Black Sheep Riggwelter (Bottle)

Brewed by Black Sheep
Style: Old Ale
Ripon, England

Bottle into Duvel tulip. Golden brown with ruby glow in the glass; almost perfectly clear. Nice large head of fluffy, creamy-looking ecru foam with some nice retention (lasts for a long time before diminishing to a thick dusting). Lace is very sticky and leaves a fragile pattern about an inch up the side. "Racing" is deep, thick and slow. Smell: piney hops sting, dark grains, butter, sweaty socks, steamy bathroom, and dust; a weird blend of appetizing with not-so-much. Mouthfeel is very creamy, especially in the finish, which is buttery, bready, slightly banana and softly sweet (like lactose) over an incredibly subtle dry hoppiness that is mostly minty in character (with some "stale" coffee grounds in there, although better than that sounds); it lingers on the sides of the tongue after the bready flavor is gone. Before the finish, the beer is a bit watery and the hops are metallic and thin; the malts lack character, lending only a flaccid sweetness in addition to their straightforward creamy, buttery banana taste. If only the beginning could be as good as the finish, this would be a pretty good beer.

Smokey malt hop aroma. Dark brown clear colour with good head and lacing. Bitter malt smokey flavour. Fizzy palate.

Feb. 23, 2006; 1 pt. .9 fl. oz. bottle

What news of the North? Foamy & dark, dark amber pour, thick persistent head, much lacing. Aroma of freshly-cut corn silage; slightly watery mouthfeel with cool blast of fruity caramel malt notes. Pleasant brew overall.

Purs a dark mahogony red, with an enticing smell. Lacing on the glass is evident with the head melting away. First taste has a thin feeling liquid and a sharp hops with a small hint of fruit. I have had this bottle in the fridge for 8 months and wonder if the length of storage is weighing on the flavor.

Aroma is reasonably bitter, with quite a bit of hops, malt character kicks in as it warms. Taste is similar, with caramel going to honey coming off the malts. Quite nice.

12 Feb 06 - LIght sweet smokey malt aroma. Clear medium brown colour, reasonable head and suds lacing. Roasted malt and some fruit flavours. Fizzy finish with a roast malt aftertaste.

Huge offwhite fine-laced head over dark red body. Faint, sweet, roasty aroma with hop notes. Deep, sweet, harmonic taste of roasty malts with red fruit character and bitter, tarry aftertaste with sweet chocolatey taste lingering. Complex and interesting. This is a great beer!

Bottle@SomeRestaurantBrighton. Complex aroma that smells more like a stout than a strong ale with malts, coffee and herbal hops. Redish brown color, beige beautiful head, very nice lace. Starts quite neutral and sweet but soon becomes very herbal and bitter. Tastes like a 5.7% Barley Wine. Medium body, bit dry.