Livery Carvana Birthday Ale

Formerly brewed at The Livery
Style: American Strong Ale
Benton Harbor, Michigan USA

Date: 02/23/2008
Mode: Hand Bottled
Source: Trade

Appearance: hazy dark ruby red, scant head,
Aroma: big earthy and citrus hop aroma on sweet dark caramel malt,
Flavor: sweet caramel malt flavor, lots of tasty earthy hops, lasting long bitter finish,

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 8/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 15/20
Rating: 3.6/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: **4

Growler... March 08 Tampa Bay Tasting... Murky, dark caramel-colored ale with a small, bubbly, white head. The lovely aroma is a swirl of chocolate, cashews, caramel and praline with a touch of diacetyl. Medium to full-bodied with a watery mouthfeel and soft carbonation. Tangy, bitter flavor... medium to heavily bitter and lightly acidic. Bitter, dry finish. Kudos to BBB63 for bringing the growler to our shindig!

Hand-bottle thanks to BBB63: Pours a transparent dark copper mahogany with a spotty-lacing light tan head. Aroma of fresh resiny piny hops and sweet toasty caramel malt. Starts fairly full with a nice malty sweetness and good bittering hoppy presence with some lightly earthy toasty notes and a bittersweet crisp finish. A nice imperial red styled brew.

MBG Winter Fest 2008. Poured hazy brown color with an average frothy light brown head that was mostly lasting with good lacing. Moderate toasted malt and citrus hoppy aroma. Medium to full body. Medium to heavy toasted bittersweet flavor with a medium to heavy bittersweet finish of moderate to long duration. My expectations where met.

Tap at Steve’s Birthday bash: Muddled brown hue with a lasting beige head and great clinging lace. The aroma is resiny and grassy, grapefruit and pear esters, slight clove and pepper, caramel, Special B, and bready malt along with a hint of earthy peat moss. The taste has a sharp hop driven bitterness with focus on acidic fruit and leafy qualities. Dry hop spice and a hint of mineral notes on the finish. The malt is very much a background character. The mouth feel is aggressive and biting with a dry metallic finish. The dry hopping shows, an in your face ale but never comes off as a enamel scrapper.

Thanks to Mike for the hand-bottled bomber! Poured clear coppery-amber with just a little beige head sticking around. The aroma was sweet and very hoppy, with pine and earthy notes over grapefruit meat and toasty caramel.. the back of the nose had a really green feel.. quite nice! The flavor was led by the hops, showcasing earthy and leafy notes.. sweet citrus backed it, and the bitterness lasted quite some time on the resiny finish. Bitter on the palate with low carbonation.. strong, but refreshing feel on the finish. Barrel-aged version coming?? I’m intrigued.

This bottled brew from a DLD beer festival poured a very large sized head of foamy off-white colored bubbles that were and left behind a hazy uncarbonated orange brown colored body. The aroma was soapy. The mouth feel was weakly tingly at the start and at the finish hoppy aftertaste. The flavor contained notes of malt mild hops and mild brown malt. A decent one that I would consider buying again.

Big thanks to BBB63 for bringing this tasty growler to Degarth’s Tampa tasting.

Pours dirty copper brown with tan head. The aroma is lively with medium roasted malts mixed with citrus, pine and pineapple hops and then some mild caramel candy. Smells great. The taste seems a bit thin to start. The flavor has initial bolts of crystal malts and pine hops. The pine hops grow in bitterness as the taste progresses along with some caramelized maltiness. The after taste leaves a sensation much like running your finger along the bottom of a nearly done sparging hop bag and then tasting it. Yum, I’ve done that a plenty.