Astoria Buoy 8 Strong Ale

Brewed by Astoria Brewing Co. (Wet Dog Cafe)
Style: English Strong Ale
Astoria, Oregon USA

Usually this is my favorite beer at the Wet Dog. The version today was nearly the same color as the amber. It had a good head. It had good lacing and was more hazy than the amber and a lot less carbonation was visible. It had a heavy hop aroma and little malt. It was medium bodied, clearly alcoholic and had average fizz. The hops were really present. The new brewer has gone more toward an IPA version of a strong ale than a malty heavy barley wine style. The taste was fine with moderate sweetness, a heavy alcohol, and hop bitterness that lasted a fair time. Over hopped for my taste but along the lines of some of the strong west coast strong ales. It is easy to find refinement in this beer if one looks everywhere but the taste. The fresh bready aroma, the velvety soft body, and the tall sandy head all contribute to a visually stunning and sensually delightful beer. Buoy 8 is alive with invigorated carbonation and exceptional head retention. Its color is a canyonlands sunset brown. The mouthfeel is light and feathery. The head is a plush carpet trailing abstract lace. It’s the taste of this beer that will win you or lose you. Most likely you won’t go for its bracing alcoholic dominance and the biting bitter finish that truly lacks polish. Face it; this beer is muscular and crude. It is well suited to sailors, deadbeats, scoundrels, and me. As painful as it may be, I can only implore of the brewer, thankyou sir, may I have another? And I know I will have it again.

Deep maroon/mahogany body with virtually no head. After some airing, a lovely hop and malt notes are coaxed from the glass. This beer rolls on the tongue like molasses, with a dishing of alcohol that is well masked. Flavor balance tips to hops over malt.

Amber with a filmy white head and big spots of lace. Floral and fruity hop aromas. Grapefruit maybe. Caramel malt flavors with some more fruity hops. Finishes sweetly malty and fruity.

Sampled draught at Wet Dog Cafe/Pacific Rim, Astoria
Amber color, sweet alcohol note with musky hops & a level of bitterness that really cuts through to the tongue & dries you out. Rich malts & a rounded finish, decent.

Murky dark burgundy and brown. Flavor of burnt and rancid, sharp orange peel, sour lemon and grapefruit... tart like grapefruit juice. Nose is the same... the palate is quite dry, again, resembling grapefruit juice almost perfectly.

Astoria on tap: Dark amber-red with a soft-looking head. Creamy, rewarding texture. Very toasted malts with some burnt notes thrown in. Alcohol nips here and there, which I kind of liked. Bitterness built. Overall, pretty good beer and one of the best I PR brews I had that day.

rated at OBF summer 2002, and again 4/21/03 at Wet Dog Cafe, Astoria. A dark amber color, with a off white head that diminished quickly, but the remainder left nice lacing. Nice malty sweet aroma, and a great tasty malty flavor with some alcohol zing in the finish. Very tasty!!