FatPhil (3442), Espoo, Finland Oct 7, 2007 Updated: Dec 11, 2007500ml bottle (Pikkulintu, Helsinki)
Very dark red. Aroma has dark fruits, ginger, barley wine and rye bread. Pleasant carbonation. Sweet and sticky malty taste - rye bread again. Sweet medium-roasted malts, but a huge resiny hop - sticks to the tongue. Fabulously full taste, like a good [dunno, I left that blank :-(] Tranquillity (1165), Espoo, Finland Oct 7, 2007 Bottled at Pikkulintu, Helsinki. One of the better beers from my favourite (Nordic?) brewery. Fruity, hoppy, a bit soapy, extremely rich and balanced aroma. Taste a bit more soapy than the aroma gave an impression of. Very silky, extremely long finish. Overtones of alcohol, even burns the tongue slightly. Taste brown and clear colour, surprisingly big head for this amount of alcohol. Zeswaft (1000), Seattle, Washington, USA Oct 6, 2007 glorious pour. About 2 inches of dark tan head and thick black body. Aroma isn’t too strong. Pine hoppiness, and chocolate. Flavor is a lot stronger. Strong pine and citrus hop flavors, but still a fair amount chocolate sweetness, a little chalkiness. Very bitter. Seems a lot higher than 80IBUs. A ton of lingering sharp bitterness. This is actually very good. I might push this more towards a barley wine. No evidence of 10% either. michael-pollack (2598), King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, USA Oct 6, 2007 500ml Bottle: Aroma of hops, pine, spruce, caramel malts, vanilla, and tropical fruit. Poured dark dark brown in color with a huge, foamy, beige head that lasted throughout. Opaque. Medium bitter, lightly sweet flavor. Tastes of piney hops, chocolate and caramel malts, sourdough, salt, a little citrus. Full body. Viscous texture. Soft carbonation. Malty, piney finish. ElGaucho56 (386), USA Oct 3, 2007 Updated: Jan 28, 2008OK, this is most definitely not a double IPA. Pours an opaque brown with lingering tan head which forms a milky way in my glass; on the nose a lovely oaky molasses alcohol with light chocolate tones; on second thought it smells quite a bit like flavored tobacco: sweet yet musty. On the tongue a full oatmealy body gives way to peppery, zingy hops; well bittered, nice lingering finish, not too dry; quite a unique brew. kmweaver (2389), Sebastopol, California, USA Oct 1, 2007 500mL bottle, courtesy of shp555 at the pre-BA Alesmith Release Wait and Taste. Thanks, Steven! Pours a hazy, dark brown color; light tan head with good retention and lacing. Piney and citrus hop aroma; biscuit, wet malt notes. Medium-to-full mouthfeel: earthy, resiny hop character with an excellent biscuity maltiness; this should be even better with a bit of age; medium candy sugar and earthy hop finish. SSSteve (2042), Atlanta, Georgia, USA Sep 30, 2007 this is different. pours thick and black like a stout with a huge creamy brown head. nice fine bubbled lacing. aroma is heavily hopped like a 2ipa. i don’t even noticed roasted ingredients in aroma. the flavor is really hoppy with tons of caramel and some chocolate in the aftertaste. what an odd beer. really rich and creamy. great head. wetherel (1565), Encinitas, California, USA Sep 29, 2007 Steve (shp555) originally brought this to trade, but then generously offered it to us to taste in line for the 07 Alesmith BA release. Thanks Steve! Dark amber color. Fine bubble head. Sweet (I like sweet). A tiny bit of hotness, possibly from a higher temp fermentation. Still pretty good. Medium to heavy body. 3.9-4.0.
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