750 mL with a tight cork and cage. BIG pop on opening – take care!
The beer really does look magnificent in the DFH signature glass. There is a deep, garnet color with some super clarity, and a remarkable, high head with good lace. The head is both creamy and rocky and has an of-white color that is truly impressive.
OK, I have to admit that I was hoping that this was going to be a Belgian Dark of some description (given the Grand Cru moniker), but of course there is no reason why that should be the case, nor should I expect something like that from SN but a man can dream, can’t he? Actually I got over that “disappointment” fairly quickly.
The nose and tastes have a lot of pretty clean, fresh, green, wet hop notes and a decent does of alcohol. To me this beer isn’t really an American Strong at all (it doesn’t seem to have the malt presence. The hop bitterness build and to be honest I feel as though this beer drinks much more like a west coast DIPA than anything else.
Lots of metallic green hops on the back end and the aftertastes. It’s also pretty light in the mouth and doesn’t offer much depth of body. That might be considered a good thing, but it’s out of sync with the ABV for me.
Not a beer for me, and I think it has style issues (it seems more like a fresh hop ale to me) but there is NO doubt that it carries the SN trademarks. I suppose that can be both good and bad depending on your perspective and angle.