oldrtybastrd (5002) - Fort Walton Beach, Florida, USA - APR 5, 2016Pours a medium amber color. Aromas of caramel malt, hops, and a touch of citrus. Caramel sweetness in the taste with a good bitterness of hops.
chinchill (6213) - South Carolina, USA - JUL 21, 201522 oz bottle served in a Belgian snifter.
Pours clear, dark rose-amber with a good head.
The high ABV is still rather pronounced in this aged bottle but acceptable in the flavor. Rich, complex flavor is bitter-sweet, leaning to sweet early on but mildly bitter by the aftertaste.
AdamChandler (5974) - Enfield, New Hampshire, USA - MAY 28, 2013Lovely dark orange. Nice lacing. Nose is insanely sweet. Goldings and fuggles nose. Nice Esther booziness. Oranges cloves and floral finish. A very special ale
Imaena (2404) - Kyiv, UKRAINE - FEB 13, 2013Draught. Serious EPA. Probably the best American brewed EPA I have ever had.
chicowv (477) - Canaan Valley, West Virginia, USA - DEC 30, 201222 oz bottle thanks to Pat: Pours dark orange/bronze, light tan head. Oily on the glass. Aroma is mellow, rich caramel and bready malts. Mellow floral hops. Flavor is rich in caramel malt, nice bitter finish. Great balance, easy to drink. hides the alcohol well.
otakuden (1783) - Vero Beach, Florida, USA - NOV 24, 2012Appearance:
Dark coppers and wood along the edges and dark purple grape and plum skin hues in the middle. A bubbly collar borders a thin film of white broken in random places.
Nose:
Moist chewy breads replete with sweet summer peaches, pears, and apples – fresh, ripe, and juicy sweet. Rye toast and rye seeds pepper the bread while the back finishes dry. Whispers of berry and rhubarb along the edges and in the back. Mint and basil. Strawberries and raspberries.
Palate:
Sweet, spicy, and dry. Apricots, peaches, plums, and grapes in the middle with rhubarb stalks and rye toast in the back. Parching with a lingering presence of orange pith. Thin crunchy toffee sweetness along the edges. Intriguing interplay of strawberries and raspberries. Candied ginger nips at the very back of each swallow. Long after the swallow, pink grapefruit comes out to play.
Final Thoughts:
A truly intriguing eclectic beer that somehow managed to get everything to work together. A lot of things were going on in the nose, the palate, and the finish yet nothing felt out of touch or out of place. Wins points on uniqueness alone, and it tasted good too.
msante79 (2227) - Mount Prospect, Illinois, USA - AUG 10, 2012Bomber thanks to Santa. Pours murky amber with small white head. Aromas of sweet malts, fruit, caramel, and earthy hops. Flavors of caramel, toffee, fruit, sweet bready malts, and some hop bitterness. Body is thick and syrupy with low carbonation. This is pretty much a barley wine. Not bad.
wedgie9 (2703) - Nashville, Tennessee, USA - JUL 21, 2012Tasted in early 2012 from a capped 650mL bomber bottle, thanks to Curtis for this one. Pours clear amber with an average beige head that slowly recedes to a thin collar. The nose is caramel an bread malt with some grapefruit peel hops bitterness. The flavor is a more bitter and intense overall, but features the same grapefruit peel and caramel bread malt. The body is full and oily with average carbonation and a long caramel and grapefruit bitter hops finish.
nimbleprop (12943) - Southeast, Washington, Washington DC, USA - JUL 6, 201222oz bottle pours a clear, burnt orange with some clumpy white head. Nose is sugary, malty, apple brandy. Sweet flavor, sugary, some orange, lemon, almost like a barleywine. Boozy. Full bodied finish.
Hophead22 (2879) - Redlands, by way of Wisconsin,, California, USA - JUN 24, 201222oz bottle. Rating #55. Hazy amber with some brown mixed in for darkness, the head was light beige. Light aroma, sweet eith caramel and toffee. Nice flavor, more caramel and toffee with some dried fruit. (2409)