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

Pours a deep brown, khaki head. Chocolatey, spicey and piney aroma and flavor, kinda rough, like it was meant to have more time on it, albeit I did drink this one immediately after release. Its quite nice now and looks to improve for at least a year.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 10 | Overall: 9

So I pour this cellared beer from Canada. I get a hazy gold pour with a stand of off white foam, for a while. I smell pineapple, pepper, cloves, pilsner malt, sugary alcohol, other tropical fruits (coconut? mango? who cares...) a slight wisp of something spicy...hops? or yeast? The foam collapses in a jiffy and its full of haze, bold, I like it. The body and carbonation are there, the bottle condition paid off, even down the road, alcohol is warming in the slightest, but zero burn.. Incredible flavor, bananas foster (nuts, banana, caramel, vanilla, mild smoke), maltiness, tropical fruits again, estery and phenolic with clove and pepper. Spot on...complex but still rather clean. Impressive.

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

With the bar raised as high as it has been in the past few years for Pumpkin ales, its good to see a nice pumpkin lager, as well. This years had some Captain Morgan Private Stock Spiced Rum added to the serving tank. The spicing of the pumpkin beer really united with the malt flavors via this addition, it really smoothed out the spice character and melded things together. Good, smooth moughfeel, this could be a dangerous concotion. Well done.

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

An excellent selection for cask. Hoppy and phenolic aromatics, clean and crisp maltiness. Well balanced and mildly funky. A cool brewpub offering, spicy and refreshing.

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

Damn this BJCP training...why am I so tempted to rate by style? Oh well, I'll just go with it. Spicy and fruity aromatics characteristic of the Ardennes/Chouffe yeast they chose to ferment this with, combined with plenty of caramel. Effervescent, but a bit sticky-sugary. Excellent use of yeast and malt flavors, rich and layered, not unlike Chimay Red or Westmalle Dubbel or Grimbergen or Maredsous 8, except that its underattenuated compared to these and on the sweet side, however, as a winter brew, I'm certainly open to that. Nicely done.

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

Earthy aroma with roasty cocoa and coffee like notes, distinct british yeast. Dark brown, mild haze, some light pokes through, small bit of head. Minerally, dry finish, medium bodied. Minerally, roasty, mild caramel, supporting bitterness and earthy hop character. Quite nice.

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

2003 Vintage. Pours a deep ruddy brown with small bit o' foam. Toffee, cocoa and earthy hops dominate the nose. Thick and coating mouthfeel, mild carbonation breaks it up. Still intensely bitter at three years old, the hops have a fresh bigfoot level bitterness to them, plenty of hop flavor and a very rich malt presence. This is one monstrous ale. Some more time may round it out, but for now, it is quite good, but not the best.

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

2004 Vintage: Rich apple aromatics, like granny smiths with macs and golden delicious, very nice. Hazy gold. Fairly viscous in the mouth, but fitting for a slightly sparking semi-sweet cider, still, quite refreshing. Full of apple and fruitiness, golden raisin, star fruit, pineapple, excellent. A great cider.

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

Shared by a friend at the St. Louis Brews Happy Holidays Homebrew Competition Banquet. As excited as I was to have this brew, it didn't quite satisfy. That's not to say I didn't like it, but I have just so high expectations for Goose Island special releases anymore. It has the requisite phenolics and esters, the lightness of palate and nice carbonation with a nice malt and hop structure, but it seems to lack unity. Perhaps it needs more age, or less, I'm not sure. The parts seem to be there, but they don't work as smoothly as in others.

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

My first beer of the great St. Louis Ice Storm Blackout of 2006. After the lights went out we huddled around the kitchen table and lit some candles. In the darkness, I decided I needed something to warm me up a bit. This RIS was my antifreeze that first night. Chocolately and malty aroma, light on the roast and dark fruit found in some. Blacker than Cafe' Du Monde coffee...or so it seemed... With a nice cap of head and lace on both pours. Rich and full mouthfeel, soft carbonation to keep things in check, very nice. Very malty, sweet, chocolately, a bit of roast, a touch of raisins, but again, not as fruit filled as some. An excellent brew, and my favorite from Avery so far. This one is a good cantidate for cellaring as I picked this one up in May on a visit to Texas and just now enjoyed it, very nice.