Atlantic Foonf Zane Auld Ale

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

This one pours a crystal clear brown with a malty aroma. Caramel and brown sugar maltiness with a touch of banana esters fills out the flavor. This is pretty tasty.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

~22oz unlabeled bomber, most graciously given to me by one of the brewers for the Atlantic Brewing Company. Sampled on a hot June evening in San Diego CA.

Why the unlabeled bottle? Only in that this wasn't even ready to be released when I was given two bottles of this back in April, while I was in Maine for an extended (three week) business trip. Waiting on Federal label approval, I assume.

When I brought this one over to my sister-in-law's place, to have something to wash down the steaks being grilled up for Karen and I, Karen's sister assumed that this unlabeled beer was one of my homebrews. I can only wish that I could brew up something this tasty...!

Old Ales are a slightly weird breed of beers -- in that it's hard to really put your finger on what the style "should" come across as. And difficult for the brewer to pin down, too, since going bigger with the malt might push it into a Winter Warmer..., or an English or American Barleywine..., or the always ethereal American Strong Ale. And going the other direction would miss the mark, too, and wind up coming across as simply a larger-than-average Amber Ale or so.

So, with all that having been said, what's this beer like? Both Karen and her sister Julie remarked on how attractive this beer looked, with the ruby-reddish highlights showing up nicely, beneath a modest layer of foam.

Love the aroma on this one too. My sense of smell has degraded over the past year or so, so anytime I can give my nose a good snootfull of something nice, it's a good thing! "Fresh baked sourdough bread"-ish, with hops in the mix, too.

Quite malty, which of course fits both the style of the beer, and the Mainer penchant for emphasizing the malt bill ahead of the hops. I hate the expression "chewey" (when it comes to describing beer), but I guess in this one case, I can let that one slip in here. All balanced out with enough hops in the mix to keep things nice and sane, with the hops mostly in the front of the boil, me'thinks.

Easy drinking, for a beer that clocks in at the ~7% ABV mark. Had this in Lamoine ME, and again last night, and it's a winner in my book. Looking forward to sharing my second (and last) bottle of this with friends here in SoCal, to give them a taste of what the opposite side of the country is brewing (and brewing well) these days... :)
Cheers!
//TB