North Coast Anniversary X Ale

Formerly brewed at North Coast Brewing Company
Style: Old Ale
Fort Bragg, California USA

1998. A big pint from a magnum bottle wasn’t enough to take all this in, as I was fully aware I wouldn’t likely ever see this again. A hazy copper pour has underlying, bright crimson notes. A small white head forms and trickles away leaving groups of fat bubbles clinging to the sides of the glass. Aromas of brown sugar, molasses and sherry begin a parade of scents, followed by toffee, sweet caramel, overly-toasted grains, oak, sourdough bread and light alcohol. Very bright fruit notes bring in the rear, mainly of plum, apricot and raisins. Light diacetyl noted. The flavor is sweet but never cloying, with additions of light smoke and bitter chocolate. Carbonation is low and lends to an earthy feel. Fruit notes subside just as quickly as they arose. The finish is elegant, leaving notes of molasses, caramel and burned brown sugar behind. Mouthfeel is soft and slightly burned. Very good. Hopefully this will see some variety of reincarnation in the forseeable future.

Fruit forward nose with note of stone fruit anf apricot. Caramel and toffee forward palate. Soft treacle and molasses notes come thru at mid palate. Clean and round with a lingering finish.

Sampled from a bottle thanks to kp on 7/2/06: Pours a slightly hazy copper amber with a thin ring of off-white head. Complex aged caramel malty aroma has a light fruity character. Body starts with a mild, oxidized caramel maltiness thinning toward a more watery, warming finish. Seems to have lost a lot through aging, but still has some complexities and is very drinkable.

1998 Vintage. Poured a hazy amber color with chunky floaties and no head. Sweet fruity malt aroma. A little sugary. Aged malt. The flavor matched the aroma. The flavor was still pretty thick and sweet. the malt aged nicely. Medium bodied.

This is another retired rarity that I got to enjoy at kp’s cellar party. White head that quickly slipped down into the murky brown below. Complex brown sugar caramel aroma. Lightly sweet compared to what the aroma had me prepared for, thinner than I anticipated as well. I think someone told me it was a barleywine. It’s very suitable as an Old Ale.

Deep ruby-red body, thin off-white head. The aroma opened with strong caramels, prune, and raisin, becoming oaky over a couple minutes. Toasty. Caramel, prunes, and breads dominated the flavor profile, muted woody notes and sulfuric tones were also present. Still carbonated, though a bit soft and past its prime. "Dead yeast and the dirty glass..." Not bad, but I didn’t like this as well as the other raters did.

Argo0 brought this one. Nice stuff. Cloudy tea colored. Nose woody, lots of toffee. Huge caramel flavors, toffee and butterscotch, woody kiss at the end. Deeply sweet, really nice stuff, held up well over time.

Bottle at jeffc666’s Birthday Gathering. Courtesy of argo0. Brown body with millions of minute sediment paticles suspended it in. Small white-ish head. Aroma is big caramel, oak, creamy malt and light toffee. Very sweet aroma. Taste is sweet as well with light chocolate, caramel, wood, and toffee notes. Still great after all these years though. Body is a bit on the thin side but still has a decent carbonation feel and some creamy portions. Finsihes with more sweetness, creamy chocolate, caramel and wood. Very nice!