Roots Organic Epic Ale

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

This is one of the most amazingly complex beers I have had in years. The aroma is full of rich exotic spices, and dark fruits, with a very lingering smokiness and alcohol. The aroma is somethign I had to sit there and smell for a good 5 minutes before drinking. Full of sweet candi sugars in the flavors, lots of wood, hints of bourbon, raisins and figs and lots of dark cherries and blackberries. Sweet but not cloying, just enough to envelop your whole mouth and palate with some to please every lingering tastebud. Delicious!

The 2005 Epic is the organic big beer that started it all for me. This was the biggest beer at the tasting with its coffee/chocolatey smack and a thick, warm, roasty malt feel. I would like to try this again with chocolate. Did I mention it is all-organic, too?

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!

I’ve had this a few times at the brewery, sadly they always pour it ice cold which really kills the flavor, so you have to order it and have brew or two while it warms up. The first few times I had this the alcohol was realy strong, but after a week or two this became really nice. The cherry really starts to show through and you get a nice chocolate covered cherry taste in the finish. Nice toasty/smoked hint in the finish with a lot of fruity esters. I wish I could afford to get one of the big bombers to sit on for a while, this should age nicely.

Bottle #76 2006 vintage thanks to TheBeerCellar2. Dark reddish brown color. Rich malt aroma. very syrupy texture. Nice citrus hop bitterness. Slight hint of smoke in the finish. HEAVY bodied. A very nice beer, Best I’ve had in a long time! Since when do organic beers taste sooo good and not earthy like mud. I Love Roots Brewing.

Bottle at Hamilton’s 2nd Anniversary party. Pours with a brown body topped bya thin head with some lacing. It’s sweet and malty with a nice caramel and toffee note as well as nice fruity esters. Full bodied, smooth and a touch warming.

Another late night cameo appearance by Jersey Matt to KPs gathering with a freakin huge bottle of this beer. A dark amber appearance with a large beige head. Some cherries, caramel, and chocolate in the aroma. Some citrus showing up in the flavor along with more cherries, caramel, nutmeg, and chocolate. A very thick and sweet tasting beer. Definitley a nice one!

Bottle #76 2006 vintage shared by TheBeerCellar2: Pours a barely transparent dark amber mahogany with a full-lacing frothy dark tan head. Aroma of sweet, sticky caramel malt with lots of toasty pale malt and a nice, mild grapefruity hop presence. Body starts fairly full and caramely sweet with a touch of mild smoke and light fruity esters. Nice complexity and smooth caramely malt and fresh hop balance. Despite the big flavor, there’s still a lot of alcoholic warmth and black pepper flavor. A nicely balanced and enjoyable brew.