Fish Tale Anniversary Ale - 10²

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

2006 vintage. I love how this beer doesn’t bother to indicate the beer style on the label. Deep copper color with reddish hue that is slightly hazy. Frothy creamy tan head. So far it looks good. Initial aroma was citrus hops with some sweet malts. Soon the hop edge receded a bit. The taste is decidedly on the hoppy side. The hops flow throughout the flavor profile all the way to the lingering hoppy after taste. I taste citrus, grapefruit and piney hop bitterness. There is also a delicious sweet citrus hop flavor that melds nicely with the sweet caramel malts. The malts take a back seat to the large hop presence. I don’t sense the ABV at all. Excellent beer that should age well. I wonder if I have the patients to cellar a couple of these for a year or so. That should bring out more of the malts and let the hop complexity shine through.

Intially strong (alcohol) smelling with flowery untertones. Tan frothy head that quickly dissipates. Beautiful amber brown color which is expected given the high amount of malt that this beer is brewed with. The flavor has a strong carmel undertone with a hint of cherry and grapefruit. The malt dominates the hops as expected in this type of brew. Nice bitter kick in the finish. Very complex. Good beer!

Pours deep amber red w/ a medium sized creamy froth. Aroma is sweet grapefruit, malted caramel, and limerind. Full nectar w/ creamy residual effers. Flavors are excessive with malted caramel and the citrus rind climbs its way thru the crowd to front stage. Slight cherry esence dressed in leather. The hops really balance this thing out although this is a malt dominated brew. The finish has a shy bitterness that eventualy steals the show. Overall: The use of 10 types of hops really does show adding to the complexities.

(MANY THANKS TO NOTALUSH FOR HOOKING THIS UP)seethrough amber body with a little white head.aroma was a lovely mix of pine and citurs hops,hard candy,fruit,and oak.the flavor and palte were super complex and well balanced.i picked up a mix of caramel malts,earth,oak,pine and citrus hops,juicy fruit gum,and brown sugar.the barrel aging was noticable for sure,but not overpowering.as were the hops.the one thing you couldnt really pick up was the alcohol.(10 percent???)this was simply awsome and i feel very lucky to have tried it.thanks again notalush!

My brother-in-law and I matched this against Rogues Imperial IPA. Both are very good, this was the better. This has an explosion of complex hop character, with the expected grapefruit and pine resin aromas dominating. But there is a rich and chewy malt component that the Rogue brew lacks. The brewer achieves an exceptional balance with a generous amount of ingredients in my opinion. Sweet butter toffee, green wood (almost parsley-like), grapefruit, sweet citrus, and a piney bitterness that stays long in the mouth. The danger lies in the 10% alcohol that is nearly undetectable in this cavalcade of flavours! Worth seeking out.

2006. Pours a bronzish amber. Cascade hops and sweet malt dominate the nose. Has a woodsy, citrusy flavor. Malty sweet but not cloying. It lays across your tongue heavily at first but quickly dissipates and leaves a slight hop bitterness at the finish. I used to be very intimidated by this beer because of an incident that occured after I drank one last year but now all I can say is, "Nice. Very nice."

Poured a murky orange-brown color with a decent initial head, especially for the abv. The lacing was ok. The aroma was citrus hops, light floral, and some pine. The flavor was light caramel malts with lots of hops and a sharp finish. Some oak/wood notes. Fully body, somewhat sticky or syrup-like mouthfeel. Re-rate, 7/07, very much the same opinion, except the malts were more prominent and somewhat brown sugar-like.

Bottle. Pours a dark reddish brown and reminded me alot of a barleywine in many ways. Deep malted fruited nose. Taste is thick and syrupy, sticky fruit. This was really good, but if I did not read the style I would say it was a barleywine. Thanks to wohlfs for the bottle.