Southern Tier Cuvée Series 1

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

southern tier brewing company--cuvee 1--oak aged ale--2009 Release--22 oz. Bottle--11.00% ABV--45 IBU’s? (4.0 / 5.0) Amber Ale--Belgian--Mild lace white head. Clear rich amber color. Floral hop mild oak mild fruit ester front. Creamy cloying sweet medium thick crisp caramel complex coconut almond honeysuckle oak body. Dry mild bitter hop spice mild EtOH end. Rich & Smooth, But Too Much. Sampled 4/26/2009. $12.99 Each.

Bottle:   Hazy amber, small sudsish off-white head, falls quicky, sparce lacing.   Malty nose, sweet, slight butterscotch mixed with toffee and caramel.   Has this carmelized sugar aspect that isnt as candyish as you might think.   Comes across as a combination of caramel, very soft, with burnt sugar and molasses.   Somewhat of an odd duck.   Seems like a washed up Barley Wine but without the astringency.   Body and mouthfeel are moderate.   Warming, but the 11% doesn’t come across as being too hot.   Surprised its that big actually.   Feels somewhat viscous.   Certainly thick and syrupy.   Finishes with a quasi toffee/caramel/molasses like sweetness.   Tiz okay, but on the malty side without having any real hop bite to counteract all that sweetness.   Didn’t get much, if at all, French Oak out of this.

Totally oaked out vanilla cherrywood flavors erput and make me do a double take upon first taste. Malty gingerish taste which is powerful and alarming. A slight funked out almost souring mouth check makes me go hmmmm.... solid I suppose but frankly have come to expect more from the brewery and the particular style.

Pours a golden orange with a trace amount of head which falls into a soapy halo. Nose was dominated by the sweet malt body, caramel, toffee, bread, and light spicy floral notes. Taste was a little too sweet, pears, burnt sugar, honey, apple sauce, some slight earthiness with floral and woody notes, hints of yeasty esters, but dominated by the sweetness.

I don’t know what a cuvee is, but this tastes great. Big sweet malty backbone, tastes similar to a young barleywine. Southern Tier is quickly becoming my new favorite brewery.

Bomber from Jason’s in Ellicott City, MD. Pours hazy reddish-amber color with a one-finger off-white head. Aroma is sweet caramel malt, oak, nuts, and fruitiness. Flavor is very sweet but not too much so. Caramel malt, toffee, bing cherries, almonds, and oak. Smooth on the palate with medium body. Only mildly syrupy. Good stuff overall, not nearly as bad as others would have me believe.

Bottle. NIce amber with off white head. Sweet aroma of melasses, honey, raisins, dates, caramel, coconut, apricot, wood, vanilla and a little alcohol. Flavour is also sweet with caramel, raisins, vanilla, wood and alcohol. It has a sudden, fruity tartness in the cheeks which tranforms into i more apparent and direct bitterness. Complex beer with a good balance in the aging. I really enjoyed this beer.

Bomber courtesy of Tweety. Has a strong oak aroma on the the nose. Alnong with sweet caramel and vanilla. Orange body with off white head. Flavor definently had the roasted coconut, toast and was sweet and rich. Thick body texture. Swettness and a dry oak wood lingered on the palate good nightcap.