Bottleworks Imagination Series 6th Anniversary Ale

Formerly brewed at Far West Brewing Co
Style: Abt/Quadrupel
Redmond, Washington USA

Thanks to batkins for getting a bottle of this. Pours a dark mahagany with a thin light tan head. The malts in this gave layers of flavor, nice caramel sweetness up front, followed by more dried fruitiness, kinda like dates or raisins, then finishing with more of a chocolate cherry flavor. A nice clove ester shows in the finish. Very nice beer all around that I wouldn’t mind trying after it aged a bit as well.

Bottled. Pours a dark brown, with a big tan head. Aroma is sweet, malty and yeasty. Taste is VERY sweet and fruity.

GABF. Pours a lush amber. Aroma is a curious bubblegum scent. Flavor is raisin, bread, and yeast. Full palate. Not bad.

Couleur brune foncée aux reflets d’acajou et vêtu d’une fine et persistante mousse beige pale adhérant bien à la paroi du verre. Arômes de chênes, de levure, de réglisse noire et de gomme baloune aux bananes jaunes et chocolat. Très sucrées en bouche, les flaveurs de sucre candi, de cassonade, de mélasse et de dattes confites sont régies par une présence de levure de caractère fidèlement belge. Texture sirupeuse et alcoolique, corps d’épaisseur moyenne à pleine, carbonatation pleine de vie semblant faiblement hyperactive pour le style.

The Lure:
Enticing cherries swimming in vanilla, browned bananas, soy sauce and powdery chocolate. Licorice/ anise-y sweetness works well with the yeast, which is sweating away all it can.

The Festivities:
Bubblegum sweetness hugs the chocolate and date undertones. The carbonation emulates the Belgian masters, but the yeast dries out the ending of most of its sensual, multi-dimensional sweetness. Black grapes frolick nearby, but can’t push this one forward into greatness for me. Not much is missing though, this is a very good attempt at the style.

Transcendence:
The brain is a wonderful field to harvest.

Lasting off-white head covers the dark cloudy reddish brown hue. Full-on esters bring forth enormous rotting banana and sweet candyish chocolate. Extremely sweet palate, lightly acidic and moderately roasty finish. Grapey juiciness contributes to the strong aromatic qualities. Weird evolving carbonation that is at first almost annoyingly biting, but after shaking the glass a bit, more than subtle, almost absent. Syrupy medium body, kinda cloying. Well, this was intense, alcoholic without being overly so, full-flavored, complex in its way, but I’m not blown away by the global balance. A very fruity, sweet (overly so), estery ale that is certainly one of the few good american tries at the style.

Deep ruby with a gorgeous, lasting grayish-tan head. Nose full of candy sugars and creamy chocolate plus some alcohol and banana. Very intriguing flavor, it’s the most banana I’ve ever had in a beer, and I’d never expect to say that about a quad. Sugars are there, quite candyish, could use a bit more dark fruit for balance. Bit of sour, chocolate, and malty. Alcohol quite prevalent, slightly harsh. Weird with the banana, but intriguing stuff. Chocolate and toffee comes on as it warms.

Poured a brownish red color with a large head. Aroma was dark fruits, chocolate and belgian yeast. Flavor followed suit with heavy flavors of figs, raisins, chocolate, alcohol and belgian yeast. Medium mouthfeel with heavy carbonation.