Smuttynose Really Old Brown Dog Ale (2008 and earlier)

Brewed by Smuttynose Brewing Company
Style: Old Ale
Portsmouth, New Hampshire USA

Rated this a few weeks back, almost forgot to put it in! Very dark brown, slight compact head lasted pretty well. Aroma was caramel and a hint of chocolate. Flavor matched, but had some additional dark fruit notes. Full bodied, and truly like a blown up "Imperial" version of their brown. Nice stuff as always here.

Big bottle. Dark brown color with a light brown around the edges of the glass. The aroma was big, sweet, and fruity mixed in with an earthy tang. Slightly fizzy mouthfeel that left a mild danciness on my tongue and in my mouth long after the beer went down. Big roasted malt taste with a fruity tinge. Good stuff!

Sampled from a 2 2oz brown bottle this beer poured a chestnut color with a small tan head. The aroma was sweet, tangy and roasty but fairly faint. The flavor was sweet, malty, roasty and had a hint of dry chocolate. There was a long roasty malty finish. The body was fairly full and smooth.

22 ounce bottle from Gary’s Beverage, Portsmouth NH (May 2007), sampled at cellar temperature from a Corsendonk glass. Translucent/hazy, bubbly maple appearance with a light crème brulee head that slowly decays leaving light lacing….fairly dry, herbal-accented hoppy nose, light burnt caramel background, bit of pecan; this is definitely sharper and hoppier than the standard OBD….body is moderately sweet, lightly alcoholic at first, nicely warming, with lots of burnt/caramelized malt and a dry piney hoppiness throughout….low but effervescent carbonation, quite dry and somewhat astringent finish, moderately full mouthfeel. A nice effort, especially after the extremely mediocre Hanami.

22oz bomber poured into small Trappist goblet. Color is deep copper, with medium clarity and nice light translucence. Small head leads to a medium lacing. Aroma is strong with boozy, toasted, earthy maltiness with faint cherry/sherry edges. A strong muskiness. Flavor is lightly chocolate and thick biscuit with a long light sherry aftertaste. Medium bodied, a weird dichotomy of easy drinking and slightly boozy. Does seem to be a good brown ale/old ale hybrid. A very decent beer but I await the next batch with some of the holes filled up.

22oz bottle poured into a Belgian snifter A: A faint off-white head bubbles up on top of a russet-colored, fairly clear body. Head dies down to a cluster of carbonated bubbles and a swirl up top after only a few seconds, then seems to stick around. S: An intoxicating, rich blend of caramel sweets and overripe fruit is blatant, contributing to an overall "boozy" aroma. Banana and cookies are the predominant scents, near as I can tell. T/M: Woah, not at all what I was expecting. I sat here patiently letting the beer warm a bit, then finally took a sip. Raw, fresh, bitter were the first 3 words that came to mind. None of the syrupy sweetness that the aroma would have had you believe. I imagine that this bottle-conditioned ale (2007) will most definitely improve in time as the flavors blend together. I’ll surely have to revisit. Some nice malt flavors do begin to shine through, but the underlying bitterness to everything doesn’t help this beer. Mouthfeel is slick and oily, but stops just short of being cloyingly sticky. D: Right now? Not much, but I bet in about 1 year this beer will be tremendous.

2007 batch. 22 oz. brown bomber bottle. Poured out a medium brown color, with red highlights. Sticky, tan colored head clings to sides of the glass. Aromas are of toffee, caramel candy, sweet malts, earthy hops. Slight yeasty flavor along with toffee, caramel, burnt sugars. Hoppy bite at the end. Decent body, thick mouthfeel. Decent take on the style, needs aging though.

From a 22 oz. bomber with a blurb along the side of the label and a bottling year in the lower right hand corner, 2007, stored at cellar temperature and allowed to warm up a bit before sampling in a snifter. Poured a deep, but clear, reddish copper with a foamy, creamy off-white head that slowly settled into a thin lacing, minimal amount of ringed sticking. Pretty clean for an Old Ale, a faint fruitiness, mainly green apples and dry dates, a light amount of toffee sweetness, maybe a peck or two of spice. No real fruity esters and the alcohol is pretty light. Good tiny bubbly carbonation and a crisp, dry, thin feeling medium bodied mouthfeel. I have to say this young tasting, I opened this too soon, I imagine at least a year from now would have been better, tastes of apples slices with lemon squeezed over them, no raisins, dates or figs, sugary, a light amount of herbal bitterness, the alcohol is not that noticeable, just a low warmth in the mouth, and dry, thin finish. I like Smuttynose, but I was left with the feeling this needs age.