Fish Tale Anniversary Ale - 10²

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

Poured as non-see-thru as it could be. Smelled of dangerous sour fruits. Tasted like oak and chocolate (sort of) very good! Sticks to the palate a little too long, but what do you expect from a beer that was bottled in 2003 and aged in fine oak barrels!? tremendous.

Bottled. Pours a clear garnet color with a frothy, ivory head. Fruity aromas with oranges, lemons, strawberries, grass, honey and grape notes. Smooth mouth feel with malt sweetness and a nice bitterness. Vanilla flavors meld with the malt and some nuttiness. This is an awesome beer!

Pours a dark amber with an off-white head. Aroma that’s slightly sweet with a solid alcohol odor and something else i can’t pinpoint but is distinctive. It starts out smooth and then your hit with a strong alcohol flavor (10%). It has an almost creamy taste as it gently warms. Interesting.

Opaque brown with a thin but lasting head. Aroma is loaded with complex hops; Candy, fruit, pine and toffee malt. It’s all there and wonderfully balanced. Flavor is a bite of hops very nicely balanced by the caramel malt and an oaky mellowness. finishes with a crackling smokey pine flourish. Medium bodied and smooth carbonation coupled with the well hidden %10 ABV make this a wonderful relaxer at the end of the day.

Pours a medium brown with a lasting, sticky, khaki head. The aroma is a rich, thick hoppiness that is redolent with pine, smoke, and something almost salami-like. There’s even something like seaweed in there. The flavor is a dominated by the hops, but the malt brings a malty sweetness into the finish. Really interesting beer.

Wow what a nose ! This will give me something to think...errr drink about. The hop flavors really take on an interesting and complex flavor. A little sweet, but nicely balanced for the IBU’s. Candy nose and flavor hide the alcohol quite well. Lots of Citrus and almond notes. I would like taste this a year from now or more ! Gotta Try it !

(Bottle, October 2003 vintage) Pours a cloudy amber with a medium-sized long-lasting beige head and good lacing. Aroma of breadiness, toffee, citrus, and alcohol. Flavor of malt, alcohol, oak, hops, and a hint of cocoa with a dry, chaulky, bitter finish.

Most of my experience with this beer was great. The aroma was intensely floral and complex, and I loved the cloudy deep amber look. When I first started tasting the beer, it was great. The aromas from the nose melded with malt and alcohol for a lovely flavor. Unfortunately, it then finished with an aweful cardboard aftertaste. It would have been an 8/9 on flavor an an 18 overall without that finish. I enjoyed it enough to continue drinking it, but I don’t know that this one is still at its peak, 2+ years after bottling. Update, 8/5/2006, 2006 Vintage bomberThe aroma on this batch is much maltier than my notes indicate my first sample was. Also, this one is pretty clear. Flavor is sweet, with vanilla and oak notes. Alcohol is present, but not dominate. A completely different beer, very reminiscent of Double Bastard.