Gales Prize Old Ale Special Reserve

cloudy brown pour, no head. aromas of raisins, apples, sherry wine and some caramel. Flavor is sweet and malty. Some apples, raisins and sherry notes. No sourness or oxidation to speak of. Pretty nice little sipper.

I can’t believe I purchased this bottle just yesterday. A 2003 vintage. The cork was still entirely intact and had a pleasant boozy-apple smell to it. Poured completely still, no head just a couple bubbles, into an oversized wine glass. Chestnut colored. There is a lot going on in the nose of this one: fig, dates, raisin, brown sugar, rum. The taste is medium sweet with some alcohol burn. Notes of brown sugar, over-ripe apple, raisin. I must have gotten lucky and got one of the "good" bottles, not sour at all. Not my usual type of thing but very interesting.

I like this style, normally. This 6-year old possessed but a small bubble for a head. It looked like an old ale, chestnut and on the thick side. It smelled a bit boozy, apple cidery. The taste was old ale of splinter wood and years gone past.Found at Premiere Gourmet.At best a sipper.

2003 bottle, thanks to WeeHeavySD for sharing. Pours a hazy, muddy, dark brown with no real head. Huge apple aroma, with a lot of spices, like a good apple cider, with a hint of booze and malt. Huge sweet malt taste, with apples and alcohol. Lingering richness. Fantastic, like sipping a great liqueur.

Beautiful deep light chestnut body with a very slight haze, big bubbled off white lasting head (A prime example of what this kind of beer should look like); Amazing nose, the barrels gives the usual Prize Old Ale notes the final and perfect touch, an amazingly deep super balanced mix of caramel, fruits accompanied by a barrel warmth, amazing; Amazing body too, super soft velvet texture, very very little sharp carbonation biting the tip of your tongue, amazingly complex and perfectly balanced, a perfect salt sweet touch; It finishes a very little to short, the only not perfect part of this beer, superb balance in both aromas and texture, alcohol bite from the Calvados barrels is very well fitting and perfectly balanced. This is a prime example of what barrels can do to a beer, something every other brewer playing with barrels could learn from. Why is this style of beer disappering? I don’t know what this world is coming to!!!

Little bottle via trade, 2003 vintage. Shared with dalekliz, I had mixed feelings about the other beer. Dark Molasses color no head. Nose is sweet with some apple and oak. Taste is sweet syrupy and quite boozy. Really interesting not as vile or scary as the other version.

Pours brown with no head to speak of. Upfront apple and oak aromas give way to sugar, yeast and some caramel. Tastes of sherry, oak, some appley hints, caramel, toffee. Finishes sweet. Decent.

Very smooth and similar to Calvados, lots of musty apple skins, somewhat of a vinous vinegar type flavor at times, a little oxidized I guess is the word I am looking for. Lots of barrel aged flavors are evident here, at times there are hints of nuttiness, caramel and dark fruits and butterscotch.