Southern Tier Cuvée Series 1

Brewed by Southern Tier Brewing Company
Style: American Strong Ale
Lakewood, New York USA

Pours a hazy amber with a thin white head. Smells of citrus, resiny, sweet molasses. Tastes woody and sweet with lots of citrussy and resiny hints and some perfumy spicy hints on the finish. Much more depth in this one than in Series 2.

Bottle from Capone’s. Pours hazy coppery with 1-finger of off-white head that dissipates fairly quickly, as expected with a high ABV like this one has. Nose is candi sugary malt, some floral, hops, fruit, mild funk notes. The taste is a bit of a mishmash. It throws some floral spices, hops, fruit, funk, and yeasty notes at you, but the elements do not seem to mesh well. It is an ever evolving beer, which is not bad, but never really finds a foothold in my mouth. This one came off like an Oak-Aged British Bitter.

Courtesy GodofThunder. Amber color, slightly cloudy, very little head. Aroma is sweetish, funky, has some light cinnamon and vanilla tones. Thick palate. Sweet taste, mild grain and caramel, slight oak, alcohol. Too much alcohol, plus the components don’t really seem to come together.

Bottle pours clear amber with a short lived small head and some lace sheets. The aroma has some ale caramel, hops, and some faint wood. The flavor is toffee, vanilla, oranges, wood, and alcohol. The palate is pretty thick. Overall, these guys make some really good beer; why did they shoot the moon with this? If this wasn’t so sweet and boozy it would have been better...

Bottle. Pours a hazy copperish orange with a minimal head that quickly settles down to a thin film of bubbles. Aromas are fairly mild, with quite a bit of light sweetness. I’m picking up pears, maybe a little honey and some light malt/biscuit. Alcohol comes through a little bit too strong in the flavor (and the burn as it goes down is enough for some second thoughts). I’ll agree that maybe there is a bit of almond and coconut, but it seems more to me like the main draw is pear and honey with a whole mess of ABV. Boy, at the price (and from this brewer) I would expect a much more enticing offering.

Bottle... slight oak flavor, filled with hops and a hint of caramel... a decent ale but not as complex as the bottle description

Pours an amber color with an off-white head. Aroma is sweet of caramel and toffee malts with some alcohol and a hint of oak. Flavor is also a little sweet with the caramel and toffee malts. A hint of some floral hops with a decent warming finish with some oak as well.

My bottle (22oz) shared with HogTownHarry, garthicus, GregClow, jerc & mabel. Pours a slightly hazy orange-copper with an average size diminishing frothy off-white head. Sweet aroma of maple syrup or burnt sugar along with toffee, caramel malt, alcohol and some honey -- it’s not very ’oak-ey’. Flavour’s malty and sweet along with herbal hops, fruit, a hint of oak and plenty of alcohol. I’m not crazy about the boozy bitter finish. Average bodied. I like the aroma slightly more then the flavour, but ultimately I found this just alright.