Pours a light copper color with brilliant clarity and minimal head. Aroma is pale malt, some fruits (berries, not citrus) and a touch of oxidation. Substantial legs in the swirl. Taste is pale malt, a little toasty and buttery. Very light flavors of caramel, oak, peach and/or apricot. A very light alcohol heat, not enough to be "hot" or off-putting but enough to remind you it’s there. Mouthfeel is clean and slick but a lot thinner than expected, although the guidelines are quite broad for this style. Reminds me of a single-malt whisky I tried recently (Talisker), extremely drinkable.

Pour is clear amber orange with a thin off white head...smell is sweet and malty with lots of day old bread aromas and some lightly fruity ones too (maybe apples and dates)...taste is very very sweet...lots of malty sweetness (like sourdough and maybe fresh white bread) but then a super sweet apricot-like sweetness...alcohol wasn’t really noticable at all...good, but very very sweet (perhaps overly so)...good enough that I am going to try to get a keg of it.

2005 Bottle - Dark amber, thin white creamy head. Nose came in with notes of powdered pineapple doughuts, candied tangerine, and caramel. Balanced flavors of tropical fruits, caramel, warm yeast, with a slight hop edge in the end. Medium bodied, soft carbonation, lightly sweet finish. A decent sipper for late night out on the deck...

RBSG 07 Minneapolis Grand Tasting: Blonde, light head and lacing. Nose of sweet bread and spice, some crisp pilsner mat and grassy hops. Spicy herb and sweet malt. Nice beer, not sure what they’re going for here.

Fruity (exactly WHAT fruit I cannot describe, but more like that found in a candy than an actual fruit). More interesting than the other Independence beers, but while I often mourn the passing of a seasonal beer, this one I can wait to try again with an outside hope that it will have some element added or altered. The ABV was a surprise as it was well hidden, but what was there was mostly sweetness and little else to support it. I admit that the bitterness of other beers I’ve enjoyed of late may well have lead me to this conclusion, but would like to think that if this beer were more complex that SOMETHING would have stood out. All in all, my favorite of their beers, but not saying a lot.