Magic Hat Batch 369

Formerly brewed at Magic Hat Brewing Company
Style: Amber Ale
South Burlington, Vermont USA

Serve in English pint, Shaker

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

Bottle... This beer rocks!... Murky, amber ale with a small, creamy, off-white head. Good retention. Terrific aroma of black tea, buttersoctch and light juniper with some floral notes. The flavor is of unsweetened American iced tea with a lemon twist. Moderately bitter. Medium-bodied and resiny with lively carbonation. Medium-length, dry finish. Looks like I’m going against the grain here, but I really dig this beer!

Dec. 2004. Deep red ruby ale with a thin off-white head. Pleasant notes of cloves, honey and pungeant hops in aroma, with light orange notes. Sweet malt and light citrus and pears, very fruity, with light nutty notes in finsih. Medium bodied.

Coppery with a white head. Smells spicey and slightly peppery. Taste is malty and sweet. Boring even for an amber ale.

Got this from the Magic Hat winter sampler as a mystery beer. Any beer I haven’t tried is a great mystery to me. Poured amber, with aroma of malt, hopcit, and a dose of toffee/brown sugar. Tastes as it smells, with a slightly dry citrus twang at the finish. Decent balance, and not bad at all. I wish they had called this one Batch 4:69 and advertised it as something to feed your girlfriend if you wanted oral sex....

(RB tulip glassware) Amber hue with a small fizzy but lasting beige head and good lace. The nose is inviting with a citric background and a hint of apple and cherry too, spicy and floral hops, and dusty esters. The flavor is starts weak however and initially quite bland for a ’special release". However thing improve once it warms and opens up, the fruity and mildly bitter character upfront was nice. The touch of sourness refreshed the palate. The feel is average, fizzy and dry. At first this rating was going to follow the pack, but then it came alive and suddenly very enjoyable. Hum...?

Strong, fresh spicy, citrus hop nose with plenty of caramel malts and a fair yeasty fruitiness. Clear amber-copper colour with thick, large-bubbled tan head that recedes slowly to cover. Up front flavour is all fresh grapefruit/orange/spicy pine hops that are then joined by caramel sweetness and a light tropical fruitiness with decent bitterness. Medium-light body and fair carbonation that’s engaging on the tongue. On tap at the brewery.

12 oz bottle, available only as the "mystery beer" in the Autumn 2004 mix 12-pack. I could find nothing about this beer on the incredibly slow and useless brewer website nor on any other site...the real mystery is, why does MH continue to make "special" beers that are just lame pale ales, brown ales, etc? This dreck is clear orange with a hint of pink, lightly sprucy in the nose...so far so good...but watery and bland on the tongue, with just a bit of caramel malt and virtually no hops. Completely forgettable; I’m glad I didn’t have to buy the whole stupid 12-pack.

Light amber in color, pretty decent lace - very piney aroma, with a solid amount of hops a light bready malts - hops from the aroma are practically non-existent in the flavor, but it is decently balanced - a hint of caramel on top of roasty malts and a mild bitterness to balance out its sweeter side - nothing great or deserving of the special status, but still pretty good - its a damn shame that I had to buy the holiday twelve pack to try this - hopefully the Ravell I have waiting in the fridge will make it worthwhile.

UPDATED: MAY 11, 2005 2004 bottle. Well once you get over laughing at calling a silly old APA a special batch, it’s actually pretty good, or so I thought. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nothing mind-bending, but anyways, it pours a good caramel brown with some deeper auburn and mahogany tones. Nice even white head and a big hoppy aroma of american high alpha hops and plenty of pale malt. But the flavor is done right. It’s a session ale, and is wonderfully balanced. Though I think it has just a bit too much pale malt and gets that good old pale malt papery quality, the hops seem fresh enough and it has a detectable roastiness that is subtle but good. Light floral hops on the end, a touch of toffee and lightly sweet malts. Yay, a Magic Hat beer that dosent suck. . .who would have thought. Muzzlehatches rating of this is a classic!

Slightly hazy amber coloured body with a super-thin white head. Aroma of slightly spiced malt, fresh grapefruit hops and some light apricot scents. Light-bodied; Mild hoppy taste, some caramely malt and a subtle fruityness that is present. Aftertaste is not strong enough to even taste. Overall, a pretty bland & dissatisfying beer. I still thank my brother-in-law Andy for this beer! I sampled this twelve ounce bottle purchased in Dupont Circle South in Washington, D.C. on 07-December-2004.