Southern Tier Cuvée Series 2

Formerly brewed at Southern Tier Brewing Company
Style: American Strong Ale
Lakewood, New York USA

Serve in Snifter, Tulip

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Bottle shared by nuplastikk: Pours a transparent copper amber with a thin, wispy-lacing off-white head. Aroma of sweet toasty dark caramel and milk chocolate with lots of fresh oaky character. Starts with good fullness and rich, sweet dark caramel maltiness with a healthy dose of fresh oak and bittersweetness toward the drier, crisp finish. Pretty well balanced, complex and enjoyable.

On-tap at Cole’s. Much more sweet and barleywinish than the first cuvee, oaking taste is secondary, however significant. Pours barleywine brown. Carmel to bulkup mouthfeel. Made more popular? Better than this year’s Flying Bison C-130, but it’s as if the same brewing team worked on both. It was drinkable.

My Bottom Line:
Oaken vanilla flavors blend into caramel malts and clove-like spiciness just before earthy hops and their bitterness seal this warming sipper.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A ring of foam crowns the misty purplish brown.
-This is still quite sweet (which is to be expected of Southern Tier’s big brews, it seems), but the complexity of this one makes it a bit better than the Cuvée 1 imho.
-Oak was more apparent in this one than their Cuvée 1.
-The mouthfeel was suave and conducive to serious sipping.

Bottle.

Bottle at a tasting, thanks to Paul. Pours hazy, purple-brown with a medium, off-white head. Ripe fruits and heavy malts on the nose, some Annie’s mac n’ cheese. Extremely sweet, lots of baked beans (which I love!) And toffee, some ripe fruits, mild booze. Full bodied with fine to average carbonation. Decent warm finish, some more baked beans, toffee, brown sugar, some vanilla. Tons of sugar. Good stuff.

Liked this one better thamn Cuvee#1. Pours deep ruby with 1-finger off-khaki head. Nose is malt, Werther’s candy, funky yeasty notes, cheddar cheese, hops, and sweaty female feet. Tastes caramel malty, oaky, with some cognacy, mild creamy notes. Very complex, with unique flavor medleys one seldom experiences, and well hidden alcohol.

Thanks to David for bringing the bottle! Poured reddish-amber with a creamy, well-retained cap of beige head. The aroma picked up soft, warmer malts in the form of toffee, caramel, and vanilla with solid accents of mild oak and a touch of vinous character.. balance was spot-on. The flavor opened with syrupy caramel and vanilla notes, with some darker fruit, with the fruit and vanilla settling in more over the middle.. spicy, earthy notes and earth surrounded.. finished warm, but again well balanced. Medium-plus bodied with light, rolling carbonation on the palate.. spicy and engaging.. I’d drink this again, but perhaps not at the going price.

22 ounce bottle from State Line Liquors. Pours a clear red color with a medium frothy white head. Average head retention and lacing. The oak notes come through strongly in the aroma, particularly maple and vanilla with a bit of caramel and light fruitiness. Taste is citrus, raisin and other fruit notes with strong oak, maple and vanilla. Slight alcohol warmth. Full bodied. Very nice beer.

2009-03-20. Dark amber brown body with a modest beige head. (3+) Aroma is mildly alcoholic sweet malt, light woody oak. Flavour is similar, moderate alcoholic, sweet woody malt, dry bitterness in the finish shows the alcohol. (7+) Average palate. Okay. Bottle shared by HogTownHarry

65 cl bottle on October 30, 2009
Clear brown color, small white head. Subtle sweet malty scent. Salty, malty, cream, alcohol, bitter taste. Smooth mouthfeel, medium bitterness.

Pours dark red with a thin white head. Smells of caramel, pepper, roasted malt. Tastes cloyingly sweet and mesy with up front weird bitterness.