Fish Tale Old Woody English Old Ale

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

Bottle: Courtesy of Styles. Aroma of caramel, light banana bread, and light wood isn’t all that pleasant to me. Pours a cloudy orangish-red with a small white head. Caramel and toffe up front A whole bunch of flavors come in the finish and just don’t blend together very well in my opinion. The sweet smoke, wood, and piney hops just don’t mesh well.

Sampled from a 2005 12 oz bottle, this beer pours to a thin frothy white head atop a burnt sienna colored body. The aroma is aged wood, ripe strawberry, dates, caramel corn, smoke. Albiet, it’s a bit weak. The flavor is alcoholic smoked chocolate, raisins, caramel, wood, leather, and dust. Kinda interesting. The palate is thick, rich, and creamy but the 10% alcohol is too much in the open. Sharp on the tongue. I think I should get one of these and put it away for a couple of years.

Dark brown - Burnt-orange body and a quickly fading head. The aroma is very light and mild, slightly alcoholic and caramel-malts. The flavor is slightly biting, with enough hops to surprise you, but it is also heavy on the winter-fruits and malts. Like a barleywine.

Cloudy burnt copper with minimal head and moderate lacing - musty, aged aroma, with light fruits (cherry, strawberry), a touch of brown sugar and a little caramel - quite hoppy for an old ale, with bready, biscuity malts - strawberry, cherry and caramel from the aroma make an appearance - full-bodied - long, hoppy finish with some sticky, barleywine-like qualities - doesn’t blow me away like other beers in their artist series, but it’s still quite good - it would be interesting to see what happens as it ages and the hops mellow.

12oz 2005 bottle. Brown-plum body with a creamy white head. Nice lacing! Boozy, raisiny aroma with sugary wood and a smokey element. Tastes like a dry english barleywine. Raisin, plum, apple and maple wood. Medium mouthfeel. Not much of an old ale and not muc of a barleywine either.

750 mL capped bottle (November 2002 batch, sampled June 2005): ruddy mahogany body with a very generous and very fluffy, smooth taupe small bubbled cream. Smokey, acidic tannin laced aroma with hints of rust, alcoholic blueberries, sharp cherry skins and peppery yeast. Encompassing, yet amazingly soft and delicate mouth feel. Sugary, cough syrup like flavours skim the tip of the tongue while peppered cherry flesh dances throughout the mouth. A sticky caramel flavour is left to linger with a hoppy bitterness and a bit of prune juice. A neat, irony funk materializes as the liquid warms and opens up a deeper and more complex path into this aged treat…a bottle I am glad I kept around a while as the bottle conditioning developed the palate and carbonation to the point of shear bliss for me. Outstanding.

2003: Pour is dark brown with a thin tan head...smell is sweet with dark fruits and oak...similar indeed to HotD Adam...taste is sweet at first, then turning bitter and alcoholic...I guess I don’t get it...vegetal and alcoholic...

Discount Liquors, Milwaukee, WI - 12 oz bottle. Murky dark orange to light brown pour with an everlasting sticky off-white head and creamy sticky lacing. Sweet aroma of raisins, dates and molasses and a wee bit of alcohol. Flavor has some of the same elements with some woody accents in the background. Pick up some pancake syrup notes with a bit of sweet candied sugar. Sinfully sweet and meant for sipping by the fire in January. Thick, creamy mouthfeel. Another winner from Fish.