3.6 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20
Deep burgundy-purple, near black; irregular yellow-amber head. Very fruity nose, dark grapes and a piney background. Dark malts abund. Dry, piney hops flavour. Malts are there, but they don’t stamp their imprint on the taste. There’s a bit of creamy coffee whirling around in the background, lending the rather good body a velvety feel. A good ale, but I wonder about the supposed English character. Then again, who cares if the beer’s OK?
3.6 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 14/20
Prunes and brown sugar. Dank and musty with brisk, swirling hoppiness. Aromas of dried flowers, gourmet soy sauce, and plums! Leaves a rich, warming, creamy dark bitterness in the back of your throat. Delightful, and to be consumed slowly and savored.
3.6 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 15/20
UPDATED: DEC 4, 2005 Too many different years with too many different tastes to add comments.
This is different each year, I confirmed that with the brewery, should be able to rate each year. just like Anchor
3.6 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 16/20
Hops and toasted malts blend in the nose. Beer pours a gorgeous red/brown. Hops fight to get through the thick, roasty malt flavors, finally finish with a good wampf of bitterness.
3.6 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
Bottle. Copper-red pour with a nice off-white head. Aroma and taste of caramel, dark fruit, and a little bit sour. Malty. I didn’t get a ton of bitterness out of this. Nice brew.
3.6 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 16/20
I usually don’t have winter ales until late fall, but since the ’09 just hit the Portland, OR market, I thought, "why not". Colour... dark amber, though it looks like dark garnet in the light. Nose... notably hoppy! Palate... frothy, hoppy, some malt to back the hops, biscuits and a lengthy hop finish. Seems like past versions were more malty than this one.
3.6 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 15/20
Bottle, thanks to both hobbersr and curly.Both of whom gave me a bottle within a single week. A man should count himself extremely fortunate to have such friends! Thank you my friends, you are both worthy as gentlemen and scholars! Pours medium to pale brown/reddish amber. Thin off-white head, spotty to poor lacing. Nose is soft buttery caramel, nice dark fruits, light red fruits, very slight notes of hop spiciness. A rather pungent and "spicebox" beer overall, despite a low hope presence. Flavours are rich and toffeed, solid dark fruits and dates throughout. Spiciness is pervasive through the finish. LOADS of dates and raisins. Watching Grumpy Old Men. Did you know that the guy playing Jack Lemmon’s father was the original Penguin during the Adam West Batman era? I didn’t either! I can see it now though. Damn I love that old man!
"Does she have big thighs?"
"No."
"Then why haven’t you mounted her!?!"
Classic.
3.6 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20
VINTAGE 2008
Pours a dark, somewhat murky, brown with ruby tinting. One-finger head of light brown, loose foam. Dissipates to a thin covering on top of the liquid. Lacing is foamy and fairly sticky.
A touch of caramel maltiness. Notes of dried, dark fruits. Raisins and figs, mostly. Not really getting alot from this one.
You get a lite kiss of hops first. Followed by some hints of those dried, dark fruits. Then a roastiness comes in, fairly large. Some mild biscuitiness follows. Finishes with a slightly dry citrus taste.
Okay, medium body. A little bit on the lighter side, than I’d hoped for.
Overall, I expected more from this one. It’s drinkable, but there just isn’t a whole lot going on, here. Pretty mild, as far as winter warmers go.
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