Silver Gulch Grand Reserve

Brewed by Silver Gulch Brewing & Bottling Co.
Style: Doppelbock
Fairbanks, Alaska USA

12 oz bottle, 2002 vintage, via BA timmcd64. Pours a very murky dark brown body under a minimal light brown whispy head. Not the most appealing of beers to look at. Aroma just bursts with soy sauce, smoked meat, alcohol, chocolate roasted malt, and sherry notes. Overall a very vinous nose that developed alot over time. Flavor is certainly oxidized, but in a good way. Just shy of tasting like a bottle of soy sauce. Notes of smoke, a light lingering acidity, dark fruits, sherry, and the lightest touch of alcohol. I had no idea when drinking this that it was 13% ABV. The best example of hidden alcohol content I’ve had in a long time. Mouthfeel is a maybe a little over-attenuated, thining it out some, but due to the minimal carbonation it yields a pleasing mouthcoating sticky finish. Not sure how to sum this guy up. Kind of like a combo of Harvey’s Imperial Stout, Hurlimann Samichlaus, and sherry. Certainly a love it or hate it beer. Very complex, hopefully you’ve got the 2-3 hours to devote to fully appreciate finishing a bottle of this one.

Oxidation was the first thing I found when tasting this beer. I don’t know how long or what conditions this bottle was stored in, but the taste was also a bit like soy sauce. I think that it could be consumed over a nights festivities, but as far as a repeat customer this won’t find it’s way into my fridge. Perhaps I can find another bottle some day and compare.

02.02.06 12oz bottle, 2002, thanks to DarkElf. The beer pours a murky, muddy, damn ugly, ruddy brown with no head but lots of silt. The aroma is massively vinous, lots of wood aged port, and wood, and concorde grape, raisin bread, cherry licorice, and some anise. Hell yes! The flavors are also chock full of port notes, plenty of old sherry tastes, nutty and sweet but woody and dry at the same time. Touches of coffee and some burnt french toast. Alcohol doesn’t interfere, nor is it very noticable. Yummy dates and other dried dark fruits, touches of cocoa, molasses. Dessert in a glass. Thanks for this treat, Stephen!

Add to this all a beautiful herbal presence that emerges with time and temp that reminds me of some of the more memorable herbal teas I’ve tried, floral, toasty, and tannic. Lovely. This beer is absolutely not to be consumed below 55F and might be at it’s best close to room temp.

2002 vintage shared by goldtwins: Pours a still viscous cloudy murky brown with only a thin ring of off-white head. Complex rich caramel maltiness in the aroma shows some signs of mild oxidation. Body starts with a sweet, rich, caramel maltiness balanced with some earthy hoppy bitterness and a touch of butterscotch complexity before a warming finish. A very nice beer that would’ve probably been best enjoyed in 2004 but is still very drinkable.

Bottle: Dark brown, burnt caramel edges, thin light beige head, sparce lacing.   Big molasses, fig, raisin, and dates on the nose.   And i mean BIG!   Huge raisiny flavor, molasses sweetness, bready, but yet some fairly stern hop bitterness on the backside.   The front seems very mature, but the backside reminds me of a young barleywine.   Slightly chocolatey as well.   Big in body, mouthfeel is fairly moderate tho.   ABV is well hidden, but the finish is very warming.   Loads of raisins and dates, very strong.   Great Doppelbock because it doesn’t have that huge soy aspect that I usually detest.   This is a hefty beer.   Thanks DarkElf for the opportunity to sample this rare gem!

2002 Vintage. Poured a dark brown color with a thin off-white head. Aroma of aged sweet malt with plenty of alcohol. Also notes of chocolate and raisins. Aroma was nice and thick, full bodied and very warming. Sweet and fruity. The finish has a mild bitternessbut still sweet and mildly tart.

2002 bottle. A very nice looking beer, it smells like molasses, which seems common among barleywines (which is what my bottle claims). Obviously strong in taste, it does remind you of an after dinner port. Not the best of the style, but it sure is thick and potent.

I didn’t much care for this one at first sip. Something seemed off for some reason. But the more I sip on this the more I’m liking it. The deep mahoganey body is topped by only a few bubbles, but lack of head is expected from a beer this old (this was purchased at the brewery where they aged it in the bottle for 3 years). The aroma is very vinuous and sweet smelling with loads of sugared raisins. Aging, browned fruits (pears, apricots) perhaps sauteed lurk around under the initial wine-like odors. The flavor turns malty with toast, caramel, and cookie and a bit of almond. A hint of vanilla and cognac. A hugely complex beer (the guy at the brewery called it a barley wine with a few creative twists) and you’d never guess it was fermented with a lager yeast. This rocks.