3/26/05. On tap at Lucky Baldwin’s in Pasadena, CA 3/26/05. Mostly clear, moderately hazy deep caramel-red-orange color. Rocky head that fades to a patchy, thin film. Off-white to light tan in color. Decent, ribbony lacing, sticky but not uniform. Good, fruity, bready (dark dough) aroma. A bit too slight, but very malty with fruitcake and dark berries (somewhat like young Old Horizontal), a bit of alcohol and an interesting huskiness. Some faint cashew-like nuttiness. Big alcohol flavor offers a prickly bite with big raisiny fruit and pepper. Slick and oily body. Sharp mouthfeel that feels weird against the slickness. Also strangely mouth-wateringly drippy but simultaneously dry. Some grain alcohol and big malt with terrific fluffy, soft carbonation still present. There’s just not enough else there to mask the intense alcohol. Finish is numbingly alcoholic and very long, husky and a bit gritty; malty but surprisingly faint. Alcohol is what lingers most, like someone punched you in the mouth and you’re ringing in the head with swollen teeth (to accompany the sticky lips). Some Scotch-like qualities, mostly at the alcohol burn. Not really a doppelbock (except maybe in the Samichlaus sense), and not quite strong enough in the nose or subtle enough anywhere else to blow me away. Enjoyable on some level-- big and mean with some tender characteristics. Carbonation seems to creep out of this throughout the glass, and the nuttiness becomes more prominent (EKU 28, anyone?) with a bit more fruit.

(F.O. Santa Monica) Reddish brown. Malty aroma. Full bodied malty flavors with lots of spice. The bartender said this was a Belgian Farmhouse style. With the spice notes that seems more on target than a doublebock.

Father’s Office, Santa Monica
Deep reddish amber hue, good head formation. Rich malty, fruity jammy aroma, alcohol evident, mild spice notes. Noticeable alcohol on the palate, sticky, malty with notes of blackcurrant and cherry and a mild prickly spice. Alcohol is a little harsh, but some excellent malt flavors if you can get past that.

Op tap at Father’s Office in Santa Monica. Medium brown pour with almost no head. If IPAs are for hopheads, then this is the one for people obsessd with malt. Rich, roasty malts sit with the taste of the beer’s strong alcohol content (it’s 14% and doesn’t hide it well). Syrupy and has a little spice, but more "wine-y" fruit flavors.

This beer was had at the San Diego Strong Ale Festival 2004 and surprising enough again I’m the dissenter of the San Diego group. This beer poured a deep copper color with no head at all and a thin sparced lacing. The aroma was cranberryish with cherry, licorice and grapes as well...and i have to tell you that I’m not a licorice fan! I could also get some serious alcohol notes from the nose. The flavor makes the alcohol extremely evident in this beer as it becomes almost vinous and port winey in flavor... not pleasant and extremely dry. Some cranberry, oak, cherry in there which brought the quality of this beer up somewhat, but what the funk was up with the port wine and high alcohol presence in this beer? Dry, unappealing and astringent.