Thunder Canyon Ye Olde Strong Ale

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

Growler acquired in trade with FlacoAlto (thanks!). Poured a medium copperish / brown color with a small sized off white head. Aromas of caramel, roast, and toffee. Malty. Tastes of caramel, nuts, roast, toffee, and again all around malty.

Poured a clear, red copper color with a small, light tan head that left light lacing on the glass. Aroma of dried fruits, citrus, floral hops, caramel, and a bit of nuts. Taste of dried fruits, light caramel, more nuts, citrus, and a moderate bitterness in the finish.

Thanks to Hopdog for sharing this growler. Pours a deep amber, clean with a thin lasting off white head. Aroma is toasted caramel malts, some light sharp crystal in there, alogn with some sweet fruits- raisin and figs, and brown sugar sweetness. Flavor is big bold full malts, munich, melanoidin, more brown sugar, sweet dried fruits, even some apricot in there with burnt toast hints. Finsihes a bit prickly and dry. Ok for an old ale.

Thanks to hopdog for sharing this. Pours translucent brown with lots of ruby notes and a smaller bubbly off white head. Aroma of light vanilla, toffee, nuts, caramel and some light floral/fruity notes. Flavor of caramel, toffee, nuts, sweet and malty, brown sugar, honey and light floral/hop flavor.

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.

On tap @ TCB - Pours a clear deep copper color with a thin off white head. Light lacing. Aroma is light malt and dark esters. Flavor is sweet toasted caramel malt and dark esters. Medium body. A pretty good malty beer.

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.