2.9 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 2/5 OVERALL 12/20
Pours a ruby red color with a beige head that dissipates quickly. Caramel malt aroma. Has a smokey, malty flavor with a strange finish I can’t quite describe. Either way it was a bit lackluster for me.
3.7 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 14/20
12oz bottle. Reddish brown pour, laced light tan head. Aroma of dark fruit, burnt sugar, fruity yeast esters. Tastes of burnt sugar, dark malts, sharp bitterness. A touch of alcohol. Very toasted and sweet.
3.6 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20
Draft at Rockville, MD location on 11/26/10. Served in a mug. Came to the table a hazy deep mahogany color with a thick and creamy khaki head. A sweet aroma of caramel, toffee, milk chocolate, raisins, bananas, roasted coffee, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Goes down medium-bodied and pretty creamy. The taste begins with plenty of sweetness. Lots of chewy caramel, toffee, some raisins, bananas, and rich milk chocolate in the mix. A slight touch of toasted nuttiness in the middle. Bitter roasted coffee in the dry finish. Plenty of wintry spices throughout. The alcohol is well-hidden. Not bad at all.
3 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 11/20
Not bad. Nisce lightly sweet malt profile with a nice bite from hops and the ethanol.
Finishes clean and hides the 7%.
3.5 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 15/20
On tap at the brewpub. Pours a deep brown with a small creamy light tan head. Aroma is simple, malty and a touch nutty, with a hint if spices. Flavor a bit more spicy, with the more pronounced nuttiness and a strong roasty malt and toast note. Finishes soft and sweet. Medium body and a softer carbonation. Not bad, very quaffable.
3.4 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
Molasses and horehound aroma. Garnet brown, thin yellow head. Lightly sweet raisin with pecan hints. Grassy finish. Fairly well balanced. Solid.
2.8 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 2/5 OVERALL 11/20
Bottle pours copper with a tan head. Aroma is sweet and grainy with notes of toffee. Flavor shows oatmeal raisin cookie with a hint of nuts. Overall body is moderate but feels thin, and finishes slightly sweet.
1 AROMA 2/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 2/10 PALATE 1/5 OVERALL 2/20
Polished ruby and garnet sparkle for the entire world and thine own humble eyes to see. Deeper in her depths one finds burnished mahogany while a khaki head melts into a thin puddle. Beside good will and cheer, one also looks forward to the culinary treats baked, basted, buttered, broiled, and frosted for our snarfing pleasure during the wintry season. It is those aromas and flavors many Christmas beers try to capture and Gordon Biersch is no exception. Massively sweet with thick sticky caramelized sugars, she ends with smoke, maple, and barbeque sauce. What?! Barbeque sauce? I think we have our seasons mixed up here… another succession of deep rapid sniffs reveals more of the same: smoke, maple, spice, and barbeque sauce. Oh boy. Swallowing hard, I take a tentative sip and my tastebuds are basted in some mighty fine barbeque sauce with a dash of paprika, cumin, and smoke. Thick and cloying maple only serves to enhance the barbeque sauce quality which seems to stick in the back of my throat. One more quaff just because I’m a glutton for punishment, and another taster was left half-empty.
I’d say I was crazy but my good friends and beer tasters in crime, Mike and Paula, tasted and agreed whole-heartedly with my backyard summer barbeque conclusion. Blech.
2.7 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 4/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 10/20
14 ounce sample on tap at Sacramento International Airport. Aroma is faint, metallic with light hints of fruity esters. Not much else going on. Some clove also makes an appearance. Transparent dark amber body with a creamy, yellowish head present. Good lacing. Starts metallic, sweet, chewy with plenty of esters--too many. Some light astringency comes through later on with more metallic notes. Lots of yeast character, and this seems a bit underattenuated with residual sweetness. Not so good.
3.2 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 13/20
Yet another Christmas leftover. It poured a seriously dark copper, yet if held up to the light, some did shine through. The creamy ivory head left some nice lacing on departure. Aroma was disconcerting - what is this? - although not unpleasant. Flavour was alright, I guess, bot not at all compelling. Mouthfeel was rich and smooth, and the finish hum-drum. Not a brilliant dopplebock.
|
