Old Man (Winter Ale)
Pours a darkish golden colour, slight haze and great-looking head, cream-coloured with nice dense bubbles. It sinks slowly, leaving pretty high calibre lace trails behind. Yeah looks good. Smells very malty; darker than it looks as well. Golden syrup with walnut notes and a good belt of cocoa as well. Mostly sweet, but a nice dose of bitter as well, the way good rich molasses are (is?). Hint of some grassy hop but mostly a malt bomb. Nice. Taste is an interesting one. Seems to take time to get going, with a slight brown sugar sweetness on the assault, then not much until the middle as the strong, complex sweetness takes hold. Lots of nutty notes with walnuts and some dark fruit as well, plum and raisins and of course more brown sugar. Finish has a slight subtle bitterness that nonetheless lasts quite a while. Not much hop flavour, but hints of resiny bitterness. Really like the flavours and the bitterness just finishes it well. Full body, nice and slick as it goes down though. Damned nice. A great tasty, hearty beer. Lots of complex sweet flavours well handled.