Midnight Sun Cafe Amsterdam’s 10th Anniversary Gruit

Brewed by Midnight Sun Brewing Company
Style: Traditional Ale
Anchorage, Alaska USA

Bottle from AmEricanBrew. Aroma is fruit and chocolate. Alcohol and pine flavors. Sour and fizzy. Aftertaste lasts.

Bottle courtesy of AmERICanbrew. Brown pour. Smooth easy scent of chocolate. Not many other elements. Tart taste upfront that tingles on the edges. Tart fruit taste and finish.

Bottle thanks to Americanbrew. Pours with a tan, frothy head over a very dark brown body. Aroma of maple, molasses, alcohol, rummy, banana esters, leather and spice. Taste is very sweet with berries, thyme, alcohol, molasses, a light tart notes, spruce, orange and a bit salty. Alcohol on the palate, light bubbles.

Bottle from hannont. Thanks! Pours deep dark brown... almost black with a decent head. Aroma is fruity, herbal, earthy and tart. Flavor is tart fruit with chocolate, plum, spice and herb. Very different but not bad.

Bottle: Deep murky brown with a dense khaki head (good retention). Unique aroma- chocolaty, lactic tart notes, cinnamon, and toasted clove. Creamy body with mild carbonation. Lactic tartness with some green grape meshes with some dry cocoa & cinnamon. Very unique and complex. Hard to figure out but very unique and tasty.

Appearance: Pours a dark brown, near black body with a finger-high layer of foamy, beige-hued head. Smell: Lightly sweet-smelling dark malts positively littered with savory notes of spice and herbs. Gruits smell the way I would imagine a witch or wizard’s house might, with all those colorful trails of magic-imbued smoke and rune-etched stone apothecary-style jars containing everything from Dragon Scales to Bugbear Hair to Eye of Newt. Taste: Sweetish, darkened malts upfront, though I usually am bad about making little mention of the malts in a gruit as I’m far, far too busy trying to pick apart all the other zany, twangy, fantastical flavors. Raw, leafy herbs tossed with Dr. Pepper and a pinch of meat seasoning. Peeled and discarded plum skins and a spoonful of Hot & Sour soup with some slight camphor tones. Continued peppery spiciness from start to finish. Drying, savory finish with one final sip of Dr. Pepper. Mouthfeel: Medium-plus body. Medium-high carbonation. Drinkability: Fairly decent! Gruits always make for a fun ride. I’ve had some good ones, I’ve had some not-so-good ones, and the reviews always end up looking like flavor-based refrigerator magnet poetry.

Bottle from Hannont, thanks! The aroma is most certainly not a sign of things to come: it is rather dryish, herbal, peppery and spicy, all the listed spices are quite apparent, especially the thyme. The flavor though, wow, talk about a punch in the face — this is super sweet, with a wacky spiciness and full body, almost ice cider-like. Quite lactic. Christ. I’ve never had a beer like this one before.

22 oz bottle. Pours a dark brown with an almost purple tint. There is a big fizzy tan head the reseeds quickly. The aroma is herbal and spicy with a slight hint of grape juice. The tart sour flavor hits you first, then the sweetness from the malt comes in and balances it out, but that sourness comes back at the end and leaves a long finish. Absolutely no alcohol presence. The body is medium but seems lighter because of the ample carbonation. This is one interesting beer, close to a sour ale but the lack of hops really sets it apart. I had this at the brewery right when it came out over 3 months ago and this one seems funkier. I’m curious to see how this ages.