Heavyweight Dougs Colonial Ale

750ml Bottle: Sweet aroma. Smells of chocolate, cream, coffee, and toasting. Poured copper/caramel in color with a huge, foamy, beige head that lasted throughout. Clear. Lots of large particles. Sparkling. Medium sweet, lightly bitter flavor. Tastes of coffee, chocolate, sprite, piney hops, sugar, and cream. Medium body. Fizzy texture. Lively carbonation. Sweet chocolate and coffee finish. Over carbonated.

750ml from zathrus13 - thanks, Jeff! Wow, this is one mighty gusher. It took an effort of many minutes to get this thing settled down, and then only after some spillage. But the massive carbonation lets the aroma breathe nicely as those dregs drop onto the billowing head like cinnamon atop cappucino foam. So yeah, I reckon this is a brown ale, but it’s very complex, with loads of caramel, brown sugar, and a noticeable aroma of smoke in there to give it a quirky aftertaste that I enjoyed quite a bit. Lively hops keep it from being too sticky also. I really enjoyed this.

25.4 oz bottle. Impossible to pour without creating a huge head atop dark topaz. Settles to a light crema. Unfolding nose of woody molasses cookies, a touch of smoke and Baker’s chocolate. Almost fizzy carb adds to a hard cider tang for a lively start. Amidst the bubbles hints of espresso, ginger and ash. Tastes like a Brown, drinks like a Saison.

27-May-07 (750 ml bottle: Obtained 22-Jun-06 in trade with Eyedrinkale, thanks Mike!) A little slow oozing of foam when I opened the bottle and very heady pour prompts some cause for concern but a cursory, casual sniff of roasted malt and sweet chocolate quickly diverted my attention. But as I let the foam die down, upon closer inspection, the nose reveals significant yeastiness to go along with the dry-roasted malt and emerging aromas of ground coffee and nuts. The chocolate seems to have slipped below the radar, and there is certainly no impression of sweetness, which is confirmed when taking a few sips. Medium roasting is at the forefront, and it’s moderately bitter, dry and coffee-like. Yeastiness is quite evident early, but is pushed aside by the now-dominant coffee and roasted nut notes, and a fairly spicy undercurrent adds a pleasant zing in the finish. Excessive carbonation and prickly, expansive mouthfeel leads to cheek puffing, bloating and a litany of loud belches. Very dry on the palate, medium to medium-full in body, and round, creamy mouthfeel. Amber-brown in color, very hazy from bottle sediment, with all pours resulting in a tall, bubbly, light-tan layer of foam that never settles below a quarter-inch. The head is too bubbly to leave any lacing on the glass. Overall, a very fine brown ale, packed with atypical flavors, fairly complex for a usually simple and uninspiring style.