Fish Tale Anniversary Ale - 10²

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

Orange body with ruby hints, much darker than anticipated. Light haze, sincere 1cm foamy and sticky white head. Aroma contains traces of orange, oak chip, balsamic vinegar, herbs, lemon and almost bready yeast. Quite an original I2PA which makes for a nice change of pace. Intense bitter hops and oak marriage although it’s nowhere near as dominant as in the leviathan. Hints of honey, orange, heating alcohol (you’d not guess 10% still). Huge palate killer bitterness. Highly citric (grapefruit). Medium body, moderately bubbly. Good.

Bright, garnet-hued, with a brief off-white head, keeping solid time up above. Aroma, dark, rich sweetness, cognac-like, full of dark fruits. cherries, and grapes, and succulent plums, very aromatic, a gorgeous bouquet, a sweet intoxicating treat to enjoy again and again, oh, that’s yummy! To taste, already: a great mix of flavors, happily at swim among the palate, jetting about the mouth, delivering taste after taste, a continual deliverance of fruity and complex flavors...a happy play among the palate...very sweet contentment occurs...10 hops??? Which ones?, it doesn’t matter, it matches terrifically well. Just bitter enough, malty enough...this is nearly a pitch-perfect, bad-ass barleywine. Still utterly delightful, and tasty as they get.

Bottle Pours a very nice deep red/brown with a dense light tan head. Thick creamy lacing, and lots of bits swiming around in there. Aromas are of caramel, vanilla, a little spice and a bit of the alcohol. A bit like a barleywine. Flavor is strong smokey, woody and hops. The strong flavor/hops/ABV give it a kick like a mule. Feel is heavyand smooth and the lingering flavors and bitter lasts a long time. Intense, even obnoxious maybe. A real ’hairy’ 2PA.

Bottle, from Bottleworks. Good nose, carmel and orange mainly. Some of the oak shows up though not as much as other beers I’ve had. Got better as it warmed up a bit. Nice Hazy reddish or brownish orange. Small head that faded quickly. Bitter flavors. Carmel, butterscotch,grapefruit, burnt, and of course ABV. Creamy oily mouthfeel. Dry bitter finish. ABV shows up. Mighty nice. Would of been interesting fresh, though aging nicely. Now only if I bought more than one.

Nice clear amber/red color with some head and lacing. Great earthy and spicy nose with some citrus notes. Large earthy and citrus bitterness in the body. Dry finish.

2/21/04. On cask at Toronado Barley Wine Festival ’04 in San Francisco, CA 2/21/04. Pours a brown-amber color with a dense, creamy off-white head that lingers in a thin whisp. Lacing is tight and very good. Aroma is sweet, light caramel with honey and nectar, sort of a hop underline as well. First taste is very smooth and balanced, creamy hop with head around it and a hint of sourness from the wood-aging. Also some direct oak woodiness up front. Medium-full body, silky and creamy. Finish is long and subtle, sort of a smooth hop sting and caramel malt roundness. This one is going a bit from its age, and there’s still some room for improvement. I think the disparate flavors will all really come together in a nice harmony with a little more time.

The aroma was something from my childhood: I just walked into Rosedale shopping mall (Roseville, MN) and into the candle/essences/fou-fou shop where my grandma once work during Christmas time...and I’m hit by a strong mix of essences, including rose and clove cigarrettes--something is definitely funky here. Big tea flavor, perhaps camomile? and a bit of grass. Hazy amber/brown with yellow edges. It doesn’t feel like you would think 100 IBUs should feel--and that’s a good thing.

Minimal beige head atop floatie-filled opaque copper. Aroma is sweet, pine, grapefruit, toffee/maple, light oak. Taste is medium sweet, caramel/toffee at the start, but quickly turns to big pine, some grapefruit, some caramel, oak. Full body that conceals the alcohol well. Not for the faint of heart, but those of hearty constitutions will be richly rewarded.