Fish Tale Anniversary Ale - 10²

Brewed by Fish Brewing Company/Leavenworth Beers
Style: American Strong Ale
Olympia, Washington USA

Thanks to this summer’s santa. Nose is caramel/malt, reasonable hop presence, a hint of alcohol. I expected this to clobber me but it didn’t. Hops, caramel, rich malt. Maybe a little smoke in a nice bittersweet finish.

12 oz bottle (Steve’s Liquor & More in Madison, WI, August 2006) drunk from a Chouffe glass at cellar-room temperatures, September 2006. Quite stable off-white head floating over and oily, thick mostly clear amber body....caramel, tart cherries, bitter orange front the aroma, earthy-woody notes creeping in along with strong vibrant green hops and hints of alcohol....thick, syrupy body is initially very sweet with biscuity/honey’d malts but heavy bitter hop oils show up quickly and remain throughout the entire tasting with an especially bitter, potent finish promised and delivered....pretty cloying mouthfeel saved by just enough carbonation....this was one of those, "yeah it’s nice and I’m glad I’m drinking it but shit I’m glad I just bought the one" kind of beers.

aroma is musty chocolate. Pours an amber brown, nice head. Hoppy punch, with a srong alcohol flavour. I found this too sweet for my liking.

12oz bottle, Spawned on the date notched above--January, though I have no year. Pours a cloudy orange with rubyish highlights and a one finger fading yellow-beige head. Main aroma is hops. They are spicy, resiny, piney, and pineappley. The malts are caramel, and digging deeper some raisins and very light maple--though not as rich. Dunno if this one’s supposed to be barrel aged as well, but it doesn’t smell like it. I can also smell some alcohol. Flavor is damn bitter and hoppy, though it reminds me of Founders Devil Dancer--the hops can’t decide which one wants to be dominant, so your palate gets assaulted by all. So the hops I taste are pretty much the same as the aroma. There is a little bit of grainy malts with the caramel and raisins. I don’t think I noticed any sweetness at all. Dry finish. Full bodied, moderate carbonation. Pretty good--I think this’ cousin is Founders Devil Dancer.

2 to the 2 ,O. Z. Bomber yo. Bottled in two to the double 0 Six, yo. From the aroma I can tell you right now this is someones idea of amalty DIPA...call it a strong ale if you wish. Huge caramel malt aroma is kept in check by an equally huge grapefruit accented aroma...simplistic, but I if you like those smells...it’s ambrosia. I only like half those smells so it is like ambrosia with bell peppers in it for me. <P> Dulce de leche caramel body color with a lazy white head that fades quickly. Massive caramel and hop fore. Syrupy...faintly woody with Barleywine-ish flavors. Finish is citric, grapefruity and wow massively malty. If I liked massive quantities of hops and caramel malt, I’d love this...I don’t though and it gets boring to me like I imagine big doses of flavors I like would get boring to someone who didn’t like then as much as I do.

Bottle obtained in the beerswap v2.0. Murky brown body with a wafting thin head. Nose-wood, tootsie roll, liquid malt extract. Taste-chocolate powder, perfect bitterness, light grapefruit, astringent, orange pith, and light honey. Great use of hops, slightly boozy, hay/straw. Absolutely beautiful melody of hops and malt. A gorgeous beer.

Smells of apple and grass. Great bittery hops and nice malt to mellow out all the dang hops. The alcohol is sneaky and you won’t notice it when you drink this one. Very nice.

22 oz bottle. Hazy amber brown with a thin ring of foam. Strong hops, caramel; barleywine-ish, some melon. Tastes like a hop sherry. Sort of sticky. Medium, tingly carb. Dries with hints of Chinese sweet and sour sauce and seville oranges.