Southampton Double Ice Bock

Formerly brewed at Southampton Publick House
Style: Eisbock
Southampton, New York USA

A hazy orange beer with a thin beige head. The aroma is sweet alcoholic with strong fruity notes - peaches being most dominant, but also noticeable hops. The flavor is sweet with notes of caramel and alcohol, as well as light notes of wood. The alcohol is also felt, it burns the mouth and throat.

(Bottle 18,7 cl) Slightly hazy, dark amber with a creamy, off-white head. Extremely rich aromas - overripe fruits in particular. Very full-bodied with some heavy alcohol and vinous, sherryish notes. Hoppy finish. Delicate all right, but not overly sophisticated. 160206

Orange-amber. Still. Vibrant colour. Aroma is long on malts, plus vanilla, peach, pear, and a bit of alcohol. Smooth palate. Again with the long malts, toasted notes, peaches, hint of caramel. Quite sweet, with a little heat (the alcohol comes off a bit like alligator pepper). Unique and stylish.

Big thanks to EDA for providing me this bottle (thrown in as an extra in a trade to boot!). 2004 vintage, bottle 58 of 100. Poured a darker and slightly hazy amber color with a very small sized head. Aroma of dark fruits, caramel, alcohol, and somewhat musty. Tastes of green apples, caramel, brown sugar, and alcohol. Sweet with a green apple sourness to balance it out. Definite alcohol presence but not 18%. A definite sipping beer that I wish I had move of!

7oz, bottle 88/100. Clear Rosé colour with quickly fading head. Rather burning alcohol nose does show some bock character underneath, certainly fruity (dried mango, peach and oranges) and with a bolder earthy, nutty kick. Spicy in its alcohol, slightly reminiscent of scotch through its sea air characteristics. Fully ripe grainy notes eventually remind of rice and concentrated cereals. I can’t but relate it to a Sake from this point, it has the soft melon notes of the best sakes I’ve had paired along with this warming feel, though it borders burning here. There are pleasant aspects, but the oily medium body at best doesn’t speak of the richness this could hold. Furthermore, the malts are quite pale compared to the eisbocks I’ve preferred and this directly leads to what appeared like missing parts in the shape of sweet chocolate/toffee/biscuit maltiness that would have added a desserty aspect, but as it is, it’s more like strong alcohol or sake than what I want from my beer. Sorry for not encouraging experiments here.

2004 Batch, Bottle number 25/100: Pours a very still viscous orange with no head. Strange corny alcohol aroma that didn’t much resemble an eisbock at all, apart from being a lager yeast. Thick malty palate has a strong lager profile but not much bock character and reminds me of Thanksgiving stuffing. Finishes dry, puckering and alcoholic, without much complexity. An interesting brew, and a little too fresh perhaps, but I don’t think time will help this one much. Thanks to goldtwins for sharing.

Bottled. Deep glowing amber coloured. Aroma of malts, alcohol, toffee, vanilla and various fruits. Sweet flavour with loads of maltiness, toffee and dark fruits. Warming alcohol notes. Some hops in the finish. Soft carbonation. Rather balanced and pleasant. Thanks Eric.

Any first impressions?
-A ring of head decorates the glowing orange-pink.
-Wooden alcohol is ably blended into the subtle fruity caramel, forming a simple aroma.
-Honeyed cereals and obvious bock character are quietly conversing with toasted bread.
-The well-built malty body is surprisingly lean for such a big brew; a few love handles would not have hurt one bit.

What if you dig deeper?
-This is very Dogfish Head-like in its cleanliness, suave maltiness, and ability to hide alcohol.
-Feeble hop bitterness and fruity maltiness help each other in the finish, but fail to excite.
-For the same sipping purposes, a well-made ice cider is incredibly more satisfying to me.
-This is a fun high octane beer which has the amazing capacity to remain in the beer realm, but apart from that there is nothing in its flavor profile, body, or aroma which I find interesting.

Bottle #88; 2006 vintage.