Tweet

 

Reviewed March 2005 - I enjoyed the hell out of the 2004 so why not give the 05' a whirl. Well lets see here, a cloud of crimson orange for body color. Head is sizable and smoothly frothed and displaying a firm staying power. The cap color remains consistent of a dusty yellowed cream and the lacing adequately sticks in heavy strings and some dusty sheeting.

Aroma is soft of dry balsam, masonite, cardboard and even some wood glue. Did I just open my model airplane kit? Hints of phenolic pepper and corriander kinda creep through, but overall much softer and lighter then I was hoping.

Taste is down right nice though. Another complex and subtle play of soft spice, softer fruits, and layered wood. A fun interplay of dryish woody things bring out some soft pine and various craft woods. Fruits of a drying nature lurk around every corner, kinda like dried or baked grapes but not in a raisiny sense. There's a nice underseige of pepper and phenols that actually maintain a unique and very pleasant softness on the palete. Finishes with hintings to dried dates and figs, a slight touch of pineapple, dustings of cocoa and somekind of nuttyness, walnut maybe? And some pie crust and leftover powdering of wood dust.
Overall: softly and uniquely dry. I like it. Little fruity burps too.

Feel is about medium with a very easy and soft palate of drying and smooth carbonation. Simple, delicate, and fairly well rounded within its drying character.

Not quite up to par with the 2004, which was a favorite of mine to have around til I couldn't find it anymore. But this 2005 is still a pretty nice little beer and wouldn't pass it up for nothin'.

Price: $4.99 Served In: Goblet

*Uploading my old reviews, this one has a review date of: 1-08-08. If I can acquire the beer again I will re-review it*

Thanks to jastack for including this extra in our trade!

I’ve had the Hitachino Nest Espresso Stout and was really impressed by that one, so I’m excited to have the opportunity to try another beer from this brewery.

Celebration Ale 2007

We have a gusher! I guess I should have waited and given this beer a days rest from its long trip. As soon as I popped the cap a few centimeters open a violent stream of foam burst through. Fortunately I managed to keep most of it in the pint glass. Maybe that volcano in the label was a warning.

After it settled down a bit, I poured the other half of the beer into the pint and created a very attractive, non-threatening, two finger pillow of light brown foam. The color of the beer itself was a very rusty brown, similar to Mexican tamarind juice.

The aroma is a complex and floral bouquet of spices and fruits. When it was gushing into my pint glass there was a great bready and toasted malt aroma, but now in the glass the spices really pick up. I detect tangy orange, peppery coriander, ginger, nutmeg, and an adequate dose of cinnamon and vanilla. It smells like a spicy fruit cake. There are also hints of dried apricots, fresh nectarine, a bit of banana, and apple skins. This beer is full of aromas but I could see this one benefiting with at least a few months of ageing to tone down and blend these aromas a little better.

Tastes quite in line with the aroma, bread and toasted bread upfront and quickly assaulted by the spices: orange, cinnamon, nutmeg with a finish of orange/vanilla ice-cream and a little fruity alcohol heat. Good taste, but the spices do get to be too overwhelming.

Very carbonated, but still decent. The finish is somewhat dry and has a lot of spice flavor lingering in the back of the mouth.

Overall it’s a good beer and I look forward on trying more from this brewery.

Served In: Pint Glass