KingBrian's Holiday ale:
I sat down this evening with my wife to sample this beer. We both had a good time drinking it and writing our critiques of it. We both didn't discuss the beer until after we had finished. She has a really good palette but she cracks me up the way she describes things sometimes (not conforming to the typical beer flavor descriptors) but that is why I appreciate her helpful yet candid feedback. Because it's a holiday beer, it was actually really hard to critique since the style has so much versatility and and complex flavors, hence you'll read some disagreement.
Jmo's notes:
S- Caramel. Pumpkin pie Spice. Mace? The mace/pie spice gives a subtle impression of brett/leather. Ginger snap cookies and lots of baking aromas jump out and mingle well and are too fleeting to pinpoint. As it warms, whiskey and vanillin aromas come out.
A- Dark brown, opaque (yeast?), quickly dissipating head.
F- Ginger Snap cookie flavor up front with a welcome sweet finish. No off flavors detected. Good bitterness to balance sweet finish. Malt is fairly one-dimensional letting the spices take the leading role.
M- Surprisingly refreshing and tangy mouthfeel upfront despite the full-bodied finish. Alcohols are warming but never hot.
O- A drinkable holiday ale. A good beer to have after a festive dinner or just to contemplate and relax with.
:fro: A's crit:
S: root beer, anise? caramel, whiskey, vanilla, nutty. Very complex smell with the sweetness hitting nose immediately and fizzling into a vanilla-rootbeer-nutty-whiskey. The spices are too subtle to detect; the vanilla/whiskey combo smell is the primary for me.
A: creamy/opaque, smooth, light-to-no head, mocha colored head, caramel coffee colored body.
F: scotch? oaked? strong vanilla extract flavor up-front; maybe a little heavy on the vanilla-whiskey flavor, and not balanced in that it overpowers the spicing and other flavors. No detectable hop flavor. Aftertaste a little like aspirin.
M: smooth, fizzly in my nose but low carbonation, chocolate/velvetty feel.
O: Vanilla-whiskey root beer, slightly hot to me, and possibly higher alcohol content than I want for a beer. I think the flavor of the spices were a little hidden by the other bold flavors. I would only drink one of these in a sitting but enjoyed it.