2007 bottle at RedOak. Dark cola brown, coat of beige head with nice lacing. Very fine peated aroma with seaweed, dark sugars, amontillado sherry, caramel. Tastes along much the same lines. Quite peaty and smokey; dried fruit with the caramel. Rather sharp bitterness. Fine aroma but that little bit of sharpness and oxidation with the bitterness doesn’t quite work at the end. After the sharpness fades, a long, dry, peaty, kind of oaky finish. It’s pretty good. Still a little overcarbonated even though it’s from 2007 and pretty boozy too. Complex and clearly has some improvement left in it.

Tasting from Jan’ 2009.
Into a chalice at cellar temperature. A few clumps of yeast proteins settle quickly on the base otherwise the beer is translucent. A shimmering deep ruby red with copper tinges in the shallow. Sits quite still, head merely formed due to the pour quickly fades back to a dense, compact, but thin tannish pad. Baked rhubarb and rich leather hit the nose first, sultanas, prunes d’agen, ash and cigarette smoke, a little ’corked’ red wine and heather, this has an alluring, complex aroma that is full and tickles the olfactories. thick, silky mouthfeel, heavily peaty with some robust smoked malts delivering ashen and smoked meat flavours. More rhubarb pie and prunes, some bitter tangy raisins all encompassed by rich chocolate. The peak is mildly malty bitter with layers of savoury fruit, peat and smoke into the intensely long swallow. Shows notes of leather and rust in the aftertaste also, the alcohol remaining sadly well hidden. Just gets better as it empties, I’d love to get my hands on a few more of these to cellar away for a while. Easily my favourite of the Redoak beers, a very character-some and complex beast of a beer. Lovely! (25cL, No date stamp, The Beer Store Morley)

250ml bottle. I’m pretty sure I gave this to my old man as a birthday present around 3 years ago. Has remained untouched in his fridge since. Deep ruby body, fast dying tan foam. Rich intensity on the nose; smokey peat is very prominant, comines quite well with sweet mollasses and brown sugar malt notes. Raisin-like oxidised notes evident. Lengthy palate, texture is note as thick as I originally expected, some prickles of carbonation still present. Very sweet upfront; lots of mollasses, smokey malt and rich earthiness. Dries out quite a bit on the finish, lingering smokiness, hint of alcohol warmth and vinous fortified oxidised notes also. Age has probably thinned the body of this beer, but the flavours are certainly there. I can imagine this could age even longer without concern.

Bottle. Vinious and heavily malty on the nose. In the mouth it’s a little thinner than I would have liked with a strong malty flavour of bread, dark fruit and some yeasty elements. Decent.

Strawberries and Banana on the nose bit of smoke. Sweet complex taste. Kinda Tangy. Quite malty. Finishing with peaty smoke and alcohol warmth.

Bottle 250ml. Nice and tasty. Aromas of caramel, biscuit, and apple. Sweet flavour, with a touch of sourness. Medium body, silky mouthfeel. Brown and cloudy, white thin head.

Dark copper pour with a big creamy lasting head. Nose shows dark grapes, plums, chocolate, roasted grains, smoke, peanuts (???) and, unfortunately, some old cheese and Vegemite! Lots of sweet caramel upon tasting, along with some smoky, earthy peat and quite a strong tangy note, as found in green apples (acetaldehyde?). Carbonation is nice and creamy, but the body is on the watery side for such a malty beer.

[Bottle] Pours hazy reddish-brown with a small beige head. Aroma is sweet, with caramel, raisin and toffee. Taste is even sweeter, with plum, raisin, mild peat, and some port character. Only mild bitterness is present. Decent mouthfeel with a good length finish where the peat is most evident. Strange wee heavy that isn’t nearly as strong with the peat as I would expect, and yet has huge amounts of raisin and dark fruit. Actually pretty drinkable though, and I did enjoy it, even if I wasn’t amazed.

Bottle. Dark red/brown with almost no head. This is the first beer I’ve tried from Redoak and after all I have heard about them, was a little underwhelmed. Aroma is pleasant, dark fruits, sweet malt, smoke and a touch of alcohol, but it is also very thin. Flavour has berries, port wine, grapes with a little bit of sourness. Fairly dry on the palate with a long finish. Overall, despite its faults, an interesting and drinkable beer.

Complex nose with hints of raisins, dark fruits, caramel and peat. Deep auburn color with a low head. Sweet almost sugary malt based with a prominent smoke taste. Almost a rauchbier, really. This took me by surprise at first, but it grew on my through the glass. I also think it got back as it got warmer.