Black Sheep Riggwelter (Bottle)

Brewed by Black Sheep
Style: Old Ale
Ripon, England

A dark brown beer with a strong creamy white head. A citrusy aroma with dry hop undertones. A malty taste, dry hops again and a slightly sweet finish of caramel. (Bottle).

In the bottle at the Royal Mile during the 2006 Crescent Moon Beer Bus Trip. Pours a dark brown with a white head. A very solid tasty beer. Aroma of chocolate and berries. Delicious.

500 ml bottle. Well, another day made progressively lousier with the passage of time, let’s see if this can brighten things up before bedtime. Nice beery smell upon opening, pours a nice ruby to brown with some cloudiness under a frothy head. Don’t know where those bananas are they refer to, I just get a nice decent English ale feel, with the foam leaving a cola texture on my lips. Okay, some slight fruitness further down, and a solid caramel malt profile with some distinguishing English hops. In fact, I’m getting a bit of spicy hop aftertaste. In fact, the hops really come up front near the end, and that’s new for something outside the pale ale cetegory, sez I. As a strong ale, it holds it alcohol well.

Bottle into Duvel tulip. Golden brown with ruby glow in the glass; almost perfectly clear. Nice large head of fluffy, creamy-looking ecru foam with some nice retention (lasts for a long time before diminishing to a thick dusting). Lace is very sticky and leaves a fragile pattern about an inch up the side. "Racing" is deep, thick and slow. Smell: piney hops sting, dark grains, butter, sweaty socks, steamy bathroom, and dust; a weird blend of appetizing with not-so-much. Mouthfeel is very creamy, especially in the finish, which is buttery, bready, slightly banana and softly sweet (like lactose) over an incredibly subtle dry hoppiness that is mostly minty in character (with some "stale" coffee grounds in there, although better than that sounds); it lingers on the sides of the tongue after the bready flavor is gone. Before the finish, the beer is a bit watery and the hops are metallic and thin; the malts lack character, lending only a flaccid sweetness in addition to their straightforward creamy, buttery banana taste. If only the beginning could be as good as the finish, this would be a pretty good beer.

Smokey malt hop aroma. Dark brown clear colour with good head and lacing. Bitter malt smokey flavour. Fizzy palate.

Feb. 23, 2006; 1 pt. .9 fl. oz. bottle

What news of the North? Foamy & dark, dark amber pour, thick persistent head, much lacing. Aroma of freshly-cut corn silage; slightly watery mouthfeel with cool blast of fruity caramel malt notes. Pleasant brew overall.

Purs a dark mahogony red, with an enticing smell. Lacing on the glass is evident with the head melting away. First taste has a thin feeling liquid and a sharp hops with a small hint of fruit. I have had this bottle in the fridge for 8 months and wonder if the length of storage is weighing on the flavor.

Aroma is reasonably bitter, with quite a bit of hops, malt character kicks in as it warms. Taste is similar, with caramel going to honey coming off the malts. Quite nice.