ThisWangsChung (836) - Leonardtown, Maryland, USA - DEC 30, 201412 oz bottle into a pint glass.
A: Pours a mostly clear copper color. The head sucks - not even a finger high (eggshell shade) and crap retention. No real lacing, either. Frankly, this isn’t much to look at.
S: Wow, this seems pretty treacly to me. Brown sugar, caramel, toffee, and vanilla comprises most of the aroma. Some musty mineral water detracts harshly at first, but thankfully seems to calm down some. In its stead, it’s replaced with some fruity esters. The more it warms up, the more estery it becomes. I still think it’s too sweet, but there is some promise within the aroma.
T: It starts decently enough: fruit esters hit the palate first. It kind of goes to crap afterwards. Why? Because it finishes with a one-two ’combination’ of must and plastic. It’s not something that works - rather, it’s something that makes me go "why is this in my beer?!" There are some faint rumblings of brown sugar and molasses on the finish, too. Take away the off notes, and this would be an okay sweet beer.
M: It’s a weird mix of sweet and astringent on the tongue, and it doesn’t mesh well. My tongue is left both overly dried out and overly coated in residual sugar. Add in low carbonation, and this beer doesn’t just taste messy, it FEELS messy.
O: Every once in a while, DuClaw will surprise me quite a bit - X-1, for instance. All this does, however, is remind me exactly why I don’t buy 6 packs from these guys. If these guys put as much effort into the main line as they do on their limited stuff...well, let’s just say I’d be doing a lot more local drinking. Wait, it reminds me of another thing to say. I HATE CRYSTAL MALT! This tastes like it’s freakin’ loaded with the stuff. Both are good enough reasons for me to never need to drink this again.
N3lson1 (1010) - Long Valley, New Jersey, USA - APR 23, 2014Drank from the bottle, a gift from a friend. Good solid, olde English style. Has a strong overpowering smokey flavor. DuClaw has better beverages out there.
SamP01 (676) - New Jersey, USA - APR 9, 2014Pours a cloudy brown with a medium beige head. Aroma is sweet caramel malt, toffee, grains with mild fruity notes. Taste same as aroma with some mild bitterness. Palate is a medium body. moderate carbonation. Finish is caramel malt, grains, some mild toffee notes and fruity with some bitterness on the end foe balance. This brew seems a bit lacking for an old ale. Overall it still not too bad, a good brew.
JDBaker11058 (3632) - Sandy Spring, Maryland, USA - APR 6, 2014 Appearance: dark amber, with a short, thin beige head. Aroma: blast of caramel malts, molasses, some nuts, and booze. Taste: burnt sugar (not in a good way), molasses, caramel, astringent alcohol. Finish: overly burny booze, lingering sweet malts. Notes: Not as good as I’d hoped. Overly burnt and boozy for such a relatively low alcohol content. Low rating could partially be blamed on palate fatigue (Beer, Bourbon, BBQ Fest, Timonium, MD, 2014).
Darwenus (1295) - Virginia, USA - MAR 30, 2014Pours deep mahogany brown with little head. The aroma is like apple butter; fruity and spicy, with some caramel malt. Sweet, rich flavor. Strong in the finish. A lot carbonation in the body. This was pretty good.
jsmerig (2028) - Pennsylvania, USA - MAR 29, 2014Pours a reddish amber with a white head. Aroma of grape and caramel. Taste is very grape with barley wine type bitterness and an alcohol burn.
bth122 (2087) - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA - MAR 29, 2014Bottle at blaw. Copper color. Small head. Huge caramel aroma and malt. Grains. About the same taste. Wow. Big caramel malt blast.
---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone
Underdogs88 (325) - New Jersey, USA - MAR 25, 2014Nutty, caramel and dark fruit on the aroma. Appearance is brown and hazy. Off white head with poor head retention. Malt forward with a dark caramel character of plums with a light chocolate flavor. Fruity esters are present. Mouthfeel is medium-high. Carbonation is medium low. Alcohol warmth is evident. Overall it's a decent old ale that needs more time to develop more complex flavors and aromas.
---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone
Nejhleader (1574) - Lemoyne, Pennsylvania, USA - FEB 23, 2014Amber orange color, bit of a mild fruit, some mild hop blended with a bit of hops. Overall I thought it was kinda average
jtclockwork (21083) - , New Jersey, USA - FEB 21, 2014Bottle. Pours reddish amber with off white head. Nose and taste of molasses, old fruits, licorice, caramel, burnt sugar, earth and toasted grain. Medium body.