2004 bottle contract brewed by Concord brewing. Well, not surprisingly, this one was just about as good as the IPA. Whatever they’re doing, they’re doin it right. Wonderful deep cherry red appearane, some light oranges and burgundies. Good light yellow head, mostly clear body. Aroma of ripe red fruits, this thing is exploding with fruity ale yeast. Light hops in the background a mild sweetness. Flavor is almost exactly like the aroma. Incredible fruit esters, creamy mouthfeel, hops not overdone but present. The toastiness is subtle and adds no astringency. This is a spectacular beer.
2005 bottle Initially large off-white head recedes to ring, with some light lacing. Still a brilliant, deep cherry red appearance to the body. Aroma is very hoppy, with a distinct earthy/leafy/nutty bitterness and drying effect. Clean and dry, it finishes without too much malt influence (not enough). Tastes like tea leaves, with lots of toasted malt, some light roast. Very hoppy, though it is a fresh, herbal/spice hoppiness. Ultimately the body proves too light for the amount of hops. Not enough sweet/substantial malt to balance. A bit of crystal malt up front is all that is keeping this from being an IPA. As I finish the glass, I keep thinking, "way too bitter!" Unsure why the great parity between the last batch and this.

2004 bottle. Now contract brewed by Concord Brewery. WOW. This just blew me away. When EddieG rates an IPA high, you know it’s gonna be good, but I wasnt prepared for this one. Aroma hints at good things to come. Huge centennial spiciness, bitterness from the that and the Cascades and a bit of floral, fruitiness from the Goldings and again from the centennials. Good caramelized orange candy in there. the flavor is just spectacular. . .Immensely balanced and just full flavored. Candy flavors, light pine hops, plenty of fruitiness and a bit of dry, earthy malt on the very end. Bitterness is perfect, not overthetop and ruining, but lingering and moderate. The flavor that really wins me over though, is the light candied flavor right near the end, reminding me heavily of a fruity belgian dark strong (delirium noel, affligem noel perhaps). No wateriness, the aroma stays down to the end as well. Medium to medium-full body. Big creamy white head that reduces to just a foamy cover, tons of lacing and a deep honey orange color. Clear and filtered. I’ll be getting some more of this. 8/4/8/4/17

2005 bottle, Mercury brewing version. I keep seeing all of these horrible reviews of the beer but I have yet to have a bad bottle. Quite the contrary, it has a foamy white head, low filtration, with sweaty, dusty goldings hops intersparsed between thick citrus, lemons especially. Caramel and cookieish malts provide light sweetness in the nose. The flavor begins dry, with a leafy green hop flavor that washes well over the palate through its soft mouthfeel and low carbonation. The lightly sweet cookie-like malts add balance and tickle the tongue, and then dry out significantly, providing a more biscuity, white bread-like feel on the end, coupled with some house yeast character of the brewery. 7/4/7/4/15

2004 bottle
Pours a copper-amber, pretty light and completely filtered with a good white head. Aroma of apples? papery, dry hops and lots of pale malt. Flavor is like hop juice, not extremely bitter, but just very wet tasting on the palate, with fruity yeast and no sweet malt. Papery on the finish, with too much hops and not enough other stuff. Quite watery. 6/3/5/2/10.
2006 bottle, now contract brewed by Mercury Brewing (whereas it was previously brewed by Cape Ann).
Much firmer head, better retention, per Mercury, bottle conditioned and with a soft haze. Golden, fiery orange, like a bright sunset.
Hoppy nose, very dry, with some grass, dry straw and light orange rinds. Dry grains and a touch of soft honey. The flavor mimics the nose, being a bit more citric, but not overly bitter. Very attenuated and clean, with strong toastiness and a fair amount of malt sweetness (caramel and base sugars) on the finish. Engaging mouthfeel, always Mercury’s strongpoint. No alcohol noted. Much improved, not surprisingly. Score is for this version.

2004 bottle. Pours a soft orange with amber/red tinges and a big eggshell head. Plenty of sediment in this bottle conditioned sample. Aroma is faint, light plastic, soily, dirty hops. Flavor is very dry and bitter, no real attempt at sweet malt balance here. Tastes much like pine nettles. In fact, it tastes almost like eating a whole hop, bitter, light metal notes. I want to dislike this, but somehow this strange beer is not terrible. It want to have English flavors, but huge american bitterness. At least it was a unique take.

An unclear orange beer with a huge white head. The aroma is yeasty and hoppy. The flavor is sweet with a clear hop character and a dry end.

Orange to light amber; dirty-amberish head. Nose with chalk, fresh lemony and leafy hops. Smells more like a British cask ale than as an USA IPA - including the little ’dishwater’ aroma. Taste is harsh, chalky and metallic hopbitterness, with very little aroma. Again dishwashing, again English, but not as the better cask ales. In the aftertaste, the metallic harshness gets worse. Warming up, some malt sweetness appears, but it gets choked by the metallic bitterness. Not very full-bodied, but that’s British again. If the main purpose was to recreate an English style, this might be called succesfull. They might, however, tried better examples, as TT Landlord, King Alfred’s, of Oakhams. Instead...

2004 bottle. Pours a bottle conditioned, mildly hazy vibrant golden-yellow with some touches of orange. Big foamy white head. Aroma has hints of fresh leafy, soily hops. A lovely fresh and very light citrus aroma is subtle on the nose as well. Flavor is of herbal-like hops, minty, leafy and quite flavorful. Moderate sweetness from the light barley malt and a very pleasing palate; lightly bubbly, good chewy texture, wonderful crisp, if not a bit spicy finish. Very fresh tasting. Not a watery light example of the style.
Earlier Rating: 11/21/2003 Total Score: 2.6
On tap at the Black Cow tap and Grill in Hamilton, MA. Draft. Pours a pale gold, clear, with a good amount of white head. very little lacing. Aroma is of a dry straw/hay hops, with maybe a touch of spice. Very dry flavor throughout, body remains medium but lightens up as it warms. Starts out with a very crisp straw hops flavor, light hay, and lots of lemon. Malt is ever so slightly present but never really comes out. Finish is rather bland, dry, lackluster. The hops profile is decent and at least there is a hint of malt, the spiciness is good, but way too much lemon, and a weird sugary thing going on in the finish.

2004 bottle. Very hazy straw yellow mixed with some darker golds. Bottle conditioned. Small white head, rapidly disippating. Quite fizzy. Smells lightly sweet (corn, bubble gum, clove). Flavor is sweet, but not overbearingly so. There is a spritzy carbonation to this, that adds a pleasing texture, and while the body may be a bit underdeveloped, the clove and bubble gum taste real enough to keep this one afloat. Ends quickly and cleanly. A pretty good beer all around, great as a session hefeweizen and perhaps a deeper flavor than some of the above-average examples. I see where they’re going with the summer session thing, but I really would like this beer more with a bigger body and perhaps a hint more balancing hops.

Thick bottom layer gives "interesting" haze in orange-amber ale; miscellaneous yellow-amber head. Hop flowers, opened hopbail nose, flowery - nearly perfumey. Very bitter indeed, hop-oil like, near bile taste. There's (coloured) malt underneath, but it's gotten completely overwhelmed by this bitter onslaught. Medium-bodied only. Oily mouthfeel, probably due to the hop(...). Yeast deposit gives more creamy feeling. Hopbitterness, indeed, but this one is totally without any subtelty. Nice nose, but the total unbalance ruins it.