St. Ambroise Vintage Ale

Brewed by McAuslan Brewing
Style: Barley Wine
Montreal, Canada

Bottle from Wine and Cheese. Didn’t get the can. My bottle is 2009. Pours light amber with a frothy 3-finger beige head. Spicey caramel aroma. Full bodied with frothy carbonation. Flavor is malty. It’s also nutty, fruity and spicey. Pretty flavorfull overall. Finishes fruity. A very refreshing barley wine- if any barley wine is refreshing, this is the one.

Sweet and malty. Dark fruit esters dominate the aroma with some woody and floral notes. Amber-brown with a finger of off-white head that lasts nicely and plenty of tiny bubbles. Decent lace. Thick, rich and malty madeira-like flavour with pronounced finishing bitterness. Rich, full body and smooth easy to drink mouthfeel. Bottle (enjoyed with beerbuzzmontreal, MartinT and Rastacouere).
Earlier Rating: 1/12/2004 Total Score: 4.4
Score averaged between the two vintages (). 2001 edition (9.6% ABV) sampled 12-Jan-2004: Strong aroma of fruit, butterscotch, big malt nose. Burnt orange-amber colour with small white head that diminishes to a ring around the glass. Raisin and burnt caramel notes and a mellow yeastiness in a big malt flavour with some bitterness detectable in the finish. Alcohol is only occasionally apparent. Body is full, full, full with a chewy mouthfeel. This is an absolutely fantastic beer. Highly recommended. Bottle. (9-4-9-5-19=4.6)************************** 1999 Edition (9.4% ABV) sampled 25-May-2004: Dark raisins and plums, alcohol, caramel and brown sugar in the aroma. Improves drastically as it warms. Opaque orange straw with two finger whote head that recedes to ring. Generally sweet. Sherry-like. Strong raisin, grapes, plums. Big fruity, malty flavour. Mouthfeel is fairly still and thick almost liqueur-like. (8-3-9-4-18=4.2).

Bottle @ RBESG 09 Shefield ...amber ... lemon fruit nose ... saoft and dull malta ... little pine.

2001 bottle.. looks a lot like the photo at left! Believe this was from turg. Poured a deep, murky reddish-brown with a very nice initial cap of off-white head.. receded after a couple minutes to a pool and a light ring. The aroma was quite brilliant with rich sherry and vinous notes.. spiked caramel and dry floral hoppage.. really nice!

Syrupy caramel and dark fruit entrance in the mouth filling out with rich sherry notes, floral hoppage, and complimentary alcohol.. rich, well-aged sugars linger on the back before sliding gracefully through the warm and mildly bitter finish. Thickened up as it progressed across the palate with well-placed bitterness and alcohol warmth. Very good brew!

2001. Poured a hazy tawny color with a thin off white head. Sweet Malty aroma. Notes of dired fruits, caramel, and molasses. Flavor is very sweet. Tastes of plums and caramel. Full bodied and syrupy. The finish leaves you with a very long sweet coating on your tongue. Mild bitterness at the back of the tonuge as the sweetness finally fades. I’ll save my last one for another 4 years.

Well malted mellow barleywine, liked slightly better than 2001. Good malt and carbonation still there.
Earlier Rating: 1/30/2005 Total Score: 4.1
#6200, thanks to Doug Shoemaker. I think it has a mellowed barleywine taste, closing in on a UK aged style. Much malts, which cushioned the aftertaste. 2009 was about the same, didn’t care for aroma but decent mouthfeel.

Bottle (341ml - 1999 bottle #4364). Shared with blankboy, GregClow, jerc, tupalev, DougShoemaker, R and others - two bottles generously provided by DougShoemaker. Doug, you amaze me - bringing this, wow, I’m indebted to you my friend. Poured slightly hazy orange, almost oily-looking, with a small head, I don’t care, it looked awesome. Aroma - ahhh, thats the stuff - oily/resiny wood malt, a whiff of booze, yeasty, dry, roasty - a well-aged BW for sure, smooth smelling. Taste was pretty boozy initially for 9.4%, but it smoothed out, a wonderful melange of tart orange juice/zest, sweet caramel roast malt and dry bitter hops - really good. The body could have been a little thicker for me, but the mouthfeel was still decently syrupy and sticky, with a long alcohol/bitter woody finish. Its definitely a senior citizen, but vv nice.
Earlier Rating: 9/30/2005 Total Score: 4.2
Bottle (341ml). Shared with blankboy, GregClow and Tupalev, bottle courtesy of tupalev by way of DougShoemaker - and thank you both!. Poured hazy dark orange, small tan diminishing head. Aroma says "well-aged" - oak, musty mulchy pine forest on a summer’s afternoon, pine resin, strong thick yeast, roast malt and hops - wow! Taste was very mossy - sharp, furry, thick - otherwise follows the aroma; lovely oaky thick malt. Might be a bit too mossy for my palate, but this is a senior citizen and deserving of my respect, so I will just say it’s complex. Overall - very glad to have experienced this one, what an aroma!

Dark, dry fruit aroma, plenty of plum and some toffee, between you can find some of the hoppy side of beer. Cloudy, thick unfiltered black tea. White quiet foam formation. At first it hits with overpowering set of flavours that with time you find malt toffee, plums, vanilla then alcohol and hops to nicely round up. Extremely complex. With time at the very finish you would be able to get some roast at the finish. Fruity, rich, malty with alcohol and for balance hop element. Great brew that I had form my 3years at Ratebeer from Doug. Great stuff!!!
Earlier Rating: 11/22/2002 Total Score: 4
That’s what you call high pitch aroma. Caramel with roasted nuts, some raisin pushes it self up front. This well build crown, gaseous bright brownish. Uhhh, great intensity but not overpowering with brutal flavours. Like well raised noble princess but with hand of supreme leader. post scriptum I would like to thank to Doug S. for this great gift ...you did not wasted this brew if you know what I mean.