7.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
On tap at Dark Horse. Hazy amber body, thick light cream head. Piney, strongly rindy hops aroma, not much fig apparent in the aroma (if any). The flavor was mostly ass-kicking piney, grapefruity hops, bitter, citric, and powerful. Some light sweetness in the background may have been figs, but they were light. Alcohol was fairly undetectable. Quite bitter and definitely an IPA with figs only added as an accent. 7-4-7-3-13 (3.4). Re-rate 6 October 2011. On tap at Crunchy’s, East Lansing. I forgot I tried this beer previously, but am happy I reacquainted myself with it. Cloudy orange-brown body, medium yellowish head. Bitter spicy hops nose with earthy, musty fruit and toast. Firm bitter body with citrus rind and a spicy grassiness, blending nicely with earthy, slightly sweet figs, forming a beautiful union of bitterness and not-quite sweet but meaty fruits. Much better the second time around, and one of my favorite recent IPAs.
Tried
from Draft
on 21 Oct 2005
at 21:07
7/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
Aroma of a classic American IPA: citrus, grapefruit and orange, but certainly not as overwhelming to the nose as some. The flavor is a little more balanced out and leans more toward the bitter grapefruit with some maltiness to back it up. Finish is somewhat dry.
Tried
from Can
on 03 Oct 2005
at 17:16
7.8/10
—
Appearance 10
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 8
A black beer with a huge brown head. The aroma is sweet with notes of chocolate, alcohol, and cardboard, while the flavor is sweet roasted with notes of chocolate, and a dry roasted end.
Tried
on 25 Sep 2005
at 15:38
8.6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 10
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Bottle Pours a opaque inky black witha modest milk chocolate colored head with thick sticky lacing. Nice thick sweet aromas of chocolate, prunes, and sweet smokey goodness. Flavors are smokey but not biting or harsh, sweeter that their "sweet stout" ironically, and more of the dark pitted fruit. Prunes, purble grapes and carmelized sugar. Very tasty. Feel is also very slick and nice and hefty. Tha ABV comes through but seems to fit with the flavors and feel. Very nice. Muchos Grassy-ass to pailhead for this one.
Tried
from Bottle
on 27 Aug 2005
at 23:01
6.4/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 4
Overall 6.5
Bottle pours an extremely dark black with only a suggestion of a light brown head. Aorma is roasted and a bit of molassas and slightly sour. More like a very strong porter. Flavor is similar. Dark roasted notes and a little chocolate but mainly that burnt, charcoal flavor. Again I thought rather porter-ish. A rather thin fell as well. The late aftertaste is a quite strong smokey bitter. I expected more "sweet" or "cream" in this one. Nice but a bit over rated I thought. Thanks to pailhead for this sample of the midwest.
Tried
from Bottle
on 27 Aug 2005
at 22:23
6.2/10
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Appearance 4
Aroma 9
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 6
Bottle pours a dark amber that is cloudy and this one had lots of "floaties" in it. Very rich sweet barleywine type aromas. Carmel, brown sugar, vanilla and alcohol. Flavors were mainly sugary caramel and alcohol and a strong hop backbone. Almost fumy. Lots of bitterness at the end. This was a bit over powering for me. Thanks again to Pailhead for this one
Tried
from Bottle
on 25 Aug 2005
at 18:23
7.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 8
Bottle Poured a cloudy medium amber witha very thick pillowy head. Lots of blocky, sticky lacing. Very bold deep hoppy aroma like an IPA shouild have. Flavors were a nice balance of sweet maltiness and strong hop flavors. Plenty of bitterness bite onthe trailer. moderate feel with a sllight unfilterd sense. Quite good. Thanks to Pailhead for this one
Tried
from Bottle
on 25 Aug 2005
at 18:17
5.4/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 5
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 5.5
Bottle from Eyedrinkale shared on 8/5/05. Pours a dark blackish-brown with an initially large tan-coffee colored head that quickly dissipates to just a smattering of bubbles on top and at the edges. Really heavily sedimented beer with plenty left in the bottle. Aroma smells of dry roast, black coffee, vinousness and some sweet toffee, but not much of it. Dark, bitter cocoa beans and a earthy, ashy sort of aspect too. Flavor didn’t work out on this bottle, not sure why, I know it was cellared properly. But regardless, it was thin, wet and at the same time ashy and astringent. Like an old pot of black coffee. Grapey, muddy, loose, watery, astringent, charred. Not many nice things to say about this one. Seemed like an older bottle, no green hops flavor. Maybe this batch just didnt age well. Oh well, no big deal, I’ll try a fresh one soon, and redo it.
Rerate.
Still dont know how old the bottle, but the head retention is still poor.
Muted aroma of cherries, chocolate and vanilla. Nothing particular. But the flavor is full of roasted malts and lovely chocolatey notes. A slight nutty/bready edge but it’s overcome by some phenolic and char character. Hmm, actually, that’s not such a good thing. Texture is perfect as always from DH, but the grain bill just seems weird. I’ll up it a few points, I guess, it’s still pretty drinkable, just too many phenols and not enough residual sugar.
Rerate.
Still dont know how old the bottle, but the head retention is still poor.
Muted aroma of cherries, chocolate and vanilla. Nothing particular. But the flavor is full of roasted malts and lovely chocolatey notes. A slight nutty/bready edge but it’s overcome by some phenolic and char character. Hmm, actually, that’s not such a good thing. Texture is perfect as always from DH, but the grain bill just seems weird. I’ll up it a few points, I guess, it’s still pretty drinkable, just too many phenols and not enough residual sugar.
Tried
from Bottle
on 08 Aug 2005
at 09:38
7.2/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
(Bottle 35,5 cl) Comes close to being pitch-black, completely opaque. Small, light brown head. Nose full of burned malt, flavours full of burned malt and lots of bitterness from the burned malt. Surprisingly light-bodied - almost a bit watery - with a very dry finish. Has some vinous touches. 170705
Tried
from Bottle
on 23 Jul 2005
at 05:09
5.4/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 5
Texture 4
Overall 4.5
2004 bottle from SuIIy, consumed on 7/1/2005. Hazy/unfiltered mix of orange-caramel-amber-toffee in the body. Tons of sediment left in the bottle. Small eggshell colored head is retained at cover. The nose expresses sticky caramal and toffee, highly bitter, resiny high-alpha hops, like colombus or something. It’s all here, pine, resin, sap, intense grapefruit. But other than your basic caramel-toffee malt, I can’t find much malt complexity; just too much hops. Upon first sip, I’m somewhat taken aback by the huge bitterness and it is quite sharp and in your face, but it takes a few more sips for the sappy-resinous liquid to really coat your mouth and clog up your taste receptors. Plenty of caramel malt, really sticky mouthfeel. HUGE resin-burn from the hops and alcohol. Intensely bitter and unbalanced. I do like the big, sticky mouthfeel, but it’s just another overdone, crude hops experiment. What does this prove? That they can make an unbalanced DIPA. Wow, color me unimpressed. Alcohol burn on end is very evident, with a hint of earthiness coming from somewhere. Very low carbonation, almost too low. Full body, but the malt can’t keep this much bitterness in check. Oh well, it wasnt as ridiculous as Devil Dancer, but it’s getting there.
Tried
from Bottle
on 13 Jul 2005
at 10:59