Rock Bottom Des Moines Anniversary XII

Brewed by Rock Bottom Des Moines
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
West Des Moines, Iowa USA

FoBAB 2009. This poured a deep golden brown body with a short bubbly head. The aroma had ginger, cinnamon, citrus juice, and alcohol. The flavor was much the same, not bad, but not sitting completely well when finished. Still... Happy Anniversary, RBDM!

FoBAB. I had to try the ginger beer. Aroma of ginger and citrus and slight whiskey. Flavor was mild, the citrus and ginger actually went together fairly well. Interesting beer.

Pours a deep red with a tight head. The aroma is rum like, gingery and has distinct cherry notes. The flavor is woody and gingery, the barrel and subsequently the whiskey is very well subdued and under control. There is a slight minerally character and plenty of cherry, but not sour cherry more like a maraschino cherry, with just some light licorice flavor.

Iowa City Brewfest. Served from a growler. Poured a clear dark orange color with an off white head. Smelled of distinct ginger with flowery hop and whiffs of honey and booze. Light to medium bodied and slightly sweet. Very green herbal flavor up front with a pleasant cereal grain note at the end that lingered beyond the finish. The lemon, lime, ginger, and citrusy hop flavors made for an odd combination. Add a hint of whiskey and oak from the barrel aging and the malty cereal grain and you have yourself an odd tasting beer. Earthy and medicinal with mild bitterness that stuck in my craw. At times it actually tasted somewhat like ginger ale.

Goblet pour @ the brewpub. I just wanted to get a growler on my way through town but their "growler machine" was not working. I wasn’t looking to figure out what the hell they were talking about. Either way, I got some of the anniversary beer because I didn’t want this to be a wasted stop. I asked the bartender about the style of the beer and he told me that it was the brown ale aged in Templeton Rye barrels and then infused with a bunch of stuff, including citrus (I stopped paying attention at that point, but it was a bunch of stuff). If this wasn’t Iowa, this beer would probably be an American Strong Ale. However, since Iowa has a 6.2 abv cap I don’t feel right calling it a Strong Ale of any sort (despite what the British think) and thought that S/H/V worked best but I am open to a few different categories for this. But lets get to the point.

Appearance is rusty, brown, dirt, and mud colored. Extremely murky, cannot see through it but it doesn’t work as far as looking pretty. The beer seems to be full of different stuff and that it comes off as a mish-mash of flavors that do not differentiate. In the end you got a thick, light;y citrusy. amalgamation of flavors where the other flavors are not coming out. Its drinkable, has a cool idea, but its like combining 5 different cereal;, in the end it just doesn’t tastes any better than either cereal alone.