Goose Island Matilda

Orange and amber describes the color well. The aroma is full of citrus, spice, and candy. The taste is a nice blend of prune, sugar, alcohol, malt, and a finish of yeast and clove. Very drinkable, but expensive.

Pours a golden orange amber color with a thin creamy off-white head. Aroma is mostly malty with somw fruit plum and raisin notes. There is also a tiny bit of spice that is mildly apparent. Flavor starts out sweet and very much caramel malts. Quickly hit by some raisin and dark fruit flavors before ending spicy and mildly hoppy also with some ginger. Medium body and soft carbonation. Good but not outstanding. Seems too dominant on the malts and doesn’t get that big presence.

Cellared bottle. Pours copper with a nice white head. Smells funky with some nice dry malty hints. Tastes perfumy and funky with some hints of dry malt and a touch of fruitiness on the finish.

2006 bottle. Busted it out to celebrate my contribution to the presidential ticket 2008, aight? The head won’t go away. Very nice. Lots of bubblegum and yeast on the nose. Suggests a fruity flavor, but they hopped this generously, more in bittering than in flavor or aroma obviously. Balance is pretty good, almost there. See you tomorrow/hey Frank can I borrow/a couple of bucks from you/to go/waltzing Matilda.

A Mes rate: bottle at Twickenham beer festival.
Orangey copper coloured with no head. Nice enough colour though. Huge sweet yeasty aroma with a ton of bread and some slight hoppage on top. Similar flavour. Like a solid US beer (I wrote bear in my notes...) with a shit load of Belgian yeast. Big sweet orangey notes with plenty of bread holding it up. Has a kind of marmalade on toast character. Not particularly complex but very tasty and enjoyable. Thanks to Westy Shane McBogan floppy hat with corks wearing ride a bike for 6 miles to say hi to his neighbour Knifey McSpoony Duff. Bit of a Goose?

Clear amber with a vanishing head. Nice fruity nose, especially apricots and oranges, some malt sweetness and yeast spiciness. Flavour is less than expected from such a peculiar aroma, but still a interesting ’’Belgian’’.

Pours orange with a white head. Aroma is of malts, yeast, spice, candi sugar, and caramel. Taste is very malty, with a big spiciness. Lingering spicy bread taste. Very enjoyable.

This is a solid effort by Goose Island. It’s very subtle, but a nice maltiness and a slightly spicy yeastiness. Clean finish. Nothing extraordinary, but very pleasant.