St. Ambroise Vintage Ale

Brewed by McAuslan Brewing
Style: Barley Wine
Montreal, Canada

2007 bottle sampled with the phoenix crew courtesy of rustychiles. pale honey color with a small off white head. smells like it will be really sweet.... honey, pale malt, orange, earth and light spicy hops. the palate is on the sweet side but not nearly as the aroma... flavors of honey, toffee, spices, light pine, grass, earthy hops, fruit and slight oxidation (not off putting at all. akin to aged sherry). a little thin in the mouth feel but that could be a good thing given how sweet it is. seems more like an old ale in flavor than a bw?...

Sampled at Hellbilly’s Hellraiser II. Thanks Rusty! Caramel colored pour with a small white head. Pretty straightforward aroma of sweet malt, hops and some fruit. Sweet malty flavor fading into a bit of a hoppy bite. Good.

Sampled at Hellbilly’s Hellraiser II. Bottle courtesy of Rustychiles. Pours a clear amber with almost no head. Nose is hops up front with a sweet malt background. Palate is the opposite – malt upfront with a mellow hop bite in the finish. Medium mouth feel. Decent Barleywine.

Bottle shared at Hellbillys Hellraiser II. Pours an amber color with a small white head. Aroma of barley, malt, hops. Flavor of malt, and hops. Nice palate. Pretty good barleywine.

2006 vintage acquired a while back in trade with beerbuzzmontreal. Cloudy copper-red color, thick viscous white head. Sweet caramel malt aroma - nice and candied aroma that stops short of cloying. Rich amlt base with a sweetness and hop mix that is well-balanced, considering it is a sweeter barleywine. The hops give a nice finish. Very nice.

12 oz bottle, 2006 Vintage, via TheCheeseMan and SoLan. Pours a cloudy amber body with a tight bubbled creamy beige head that left some sparce lacing. The first thing to strike me off of the nose is oxidation, but the good kind, not cardboard, more of a sherry aroma. Some alcohol, some juicyfruit sweetness, yeastiness, spicy alcohol, and some various Christmas beer-like spices. The flavor is sweet caramel malt that has been overtaken by oxidation, leaving a little bit of a cardboardy flavor, unlike the aroma. Very spicy and yeasty, it actually has some similar characteristics as a Hefeweizen in that it seems like a lot of the flavor comes from the yeast. Mouthfeel is medium to full bodied with a fairly smooth creamy texture. Moderate soft fizzy carbonation. Overall, this was decent, but I can’t seem to see this beer holding up real well for an extended period of time. This 2006 bottle seems to be showing much more age than it should be.

St.Ambroise Millésimée, Vintage 2007. 12oz bottle. 8% ABV. Clear amber color. Aroma of cinnamon roll and a stick of butter. Flavor is buttery and with a nice malt.

2007 Bottle courtesy of hogtownharry. Pours caramel with a thin white head. smells fruity with some sweet malt, earth, roses, oak, some nice tea qualities. Tastes lightly tarte and bitter with some earthiness. I really like the light fruity character in this one. Finish yields some touches of bitterness and pepper. Excellent!