Newport Storm 04

Formerly brewed at Coastal Extreme Brewing Company
Style: European Strong Lager
Middletown, Rhode Island USA

Date: 07/20/2005
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting

opaque orange, headless, sweet fruity aroma, sweet alcoholic hot malt flavor,

Aroma: 6/10; Appearance: 5/10; Flavor: 5/10; Palate: 5/10; Overall: 10/20
Rating: 2.7/5.0
Score: *4
-------- /> The score was calculated based upon the notes and an old scoring system.

(750ml bottle) Virtually non-existent off-white head atop a cloudy amber body. Aroma is sweet, caramel, wood, candied orange, plum, butter. Taste is sweet, caramel, raisin/plum, molasses, some butter. Some alcohol burn in the finish. Uncarbonated, full body. This comes out more as a barleywine than a lager of any variety -- it takes a few sips to acclimate to the sweetness and alcohol, but once this is done, the beer becomes fairly enjoyable. Still could stand to have some carbonation.

Samichlaus-like fuelic alcohol vapors nose, salty and sweet. The pour is of a hazy yellow color with particularly low carbonation failing to produce a head. Grassy noble hops aroma manage to pierce through the sweetness wall, pairing with the shy thick malt to procure a dusty feel, like old apples and woody pencil shavings. On the tongue, it starts somehow nicely with cookie maltiness that too swiftly develops into a juicy chaos. An alien medley of tooo subdued hops, completely overshadowed by malt syrup. Oxidation traces after just a few months already haunt the aging potential. Dull lifeless flat body, syrupy honeyish and cloying. What purpose does it serve then? This annoys me since I’ve tasted their barleywines in all their glory and they’re among the best. it’s sharply boasting of ethanol retronasal

Bottle... Murky amber ale with no head. The nose is subtle, but includes apple, epoxy and fuzzy fruit esters. Sweet, medicinal, cough syrup flavor. Lots of hot alcohol and very resinous... NyQuil. Full-bodied and syrupy with a rumor of carbonation. Finishes boozy, fruity and medicinal. Not at all good. Thanks to growler for picking this bottle up during his travels! ... for what it’s worth, he poured his half out... I drank mine... I’m not entirely proud of that!

Pours a hazy golden bronze with very little carbonation and no head. Sweet, lightly hoppy aroma has some alcoholic notes. Body starts sugary malty and sweet with some pleasant complexity but has some peppery hops and alcoholic burn in the finish. This isn’t as bad as its ratings show, but could still probably use some more aging.

The Lure:
Ubersweet caramel and oranges through which grass blades and herbal resins attempt to push. Alcohol is obvious, but isn’t that unpleasant. After all, it is 14% abv.

The Festivities:
The low carbonation does not do justice to the malts’ interplay, and renders them near-lifeless. Honey laces muddled oranges and barley wine-like caramel malts succeed in creating a deeper interest. Alcohol isn’t too apparent thankfully. This one could have been a lot more interesting with a little more liveliness in the body/carbonation, but for now it falls short of my expectations for a Newport Storm. The ’02 was so good!!

Transcendence:
Arriving on the scene of a long deserted brewery to find the remnants of a possibly once interesting concoction. Thrilling, yet your imagination is doing most of the work I’m afraid.

Pours amber with a thin white head. A stong alcohol presence is the first thing I picked up. Taste is heavy with alcohol burn making it difficult to pick out the fruity elements in this one. Needs a few years to mellow out.

750 ml bottle with a near-impossible-to-pry cork, from Julios in Westboro, MA (Feb 2006), consumed a bit above cellar temp from a Michelob glass. An oily, translucent very still medium amber liquid with just a smidgeon of quick-dying fizzy head.....a nose at first just huge fuesal alcohols, but softening fairly quickly with the addition of caramel and a dry graininess, a touch of maple and raisin....takes a little effort, but some interest is there under the hard liquor.....body is quite syrupy, with a strong rum-raisin character that I find rather appealing, though the alcoholic strength mirrors that on the nose....unfortunately there is little malt character, just that rummy dried fruit quality and the syrup turns to watery weak liquor at the finish, though an oaky cast gives some vaguely interesting notes. On the whole a misfire and far too expensive to be the tipple of winos, which it is.