3.9 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 15/20
Deep dark brown pour with red lights, creamy beige head leaving sticky lace down the glass. Sweetish, roasted malt, vinous hops. fruity, smooth and gently warming. Good stuff.
3.2 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
Pours a dark brown with hints of red through light. Minimal white head. Fruity and malty aroma. Taste is of grapes, malts, sweet and fruity. A bit mild for a scotch ale.
3.1 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 13/20
Bottle 500ml. Pours dark brown, with a hint of redness. Large tan head, which soon reduced. Sweet fruity, berry aroma. Taste is again sweet and fruity, with the alcohol coming through as if it were a cheap Christmas pudding. Once the sweetness has gone you are left with a mild bitterness. Fairly full bodied but it fails to impress. Overall, a drinkable but unexciting brew.
2.8 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 5/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 11/20
Dark red colored, little lasting beige head. Berries in still rather thin aroma, plums and raisins also there. Alcohol comes up mildly. Medium bodied. Flavor is biting with obvious alcohol, also this plummy berriness here. Maybe hints of metal in aftertaste with too strong alcohol.
3.3 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 2/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20
Pours very dark brown with with a slightly fizzy cola-like head. Musty, dry aroma. Taste is thick, rich and complex with flavours of dried fruit dominating the mouth before the bitter finish takes over. It’s like liquid Christmas pudding but without the spiciness.
3.2 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
500ml bottle from Morrisons. A deep chestnut brown with a beige head; thick and oily consistency, rich roasted malts flavour; bittersweet to finish.
3.6 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20
UPDATED: SEP 29, 2009 Resinous, waxy, leathery snout evocative of Schlenkerla Rauchbier Marzen, minus the charred beechwood of course. What the hell is that?? Deep ruby pour, beautifully conditioned off-white head and lace. Silky, bittersweet and ever-so-slightly roasty. Running the Goose Island IPA a close second as Beer Of The Evening. (747416)
RERATE. Damp sock filled with Allsorts and Muscavado for a snout, lightly smoked. With prunes squeezed on it. Jellied orange detectable like SN Winter Hop. Clear ruby and beige lacing all the way. Fennel seed enrobed in molasses, Bertie Basset, big bite of cake. Well short of sickliness. Bittering hop and liquorice making the whole thing rather dangerous. Doppelbock nips, gnaw of card. Sinks nicely by the half litre. A Yorkshire classic.
3.8 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 16/20
My Bottom Line:
This proficient scotch ale develops talkative candied berries amongst the welcoming caramel, as a leafy hop surge soon overtakes the back end. If only more big breweries actually cared to make such eloquent, potent products.
Further Personal Perceptions:
-Its active carbonation increases drinkability.
-Frothy foam slowly dwindles into the regal dark burgundy, lacing beautifully.
-The aroma harbors timid yet telling notes of caramel and various berries.
-For the style, the hops do get a little cumbersome, but that wee heavy sweetness has to be countered...
-Although the abv doesn’t show much, the intensity of the hops and the chewy maltiness do announce this brew’s wealth.
Bottle; best before Sept.30, 2007.
|
