Emerson’s Taieri George

Brewed by Emerson’s Brewing Company (Lion Brewing)
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Dunedin, New Zealand

Serve in Lager glass, Shaker, Tumbler

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500ml bottle (2012 vintage). Appears hazy deep brown with reddish highlights and a firm cream-white head. Aroma is spicy with notes of cinnamon, cloves, orange peel and raisins on top of dark chocolate malts and alcohol. Palate is smooth and rich with the complex flavours of the nose coming through nicely before a dry spicy bitter finish. Body is fullish with a just right carbonation. A superior strong spiced ale from this admirable Kiwi brewery.

Bottle from Slowbeer. Dark brown, aroma of cola, dried fruits, caramel. Light sweetness, taste of spices and cola with slightly harsh bitterness. Not one of my favourites.

Bottle from bottleshop in Dunedin. Aromas of cola, caramel, dark fruit. Taste is sweet, with bitter notes, long length. Palate is velvety, and medium bodied. Dark brown, with a thin head.

2012 Vintage: Dark, slightly hazy color with a fairly dense head that slowly fades. Sparse lacing. Toffee and gingerbread aromas and complex quad-like malt driven flavour and silky thick mouthfeel -Rated via BeerBuddy

After cleaning my computer screen and changing my pants due to this bottle exploding when opened I finally get to rate this beer. Over carbonated. Nice spicy nose and deep rich colour. Never been a big fan of the flavour profile though, hence the poor rating here. Did I mention over carbonated and the bottle exploding? Never going to get a good rating after this.

Nice amount of head and good retention, amber brown poor. Really nice drop. Pleasant amount of spicy without being over the top. Will be trying again. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

What a great beer! As the cold winter sets in, my stock of this beer has increased. To put it simply, this is like drinking a hot crossed bun or raisin toast. A fantastic winter spiced ale that ages very well.

This has been a favourite of mine for a few years, so as soon as the 2012 vintage hit the shelves I grabbed some bottles. This is from tasting the new, young ale; I’ll likely re-rate in 3 - 6 months time as past experience has shown this ages wonderfully. Deep chestnut colour, big bilowy brown head. Lots of roasted nut aromas, and a strong tang of almost medicinal alcohol. There’s something else there, almost a bit of burnt rubber? Not unpleasant, but a bit rough. Smoothly sweet on the tongue, a sour note rolling underneath. The malt comes through rich and chocolatey. Overall, not as spicy or lush as I remember last year’s vintage being. I’m going to put this down to the age of this batch for now, but I’m not enjoying this as much as I might’ve hoped. Fresh is not always best!

Bottle. Drank just days after the 2012 release. Aroma: Spicy nutmeg, roasted chocolate, coffee, turpentine-like solvent, resin/mold, celery. Palate: Velvety smooth mouth feel. Flavor: Brown cake spices- of nutmeg and cinnamon; bready mid-palate with resin and mold character plus celery. Comments: Obviously too young to drink now. An extreme case of a beer that hasn’t come together yet. I have enjoyed this in the past and expect it to integrate and score around 37-38. Save it for at least 6 months, preferably a year.

One of my top three beers, just what it says on the bottle; just like drinking hot cross buns. Big and smooth with an assortment of flavors, it keeps well (if you can resist drinking it) and changes over nine months to a year. Don’t know beyond that because I keep drinking it all.