Lost Coast Old Ale

Brewed by Lost Coast Brewery & Cafe
Style: Old Ale
Eureka, California USA

On tap: Aromas of caramel, toffee, chocolate, and grapefruit. Transparent dark amber with a small off-white head. Very malty up front with caramel, chocolate, and hints of banana bread. Big grapefruit hopped finish. Very similar to some of the hoppier barley wines.

Old and dusty ale would be more like it. Almost dirty moldy nose with soft hop notes. Good malt forward body with touches of roast and marzipan that leads into a clean hop bitterness and soft citrus and caramel finish.

On tap at Mr. Goodbar in Buffalo, NY: Dark orangeish-brown color with a small white head. Citrusy hop aroma with notes of pine and maple. Some slightly sweet malts and a light toasted flavor followed up by some assertive hops. Pine and oranges in the finish.

How did this end up in Buffalo? Cloudy ruby brown color, thinner tan head. Caramel, brown sugar, quite malty. Interesting bitterness on the finish, kind of hoppy bitterness but not quite. Hard to put a finger on. General flavor falls between an old ale and a hoppier barley wine. Quite interesting and very enjoyable.

Rubyish, a nice head. Nose is light but still contains a good amount of malt and brown sugar. Flavor isn’t as vinous as most old ales I’ve had. Not as sweet as a barleywine, but certainly not your typical old ale. Nice stuff.