North Coast Anniversary X Ale

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

Nice oak undertones with malt and caramel overtones. Evenly balanced and ripe.

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 sampled at jeffc666’s B-day gathering 2/6/05: Thanks to Argo0 for bringing this beauty. This was one of my favorites of the night, which says a lot considering what it was up against. The color of this beer transitioned from a cloudy amber orange at the top of the glass to a ruby at the very bottom; small tan head. The aroma smells like calvados to me initially, with a full nose of apple, sweet alcohol, wood, cherry, caramel. Taste is sweet potato, fruits, apple, oak, wood chips, smoked wood, caramel, sweet throughout. Medium bodied. This beer has really aged well, I’d love to get my hands on some more.

Sampled at jeffc666’s gathering. Dark amber/light brown with a beige head. Aroma of aged malt, caramel, brown sugar and some whiskey. Tastes like an aged barleywine mixed with a full-bodied brown ale -quite nice. Taste has notes of caramel, dark fruit, some whiskey, wood and oatmeal raisin cookie dough. Full and round on the palate. Nice stuff.

What? Really? Thanks after4ever! Seriously. I don’t want to stop sniffing it, just sitting with the glass, savoring the aroma. Heavy oak, mushroom, creme brulee, seems sharper than 7%. Unmoving sludgy muddy brown. Raspberry, light wood, much thinner in body than expected, still magical.

Thanks to argo0 for bringing this one ot the party. Very murky brown body topped by a creamy light tan head. Lots of suspended sediment. Huge toffe, buterscotch, caramel nose, an oaky woodiness also comes through as does some light nuttiness. The flavor is very nice caramel, toffee, oak, medium sweet throughout, minimal bitterness. Sweet soft lightly watery medium body. Quite good and it has aged very well.

(750ml bottle) Creamy beige head atop an opaque brown body with sediment. Aroma is moderately sweet, caramel/toffee/butterscotch, oak, vinous. Taste is medium sweet, toffee, some caramel, light butterscotch. Finishes with nice oak. Medium body, somewhat watery. Delicious beer that has aged remarkably well -- whatever hops qualities that once existed are long gone, but no complaints whatsoever.

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!