6.2/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6
A dark brown ale with a thick light moka head. Aroma of butttercotch, fruits and caramel. In mouth, loads of diacetyl and butter, too much so, with very nutty notes. Medium bodied, On tap at Empire Nov. 17 2007.
Tried
from Draft
on 15 Dec 2007
at 09:00
6.6/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
A golden brown ale with a thin off white head. In aroma, caramel, nuts and chocolate. In mouth, bitter chocolate and coffee, with no sweetness, very dry. A bizarre porter like brown ale. Good. On tap at Empire, Nov. 17 2007.
Tried
from Draft
on 15 Dec 2007
at 08:53
5/10
—
Appearance 4
Aroma 6
Flavor 5
Texture 4
Overall 5
A golden amber pale ale with a thin white head. Aroma is a bit more hoppy than the Amber. In mouth, a boring caramel malt with unbalanced hops, watery, short and astringent, with light acid notes in finale. On tap at Empire, Nov. 17, 2007.
Tried
from Draft
on 15 Dec 2007
at 08:51
5.1/10
—
Appearance 4
Aroma 6
Flavor 5
Texture 4
Overall 5.5
A lightly hazed golden ale with a thin creamy white head. A light hoppy caramel aroma. In mouth, a rather weak pale ale with no malts and too much hops, veering on metallic. On tap at Empire, Nov. 17 2007.
Tried
from Draft
on 15 Dec 2007
at 08:47
5.5/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 5
Texture 4
Overall 5
A lightly hazed golden wheat with a creamy lacing white head. A nice aroma of fresh blueberry pulp or jam. Taste is rather doughy, with fruit not very present and very short and watery. On tap at Empire, Nov. 17 2007.
Tried
from Draft
on 15 Dec 2007
at 08:42
2.5/10
—
Appearance 4
Aroma 3
Flavor 2
Texture 2
Overall 2
Waiter "Can I get you some drinks" Me "I'll have the berlinner weisse please with pistachio syrup" Waiter: "Are you sure you want syrup in it? It is extremely sweet with that in it, usually we just put syrup in it for girls." Me: "No no, I want syrup. I'm really in to beer, I can handle it" Waiter's thoughts after I left the beer half unfinished "Ya . . .you sure do know beer. Idiot." Well that was along time ago, back when I had a few good beers and thought that that made me the authority on good beer. Fortunately now I am more humble and realize how little I know.
Tried
from Can
on 17 Dec 2003
at 15:08
5.2/10
—
Appearance 4
Aroma 5
Flavor 6
Texture 4
Overall 6
Orangish-yellow. Lighter than I would expect a bitter. Almost no head and that was a bit odd. Smells hoppy and citrusy, though not very aromatic. Initial taste is dry hopped with cascades and the citrusy bouquet associated with this is immediatley apparent. Fortunately it dies off a little and the body kicks in with a more duller nutty malt taste. It is there, but not that much. This beer is way too hopped for the style, and needs to be much maltier and flatter and less watery towards the end. The beer is served too cold as well (they serve all their beers at one temperature). So all in all not much of a bitter, though it makes a pretty good Light IPA.
Tried
on 10 Jul 2003
at 09:51
6.6/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 5
Texture 8
Overall 6.5
A mix between orange gold and brown, with even some red flecks. Moderately small white head. Has a fresh almost citrusy smell. Empire’s classic example, called the Instigator. Smooth and tending towards a lighter malt taste up front, with some hops character. Grows sweeter and blossoms into a medium/full body with hints of what I would call a sweet orange flavor. Finishes with that traditional german yeasty/malt taste that is a little bit too sugary in my opinion. This one was lighter overall and less a challenge to drink than other dopplebocks. Prone to being a bit lacking of flavor overall. I liked the lighter take on a dopplebock, not really caring much for them, but a true dopplebock fan probably wouldnt.
Tried
on 10 Jul 2003
at 09:44
7.1/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
December 2002 release. Smells like hops and burnt malt. Burnt gray/brownish appearance, with some deep tan tinges. Small dissipating head. Began very bitter but then blossomed into a sweeter caramel malt. Smokey flavor was present initially and at the finish. Had only a medium body and was a bit too fizzy for my taste, but the body was complex and certainly provided the smoked barley malt I was looking for. The great thing was that it did not overpower with smoked flavor. The brewer had some extra smoked malt lying around and on a whim decided to make this. A great beer.
Tried
on 10 Jul 2003
at 09:37
4.9/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 4
Flavor 5
Texture 4
Overall 5.5
Ruby red, with mahogany tinges. Smelled like faint fruit aroma with some hops, but not strong. Initial taste was. . . bland. Malty with some hops, beer was very dry. As it warms, some more earthy tones emerge, and there is some blackberry/cherry notes that faintly appear. Ends without much of a flavor left on the palatte.
Tried
on 12 Jun 2003
at 21:13