Captain Lawrence Nor’ Easter Winter Warmer

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 8

Pours a barely translucent deep sable. Aroma has notes of maple syrup and bourbon. Mouth-filling flavor has a sour apple overtone plus caramel, smoky and licorice notes. Body is average but has plenty of fizz.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 5

Batch 3 direct from the old Pleasantville location. Tulip pour. Black with brown/red highlights. Tall toasted head. Smells of sharp/dark berries, raisins, nuts, & steeped grains. Taste is more twangy sour berries, wine-y acidity, sweet oats, wood, oxidation, & mushy Belgian malt. Thick, syrupy, smooth, hidden alcohol. Turned, but still very drinkable.

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

The Nor’ Easter has arrived with a massive tidal wave of flavor. The dark clouds formed on my glass depict the lace that others may see instead. The high winds of pleasure simply blow me away! Better tie me down! I do not care to move because I see a massive precipitation forecast. It will rain down drops of delight. I stick out my tongue and taste dark fruits and raisins and wonderful splashes of chocolate fill my taste buds. Willy Wonka, who I know is a Republican secretly, would be impressed. The appearance is Lenny Kravitz a dark brown but not totally black. I am taken back to the days of my youth when I would stick my head in a bowl of brown sugar and start licking. Lick away people the brown sugar coats your tongue and makes you dance like you have fire ants in your knickers. The molasses delights ones sense as well as thier aromatic tendencies. Fear not this is not overly sweet! Once you enjoy your day in candyland here comes the bad man with a torch in his hand. Ready to BURN your soul and steal you away from your sugar plumes and dark fruits dancing about your brain. The burn is not totally unwelcomed but it shows up for the encore if it wasn’t there for the introduction. The lover of the hops, the bitter drink, or the gentle wash of Goodies powders beware. You have just bought a ticket on the Malt Express and there is no refund. Chew Chew!

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

batch 3: held on to for just under a year and a half .. . Pours a murky dark brown, lacing is satisfactory .. . what style is this? muddled .. .It's just Bernie! .. was really hoping for more fruit/bourbon in this one.. . but a good brew, just surprised it wasn't bigger/more intricate .. . My old man worked hard. All they did was give him more work..

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

Bottled (thanks Degarth!). Deep ruby red colour, small brown head. Aroma is fruity and wooden along with some alcohol and some slight raisins. Flavour is raisins, alcohol, wooden, and quite hoppy. Quite much sweet and very strong wooden notes.

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

Tasted at the February Northern California Beer Tasting. This American Strong Ale pours a deep black brown color form the bottle. Medium sized white foamy head. Aroma is dark fruit and touch of vinegar, caramel, smoke and oak. A medium to full bodied ASA. Malts are fruity and sweet, lots of dark fruit and caramel, some raisins and oak. Hops are earthy. There is a strong tart/sour thing going on here with some vanilla. Hides the alcohol well. Would like to spend a little more time rating this one. Interesting beer. Mouthfeel is full. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly bitter.

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

Poured a dark brown with good head. ARoma was bourbon vanilla some dark fruits. Flavor was much the some some sticky sweet, molasses? Very complex. Good beer

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 10 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 10 | Overall: 9

NorCal Feb '08 - BATCH NO. 1 - What an absolute pleasure to consume. Rarely does a beer like this come along and when it does, I want to savor every little drop of this elixir of the Gods. An incredily complex aroma of vanilla, dark fruits, lightly roasted malts, caramel, balsamic vinegar, bourbon, molasses, oak, earthy, smokey, subtle soy sauce notes....crazy tasty. The flavor is equally as complex. Dangerously easy to consume as the 12% was nowhere to be found. Sublimely easy to drink, you can't help but want to taste this beer because it seems to change with each and every sip. Kudos to the guys at Captain Lawrence for making this beer. Easily the best they have to offer IMO. I wouldn't mind having another 6-12 of these on hand. But I don't, which sucks.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

Batch 2; Sampled January 2008
Pours with a frothy, initially three-finger thick, pale cocoa tinged, tan colored head that leaves some light lacing on the sides of the glass as it subsides. The beer is quite opaque (even when held up to the light) and is pretty close to being black in color. The aroma has a nice, concentrated fruit note to it that reminds me of rum soaked raisins, a bright, though dried berry note and a bit of estery banana. Underneath this, and in fact contributing to the initially noticed rum note, is a noticeable barrel influence; Aromas of vanillin, spicy wood, butterscotch-like oak and a finish of light bourbon notes are all noticeable, but at a really nice level. Unlike so many Bourbon barrel aged beers the brewer has kept the barrel notes at a secondary, almost subtle level here, though it does contribute lots of aromatics to the nose of this brew. Much of the fruitiness and some subtle spiciness (made more subtle by the more noticeable barrel notes) seems contributed by a Belgian-type yeast strain.

Sweet, fruity flavors greet my taste buds up front. The beer is actually a bit lighter in heft than the fruitiness might suggest; this definitely is a rich sipping brew though. A soft, almost velvety, creaminess accompanies the up front sweetness and continues to envelope the mouth as the beer passes through. A light, tickle of carbonation provides some structure, but does not disrupt the creaminess. Fruit flavors of prunes, raisins, and concentrated berries yield to soft oak notes of vanillin and buttery oak. More towards the finish the spicy oak character and subtle Bourbon notes provide a bit of a bite and a touch of warming character. For how dark this brew is, it has an awful small amount of roast character; it makes me wonder if much of the color came from the elderberries. Still there is some roasty notes in the finish that contribute a touch of chalky, dark grain astringency, notes of deeply toasted bread crust and even some burnt grain acidity. Perhaps a lot of the otherwise easily noticed dark grain character is just well balanced / hidden by the sweet fruit notes and barrel character.

Interestingly, when I suck in a lot of air after taking a sip I really get a strong, warming alcohol note, not unlike straight Bourbon. As the brew warms up a bit (coinciding with my second pour of this brew) from it's initial 60°F / 15°C, the oak character becomes more noticeable; strangely, or not so considering Bourbon gets most of its flavor from oak, the Bourbon character does not become more pronounced. Still the barrel notes are held well in check by the other flavor notes that are happening in this beer. Upon further reflection though, I think that it was the piquant sweetness that has become tempered, and not the jump in barrel flavors; the sweetness is not quit so much now, even if it was never cloying, instead the beer is much more integrated, mellow somehow and just plain harmonious.

What I really like about this brew is that the Bourbon barrel was really held in check; it provides noticeable character to both the aroma and flavor, but I don't feel like it drown out any of the base beer's character (which is certainly the case with 90% of the barrel / oak beers being made right now). The sweetness without the bourbon / oak character would more than likely be overwhelming and detracting, but as couple here with the Bourbon and oak notes it provides a nice balance that really keeps the barrel flavors from becoming too obtrusive and overwhelming. This was a very good beer in the first, cooler pour, but once it warmed up it has become much more harmonious, more balanced and really just a great drinking experience; the fact that I drank a full 750ml bottle of this brew definitely improved the overall experience.

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

Bottle shared by Robert at SL (and one in-hand from jjpm74 too). Pour was deep brown w/ some red hues, head under control (especially for this brewer!), somewhat light actually. The aroma and flavor were wonderfully complex, vanilla, bourbon, berries (all combining like a sweet liquor or something), molasses, dusty chocolate cocoa, brown sugar, raisins, caramel, light oak, vinous, faint roasty and yeasty bitter elements (particularly in the flavor finish), dried fruits too. One of the more busy beers I've had for both aroma and flavor, tons going on, always seeming like more was to be found. The mouthfeel was sticky and somewhat syrupey at times, too much for consuming an entire bottle by self. Another nice CL experience, and thanks to Robert (and John)!