Deschutes 19th Anniversary Golden Ale

Formerly brewed at Deschutes Brewery
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Bend, Oregon USA

Bottle from trade with Odeed. Clear straw color with a half-inch thick white head. Mild musky grain character with an incongruous fruitiness. Taste is honey sweet but really has no additional complexity to flesh it out. Not bad, but indistinct.

murky tan yellow with almost no head. the nose is a mix of caramel & corn syrup and a vinous scent. dry spicy finish. there is something like an ashtray to this, not overpowering, but enough to turn me off. too dry from the get go, the flavors don’t come through easily. i don’t know if it is yeast or what, but this never developes any real flavor. it reminds me of the last big tasting i was at and everyone was raving about a belgian, & it tasted similar to this. a burnt hop taste is all that remains when i’ve finished it. 2 5 3 2 8

Pours with a golden body topped by a medium thick white head with some lacing left on the glass. It’s slightly sweet adn grassy with a bitter note. Medium bodied, smooth and a touch warming.

Date: 11/30/2007
Mode: Draft
Source: Tasting, Strong Ale Fest

hazy dark gold, wispy off white head, sweet crystal malt aroma with lots of earthy and spicy hops, sweet malt candy flavor, fruity character rises out of the sweetness, touch of peppery hops for balance, light lingering bitterness,

Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 13/20
Rating: 3.2/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: **+/4

Very thin white head, rapidly and fully diminishing. Clear golden body with light amber yearnings. An ugly tint, at best. The nose is full of pummeling candi sugars and hefty grain. Notes of many varied spices seep out, most notably cinnamon, orange peel and crusty sage. Yeastiness is moderate to heavy and sweet, just compounding the already sweet nature of this beast. Alcohol is bold and intrusive. A watery texture and diminutive flavor are disappointing. Yeast is the most apparent feature and even it seems carelessly extracted and utilized. Grassy hop notes start lightly bitter and end stale and caramelized. Sweetness is medium but the finish dries slowly and pleasantly. Spice is quickly fading and seems detached. This is quite drinkable, but that is mostly due to a bland nature and sparsely carbonated and weak mouthfeel. The lack of sticky sugariness on the palate, after the intense sugariness of the nose, is disconcerting. Odd beer.

PP Strong Ale Fest 07. Pours brown/orange with a medicinal nose and medicinal sticky bitter taste. Overall wasn’t too excited about this one.

On tap at Pizza Port Strong Ale Festival. Shared with too many ratebeerians to list (see event attendies). Nice creamy microfoam head. Dark amber color. Sweet malty caramel flavor. A little bit of oaky melanoidin malt flavor.

Richmond "industry" gathering. Medium gold. Aroma was quite faint and difficult to detect, despite going off to the side of all the activity and practically snorting it. Flavor was there though, spicy, hints of anise, and perhaps a bit of cooked dirt on the finish. Ultimately though, Belgian oriented yeast notes dominate the beer.