Thunder Canyon Ye Olde Strong Ale

Brewed by Thunder Canyon Brewery
Style: Old Ale
Tucson, Arizona USA

growler brought by bockyhorsey to the PHX tasting. pours a clear thin caramel color with a small tan head that fades rather quickly due to it’s time in the growler. fruity sweet grain aroma along with some brown sugar. the flavor is very much the same with a little spicy kick on the finish. it tastes like a decent beer... just watered down. thin to medium bodied with low carbonation (again from the growler)... thanks bill.

Sampled at Hellbilly’s tasting event. Thanks for the growler Bockeyhorsey, I think I drank half of it! Dark amber pour with a good tan head. Sweet malty aroma. Nice smooth caramel malt flavor. Good and drinkable, but not spectacular.

Sampled via Hellbilly’s tasting thanks to Bockyhorsey. Thanks guys!!! Tried this right after Sam Adams Triple Bock, which would automatically improve the drinkability of anything that followed. Maroon body with a 1/2 inch eggshell head, this beer has a sweet malty nose with all of the expected components: toffee, caramel, brown sugar. Flavor follows the aroma and is pleasant but doesn’t provide anything exceptional/unexpected. Tasty but not earth-shattering.

Sampled at the Hellbilly’s Hellraiser Phoenix tasting (4/13/08). Growler courtesy of Bockyhorsey. Pours a dark color with a frothy tan head. Nose is sweet malt, toffee and caramel. Palate is much the same with a slight hop bite in the finish. Not a big fan of the style, but this is a decent representation of it.

Tap at Brewery. Had a stong malty sweet aroma to the beer, also some alcohol. Amber body with off white head. Good blend of sweet malt and the alcohol for a decent flavor. Had a body warming effect which was nice seeing it was in the high forty’s that night in Tucson.

Pours from the growler a brilliantly clear, rich, deep amber-ruby hue. It is topped by a frothy, two-finger thick, amber-tan colored head. Bubbles from carbonation cascade viscously up to the surface. The aroma is nice and malty; a mix of toffee / caramel notes and rich fruit notes of raisins and cherries. As my nose gets used to it, notes of freshly toasted bread and hints of brown malt begin to come to the fore. The aroma is purely malt driven and is actually quite nice.

The taste is quite rich up front, not so much the sweet side of things, though it is lightly so, as it is rich and bread-like. The heft of this beer is just about perfect; rich and satiating, yet not cloying at all. Really the lack of sticky sweetness really helps this beer along as well.

This is best described as a doubled up malty Brown ale. The hops are barely perceptible, and it is the rich malt notes that shine through; I get notes of toasted malt, toffee, hints of coffee and roasted grain in the finish. I am really quite impressed by this beer; it is so rich and satiating without being sweet and cloying.