Moonraker Ale
J.W. Lees & Co (Brewers) Ltd

500 ml bottle, from Voldby Købmandsgård, Denmark. ABV is 7.5%. Mahogany coloured beer, big off-white to beige head. Very nice malty aroma with notes of caramel and dark dried fruits, also some oaky and vinous notes. The flavour is malty sweet and rich, notes of caramel and dark dried fruits again, vinous and oaky notes too, moderate hops in the finish. A lovely strong ale!

Cask pint at The William Webb Ellis, Twickenham. Dark ruby colour. Malty aroma and flavour, also notes of plums and dark dried fruits. Fairly rich mouthfeel, a decent strong ale. The alcohol is evident. (3.7)

 

From undated notes.

Murky brown color; hint of rust.

Khaki head which dissipates quickly.

Minimal lace.

Cloying sweet malt nose with some booze. Smells of US barleywine, never a winner with me.

Medium mouthfeel.

Not as overly malty as the nose, with some cinnamon added to the mix. Not awful; not great. Can't say I'd reach for another.

 

16.9 Bottle?
BBEOCT06

Over 11 years on this bottle, WTF! Just bought it.

Poured into a tulip a transculent dark brown color, some carbonation, with a really quick light tan head, which leaves very minimal sticky lacing behind. The nose is malty, with a dark fruit complex (grapes, cherries, figs, plums, dates). The taste is malty, with a dark fruit complex (grapes, cherries, figs, plums, dates). Medium body, ABV hidden very well, still a complex brew, but feels watered down some. Overall, still tasty, this brew should not be aged this long.

The appearance was a semi-dark brown color with a one finger white foamy head that dissipated within about a minute. Light foamy lacing graced the sides of the glass. The smell had a roasty nutty caramel aroma, somewhat like a brown ale. But a nice rich invasive chocolate came through with a light coffee to enliven a bit. The taste was pretty much the same with a light added vanilla. On the palate, this one sat about a light to medium on the body with a fair sessionability about it. The carbonation was mostly subdued and good for the style and for me. Overall, it’s well done and definitely worthy of having again.

On cask into a shaker. Too dark in here to tell, but probly dark brownish with decent lacing. Big waves of toffee, fig, licorice...very nice. Taste follows the nose but I'm not getting the layers as much. Smooth and creamy but no edge to clean up the finish. This was a happy surprise!

On cask at Town Hall Tap. It arrives a dark brown color with a dense off white head. Lacing stays around until the beer is gone. The aroma is malty with toffee, and carmel. There is also a really nice licorise note. The taste is similar to the aroma profile wise, but more pronounced. The mouthfeel is creamy with light carbonation. Overall, this is a treat to try on cask. I could drink a lot of this beer.

The date on this beer is 13 Aug 09

This beer pours very dark, and seemed to be a very thick pouring beer. The color is somewhere between brown and black.

There is no head. There were hints of carbonation.

The nose is incredibly complex. There's some sweetness to it. It also has like a wine barrel smell to it, at least to me.

The taste of it is, well, this is the week part. There isn't much. Whatever flavors there were are gone now. It also has a watery feel to it, in spite of the thick looking pour. I would love to try this fresh, because aged is a severe letdown. If I see it again, and it's fresh, I'll gladly revisit it.

 

On the list of "1001 Beers To Drink Before You Die," stay tuned for my review.

 

On tap at Hay Merchant in Houston.

A: Pours a near opaque dark brown color with a dense beige head. The head sticks around as a cap throughout and nice lace is left behind.
S: Huge toffee, brown sugar, and molasses in the nose. Then comes some wonderful fruity esters. Apple skins and pears are pretty dominate. Though also some dark fruits like plums peek through as well. Earthy English yeast. I love this.
T: Fruity esters are more up front than the nose. Pears and apples are very nice up front that are even slightly tart (probably why some are misinformed and saying the "I" word). A toffee sweetness, even some wood comes next. Earthy and nutty English yeast rounds everything out. Fantastic.
M/O: A medium body with a surprising amount of carbonation. Crisp, but smooths out as this breaths. So enjoyable to drink. If it was not so expensive this would be a regular purchase of mine.

A fantastic example of the catch all style. I can see this fitting into the Old Ale, Winter Ale, even a slightly less boozy English Barleywine style. This is very hardy without being over the top strong, and while maybe not the absolute masterpiece that the Harvest Ales are, this is still really well done and so enjoyable.

 

From a cask at the 2016 Atlanta Cask Ale Festival.
Pours dark brown with a bubbly head. Lightly hazy.
Slightly pungent aroma hints at the strong flavor but the taste is quite tart despite a sweet note up front.

Overall: Fresh and interesting but infected.

On cask at Rustico - Arlington

 

 

 

 

09/08/11 at RnH, NYC. Not sure who thought this was a good idea. Not to my liking at all. Way too sour. Thought there was peppermint in the aroma but didn't find it elsewhere. Other references claim it was a CAMRA winter beer of Britain winner. Remind me never to go to Britain in the winter.

 

 

 

Bottled
Dark black, almost no head. Malty aroma with a bit of fruitcake. Lots of CO2; overcarbonated. Thin and watery, with not much complexity in the flavor: a bit of malt, a bit of roasted coffee beams, not much else

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reviewed from notes. Poured from a 500 mL bottle into a Cigar City pint glass.

A: Hazy deep brown, one finger's worth of off-white head, and low visible carbonation.

S: Boozy, caramel, spicy, brown malts (which smell a touch oxidized/cardboard to me).

T: Sweet brown malt, bready, a little cinnamon or nutmeg and vanilla with some rum raisin flavors. It's quite boozy for such a moderate ABV.

M: Medium body, carbonation on the low side but acceptable, and a little hot.

O: It's not bad, but nothing I'd likely repeat. This bottle did have some age on it, which makes the booziness even more surprising.

 

 

This beer was served in a fluted glass at the Ginger Man in NYC (review is from notes).

This beer had no foam when served to me. The coloring is brown with some decent light at the edges.

This beer is pretty rich, while being decently thin. I get dark fruit upfront while retaining some good mouthfeel as it eases off.

This one makes for a very good sipper.