XS Old Crustacean
750mL black ceramic bottle poured into a stemmed glass. 2008 Vintage. (A)- Pours a thick cloudy red mahogany color that actually briefly cascaded during the pour. Left a giant foamy tan head that left tons of intricate lacing behind as it slowly dissipated. (S)- Fruity. Some fig & raisin with a touch of cherry & cranberry. Some almost burnt caramel. Some dry wood notes. Kinda closed though. (T)- Dry, with a big hop pine wood bite up front. This is surprising despite its age. Malt of that same burnt caramel. Some new fruits of lemon & lime with fig, raisin, & cranberry. Rather bitter; gets more & more bitter the more I have of it. (M)- A good carbonation level. This is surprisingly backwards. Still ridiculously hoppy & bitter; not much malt coming through which is so weird since it should be the other way around since this has 2 years of age on it. (D)- I cant believe how well this has aged. Based on this, it could age for even more years. Still very hoppy; was hoping for more of the malts to come through, but I can live with that. For what you get though, I am glad I did not pay the full price tag for one of these. Definitely not worth the typical $20 price tag for one of these.