Look, translucent gold. Heavy head that falls to even taupe-ish cream that clings to glass.
Aroma, FRUITY.
Taste: Citrus like fruit up front (amarillo). A *hint* of alcohol in the middle, the sweetness hides the alcohol. Pleasant hop character, the aroma is likely simcoe. Dryish towards the end, this is from the wild flower honey. Pleasant to drink.
Homebrewer note: Uses British Crystal Malt, which changes the nature of the beer a lot. If this was brewed with same hops, honey, and Maris Otter or Two Row, it would more like a Double or Triple IPA-ish. It makes it interesting to me to see how a malt can change the nature of a beer.
Pours clear with almost a half glass of off white of foam. Retention was above average with sheeting, thick lacing.
Aroma is mostly pleasant fruits that abound with caramel and toffee sweetness. A hop contingent is there too.
Taste follows the nose. Fruits are all over the place, nice. Toffee, caramel, and slight bread flavors come out, up and down the taste. A hop bite is there in the finish.
Medium plus some on the body with a spritzy carbonation up front that fades quickly. Slightly sticky in the middle and dries out in the end.
The alcohol doesn't really come through in the taste, which makes this big beer somewhat drinkable. Lots of flavors and aromas full the senses making this a solid beer. Enjoy!
A: Rich looking amber with a tint of orange. Full fluffy head that's tan-white.
S: Fruit hops, butterscotch, and biscuits.
T: Full thick sweetness, quickly balanced by hop blast of fruit and bite, then a mix of caramel and toasted biscuits. Definately full mouth but 70 ibus and honey kind of clear things out. Alcohol is faint in the aftermath.
D: First and foremost a great beer. It's definately a holiday brew but not a spice bomb. There's a complexity flavor palate and of the heavy sweetness, balanced with Simcoe and Amarillo hops, then the honey helps smooth things out even further. It's hard to get the great Oregon beers in Chicago, too bad cause this shit the real deal.