Widmer Brothers Reserve Kill Devil Brown Ale

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

Sampled on 11/3/2012. This American Strong Ale pours a dark brown color from a 22oz bottle. Medium sized white foamy head, with decent lacing and nice retention. The aroma is caramel, molasses, brown sugar, rum and wood. A medium bodied American Strong Ale. The malts are fruity and sweet, brown sugar and molasses. The hops are herbal and earthy. Nice balance. Good carbonation. Nice wood and rum flavors throughout. Great sipping beer. The rum flavor is especially nice at the finish. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly bitter.

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

Unique, but I question the choice of barrels and the ability of the beer to stand up to barrels. Tropical flavors, coconut and wood, passion fruit maybe? From the barrels. The beer doesn't shine through a whole lot. Sweet molasses and a hint of roast is about it. Overpriced.

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

22oz bottle -

First, thanks to my brother for plunking down the $$ for this beer because I was hesitant in getting it, although it's easy enough to find. The aroma finds some subtle molasses and brown sugar, but surprisingly...no rum, no evidence of barrel aging...very much centered toward plainville. Medium sweetness on the palate, leaning a little towards the caramel profile but still a neutral sweetness like white sugar. Slightly metallic/dirty penny also picked up. No rum (was this Bacardi 151 barrels?) noticed, no woody/vanilla notes...aged in barrel's? I would have never noticed. Overpriced and underwhelming.

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

Strong aroma has a malty core and nutty, caramel, horehound and earthy notes. It pours a dark, slightly hazy mahogany; thick, fluffy, tan head, however, doesn't stick around for long. Delectable flavor has notes of lightly roasted malt, caramel and molasses with hints of horehound and oak. Smooth texture has firm body and a fair amount of tingle. A lip-smacking ale worth catching during its limited release. If it's not Widmer Brothers' best, it is still worthy.

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

A brown colored beer with a small thin foamy white head. There's not much hang time. A medium sized ringlet is left behind. Brown sugar, burnt molassess, some caramel and fig are in the profile both in nose and on tongue. A decent presence of alcohol in a fairly thick beer.

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

The aroma has a vague sweetness, some faint hints of booze, and oak. Nothing really stood out, either good or bad. On the tongue, the beer did have a bit of a biscuit flavor and a hint of nuttiness, some of the molasses comes out, with some rum almost wine like alcohol at the end. The body was mostly about what you would expect from the style, although the finish was a bit stickier than I would have liked. Drinkability was OK, the went down smoothly and easily enough. Overall, if you like sweet stickey rum this just might be your cup o' tea.