested, which is odd, but the high amount of hop bitterness and acidity seen in the leatherlips translates well here, cutting the caramel malts and sugary notes, with a very deep, green, thick, almost cannabis-like buddiness. I use all of these stupid descriptors not to be cute, but because it’s quite unique to my tastes and very different from your average Double IPA. Certainly no California DIPA, and hardly resemblant to any others I’ve had anywhere. But well-malted, quite tight in the mouth for a cask beer and with plenty of chewiness from the malt on the finish, perhaps a bit too much. The residual sugar makes itself known more in mouthfeel than in sweet flavor and the hop notes are very robust and engaging, without being terribly drying or crisp. Some toasty, earthy, almost English-like malts and light nutty yeast round out the beer, with no alcohol noted in flavor.