Dundee Festive Ale

Brewed by High Falls Brewing Company
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Rochester, New York USA

Date: August 08, 2009
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting, Ticker
Appearance: clear dark amber, fine beige head, sudsy lace
Aroma: sweet and spicy caramel aroma
Flavor: sweet caramel malt flavor, lots of holiday spices, bitterness follows the spices
Aroma: 5/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 5/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 10/20
Rating: 2.6/5.0
Drinkability: 6/10
Score: *4

Bottle... Hazy, dark, orange ale with a small, frothy, khaki-colored head. Good retention. The soapy, spicy aroma is a union of ripe apple, ginger snaps, dark bread and lactic acid. Full-bodied with a whole-milk mouthfeel and frisky carbonation. Malty-sweet flavor with gobs of caramel and traces of chocolate. Decent bitterness, but still leans toward the sweet side of balance while offering a suggestion of ginger bread. Mid-length, crisp, moderately bitter finish. Bottle courtesy of cheapdark!

Pours copper with a thin white head. Smells of spice, nutty, some caramel. Tastes of caramel, some spicy notes, some peppery splashes, earthy. Decent.

12 oz bottle from the Willowbrook, IL, Binny’s: This poured a clear copper body with a short-lived beige head. The aroma had scents of caramel, vanilla, and some spices or other... to light to relly pick out. The flavor was much the same, only it had a dusty quality. The spices, appearing mainly as nutmeg, only come through as an aftertatse. Single bottle buys are a wondrous fine thing!

Clear dark copper color with a diminished beige head. Clean aroma as in a bar sanitizer scent. Some hints of spice and apple. Thin near spritzy liquid. Flavors of pumpkin and pumpernickel, little bit of spice. Dry nearly acrid finish and linger. Not much festivity in this one for me.

Bottle from Kroger. Poured clear ruby color with an average creamy off-white head that diminished slowly with minimal lacing. Average spice and malt aroma. Medium body with a thin texture. Moderate sweet spice flavor with a medium sweet finish of short duration.

Whoa Nelly let me tell ya bout tis beer, which surpirsed me by about 5 tenths of a point. The label is great. The pour is medium brown with a 2-finger off-white head. The aroma is caramel malt, brown sugar, maple syrup, oats, cinnamon. smooth and crisp and rather complex palate. This one is a keeper.

Bottle. Head is initially small, frothy, light brown, mostly diminishing. Body is clear dark amber. Aroma is lightly malty (cookie, grain/husks, caramel), with light notes of allspice and pumpkin. Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, moderately bitter, unclean. Light to medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation. It’s got an acceptable if simple aroma, but the poor aftertaste and flimsy mouthfeel ruin any hope it had of being drinkable.