Cape Ann Fishermans Tea Party

Brewed by Cape Ann Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Gloucester, Massachusetts USA

Cask at the Peekskill Brewery. Pours a hazy ruby brown with a thick brown head. Hot, hot, hot. Glaring isopropyl notes, with a little bit of plum and a good amount of hops behind it. The hops had to be the most redeeming quality about this, and were nearly lost in the rubbing alcohol smell. Plum and prune flavors come through, malt, and more alcohol. Boozy and malty finish, with a nice bitterness.

On tap at the Ginger Man, NYC. Copper to amber colour with a thin lace. Smoky aroma, syrup texture. Earthy flavour and a little spice. Rich malts finish.

(draft) Small off-white head atop hazy dark amber body. Aroma is moderately sweet, peach, caramel, grapefruit/orange. Taste is moderately sweet, peach, caramel, some earthy/grapefruit. Some stickiness in a medium-full body.

Cask @ Barcade. Poured a clear very deep brown with no head. The aroma had huge but soft smoke. Fairly phenolic. The smoke covers everything yet it seems balanced. The flavor is so smoky it is hard to tell what the malt is even like. Smoke from front to back. The finish had notes of an old black tea bag. Medium fullness but dull body with some warmth.

Cask at Barcade. Very dark brown beer with absolutely no head at all. No carbonation either. Massive peaty, smoky resiny aroma. Rich and loaded with pine smoke. Pungent and rich salty smoke. The piney tea really comes forward as the beer starts to warm. The resiny smoke lingers on the back of the palate. Beech smoke as well. The flavour is immediately smokey up front with some sweet malts, a bit of raisin and dark nuttiness. Very tannic as well with a harsh astringency on the back behind the sweet malts. A lot of roast through the middle that thins the body considerably. Further sampling has the smokey flavour immediately clobber the palate and wash it clean of any other subtlety or nuance that might be here. It might be too smokey (which makes me feel dirty for even saying it). I think it’s a good concept, but one that wasn’t executed to the level that it could have been. As it stands, it’s a nearly undrinkable mess of a beer. At least it smelled good.

Cask at barcade. Dead brown pour looks more like an old, stale mead than beer. Aroma is a fantastic blast of peaty smoke that is anything but a sign of things to come. The second you put this in your mouth it is a huge letdown, a syrupy, ashy mess. Completely flat, lifeless, the big smokiness which normally helps a beer just makes this one even worse. Near undrinkable. Could not finish even half my glass. I’d say this needs about half the malt bill to be any good. Focus on the smoke.

Cask at Barcade: Pours a headless, very deep brown; some light gets through by the edges. The aroma is astonishingly smokey! Rich, meaty and has a fire-y smoke presence. The body, however, is extremely flat, with an awkward flavor. Ashey, and off balance, accompanied by an odd herbal, unpleasant bitterness that doesn’t work. A true dissappointment, especially after the rich, smokey aroma.