St. Ambroise Vintage Ale

Brewed by McAuslan Brewing
Style: Barley Wine
Montreal, Canada

Bottle from the great DougShoemaker!!!! A very nice barleywine!! Well balanced in the nose and in flavor. Pours a clear medium amber color. Off-white head is thin and dissipates somewhat quickly leaving decent Belgian lace. Aroma is rich. Malt and alcohol blend well. Overripe fruits are present also. Medium bodied, smooth. Malt, fruit and hops are all in the taste. Nicely done!!!

Very thinly laced head that faded pretty fast. The wonderful smell could fill up a room but it’s the taste that hits: full and heavy and just absolutely fantastic. Feels very ripe and mature.

Cloudy caramel body with a ring of white lace. Excellent aroma and flavor of malt, caramel, candy and alcohol. Medium body, vinous and syrupy texture, soft carbonation. This old favorite is still pretty solid.
Earlier Rating: 5/5/2004 Total Score: 4.5
This is one of my favorite beers and after five years it is still pretty amazing ! Absolutely no head at all, very nice amber color. Huge and delightfull aroma of malt and alcohol. Amazing flavors of malt, alcohol and caramel. The good news is, I have 4 bottles of this great vintage left !

2006 Vintage, Slight hazy golden -amber beer with a deep cognac like glow. The beer pours a nice off white yellowish head and the aroma is very complex. First impressions in the nose are herbs, honey, barley, flower pollen, butter caramels and a fine accents of warm spices like cardemom, nutmeg and birth wood. The aroma evoluates in a great way when it warm a little, the cognac and brown rhum touches are integrated in a perfect way. The taste is rich and very elegant, it is very Barley wine like, The butter Caramel, the smooth slight sugary cereals, and the Baba au Rhum and Cognac touches are so well in composition. In the second fase, the interesting selection of hops are comming to the forground. The mild, warm, and slight sugary body is very well countered by the refreshing hop-bitters and the refreshing accents of herbs. A great beer with a complex afthertaste. I do hope to try this again from an older vintage. Thanks Joris for sharing this one.

2001 bottle. Pours a reddish-amber...small off white head. Aromas of earth, butterscotch malts....very Fullers Vintage-like, light fruits. Flavor accentuates the malts, vanilla, light spice hedged by some nice hops. Full-bodied, another smooth one...could’ve let this one sit even longer. Thanks Rastacouere!

Deep tawny with a large and well developed light tan head. Aromatics begin with a deep caramel, fruit accented maltiness, hints of soy sauce, molasses, oranges and a touch of mint laden hops. Pretty unbelievably good quite honestly. The front palate shows hints of caramel and chocolate which continues onto the mid-palate, which also involves a variety of fruits, mainly plums. The longevity of the finish is pretty baffling, showing hints of pit fruits but mainly serving to balance the spicy, minty hop finish. Damn, I forgot how much I love beer. This one definately reminded me.

Bottled (2000 vintage, 10.2 %, thanks Bov!). Hazy brown colour, small beige head. Aroma is plummy, alcoholic, toffeeish, wineous and spicy. Barnyard, berries and plum in flavour along with leathey and alcoholy hints. A bit glueish and redwineish. Pleasant thing overall.

Couleur cuivrée tirant vers le brun aux reflets rougeâtres. Faible mousse beige diminuante se renouvelant volontairement à la moindre agitation du verre. Multiples arômes envoûtants d’alcool entre le sherry et le brandy donnant aussi une impression de début de madérisation. Puis nous arrivent de vieux barils de bois remplis de raisins secs, de figues et de vanille. Toujours en bonne forme, son corps est d’une épaisseur allant de moyenne à épaisse. Gros malt épais et collant, rempli de flaveurs de caramel brûlé faisant également allusion à la mousse de tourbe et aux vieilles planches mouillée. La texture est un peu huileuse. La présence du houblon n’attire pas beaucoup d’attention sur elle-même à part du léger mordant d’amertume qui arrive vers la fin pour finalement laisser place à l’alcool qui nous quitte très lentement. Bouteille Rahman, Mai 2005.