Smuttynose Gravitation

Brewed by Smuttynose Brewing Company
Style: Abt/Quadrupel
Portsmouth, New Hampshire USA

Bottle received as a bonus from Beerlando (Big thanks Man!) Very dark brown clear pour with minimal carbonation. Aroma of candi sugar and sweet malts. Flavor of caramel, plum, herbs, spices and a little boozy on the finish.

Appearance: Pours a near opaque, reddish-brown body with a thinnish, beige head. Smell: Sweet-smelling, fruity nose of complimentary fruit trays, toasted sugar-coated bread, and dark caramel. Slight hints of good, clean alcohol. Taste: Richly sweet, bready upfront maltiness quickly followed by a veritable blast of fruity flavors: raisins, dates (you eat’m!), cherries, and even a little bit of banana. Very tiny pinch of mulling spices. There’s a recovery of malts with tastes of caramel and brown sugar. Mild transitional bitterness. A bit more candy. Warming, fruity finish. Mouthfeel: Medium-full body. Medium carbonation. Drinkability: Whaddya know, that’s pretty good. A lovely, sweet, fruity beer from the fine folks over at Smuttynose.

Tap at Ginger Man: Pours a brown amber with a nice dense tan head that retains well. Toasted sweet Belgian aroma. Dark malts- raisiny, toffeeish, maple- sweet, but balanced with a touch of soft phenolic notes. Very sweet flavor, but the body remains fluffy, and not at all under-attenuated. The flavor has tons of sugary maple. It’s so toffeeish and sweet that it’s hard to put down the single pint. Pretty homogeneous profile of maple and toffee, with very low bitterness. Some residual toasted sweet Belgian malts on the back. Now that I read the commercial description, raisin puree makes sense- I’m just surprised the flavor is that sweet, but the body remained as light and fluffy as it did. Too sweet for my liking- lacks nuance.

22 oz bottle–pours a big foamy brown head and ruby red color. Aroma is initially dark fruit which dissipates, then dark malt-molasses/chocolate, earthy/spice hops sharpness that cuts through. Taste is sweet dark fruit, then dark malt-molasses/chocolate, earthy/spice hops sharpness that cuts through a bit more smoothly than on aroma. At cellar temperature smoother still and more chocolate and dark fruit. Thanks to kw1014 for picking this up.

22oz - Perfect Pour. Clear dark reddish brown, fizzy tan head. Bready fig and date aromas warm to hints of brown sugar and candied plum. Sweet dark fruit and port-like flavors blend into caramel coated grape tones. Full bodied, soft carbonation, sweet finish. Good stuff, but the sweetness needs to be toned down in my opinion...

(draft) Small tan ehad atop clear red-brown body. Aroma is moderately sweet, raisin, some caramel, tobacco. Taste is sweet, cherry, raisin/plum, caramel, some chocolate. Sticky medium-full body, low carbonation. Enjoyable, but not really a quad.

Deep brown beer with a thin tan head. Sweet fruity aroma. Lightly sweet with a hint of tobacco on the nose. Aroma is lightly sweet with a bit of tobaccoish herbal character on the nose. Not a lot of yeasty character with a kiss of rummy caramelly sweetness. Quite sugary and a little bit chewy. Lightly raisiny and chewy but there’s not a whole lot of complexity.

(22 oz. bottle from Kappy’s) Pours rather clear dark reddish brown with a thin tannish head that recedes mostly to edges. Aroma of wine, booze, sugar and a touch of chocolate. Mouthfeel fairly smooth, maybe a touch pebbly. Light syrupy, sticky feel. Fine sheets of lacing melt away quickly. Flavor is sweet with a medium bitterness overlaying. Notes of chocolate and light rock candy. No raisins. Doesn’t really develop much of a flavor profile until it is quite warm and the chocolate and warm booziness become quite pleasant and redeem the beer a bit. Otherwise this seems just OK (for a quad) in terms of appearance, aroma, palate and flavor.