Holy Mackerel Special Golden Ale

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

Another non-Belgian attempt at a Belgian style. I find that brewers that don't specialize in Belgian styles don't do them well 'part-time'. This is a light copper coloured beer, hazy, and yeasty. Taste is a bit bland for a Belgian style.

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

I first tried another Holy Mackeral beer and was not impressed so I went in without a good feeling, however this beer was suprising. It had a nice fruity and sweet aroma, it when poured it was golden and clear. It had a nice white head that stayed. The flavor was clean, crisp with a sweet slight bitter flavor. For not knowing much about this beer it is pretty good and will be tried again.

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

A cloudy yellow-orange colored beer. A medium creamy textured, white head rises above. Settles fairly quickly into a thin soapy ringlet. The nose is sweet, yeast and citrus. A medium bodied beer. Nicely carbonated. The tasting is as sweet as the nose. Fruity like bananas and lemons. A refreshing quaff.

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

Quite a nice brew.. like a sweeter lighter Duvel .. delicious fun, pretty well made! .. It's made slaves of you all! I've seen it sitting in there, lazy, slothful, porcelain layabout feeding on other people's doo-doos while contributing nothing of its own to society!. .

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

Wonderful golden orange body with a large, fizzy white head and ample lacing. Inviting aromas of lemon, biscuits with honey and Belgian yeast. Medium bodied, clean finish and a slight warmth...fairly dry and quenching. All around good flavor, lots of crisp fruits coupled with doughy malt and sweet candy. Good brew.

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

Brought up from Jupiter,FL by my friend Kayla: Poured a bright sunshine yellow colour with a fairly large white head. Aroma is instantly oranges, Florida oranges and melon. Yeasty, with some spice and generous tropical notes all around the palate. A nice beer for sure, but i find it hard to believe it's a Belgian Strong.

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

Wow....errr......Holy Mackerel! This beer is better than I expected. Read some reviews first before buying, so I figured it would be a decent brew. Also wanted to support a local Florida brewery (although on the bottle it says from SC and "originally brewed in Fort Lauderdale", whatever that means?) Visiting my dad for an early Father's Day, so went to Whole Foods (which has a decent beer variety for crafts). Wanted to buy something that I thought he would like, as he is usually kinda picky about the crafts I let him try. He absolutely loved this beer, which I would tend to agree. Not the best beer in the world, but glad that I tried it....even for the price well worth it. We only split one, but I am ready to have another ASAP. Not too much aroma, which is mainly of yeast. Mouthfeel was very pleasant and smooth. Good flavor (lots of wheat, little honey & caramel), almost a 9, but this beer was mainly about the mouthfeel and kick to me. It reminded me of a good Imperial Pilsner. If there was just a bit more aroma, flavor, and appearance....this beer would be close to a 9 IMO.

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

2008 Bottle Vintage; Sampled January 2009
A solid pour into my 25cl tulip glass produces a two-finger thick, pale tan colored head. The beer is a light amber hue that shows a deep gold, brilliantly clear hue when held up to the light. The aroma smells of cracker like grain, honey-like malt, a touch of spiciness and it has a backdrop of fruitiness to it. I am able to isolate notes of pear, ripening melon, white pepper, clove, a touch of young ginger, green apple towards the end and crushed pale grain. As the beer warms the clove notes become more noticeable and in fact dominant. The aroma is not bad, not incredibly interesting, but definitely solid.

Sweet tasting up front with a bit of golden raisin flavor to it (as well as a touch of herbal honey character). This morphs into a mix of green apple and ripe pear that lingers on in the finish. The carbonation provides a bit of texture and carries / conveys some spicy esters and phenolics as well as providing a peppery bite. The spicy notes don't quite balance the sweetness, but do provide flavors of white pepper, lingering clove and a touch of herbal spiciness (fennel and nettle perhaps). In addition to the sweetness the malt character also provides a subtle cracker like grain note towards the finish that tends to give this an almost chewy finish. This beer does have some heft to it, I wouldn't quite call it heavy, but it has a certain viscousness and body that makes it amenable to sipping.

The sweet fruit notes are definitely the most dominant flavors here, but there is a nice spiciness that doesn't quite reach the level that I would like to see for balancing purposes. This is a solid Belgian styled Golden Ale, but it could use a boost of fermentation complexity and definitely would benefit from a lower (drier) final gravity. Still this is an enjoyable brew and it is easily the best thing I have had out of the Florida Beer Company so far.

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

The aroma was sweet and smelled like citrus and lemon with hints of yeast similar to a wheat beer. The appearance was a light yellow that was cloudy and had a white lacy head that lingered. The mouthfeel was strong and present and finished smooth. The flavor was very yeasty, maybe a little too much, and had hints of citrus and was sweet. This was a good example of a Belguim ale and was better than some I have had in the past. Very flavorable and a unique beer to experience.

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

Comes out of the tap a beautiful clear golden with a crisp, malty, somewhat fruity aroma that has a hint of honey - very inviting. Flavor is crisp and fruity - mainly of pear - and has a sharp alcohol bite and a whisper of honey sweetness. Finish is smooth and satisfying.