This is another beer that was sent to me from my sister’s friend. You’ve recently seen that I found several North Carolina beers in the fridge that have been there for a bit – Duck Rabbit Milk Stout, Highland Kashmir IPA, Big Boss Bad Penny Brown Ale, and Highland Gaelic Ale. I figure I’d better make my way through these beers soon, and today has been a relaxing day when I could plow through a few of them. This bottle was marked 5/11.

Location: Poured into a snifter glass from the bottle at my home in Bloomington, IL.

Numbers: 5.6% ABV, 160 Calories

Appearance & Aroma: It’s dark brown in color, but fairly opaque when held up to the light. It’s got a very thick, fluffy, tan head, that had some great retention, and left some nice lacing on the glass. The head made it tough to pick up on any aroma but there was a bit of a toastiness and nuttiness.

Taste & Feel: The body is light and the mouthfeel was crisp from all of carbonation in it. The crispness made it tough to tell any flavors upfront, but in the middle, an earthy hop bitterness was noticeable with a nutty flavor in the background. It finished with the same earthy hop bitterness, but also a bit of roasty, slightly coffee-like bitterness as well. However, only the earthy hop and nutty flavors stuck around for a minutes or so in the aftertaste.

Food Pairing: This had darker flavors of roastiness, nuttiness, earthiness, and some coffee. the combination of those flavors reminded me a lot of some BBQ sauces I’ve had, and I think it would pair nicely with some good BBQ. In particular, I think a darker, molasses based sauce might go pretty good with this beer.

Overall Impression: I think the amount of carbonation in this beer probably came from its age, but it also left a great head on this beer. I thought the complex mix of flavors in this beer was nice, mixing roastiness, nuttiness, earthiness, and some coffee flavors. Overall, I thought, despite its age, it was a pretty good beer, and I’d love the chance to try a fresh one.

My Rating:

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