 Syd (726), Twin Cities Metro, Minnesota, USA
May 16, 2008
Bottle pours a crystal clear red amber with a small head leaving a lace ring and decent lace. The aroma is hops. The flavor is full on hop resin with a monster malt backbone, almost vineous. The palate is rich and somewhat still. The alcohol is well hidden. This is a monster brew that is well constructed. I like it well enough.
tennisjoel (731), Shakopee, Minnesota, USA
Sep 6, 2008 Copper red pour. I was almost through with New Holland, but they had some interesting offerings at the Great Taste, and so I decided to buy this one, since I love hops and this is marketed as a hop forward barleywine. Very minimal head. Candied hop aroma. I do like this quite a bit. Probably roams into the American Strong Ale category, essentially between a barleywine and IIPA. I f this was a little more carbonated it would venture into the great to world class category. As it is, I will give it a solid score.
ross (1531), charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Sep 4, 2008 Bottle. Pours out a orange color with no head at all. I thought the beer was going to be dead, but it turns out that it is just very lightly carbonated. Not a bad thing really. Smells like hops, malts, some grass, caramel, and a little bit of fruits. Interesting beer, not sure I have smelled anything like this. Taste is sweet and fruity with plenty of hops and A LOT of alcohol. Its pretty much an abv bomb, but once the mouth is used to it, its actually pretty drinkable. Unusually smooth to be 11%. Not bad stuff, but its not better than Night Tripper. Still - Good stuff here, worth trying.
punkrkr27 (348), Clawson, Michigan, USA
Sep 2, 2008 Copper pour with a frothy, lasting white head and good lacing. Toasty caramel pine and grapefruit aroma. More toasted caramel malt in the flavor with hints of mango, grapefruit, pepper and dates. Creamy medium-full body with soft carbonation.
BrewCzar (62), St Louis, Missouri, USA
Sep 1, 2008 Bottle pours hazy copper with a thin off white head. Aroma is of sweet malts with a hint of orange citrus. Flavor starts sweet caramel malts and citrus. Finishes with strong bitter floral hops presence, pine, and good alcohol burn.
rajendra82 (642), Alpharetta, Georgia, USA
Aug 30, 2008 I picked this bomber up at Green’s in Greenville, South Carolina. The color of the beer was copper, the body clear, and the head quite small. For a beer with a silk screened hop cone on the label, the smell was quite subdued. I could pick up some distant earthy and citric hops, but its was nothing to rave about. The taste was much hoppier, as the spicy and bitter flavors were apparent immediately. The malt was skeletal in nature and provided a stable but unspectacular foundation. The alcohol was completely hidden, and this one drank like many IPAs rather than the barleywine strength it really was. In the mouth, this felt, oily, slippery, and mercurial. This was a very unique creation indeed, but I found it somewhat empty.
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