St. Ambroise Vintage Ale

Brewed by McAuslan Brewing
Style: Barley Wine
Montreal, Canada

Fruity, malty aroma, with some tangerine, orange and peach, with a sharp, brash, alcoholic flair. Deep, dark reddish orange in color, opaque, fine carbonation and a slight head. Flavor meanders in some interesting directions, starting off acidic, malty, fruity, sweet and yeasty, then becoming spicy and dry, this being the advent of the faintly bitter hops, before a long, lingering, warmly alcoholic finish. Aftertaste is a swirling ribbon of malt sweetness. Seems to be at about the right age but would probably be fine a year from now as well, if stored properly. Distinctly different character than the '99 Vintage.
Earlier Rating: 1/15/2003 Total Score: 4.2
Rich, sweet, malty aroma, with some light brown sugar, a touch of alcohol, faint mulling spices and a floral component that gently appears as it warms. Hazy, bright, fetching orange-red color, very light, delicate effervescence and a slight head. Flavor echoes the tone set by the aroma, with a deep, richly sweet, mouth-filling maltiness (very dessert-like), with warming alcohol, and towards the long finish some very light, spicy hop flavor and bitterness. Aftertaste is nutty, sweet and fruity, with some red apple, pear and orange, golden raisin and plum. Indulgent and quite a treat. As it is brewed in January, so is it a fine month in which to enjoy.

Dark orange color, big frothy tan colored head. Brown sugar, some citrusy notes and alcohol in the nose. Syruppy smooth mouthfeel. Thick and lots of maltiness with a tinge of hops in the palate, some spiciness. Good carbo. A fine beer, but as Oakes says, can stand for a little aging. There are some flavors that couldn’t fully express themselves yet. I say this because I couldn’t quite define them. Defenitely a good brew, nice to see a barely wine in these parts for once.

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.

2001 millesimee bottle. Strong wooden fermented fruit, orangepeel. Cloudy brown, fine bubbles low head. Almond wood, light citric, Belgian yeast evident. Oily mouthfeel. Wood retronasal.

2001 - Luminescent, murky red-amber color in the snifter, with only a whisp of off white bubbles for a head. The aroma has all the dark complexity that you would expect from an aged beer, with dark musty fruit and burnt caramel. Almost smokey flavor, with very ripe pit fruit, and dark caramel and malt extract sweetness. There are still a lot of hops in this bottle. Nice, complex barley wine.
Earlier Rating: 1/25/2004 Total Score: 3.9
Clear red amber with a quickly dissappearing cream colored head. Lots of alcohol and candy sugar in the nose. Almost smokey burnt sugars in this. I can taste the port/liquor sensation. Medium body with lots of burnt carmel, candy sugar, sherry, and bready malts. Seems much more refined than a lot of the other barley wines I've been drinking. Thanks to my secret Santa for this nice beer that I just got around to drinking.

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.

A back to back tasting of this and the 2000 came up with similar results however the 1999 surpasses the 2000. The 2000 needs another year to compare with the 1999. Orangy in colour and cloudy compaired to the 2000. Malty spice aroma that is more predominate then the 2000. Strong malt flavour with a slight honey note through it. Which I found similar to the 2000 however this was slightly more robust.
Earlier Rating: 9/17/2003 Total Score: 3.8
A back to back tasting of this and the 1999 came up with similar results however the 1999 surpasses the 2000. Needs another year to compare. Orangy in colour and clearer then the 1999. Malty spice aroma that is more muted then the 1999. Strong malt flavour with a slight honey note through it. Which I found similar to the 1999.

Complex aroma with raisin, prune and port. Dark amber colour, off-white frothy head, good lace. Sweet, alcohol bitterness, complex - raisin, port, caramel. Long, bitter finish. Well balanced except for the overwhelming alcohol flavors.