 hiddenvariable (181), pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Jun 4, 2008
bottle, and a bit of a gusher. pours with a thick fizzy tan head that quickly fades to a moderately thick foamy tan head. pretty clear amber, except for the giant chunks of floaties just zooming around in the glass. brilliant vinous smell, with all sorts of crazy spicy fruit esters coming out: apples, pears, cherries, tangerines?, apricots?, raisins, maybe a bit of grapefruit. i swear every time i smell it, i pick out a different note, and i don’t have to hold it anywhere near my nose to get a good whiff. all this is piloted by a solid brown sugar/caramel malt scent. the same caramel malt dominates, and gains a bit of a nutty flavor as well, and is backed up by another bucket of spicy fruit esters, with raisins taking the lead, backed up by a nice cherry note, with dozens of others mingling in the background. fairly sweet finish, with a very subtle tartness, and a barely perceptible bitter tingle. relatively full-bodied, with a sort of thick, creamy mouthfeel that doesn’t seem like carbonation has much part in (it does, but the bubbles are so small they go almost unnoticed). this is some seriously good shit. incredibly complex smell, great flavor, one of my favorites. chewing on chunks of yeast might turn off some people, though.
machfive55 (39), Mountville, Pennsylvania, USA
Aug 21, 2008 My beer poured cloudy with chunks of something in it...probably yeast. I’m sure I got a bottle that was mishandled somewhere along the way. Despite this however, the beer was excellent and had a great flavor and aroma, but I found it tough to drink because I couldn’t get by the chunks floating in it. So, that said, I’m going to rate this pretty good, as the beer tasted great, it just looked bad...I’m giving it a 1 on appearance. If I ever get the opportunity to re-rate, I’ll certainly change things.
HughConway (259), USA
Aug 13, 2008 Bottle. Pours deep brown with pleasing head. Strong fruit nicely complex aroma. Taste is spicy, fruity, thickly body. Excellent.
A_R (293), Georgia, USA
Aug 9, 2008 This beer had a nice aroma with a large head forming in the tulip glass. It is hearty and flavorful, with a mix of dark fruit flavors. Very smooth and complex with a long-lingering aftertaste.
KnN (253), Greenbelt, Maryland, USA
Aug 5, 2008 Pours a nice dark brown to ruby with almost no head, but some good carbonation. Big strong ale with a huge fruit aroma. Like toffee cherries and raisins mixed into a can of malt or something. Huge nose on this.
Flavor is more of the same with a lot of nice undertones, caramel, dark fruit, cherries. All of this and it’s not overly sweet which is very nice. This skates a thin line very well.
afireinside96 (390), Mountville, Pennsylvania, USA
Jul 29, 2008 Hazy brown pour with a creamy tan head. Smells of raisin, brown sugar, dried dates, and doughy yeast. Complex fruity flavor with notes of caramel, brown sugar, allspice, and biscuit. Prickly feeling carbonation helps remove the slightly cloying finish. Slightly warming as well. Damn good.
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