Bayhawk Imperial Brown Ale

22oz bottle, no date--picked up from Vendome on Ventura for $3.59. Clear medium dark orange with a two finger beige head, fair retention. Sour yeasty aroma with some toast and nondescript tangy fruit behind. Flavor was pretty sour (considering what this is supposed to be) with some plastic notes and alcohol. The finish had a moderate amount of straight bitterness that lingered. Peaked at a 4. Highly carbonated (another sign of infection!) with a light to medium body. Not at all like the description on their site--"Aroma: Chocolate with a hint of Molasses Taste: Complex, Rich & Roasty with Vanilla Chacteristics & Tart Fruitiness"--I don’t understand why they’d have this tart fruitiness in their old English browne, and I definitely think they would have put the bug that soured this in the ingredients, which would seem this was unintentional. And not good.

Caramel, roast, chocolate and tart fruity notes on the nose. Maybe a buit metallic. Pours a murky amber, kind of flat looking stagnant. The flavor has an odd metallic tartness, some banana, roast and acidity. The finish is a little toasty and nutty. The body is thin and lightly carbonated. Obviously this one went bad. Too bad I see that there is interesting aspects of this, but I cannot finish this.

650 ml bottle. Pours a cloudy brwon with a medium beige head that has fair retention. The aroma is mostly caramel malts and some funky sour yeast. The taste is odd with sour banana, spices, sweet malts and some bready sourdough yeast. The mouthfeel is a bit thin. Overall: Not bad but not great. kinda meh.

Bomber from GM Liquors. Nose of roasty nuts, caramel, and a touch of cocoa and banana. Lightly hazy rust color with a big beige head that lightly laces. Flavor is lightly sweet with touches of caramelized sugar, bananas, and light bitterness and peppery spices. Finish has some light sweetness contrasted by a touch of bitterness. Much better than the last 2 ratings say.

22oz bottle: Pours a transparent effervescent dark copper amber with a well-lacing froth of off-white head. Aroma of lightly sweet toasty caramel and tart funky fruitiness. Starts thin and fizzy with a puckering acidity and not much malty sweetness, leading me to believe this is unintentionally infected. Finishes drier and more earthy bitter. The sourness in itself wouldn’t be too bad if there were a little more sweetness or some Belgian yeasty esters. This is mostly just sour and bitter, I could only take down about two ounces of it. Luckily it was only $3.59/22oz.

Big thanks goes out to cquiroga for this rare beer from californ-eye-aye, only three ratings! I am privileged and honored. Big foaming darker beer pour, but not black, just dark brown. Looks almost like a doppel weizen. Some sediment on the bottom of this beer bomber, makes for a swirl. Streaming carbonation inside this brew is readily apparent and puts on a show. Rocky alabaster head in a large 22 oz mug. Nice sweeter aroma on the olfactory. Taste is quite strong and reminds me quite a bit of the background flavors that are typical in East End stronger dubbel and trippel brews. Aroma becomes more volatile in the middle of the session. Unique fruity-ness is lurking behind the curtain in this one. Strong yet fresh. Fresh yet divergent. Dissimilar flavors combine to create a unique brown ale. Nagging alcohol at times but its not coming across like a 7+%er. This stuff is not really a brown ale but probably more like a Belgian dubbel. S6L4F2T4O7 Thanks Chris!

Bottle from hi times. Poured a dark coppery color with a light tan head that was short lasting. Aroma of fruit, sweet malt, and sugar. Not picking up much imperial or brown ale qualities. It was very sweet as the aroma foreshadowed. Some sugary fruit like flavors. A touch of caramel. It wasn’t bad tasting, but not really what I want in a brown ale and a bit one dimensional.

Bottle from la bodega. Clear copper brown with a fizzy white head. Metalic caramel aroma and tart sugar and grain taste.