Roots Organic Epic Ale

Brewed by Roots Organic Brewing
Style: American Strong Ale
Portland, Oregon USA

Sampled at Noogfest High 5. Pours reddish brown with huge beige head and heavy carbonation. The aroma is caramel, peat, some carob, and pennies. The flavor is earth, peat, lots of sweet caramel, and a little bit of fruitiness. Pretty good beer, but there I just have a hard time getting into it.

2007. Thanks CSchwaz! Heavily oxidized malt aroma, some raspberry essence. Mousey chestnut. More oxidized malt and brown sugar, to a fault in my opinion. Warms with raw alcohol in the finish.

Magnum, ’07. Thanks, CSchwaz! Pours an opaque dark brown with rubied highlights. Dense, creamy tan ring of bubbly foam. Tangy, pruney, plummy, caramelly nose. Some earthy hops and roastiness showing through. Creamy body, a little on the high side of medium but surprisingly restrained in density. Toasty, roasty notes on the mid-palate, along with all the dark fruits from the nose. Big earthy hop notes there that will definitely go all tobacco and leather in a couple years. This is a beautiful beer for aging.

Poured at JW77’s. Lots of carbonation as this dark brown big headed beer is poured. Aroma is both sweet and smoky with great fruit notes. Burned sugar, some caramel and spices make up a great nose on this one. Flavor is quite powerful. Booze, wood, malt, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, spices and a bit of hops too. Fun beer, I feel very lucky to have tried it.

22 oz bottle, 2008. First pour is all tan foam. After ten minutes of careful topping off i was able to get half a glass of dark brown liquid with a bubbling cratered head looking like a root beer float. Nose is blueberry, wood, caramel and raisin. Medium body with a tongue buzzing tang. This is a massive brew. Taste is French roast, huge caramel and molasses, tobacco and candied orange peel. Developing some port notes as it warms. Maybe the foamiest beer i’ve had but damn good after settling.

Bottle, thanks to WeeHeavySD for sharing! Pours a dark brown with a small tan head. Sharp burnt aroma, of malt, wood, pine, and sugar. Taste of burnt malt, pine, dark chocolate, and dark fruits. Lingering sharpness. Very nice.

Had this at the recent (2009)Lucky Lab Barley Wine Fest in Portland, OR. Colour... the colour was rather..... interesting. I guess I’d call it, "murky". Looks like photos of the tannicly saturated streams of Scotland! If I were a hydrologist, and I was in a lake of this stuff, and lowered a Sechi disk into it, it’d probably have a transparency around one foot and be labeled a, "hyper-eutrophic" lake, but in a good way!! Nose... spice world in a glass with a guest appearances by Mr. Malt and Mr. Hop! Palate...Great day in the mornin’! The boys at Roots can do no wrong!! Extraordinarily mouth coating with flavours of allspice, Christmas pudding, dried Zante currants, treacle, toffee, turbinado, roasted malt and Speyside Scotch with a very loooooong, warming finish. A sumptuous feast in a glass!

On tap at the brewpub. Deep brown-red pour with a small beige head. Heavy scents of raisins and cherries and a light wine smell. Very roasty malt flavor with a hefty cherry flavor and some smoked toffee and plums with a dry light hop finish. An interesting brew for sure, and it snuck up on me with the 14%. Extremely well hidden ABV.