Magic Hat Jinx

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

Serve in Dimpled mug, Lager glass, Stein

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UPDATED: OCT 29, 2005 Bottle. Deep Amber/Ruby color, decent head, minimal lacing. Stouty, almost chocolate, Malty sweet, some caramel, maybe maple or toffee, smokiness, well balanced. Very good.

Bottle. Roasty, malty flavors. Slight burnt flavors make this drink excellent. Great undertones of caramel. Very refreshing.

Brownish-red color, beautiful tan head that lasts. Strong malty, nutty. Strong nutty, roasty flavor, undercurrents of coffee, finishes with chocolate bitter. Tastes almost like a stout or schwartzbier, but it’s an ale. Really good stuff.

Pours brown into a shaker. Off-white micro head leaves little lacing as it recedes to skim surface. Smoke aromas. Caramel and hickory from front to back. Slightly thin in the middle with a lasting dry smokey medicinal finish.

I would consider this a very good brown beer. Full malty flavor with a cocoa after taste. Very pleased.

Probably my favorite Magic Hat. I recommend A fresh growler from the brewery. Out of a bottle just does not taste the same. Its a very pleasant color of warm brown like maple syrup. It has a full and sticky off white head that smells of scotch and hopps. The taste is similar to the smell. There are hints of scotch and smokiness, brown sugar and carmel. But the addition of the hops balances it all out perfectly. I am not to keen on sweet beers. I prefer IPA’s and bitterness. But the sweetness and scotch flavors are balanced just right by the hops. One of my favorite seasonal beers to drink throughout the fall.

I used to think that Sam Adams was the best American craft beer, but I’m beginning to realize that line pales in comparison to Magic Hat. A beer I’ve never enjoyed by Sam Adams is their scotch ale because it was entirely too smoky and harsh, but Jinx by Magic Hat is essentially the same beer and yet I genuinely enjoy it. Those Vermont brewers sure know what they’re doing.

POUR, COLOR AND AROMA

As is the case with most Magic Hat beers, Jinx has a bit of a gimmicky marketing style to keep its style a mystery (“an ale inspired by medieval chemists” according the packaging). However, all I had to do is crack open a bottle and upon first whiff it was clear to me this was Scotch ale style beer. The aroma of deeply roasted, peat-smoked whiskey malt was strong.

The beer pours very smoothly and forms a rather small, soapy, off-white head which never completely dissipates and leaves some lacing on the glass, as well. The color is an attractive tea-colored appearance of very dark red and brown with a cloudy complexion.

TASTE

Since I knew just from the aroma Jinx was likely in the Scotch ale style, I was wasn’t expecting much taste-wise since my other experiences with such beers have been disappointing. Much to my surprise I found this brew to be much tastier than I had anticipated. There definitely is a smoky taste to the palate, but it’s a much more subtle flavor.

Jinx drinks like a traditional English brown ale and is reminiscent of this summer’s “Odd Notion” beer – English Dark Mild. Instead of having a roasted or nutty taste, the flavor here is more like Scotch ale with significant caramel flavoring. It’s also very malty in the porter style, but its sweetness keeps the smoky taste from being overwhelming.

FINISH

Dark beers are usually best drunk cool instead of ice cold, but I found Jinx to taste equally good at either temperature. Thankfully, its finish is fairly consistent as well. This is a beer bursting with flavor and although it has a smoky characteristic, it finishes fairly smooth (smoother than you’d expect a beer of this complexity to finish).

BODY

To describe Jinx as anything other than full bodied would be a lie, even Magic Hat’s own website describes it as such. However, a beer that falls into the heavyweight category tends to scare off non-connoisseurs, but that shouldn’t be the case with Jinx. I was able to drink two bottles in a row on a full stomach without feeling the least bit full or bloated. Thanks to its great taste and easy finish, this is the type of beer you could go through many bottles before you felt the need to stop.

Of course, it should be noted that Jinx is one of the most potent beers on the market with a 6.9% ABV. I would recommend it as an alternative to your usually party beer since it’s got nearly double the alcohol and obviously a much more delicious taste than any mass market lager.

FINAL THOUGHTS

If Magic Hat can make Scotch ale that I enjoy, then I might be willing to give some other beers of the style a closer look. It’s difficult to imagine any of them topping this one, but at least now I finally have a frame of reference I like.

Bottled. Poured deep reddish-orange with a short, but well-retained toffee head.. nice lacing as it descended. The aroma picked up sweeter drawn caramel with overtones of lightly-smoked peat and earth.. really nice. The flavor had less-sweet caramel and toffee at the core surrounded by earthy highlights, pine resin, and smoked, slightly sour woody notes.. finished with a bit more sourness and bitterness, in an entirely refreshing way. Medium-bodied with low carbonation and nice balance on the palate.. smoke usage was moderate at most.. I’d gladly drink several more.

orangish red colour. thin cream head. Odd aroma i can’t define. unique taste. seemed like smoked woodchips of somesort. Aftertaste hint of roasted coffee beans. Pretty neat brew. Dry finnish.

Totaly not like anything I have had before. Have to say that made it taste better than it probably would have otherwise. It is, howevery, truly a nice smoky beer.