North Coast Twentieth Anniversary Ale

Brewed by North Coast Brewing Company
Style: American Strong Ale
Fort Bragg, California USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip

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UPDATED: APR 22, 2013 Awesome Belgian beer super strong but smooth as a whistle, lemon pepper flavor with some caramel, good!

500ml bottle from Sahara Mart, Bloomington. Was stoked to find this one, pricey though it was. North Coast does these strong ales very well, and this one was flavorful and fairly dangerously drinkable, but a bit too much overall. Oily brown pour with medium carbonation. Palate was a bit slick and waxy in places, hot elsewhere. Flavors were generally heavily on the sweet side (though not especially boozy somehow). The fruity notes cut against the mellowed complexity of the base beer perhaps, making it come across a bit disjointed.

Nothing too special about this one. Cork blew off and I almost lost the whole dang thing. Spontaneous fermentation going on? anyway the pour looks amazing. Garnet orange with a crystal clear look. Head fades fast and leaves minor lacing. Nose is interesting, mainly just light tree fruits. Taste is nothing I would have expected. Sweet, strong alcohol, but no real bourbon or wood, or vanilla notes.

Tasted in 2009 (backlog). Gold with an average sized white head. Aroma is apple, malt, sugar and caramel. Taste is apple and marshmallow.

tap at Dash In on 1/26/13 - Pours honey colored with a small lingering head. It smells of Belgian yeast spice, oak, and bourbon. It’s sweet with bourbon and spice that all blends together well. The alcohol is present in the flavor but not strong. Full bodied and smooth with lively carbonation, this is a tasty brew that finishes with spice and some alcohol warmth.

Overtaken by an odd sweetness and wood. The agave is not welcome with this one. Tastes more like an experimental product than an actual offering.

Bottle. Pours a hazy brownish color with a moderate head. Huge nose on this - some fruit notes in there with some wood underlying it. Taste is a little sweet and fruity. Very smooth.

Bottled as North Coast Grand Cru. This full-bodied ale proceeds through a series of flavors with every sip. It starts with a lemon-pepper flavor, then caramel, and finally the Bourbon comes out. Good Complexity.

6th November 2011
Hazy gold - amber beer, tidy white head. Crisp palate, medium body. Sweet malt. A champagne like crispness and grapey bitterness. Creamy malt with a pinch of black pepper. Crisp finish with minor citrus.

Bottle, this ale had a clear gold-red (orange) pour and made a one finger white head that receded to a island of bubbles (about the size of a quarter) and small ring, the bubbles had faint color to them, the glass had a center medium flow of bubbles with a few single bubbles here and there, and at the edges, it left some spots of lacing on the sides of the glass that eventually rolled off, there was no sediment in the bottle, this ale had aromas of honey and dew like sweetness, floral scents and sweetness, faint malt, grass and plant sap in the background, the bourbon was very light on the nose and hardly noticeable, the aroma does resemble glue/solvent/chemical a bit (I noticed this right upon opening), not off putting but it was there and I do not like Agave syrup for this same reason, when I smell Agave, glue comes to mind, the bourbon sweetness grew as the ale warmed, this drink had flavors of agave and bourbon liquor sweetness, faint caramel, fruit that is neither tropical or citrus, vanilla in the background, a little toasted malt, I noticed wood as this beer warmed, the finish had a little pepper spice and bourbon liquor bitterness with a little sweetness following, the mouth feel was medium that coated the palate, there was a little creamy feel on the tongue, and it had average carbonation, a light nose that grew a bit as the beer warmed, a nice sipper, it was a little interesting having the agave touch to it.