North By Northwest Holiday Ale

Date: February 22, 2009
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewpub
Appearance: clear copper, wispy beige head, streaks of lace
Aroma: sweet caramel aroma
Flavor: sweet caramel flavor, nice spicy character, balancing bitterness follows the spicyness, touch of candy caramel brings it back to sweet, nice bitter finish
Aroma: 5/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 11/20
Rating: 2.9/5.0
Drinkability: 6/10
Score: *4

Served in a tiny tulip, dirty beer clean glass. tan 1/2" head lasts 30 seconds. color is deep amber with red tint. Aroma of carmelized sugars and sourdough. Consistency is really nutty. Flavor is nutty fruity, sweet, and taste too much like alcohol. bite starts off strong but smoothens out to a slow burn on the way down. finish is tart and bready. a bit heavy overall.

750mL bottle courtesy of slimchill poured into a tulip. Pours a murky caramel orange with small floaties in the first pour underneath a small head of big bubbles that recedes to a small collar and left some delicate lacing. The aroma is musky but sweet with lots of apple and pear sweetness with a healthy dose of bready malts as well. There are hints of spices, maybe cinnamon and pepper. The taste has an interesting spicy kick up front before the big light fruit sweetness comes on with apples mainly and a hint of floral sweetness. The spices come back in the finish with a slight peppery dryness. The mouthfeel is very slick with low carbonation - drinks almost like a cask ale. This is a very interesting beer from NXNW with lots of fruity sweetness battling with an herbal spiciness throughout. Certainly worth a try and very original.

Bottle sample courtesy of bgburdman. Cloudy amber in color with a thin white head. Malty nose with cherry and raspberry character. Sweet flavor with some tart fruit influence and a sugary finish.

On draft at the brewhouse. Amber pour with a slightly metallic caramel nose. Flavor is light and watery caramel with a light mouthfeel. Almost every NXNW beer I had on my trip tasted watered down. They werent bad flavors, just not nearly enough. This is no exception.

At brewery on December 19, 2008. Served in a short snifter. Orange amber color, little to no head, with a lovely hop aroma. A fruity flavor and nice ABV made this sweet and warm, a nice mix, but lacking a little hops in my opinion. A nice, warm finish, but with what seems like low alcohol... the feeling is much like a sharp cheese. Enjoyable!...

08 bottle served in trappist glass. Poured a faded maroon brown, medium carbonation of tiny bubbles. Aroma of dark fruit, various spices, and funk. Hits the mouth with a medium body, malt is fairly light, some mild sourness on the tailend, finish is complete. Something just seems lacking in this brew.

25 oz bottle, via lb4lb. First pour is a nice dark gold to orange body with a slight haze under a fizzy light beige head that faded to a wispy film. The second pour looks like it’s going to be nasty, there’s a huge amount of globby floaties churning about in the bottle. The nose has two big competing aromas, sweet toffee malt and fresh juicy green apples. There’s some mulling spices, a touch of alcohol, and a bit of a graininess. The flavor is very sweet with tons of fruitiness and alcohol. This almost reminds me of Captain Lawrence Golden delicious on the finish. A good amount of yeast influence, crackery malt, and just a little lingering bitterness peeking out. Mouthfeel is full and thick with moderate fizzy carbonation and tons of warmth going down the chest. Overall, this was pretty decent, it grew on me the more of it I had. Really tasted like it was a little higher than 8.5%.