Cuvee Series One (Oak Aged Series)
22oz bomber poured into a small snifter twice. Part of my clean out the cellar project. A loud hiss when the cap was popped. A- ST Cuvee 1 is a light orange color with some golden highlights up towards light. Active rising bubbles within the liquid while a nice not so sturdy bright white head graced the top. It left rather quickly while not much lace was on the glass. S- The smell is cuvee 1 best feature in my opinion. A nice blast of toasted malt that does not smell like caramel which is rare for me. What I do get is butterscotch which is not my favorite but is nice in this. Some residual sugar while the hops have faded in this 6+ month old bottle. I get some vanilla which I love. T- Is a big step down from the smell and even declines more as it warms which is also odd and ass backwards imo. The sweet butterscotch that I liked in the smell is pretty much all I can taste in this strong ale, it's quite off-putting. Some coconut plus more sweet sugar. While the oak is ther, cuvee could use more. Toasted malts are big and the 11% is very well hidden although some alcohol taste probably would have been accepted in this sweet and upsetting brew. M- For 11% the alcohol is well hidden but the overly sweet syrup like feel just kills this brew for me. Cuvee one is medium bodied with lighter carbonation than expected from the loud pop on cap extraction. Too sweet and buttery, not my thing. D- I really had a tough time getting through this and wish I shared it. I guess it's good enough to drink but it is not a pleasant experience and makes me weary of ST cuvee #2. I had this extremely fresh when it came out and enjoyed it just a tad more than now because of the non faded hops, now it's just a malty buttery mess.