Goose Island 1800 Demolition Ale (Strong Golden)

Brewed by Goose Island Beer Company
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Chicago, Illinois USA

Aroma:Sugar,honey,malt... Appearance:Light hazy gold,good head.. Flavor:alcohol,herbal,hops,malt,sugar....

The bottle poured a beautiful apricot-colored beverage. It was not quite clear and it had a small white smooth head that dissipated fairly quickly leaving almost no head and no lacing. Strong fruity esters were present with undertones of malt. There was also a dry grassy hop aroma. It had a medium body with good carbonation. The texture was somewhat smooth and dry. The flavor starts off sweet and fruity with a sharpness due to the high carbonation. As it matured it became smooth and warming from the high alcohol content. The finish is long and somewhat bitter with grassy notes.

The Lure:
Spicy, white peppery Saaz hoppiness surfs the honeyed malts and yeasty pear esters. Straightforward and clean, obviously well-brewed.

The Festivities:
Well-positioned alcohol warms up the discussion between the prevalent fruitiness (citrus, apples, peaches) and spicy hoppiness. Classy malt extraction is easily perceivable through the effervescence. Gentle and flavorful, nowhere near what the name suggests.

Transcendence:
If Oscar Wilde could demolish with words...

Generous creamy white head tops the hazy golden hue. Elegant cerealic grainy and bready maltiness procures hay and honey pleasures while the hops strike as strongly floral, noble, lemony. Its estery yeast finalises its craftmanship through banana esters and apple notes that we don’t find in many others with that kind of hopping. Apparent spiciness, though individual spices are almost impossible to identify, perhaps peppery and clovey, but yeast-derived mostly. Dry enough, medium bodied, engaging carbonation, good balance, pleasantly floral. Not particularly flavour-packed, just very clean and well brewed.

2005 bottle huge thanks to Csbosox for this and all the other finely-selected beers sent my way. Shared with EDA on 8/20/2005.
Golden-amber, slight copper-brass dark tinge to it. Really pleasing, awesome color and shine to the body, which is lightly hazy with touches of sediment at the bottom. Head is foamy and large initially and retains well while providing good lacing. Perfumey smell has lemon shortcake or lemon sugar cookies, a touch of sweaty hops and a very plant-like, leafy greeness (guess that’s goldings). Dry biscuity malt notes, but somewhat sweeter than that, perhaps belgian aromatic or belgian biscuit malt. Flavor is very dry and floral, with a surprising lack of sweet maltiness, very well-attenuated. Light nectarines, peaches and a touch of breadiness on the end, from the yeast. Grainy, unfiltered-like texture is pleasing and really lets you take hold of the flavor. White pepper dryness and some bitter hops end the beer, with a touch more lemons and white flour biscuits. It certainly dosent suffer from too much yeast being pumped in to it, and it’s definitely not too sweet or syrupy. I really like what they did with it. A very dried-out, subtle beer. The 7.8 abv is a really ideal amount, in my opinion. Enough to add a touch of warmth and flavor complexity, but it never really butts in. Dry and dusty on the end, with a prevailing honey and biscuits. Hops just add more flavor, never obtrusive. I could see how wonderfully drinkable this would be fresh on draught. A terribly unique beer, and for uniqueness it scores in the high fours, for me, but on an overall score, it could use a bit more sweetness and yeast apparency, with, perhaps, a touch more fine-bubbled carbonation. Great stuff though, thanks Chris!

cloudy hefe like pour with a large whitish head head that clings. yeasty belgian aroma. that is like garlic bread. taste, hmmm, spiced up pepper, maybe cinnamon, kind of like the taste of crawfish etoufee. this would definitely go well with some grub. just a great flavor.

Bottle. Very bready aroma. Taste-spicy, estery, caramel, honey. The spiciness is very nice and adds alot to the sweetness. Very enjoyable. Would go great with food.

12oz, bottled on 7/22/04. Clear golden/amber color with a small off white head. Sweet malty aroma with hints of candi sugar and hops. Starts off mildly sweet with flavors of candi sugar, malt and caramel before turning dry on the finish with some bitter hops.