Serving Type: BottleABV: 9.6 percent
Appearance: This oddly-named ale poured a reddish amber with darker mahogany highlights. I'm pretty sure that this is the first time I've typed mahogany in the appearance section on this blog. There was a decent amount of visible carbonation. Enough to give me an impression that I'd get a nice texture. The bubbles led to a white/beige colored head that left some solid web-like lacing inside the glass. There weren't any breaks in the lacing in the entirety of the way around the glass. This really fits the bill for a beer that looks like it belongs in the Lagunitas mason jar glass.
Smell: This was very sweet and sugary. It also seemed very deep and complex. I was surprised to not be picking up any of the high ABV as of this point. The layers seemed to hide it. The sweetness did seem to be a bit overbearing after a few sniffs. I get a bit queasy when things are as sweet as this was.
Taste: It wasn't a great start for me with this one. Two things I could initially tell you is that this was very hoppy and boozy. I had high hopes that the sweetness would balance this out, but that wasn't the case. The finish was very bold and bitter. The alcohol in the beer gave me a little stomach burn in addition to the heat it provided on the way down. Not too sure how I felt about each of those. A pretty intense flavor.
Overall Rating:
This was a bit of a struggle for me. I love how this beer looked. I'm still getting myself acquainted with strong ales and the intricacies of the style. I really think this is a case of me not knowing what to expect instead of the beer being bad. People do tend to enjoy this one from what I've read.
No comments:
Post a Comment