Innis & Gunn Oak Aged Beer (Bottle)

This is one of the most unusual beers I’ve ever had. It’s honey coloured with honey in both the aroma and flavour. The aroma also has some floral qualities. The flavour is malty sweet, with toffee and vanilla very much in evidence. It definitely tastes its strength with a boozy warmth coming in on the finish.

Intirgued by the end cap at the Shop Rite Liquors for some time, I figured this kind of brew was perfect for sampling after the 2008 Brew Fest. So in between card plays of Greg Hughes’ wildly entertaining game Discombobulation, I jotted down some notes... golden, scotch-like copper pint... white, pencil-thin head that sits on a sparkling body... malt and honey abound with an aggressive weight... bouquet is wildly fragrant... smooth, slick and very drinkable (for a 6.6 ABV!)... uniquely pleasant... tastes begin simply with butter, caramel and toffee... however, those flavors also suggest vanilla and some other flavors I’m not good enough at this time of night to detect... overall, the discussion alone with Ryan, Jer, Cheri, Russ and Amy was worth the purchase--although $4 a bottle is a bit hefty on a weekly wallet--and the beer’s finish warmed without rudeness or alcohol...

Sweet smelling aroma of wood , flowers, tofee, and a strong smel of alcohol. Light amber/honey in colour with no head. Can taste wood and oranges. Has a strong taste of alcohol like a spirit. Powerful stuff with an acquired taste couldnt drink too many of these.

There is something about this beer I love. Very enjoyable with a complex body and relatively clean finish.

Poured an amber orange with impressive off-white head. Aroma mainly of malt and oak. Taste was about the same with some earthly hoppiness. A good beer that everyone should try.

Rather an odd one for me. I found it a little over-carbonated, with a taste like no other beer I’ve come across. Honey and malt to start, rather a bitter finish. Strange butter/soured oak aftertaste. I really can’t make up my mind whether I like this or not.

Still don’t know whether I love it or loathe it. ’Very vanilla’ is how I owuld describe it. Sweet finish.’ Oily in the mouth. mmmmmmm need to retry sometime. Far better than Marton’s Firestoker (another ’vanilla effort)’

330ml bottle at Le Mirage in Tromsø. Pours a dark amber body with a slowly fading, off-white foamy head. Aroma in the direction of dark honeyed oak. Malty taste mixed with vanilla and wood. Low, but noticeable bitterness to the finish. Well bodied. Not exactly the perfect drink to meat (19.07.2008).