Remember a while ago when.. ok, I won';t bore you ancient history.
As I was drinking an Urthel Samaranth I stumbled on this review. It's good to know that good beer can find it’s way to people who are worthy.
Antique shops, an old attic, garage sales and the elderly are the most common places to find the rare, exotic and underappreciated. The dual sense of guilt and ecstasy that comes with finding a rare gem and paying pittance for it is thrilling, but it takes a keen eye and overflowing charisma to find the right hunting grounds. However, if you’re not up to the challenge of walking through temples made of cardboard boxes, scaling hills of children’s clothing or risking life and limb sorting through old cutlery but still want the satisfaction of questing for a little known treasure, search for the gnome. The Samaranth gnome, that is. The sundown on a fall day color of this Urthel meditates below a light, buoyant tan head that oscillates with a whimsical swirl of the glass. Inside is the wide column of bubbles resembling a sea vent, and gives the beer the appearance of busily preparing itself to be the best taste possible. The gaseous preview contains apples, pears, brown sugar, butter, bubble gum, vanilla ice cream rounded out with a slight strawberry edge. In the mouth this unsung hero absolutely soars, resounding with moderate alcohol dryness, and a breadiness without the hops that it usually associates with. Then it turns a deep sweet, like baked apples coupled with bubblegum, all upon a calming, smooth texture. When I plucked the Samaranth off the shelf I was making an arbitrary choice among a row of beers all decorated with a gnome. Of course the breweries were as different as the gnomes, and if art is any judge then the Urthel series was a major loser. The cover gnome may have had a strange tumorish growth under his poorly drawn beard, but maybe it was a design meant to give the drinker a mouthful of surprise when the beer turned out to begood. No, when the beer turned out to be excellent! Samaranth is a true find, because finding an under praised and unknown bottle of quality beer is a challenge on par with those of other treasure seekers.