Fish Tale Anniversary Ale - 10 Squared

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

Pours with an amber body topped by a medium thick head with a good amount of lacing. It’s swet and malty with strong hop notes full of grapefruit and pine as well as fruity alcohol esters. Full bodied and hot.

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

Brown to burnt orange in color with ruby red edges when held up to light, looks thick and oily. On the initial pour nothing for a cap was produced not even a skiff I can’t even see any bubbles floating up from the bottom, did I get a bad completely flat bottle here? Gave the brew a few good swirls and this finally produced a nice thick creamy brown cap, beer looks good. Aroma is spectacular sweet candied fruit, nice bitterness from the hops, lots of earthy caramel malts and something what I can only describe as celery. Flavor is dominated by intense grape fruit hops, there is a very bitter almost smoky after taste. Malts are very dark and sweet tasting, the longer I drink the more a pine tree Mr. Clean flavor appears. Where the hell is the 10% alcohol can’t even notice a single drop of it. This beer is a sipper can’t really slam it to harsh for that but I mean harsh in a good way. Highly enjoyable brew very well crafted this is one of the best IIPA’s I’ve ever tasted, I must buy more.

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

Bottle: Pours a lightly hazed amber-oramge ale in the glass with a sticky off-white meringue cap..sticky lace frosts the sides as you drain this thick ale. Aromas: Toffee, grapefruit, earthy tones, some wood, wet grass. Profile: Big creamy full mouthfeel, in the frontside those big toasty- toffee malts fill the palate as a very intense hop mixture provides near perfect balance....Mid way the flavors get complex, you pick up lots of taste impressions as the hop mix, malts and yeast phenols play havoc with your senses trying to define all the falvors coming at you: walnut muffins, cedar, toffee, orange rind, wet birch, vanilla cake.....finish is anti climactical as the malts drop away and it dries slightly leading to a real dry puckering aftertase like citrus rind....f’n marvelous! Big, big beer where the alcohol is completely buried in huge flavor...big silky mouth feel...barrel aging gives a underlying mellowness. great big-assed beer.

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

Bottle courtesy of CBA : Poured a medium clear copper color ale with a small foamy head with limited retention but some good lacing. Aroma of citrus hops is dominating with a sweet malty base. Taste is dominated by some medium bitter hops with some citrus presence but probably not as much as expected. The malt base is slightly too sweet for all the hops in there and I would have preferred more caramel malt presence. Body is quite oily but not full enough considering the style. Interesting experience but not something that need to be repeated too often.

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

Picked up in mid-May, '07 - no year shown on bottle. Brew is a nice clear deep amber with a very small dark tan crown and some speckled lacing. Man, I freaking love hops and there is no shortage here, obviously. Aroma is quite complex. The standard cascade grapefruit seems most prominent but no where near dominant as my nose is finding all kinds of things - sweet candy, light roasted chewy malts, licorice, earthiness, orange, a slight wood aroma, touch of pine, a kitchen sink. Can't much better. Taste is pretty good with a good chunk comming from the grapefruit flavour, but the malts are quite tasty, mid-strength and somewhat caramelly. slight wood too...probally more there, but at this point in the night the senses are not what they could be. Mouthfeel is very appealing. Great bitterness throughout gaining strength along the way. Medium bodied and a solid thickness. Fine carbonation, a touch of heat on occasion. 10%??? Where? Ends smooth and thick with permanent bitterhoptosis and after a minute or so - piney...but oh, the hops....breathe them in, breathe them in. This beer is quite soothing and highly drinkable, that is if you like your hops assaulting your senses while you whisper sweet nothings into the glass...staring at it with loving eyes, giving it a name....maybe I'll call this one Claire...so sweet, suckling the finest of juices...love.......

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

2006 vintage. 650 ml brown bottle, 10 types of hops, 100 IBUs, 10% alcohol, Reel Ale. Pours an intersting deep reddish / copper color, with a small beige head. Slightly thin sticky lacing, a good looking brew. Nice aroma, lots of hops, mix of earthy, herbal, and citrus. Lots of flavors come through, hoppiness and well balanced with malt, toffee, and earthy 'Fish Tale' signature. Some sweetness like brown sugar that compliments the high alcohol, keeping from burning. Just a nice warming aftertaste. Mouthfeel is quite thick and oily from the hops. A very nice barleywine, well balanced, was expecting more bitter hops (especially 100 IBU's worth), but very tastey. Very good now, would smooth and mellow even more with age.

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

Poured a clody brown color with almost no head. Lacing wasn't great either. Aroma was of hops citrus mostly, some pine in there as well. Flave was the same full of hops and some nice malts in there as well, some woodyness. Mouthfeel was a little syrup.

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

Poured a murky orange-brown color with a decent initial head, especially for the abv. The lacing was ok. The aroma was citrus hops, light floral, and some pine. The flavor was light caramel malts with lots of hops and a sharp finish. Some oak/wood notes. Fully body, somewhat sticky or syrup-like mouthfeel. Re-rate, 7/07, very much the same opinion, except the malts were more prominent and somewhat brown sugar-like.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 9

Wow. I heard this was coming. Pours a dark brown with a nice head. Scent is pure floral hops. Taste can be best discribed as *huge*. Very bitter yet offset with some malty sweetness. They say ten hops but the Cascade grapefruit sensation is quite prominent. Mouthfeel is very thick and syrupy. Overall it's damn good. It's not as complex as I was expecting but I picked up a few extras for aging. I can't wait to see what it's like in a year or so.

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

Pours a medium brown with a lasting, sticky, khaki head. The aroma is a rich, thick hoppiness that is redolent with pine, smoke, and something almost salami-like. There’s even something like seaweed in there. The flavor is a dominated by the hops, but the malt brings a malty sweetness into the finish. Really interesting beer.