Sierra Nevada / Dogfish Head Limb & Life

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

I think this got a raw deal being that it was served alongside 4 different versions of the bigger beer, but even so...we started with it, and it was pretty watery thin right off the bat. the aroma was light but pleasantly hoppy, and the flavor was also nice and refreshing, if a bit on the weak side, even for a brown. it was pretty unique, though, tiny bits of syrup flavorsmingling with the hops. going back to it after sips of the 10% beer, though, were just a waste.

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

Cask at San Francisco release party/dinner. The release party casks were dry-hopped in the cask and so differ slightly from the keg version. Sam Calagione described the beer as an "imperial small beer." It’s a relatively dark brown beer, translucent, with a big head. Carbonation was pretty strong for a cask beer. The aroma has a fair dose of citric hops with an underlying nutty/earthy malt tone. The flavor is a bit acrid. I’m a fan of small beers in theory, but this one, like others I’ve had, lacks a certain depth of malt flavor. It was relatively thin and felt smaller than its abv would indicate. The hop flavors are fairly strong but lack complexity, adding not much more than a light bitter grapefruit rind flavor. There’s also a bitter woodiness to the beer that was also present in its bigger brother but worked better there with a much thicker body.