Captain Lawrence Golden Delicious

Formerly brewed at Captain Lawrence Brewing Company
Style: Abbey Tripel
Pleasantville, New York USA

Bottle, pulled from Mark’s (Big Z’s) cellar. Pours a cloudy dark golden/light brown with a nice white head. Aroma of sourness, popcorn, skunk (the skunk disappears after the beer warms). Flavor is super spicy, buttery, lots of the brandy barrel taste. While the beer is semi-cold, these flavors do not mesh so well and the brandy is pretty dominant. You just sorta get this odd tasting, unbalanced beer. But, if you let the beer warm up A LOT, you get a sweet apple finish, which is really nice. I imagine that this apple is probably more prominant when the beer is fresh. I enjoyed the apple finish the best, so I’d probably enjoy this beer best when it is fresh. Otherwise, the beer for me is just ok. But I do love the originality of CL to come up with a beer like this. On tap I bet it’s awesome. As far as mouthfeel, it’s a sipper and really warms you up, so great for a chilly fall night I’d imagine. Anyway, so I’d love to try a fresh bottle of this, but wouldn’t bother with a somewhat aged version. Interesting beer, as all of the CL brews are. 7/4/7/3/15 (3.6/5) Update 3/10/09: Batch 2. Aroma of sweet yeast, a touch of light fruits, oak, lots of spices. This smells really nice. Flavor is subtle and subdued (in a good way)...lots of oak barrel and sweet apple cider notes. Definitely not as hot as batch 1, which is good!! Apple makes its presence with the brandy just in the background. Warming certainly but also very nice. 8/4/8/4/15 (3.9/5)

Sampled at Hellbilly’s Hellraiser II. 750ml bottle. Pours a hazy light amber with tons of carbonation. Nose is apples, yeast and alcohol. Palate is spiked apple juice, cognac and rubbing alcohol. Really hot brew and not what I was expecting. Light to medium mouth feel. Meh.

Pours a golden apple juice yellow. Aroma of apples and vodka. Flavor is much the same, apple juice, bourbon and spices. Very hot, and nothing like I imagined it would be.

Bottle@SpontaneousWeekend08. Sweet apples and alcoholic aroma. Floaties, dark yellow color, small off-white head, no lace. Sweet, overripe apples, quite malty, very alcoholic, soft bitterness, very sticky mouthfeel. Thanks Brad for sharing this!

Courtesy of Ryan. Hazy golden, whispy head. Aroma is mellow calvados up front, really, really nice. Apple cider, caramel and vanilla, alcohol background. Flavor is on par with aroma, but through the middle alcohol takes over. Finishes very boozy/warm, would question the 10%, think it’s probably higher or the beer is delicate enough to make it seem that way. Mouthfeel is creamy-smooth cordial like. Very nice, but would be even better w/o the alcohol kick.

Based on color this is now closer to an orange delicious than a golden delicious. While it didn’t pour much head the carbonation made this look just like Chapagne. The nose clearly shows the ripe apples and brandy along with a sweet sugar edge. These flavors emerge in the mouth along with vanilla, wood and lots of alcohol. As the upbringing suggests, this reminds me of an apple brandy. The palate is fresh due to the carbonation but the alcohol is too strong and offputting. It seems like someone dropped some everclear into the cask. If not for the alcohol, this would be a really nice one.

Bottle. Big thanks to Mr Bendo for the bottle. Poured a nice cloudy golden body with thin head. Aroma is strong brandy flavor, light earthiness. Flavor is brandy, light fruit and earthy. Light brown sugar noted and tropical fruit. Much smoother than expected.

750 ml bottle - thanks to goldtwins for the trade; slight gusher; pours dark yellow-orange with a yellow glow around and nice dark center; slight haze to it; definitely hot as others have said, but other than that, this beer is pretty damn good; apple pie description is accurate - apple, brown sugar and alcohol; drinks sweet and hot with slight chewy texture; nose is king on this one