12 oz single, courtesy of Kevin - thanks mate. A clouded, "orangey", copper colored pour with some scant white head but a lack of much presence or lace. A somewhat attractive blueberry based fruit aroma comes off the beer, even when quite cold. This nose intensifies as the beer warms as the volatiles escape. Tastes are unfortunately less attractive than the nose would suggest, but in a surprising way. Sometimes, beers like this a criticized for their "imitation" fruit flavors but that's not...
Notes on beers brewed by
Atlantic Brewing Company
S.O.B. (Special Old Bitter Ale)
22 oz Bomber, Green's, Ponce de Leon, Atlanta, GA, USA. Classic dark brown body with some nice lacing and some good creamy head retention. Mild lacing - good looker. Excellent bitterness. Nice malts and the bitterness is NOT a hop based one, rather a dry roastiness. Finish with some lingering bitter dry character. Quite a high ABV for the style, but that is not a problem, it's hidden very well. Drinkability is high, a very nice beer. Fine example of the style, especially pleasing to be coming...
MacFoochie’s 7+ Scottish Ale
Green's on Ponce, Atlanta, GA, USA. 22oz bomber. Good dark brown pour with some serious red highlights. Small head that quickly pulls back to a spotty lace and watery top to the body. Lacing is present but a bit too light - no sticky component. A little light in the mouth I thought. Lacks the big malts and chewy body that I would like to experience. Some caramel notes and a touch of malt, but I felt that the whole beer was just a tad too light. Finish is mildy acidic but has a pleasing...
Bar Harbor Real Ale
Nice color to the body, with some head, but this is gone way too soon to leave a little spotty head on the surface of the beer, but no lacing. Color is a deep red mahogany. Nose has some caramel malts but not much at all. Dryish and really quite bland. This drinks like a watered down brown ale, but without the malty, nutty flavors that one might expect. Flavor is just not quite there. It does improve somewhat on warming, but still lacks body and character. Too thin for me, with a little...
Brother Adam’s Bragget Ale
Part of the November 2000 batch. Dark amber pour with little or no head, and no lacing. Aroma is pure alcohol laced sweetness, and this is pretty much perfectly replicated in the taste. Basically it tastes like an Old Ale with the honey added, and ends up tasting like a drinkable (relatively light) English Barleywine. Alcohol is very strong. Luxurious in the mouth, this is a silky smooth and soft oily experience. Obviously you are not going to drink much of this, but over the course of an...
Coal Porter
Standard jet black, opaque appearance with a fairly small tan head that falls away quickly to give a very small film for the remainder of the drink. No significant lacing. Definite bitterness in the finish and a distinct smoky taste. Good mouthfeel, but not really a "coater". Quite light and relatively refreshing. Generally I like a little more creaminess and less smokiness in my porters, but nonetheless a drinkable beer.
Mount Desert Island Ginger
Generally I like to be encouraging of brewers that try different things, as from time to time they can produce some really nice "off the wall" experiements. I don't think that this was one of those winners. Plenty of ginger in the nose and a little in the taste, the beer only really succeeded in being slightly sour and rather acidic. An orange pour with no head to speak of, its appeal was lost fairly quickly as the acidity overpowered the ginger, and the beer was lost. Nice try, but best to...