Colonia Malzbier

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 4

Picked up this bottle from Ledgers in Berkeley, which was one of a few bottles left behind in his cooler. I figured for .79 cents, why not. So after about 6 months in my garage, I decided to pop this one open. Wow. I hadn't had a beer like this in awhile. Not really sure what to think.

First off, the beer pours out a dark chocolate brown color, no head with a deep garnet edge. First whiff and whoa...seriously vinous notes, almost Port like. Molasses...raisins....some chocolate too. Not really sure what kind of beer this is supposed to be. It sure in the hell isn't a dunkel and it's not a schwarzbier. So I take a swig of this and POW, syrupy sweetness hits my tongue like a ton of bricks. Pure, candy sugary sweetness. Pretty hard to keep on with it actually. Reminded me a bit of a raisin puree/reduction with some Port fortification. Yowza this is sweet. I have a fairly high threshhold for sweetness and this is pretty much off the charts. If a beer can make J.W. Lees Harvest Ale seem tame, you know it's one sweet beer. Still, in very small amounts it wasn't half bad. Maybe it's the sugar addict in me. Not the greatest, but...ya know...different.