Big Sky Imperial Ale

Formerly brewed at Big Sky Brewing Company
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Missoula, Montana USA

Poured a hazy dark brown amber color. Brown sugar and browned apple skin aroma. The flavor was sweet with caramel and fruit. Woody notes as well. Mild bitter finish. This beer was very warming. With each swallow it was like a kick to the throat. Hell yeah!

Name: Big Brown Ale
Date: 10/10/2007
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting, Logan Pre-GABF

hazy dark amber, fine beige head, specks of lace, rich chocolate aroma with a nice bourbon sweetness, creamy body, rich chocolate flavor, sweet broubon brings out the chocolate, touch of oaky character adds the only bittering balance, good balance between the chocolate and the bourbon,

Aroma: 8/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 8/10; Palate: 7/10; Overall: 17/20
Rating: 4.1/5.0
Drinkability: 8/10
Score: ***+/4

Bottle from brewery. Very murky brew, not carbonated and cloyingly sweet. I suspect alcohol toxicity did not allow the bottle to be carbonated as it is a bottle conditioned brew. Strong alcohol aroma combined with fruity esters, deep plum with a strong sherry note. Interesting brew, I will save the second bottle to see if it gets carbonated and some of the sweetness goes away.

Draught, Avery Strong Ale Fest 2006. Head is mostly diminishing. Body is murky medium amber. Aroma is moderately malty (caramel), with strong notes of bourbon, raw wood, and sherry. Flavor is moderately to heavily sweet, lightly acidic. Finish is lightly to moderately sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Medium body, watery/syrupy texture, lively carbonation, moderately to heavily alcoholic. Cool that Big Sky is turning out some challenging brews...there are certainly enough versions of Summer Honey and Scape Goat in this country already, so it’s nice to see a massive hard-to-define beer come out. This sample was dominated by bourbon and raw oak scents, and I must admit I didn’t find the Belgian character I was hoping to find. But I dislike bourbon, so perhaps I just couldn’t get my nose past it to the good stuff. Burning in the finish, very sweet. I can’t say this one rocked my world, but it seemed to generate a lot of buzz (in more ways than one) at the fest.