Goose Island Anniversary Ale

On tap at the Crescent Moon Alehouse. This was the last beer of the day which began at 10 am. The beer still tasted great! Color was an ebony mahogany. The head was white and billowy. A strong fruity aroma. Buttery palate. Coriander is detectable. Tingly and tart on the tongue. The finish is amazing as it completely dessicates your tongue, so the hops were well hidden at first.

Draught, at the Fulton St. brewery. We polished off this small barrel they found and hooked up to the break room taps for our homebrew club tour. Has a very clean wheat taste despite a slightly cloudy appearance (brewmaster said there was some wheat in the grist). But also a big sock of hops reminiscent of <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/three-floyds-gumballhead/22764/7062/>Three Floyds’ Gumballhead. Again, we’re told there were Simcoe, Amarillo and Cascade hops used. Settles in pretty nicely. Don’t know if it skews to the style listed, but I’m rating it here since they said it was brewed for the Clybourn pub, and other than this they haven’t done anniversary brews for a few years now.

Draught, Clybourn brewpub (2004 version): clear gold, minimal right of bleached white head. Incredibly strong Amarillo hop aroma: fresh, piney and seemingly filled with chlorophyll. Hoppaliscous, watery palate that is smooth, but lacks any depth or malt character. A bit of caramel malt comes into focus through the finish, but the hops dominate this one. The dry-hopping this year seems to have gone a little overboard (hop belch comes after the second sip), this lopsided beers is tasty.

Clear, golden body with a fluffy, white head. Big, citric nose, especially for an ESB. Grapefruit and orange are all over the place--it almost seems like a beer from Three Floyds, being dry-hopped with Simcoe and Amarillo. With time, a bit of malt comes through in the form of whole grains and baked bread. The body is thinnish and rather uneventful. The balance in the flavor is all off, leaning heavily toward the strong hop character. The malt has to fend for itself in a knife fight without the help of it’s dominate hand. It’s unfair. With this much hop character, it needs more malt to carry the fresh hop cones to glory. It should be a partnership and not a competition.

Thanks to Heemer for "growlin" this one up. Pours a dark orange, small white bubbly head. Aroma of piney hops and citrus. (Reminds me of dope) Flavor is very hoppy and bitter. Pine needles, spices and lemons.

Shared Heemer’s oh-so-fresh growler. Clear amber body with a wispy white head. Grapefruit rind aroma with bitter dandelion notes and sweet bread. Flavor of yeasty-sweet white bread and sharp juicy, grassy hops. Very fresh, very good. The aroma was simply outstanding.

Got a growler of this at the Clyborne GI brewpub. Drank on the same day it was bottled. The head is thin and the body has a light orange coloring. The aromas are great, the best part. Very fresh with slight pine and some oranges. Absolutely wonderful to smell. The taste is bready with oranges and a flower character. A very nice session brew.

sampled from a growler obtained 7 hrs prior. poured a plae red w/ a thick tall white head smelled very clean hoppy and w/ lots of citrus.. the palate was like the flavor, very mild and kinda plain.. a touch of hopps.. basically this beer smelled incredible and then was pretty ho hum to drink.. overall it wasn’t bad or good really.