Assorted reviews

Bell's Best Brown Ale

Pours a hazy rust brown color with an off white creamy head. Good retention and lacing. Aroma is, well, browned malts ;-) Tastes slightly sweet with a good specialty malt character manifesting itself in caramel flavor and roast. Just a hint of hoppiness at the end with a long, comforting aftertaste. Good body, rather high carbonation. Plenty of residual sweetness. A good brown ale.
4, 3, 4, 3.5, 4
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Goose Island Winter Ale

Brown hued, good clarity, light tan head with medium retention and lacing. Smells malty-sweet and slightly earthy. A good beer for what is a boring style on its own. Fairly clean finish with medium carbonation. Not a bad beer and worth drinking again.
3.5, 3.5, 3.5, 3.5, 3.5
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Alaskan Winter Ale

"IPA colored", clear with ok head, retention and lacing. Not much of an aroma except cheap candy like notes that the taste also suffers from. Alright carbonation. Rather WTF of a beer, IMO.
3.5, 2, 2, 3.5, 2
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Tallgrass Buffalo Sweat

Dark enough to be a stout. Aroma is coffee and roast and taste is identical. Roast is the centerpiece of this beer. Straight up stout with bold flavors that complement each other. Body is rather thin but this just a stout with a low ABV, not imperial stout. I am very glad to have discovered this and I am going to seek it again and again. I like it a lot.
4, 4, 4, 4, 4
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Town Hall Smoked Hefe

Cloudy amber-gold colored beer with medium retention and no lacing. Strong smoked pepper notes in the aroma with no hints of the base beer. Taste, however, has more dimensions. Fruity sweet hefe to begin, followed by rather "green" chili flavors. Turns out it's actually brewed green! Definite heat at the back.
3, 4, 4, 4, 3
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Town Hall 900 English Ale

Clear amber colored, good retention and lacing. Aroma is certainly the hops from the other side. Earthy. Very very bitter with a quite dry finish. Low carbonation and clean finish. Too bitter to be called a bitter, but otherwise ok.
4, 3.5, 4, 4, 2
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Town Hall Raspberry Scotch

Pink brown, hazy, good retention and lacing. Lush, ripe raspberries in the aroma that dominate the base beer and I am not complaining!! Plenty of flavors without too much sweetness. The scotch ale component manifests itself only in the slight roast at the finish. I like this beer!
4, 4, 4, 4, 4

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He'Brew Jewbelation Bar Mitzvah (13)

Bottle from 10/2009 shared with friends on 11/2011 with 2 years on it.

Pours dark brown with a tiny brown head. Vanilla, fruit, caramel, sweet malts in the aroma. Drinks with plenty of dark fruit and chocolate with ample roast at the back.
    Good body and medium carbonation. The finish is quite sweet, but the 13% ABV is hardly felt. Overall it's very good and has closet aged very well.
4, 4, 4, 4, 4.5

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TREAT (Imperial Chocolate Pumpkin Porter)

Bottle from 2010 with an year on it.

Pours clear and dark brown with some bubbles but no real head. Smells very spicy, most notable nutmeg, followed by assorted spice and chocolate. Tastes sweet but chocolaty with strong spice, and perhaps pumpkin. I don't think it would have been any better or worse fresh. Mouthfeel is a bummer, thin and overcarbonated. While I wasn't impressed much by any individual component of this beer, I think it's overall a well crafted beer.

3, 3.5, 3.5, 2, 4
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Rodenbach 2007 Vintage Oak Aged Ale (Barrel No. 230)

Enjoyed late 2011 with friends.

Murky brown with a dirty off white head that leaves soon but leaves a persistent ring behind. The aroma is big on oak... very soft with notes of vanilla. Of course, the sourness is around, but the softness and roundedness was very welcome.

    Very mellow taste too, with notes of tart apples and dark fruit. Distinct oak in the finish and perhaps even vanilla. Rather lacking in intensity but very complex. Medium carbonation, smooth mouthfeel and a dry finish. I liked it a lot especially I got it about five bucks cheaper than the usual price at 11.99!

4, 4, 4, 4, 4.5