.JPG)
Score: 82
Bottled 09/29/14 vintage bottle served in a stemmed Doom teku-like glass and enjoyed on 10/30/14.
Appearance: Pours a clean and transparent brownish-ruby color with a thin layer of head that quickly settles to a ring around the glass. Poor lacing, below average retention of what little lacing there is. 3.5/5
Smell: This beer has a very rich, bold pumpkin and cinnamon-vanilla cupcake nose. Notes of brown sugar, caramel, oak, raisin and syrup. The nose has a lot of nice bourbon characteristics present without coming across as being "bourbon-y" (or boozy, for that matter). 4.25/5.
Taste: My first impression is that this beer tastes like sipping pumpkin-spiked barleywine, with a mild alcohol bite, bourbon undertones, and a stale hop and dark fruit character on the finish. There's cinnamon and nutmeg on the mid-palate and some vanilla flavor on the finish. Haphazardly mixed throughout are notes of dark fruit, syrup, old hops (especially towards the back half) and ample sweet malt. The flavors are not as well integrated as they were in the nose. I'm sure barleywine fans will appreciate this one much more than myself. 3.25/5
Mouthfeel: Medium-plus bodied, minimal carbonation (perhaps a touch under-carbonated). Sweet and malty. A little alcohol warmth comes through as this one warms up, but it does not have an alcohol singe/bite. 3.25/5
Overall: The nose led promise of something delectably complex and balanced, but the flavors came across as a bit of a jumbled, malty mess that was much more average overall than hoped for.
Cost: $19 for a 22 oz (bomber) bottle.
No comments:
Post a Comment