Newport Storm 04

Formerly brewed at Coastal Extreme Brewing Company
Style: Strong Pale Lager/Imperial Pils
Newport, Rhode Island USA

Serve in Lager glass

Aroma of alcohol, caramel, malt, and some wood. Amber color with no head. Tastes of caramel malt and alcohol. Hot edge at the back of the palate.

Poured an amber color with off white bubbles, no lacing present. Aroma of alcohol, bread, wood, and caramel malt. Taste of caramel malt, strong alcohol, faint citrus, and some nuttiness as well.

(750 ml corked bottle: Obtained in trade with ClarkVV, thanks Clark!) The cork was wet and supple, but there was no pop when I pulled the cork, no head at all when the beer was poured, and the carbonation levels on the palate are almost nil. Still, this is a pretty tasty beer, but it’s like drinking a mild barleywine that’s lost all its carbonation. Very sweet and very fruity, malty, somewhat caramely, and moderately bitter, with touches of earth and smoke late in the finish. It’s not really showing much in the way of lager qualities; I would never have guessed it’s a lager. Alcohol is quite evident on the palate and in the back of the nasal cavity, with a fair amount of warmth down the throat, but while it’s not strong enough to cause me any discomfort when the beer is cool, it becomes increasingly harsh as the beer warms to room temperature, eventually causing a burning sensation on the tongue (but then again, I’m a wuss when it comes to hard liquor). Were the beer a bit more carbonated, perhaps the alcohol wouldn’t be as much of an issue. Medium-full bodied, but for such a sweet and malty beer, the stickiness and viscosity are much less than could be expected. Dark amber and fairly cloudy, but without the head or rising carbonation bubbles, this appears totally still and isn’t a particularly nice looking beer. With toned down alcohol and moderate carbonation, this would probably be a very solid beer. It’s still good, but the negatives really hurt in this case.

UPDATED: MAR 12, 2007 Holy shit this is alcoholic. Smells somewhat like an English Strong Ale, with figs, apples, and maybe slight amounts of pineapple. Color is orange to bronze, absolutely no sign of a head or carbonation what so ever. Flavor is sweet. Finish is alcohol dry, sort of like one of Absolute voda’s new fruit concoctions. I wish that brewers wouldn’t try to push the alcohol envelope for these special beers as much just brewing us something that is special to them.

No head at all. Cider color. Figgy yeast nose. Caramel with Cheesy bitterness. It’s not as well mixed as Belgian beers but has a signature. Alcohol is hidden okay but could be hidden better.

Aggressive bitterness that just didn’t sit right. Freshly delivered fom Rhode Island. Was drinkable after extreme spice. Very nice bottle.

Pours amber with a thin white head. A stong alcohol presence is the first thing I picked up. Taste is heavy with alcohol burn making it difficult to pick out the fruity elements in this one. Needs a few years to mellow out.

Well, the bottle is absolutely gorgeous, but that doesn’t count much for the beer itself. Poured dark orange/amber with a small off-white head that dissipated completely. The aroma is that of fresh pears with a touch of peppery alcohol. The taste is rather sweet up front... sweet and buttery like some type of syrupy hard liquor. Keeping it in the mouth (which is much like keeping Listerine in the mouth) brings out the hop flavor... those Saaz hops are actually quite evident in the grassiness. Bitter aftertaste, with a burning alcohol sensation. It feels like dropping a match down your throat will cause flames to shoot out your nose. This beer is not all that drinkable. However, I can respect what the brewery was trying to do with this. It feels like they pulled it off... it’s just that what they were trying to pull off may not have been such a good idea. I can easily see why some people wouldn’t care for this. Worth a once-in-a-lifetime try, but that’s about it.