Self-description/Style-Goal: "A deep mahogoney ale brewed with Belgium beet sugars, green raisins"
Color: mahogony-red
Alcohol by Vol: 8%
Carbonation:medium-high
Nose: offputtingly metallic, possibly tart green apple/vinegar
Taste: resiny
Finish: pleasing dry ending, moderately bitter, slightly alcoholic
I've enjoyed the Dogfish Head IPAs before and was in the mood to try a few different brews last night, so I picked up a six of this and a 2 others from different breweries.
Last night I started with a raspberry American "weisen", then a summer honey ale. After those two I was looking forward to something exciting.
I did not like this beer last night. I was in the mood for quaffing, and this is definitely more of a sipper.
Tonight I let this one warm up a little, poured it to get a nice head, and started with a sniff.
Unfortunately the main aroma remained the same as I recalled from last night- metallic/bottle-cappy. ( I wonder if this may be due to the high alcohol content and the bottle caps? High carbonation?) At any rate, this kind of pisses me off, as I spent $10 for a six pack. Perhaps if they made a big bottle with a cork instead?
Once you get past the metallic front, the nose gets more complex- resiny and sweet.
Taste wise, this beer is rich, with medium body. Resiny, a touch sour, with a bitter-dry finish on my pallette and a bit of alocohol tingle.
I truly do not like the smell of this beer. I hope that maybe it's just the six I got has been stored incorrectly. After drinking the one tonight and shoving my nose down into the last puddle, I'm noticing it as much. Is that the 8% talking, or did the 30 minutes it took to drink dissipate the offensive metallic smell? I dunno.
Besides that one fault, this seems like a good strong brew to pick up in late fall and enjoy in the evening while reading, or just to savor on it's own.
At 8% I can't imagine drinking more than two in about that many hours.
