4 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 9/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 16/20
Growler from the brewery - pours a honeyed copper with a billowy off-white head. Beautiful, doughy aroma packed with yeastiness, clove, coriander and some ginger. Underneath that there is a faint sweetness. Really nice. Smells like a cross between a Belgian blond and a Dubbel. Flavours are more of the same, but amped up and very fresh tasting, and include gingerbread, and cardamom, along with some faint cinnamon and a nice dry bitter finish. The hopping is quite nice, actually. Lovely, delicate carbonation with a superb mouthfeel. The alcohol (which was marked 6.5% on the tag on my growler) is very well integrated. I wish this one was available in the 500 ml bottles Grand River has planned, as this is something I’d love to sip throughout the holiday season. An expertly crafted brew from what is rapidly becoming the best brewery in Ontario. Good show!
3 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 2/5 OVERALL 12/20
Growler from the brewery. Pours orange, with a full white head. Aroma of spices and nutmeg. Flavour has spice, with some malt in the background, but I found it a bit thin in body.
3.6 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20
Aroma is malt and treacle, hazy copper, tiny white head. Lovely malt taste,spicy, pit fruiot. Medium bodied, very well balanced, blessed mouth feel, great for the winter season. Terrific!
4.1 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 17/20
Sampled both at the brewery, and from growler. Pours a transparent orange/amber liquid, topped with frothy, slightly off white foam. Again, nice head retention and lacing, as is a constant with this brewer. Nosing it, there is a huge blast of nutmeg, cinnamon, rose petal, Christmas cake, floral and honey notes. Good sweet caramel malt up front, excellent balance of nutmeg, cinnamon, floral spices, ginger, with a superb addition of equalizing hops to finish it off. This is really excellent craftsmanship. The somewhat higher alcohol content doesn’t even seem to be there. Excellent.
3.7 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 15/20
[948-20071210] Tap @ Victory Cafe (Toronto, ON). Nutmeg floral yeast aroma with cookies and allspice. Clear, orange brown body with a long-lasting creamy white head. More nutmeg cookies in the flavour with a bit of grainy oatmeal. Medium body has a fairly gravelly feel. Great balance, nice spices.
3.6 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 15/20
Draught. Clear golden-orange with a white creamy head. Aroma has some pleasant sweet spices including some cinnamon and caramel notes. Very well balanced flavour - plenty of spices, marked bitterness, and dark toasty bread. I like this stuff.
Tasted at Volo sometime in November/December 2007.
3.5 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 13/20
This spiced ale poured a golden yellow colour with a nice big white foamy head. To the nose there are scents of alsice, yeast, gum, and hopps. First taste is smooth and flavourful. Flavours of Juicy Fruit gm, allspice, hopps and pumpkin. palate is slightly bitter with hopp flavour lingering.
3.7 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 15/20
On Tap at Volo
Appearance :Clear, sunny amber with medium, fine, creamy top. 3+
Nose :Strong aromatic nose- fruity front, spices (nutmeg, clove among others) as well citric hops. Belgian styled Christmas themed bouquet.
Flavor/Palate : Clean , semi-full bodied. Citric front that was well blended with hop bitterness. Smooth solid support of malt base. This is well brewed ale, alcohol seamlessly flows. Spicy finish, pepper, vanilla, clove. Detail oriented formula. Solid , solid brew.
3.5 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20
On Tap - Volo - Nice head, good gold-amber colour, It has a most definite pumpkin-nutmeg aroma with a similar taste but add some cinnamon and allspice, I though this was a fantastic spiced ale and really enjoyed it, it is very festive (if ya know what I mean) and would reccomend it for cold, frosty weather!
4.1 AROMA 9/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 15/20
On-tap at Volo....
Appearance: Golden-bronze with a white head, very little retention, some lacing....
Aroma: Wonderful spicy aroma with plenty of depth, without being overpowering (cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg?). Slight fruityness....
Flavour: Pleasant, well-rounded spicyness; tropical fruit with perhaps a touch of phenols from the yeast (hard to tell with the added spice). Otherwise, the alcohol is rather subtle. Surprisingly, this one doesn’t have the dark fruitiness (or residual sweetness) of some of their brews. The bitterness is modest as well. It’s much more different from the highballer than I expected.....
Palate: Really well-attenuated, moderate body with a dry finish....
Overall: It’s digestible like a Belgian & doesn’t seem as strong as it is.
3.7 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 15/20
Tap @ C’est. Wow, this is pretty intense! They really amped up the flavour on this sucker. I wish I could say what it reminded my of, but it comes off vaguely Belgian in its yeast profile, yet it has a ton of holiday spices such as nutmeg and ginger, as well as maraschino cherry and oaken notes. Somewhat slick, barleywine-like body. Kind of makes you wonder when the "beer" flavour is going to kick in, but still a highly impressive, well-crafted and clean-tasting brew. Grand River, I’m glad you’re here.
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