Hawaiian Honey
Chicago Brewing Company

On tap at the brewpub on 12/6/10.

A-Pours a clear golden with some amber highlights, a creamy, almost nitro-style pour, no lacing.

S-Honey sweet, honey sweet, honey sweet. Very meadlike.

T-Pineapple and honey dominate but, unexpectedly and out of nowhere, the flavor is cut by a nice bitterness. Surprisingly tasty, and not really hot at all, despite the crazy ABV.

M-Heavy-ish, and a bit syrupy, but not really cloying at all.

D-Totally unexpected in a sea of mediocre beers. I'd never drink more than one, possibly ever, but this one was pretty good.

HV

Poured on-tap into a pint glass, this beer is copper colored, with a light, foamy, sparse head. Smells of honey and alcohol on the nose. The taste of the beer was heavy with alcohol, also. There are also some honey tones to the beer. It tastes like a drunken honey ham. The beer was not an easy drink. It almost had a greasy feel in the mouth, and the strength of the alcohol flavor was not balanced well with the rest of the beer. Not a beer I would order again.

Appearance: gold in color, 1/4 inch head, clear

Smell: honey, pineapple, and fruit

Taste: honey, wheat, sugar, and hops at the end

Mouthfeel: dry, sometimes overly sweet with a bitter backbone, medium light body, moderate carbonation

Drinkability: Not a favorite. I will be passing by this. I cannot get by the taste which is overly sweet even for the style.

Sample at the brewpub. This beer pours a clear honey color with a thin off-white head that diminishes steadily. Spotty lacing on the glass. Aroma of honey and bready malt, along with some spice. Medium-bodied with a mouthfeel like a lighter Barley Wine, this is definitely a sipper. Flavors of wheat, dark malt, tart fruit and honey are all present. The finish is round and sweet with a lingering honey and spice aftertaste. Although this is a unique beer, it is hard to imagine drinking an entire snifter of it.

A little head's-up would have been nice. I took my first sip of the beer and first noticed the added honey sweetness-- much bolder than I expected. But then comes the flowery, malty, fruity part of the beer. Then the alcohol warming sets in and rises to near fusal levels before you know what hit you.

The beer looks like a blonde ale with dainty head retention rising but then quickly falling into the golden elixer.

Pina Colada flavors accurately describe the sweetness and fruitiness. But honey defines the floral sweetness.

The body is lightly syrupy and with some weight from the unfermented honey. The mead-like sweetness soon leads to hot, numbing sensations that hurt the drinkability a bit. Maltiness gives a little extra firmness to the honey and add some flavor, but ultimately gets lost in the sweet fruitiness.

I rather enjoyed the braggot although the alcohol and unsupported sweetness dominates.

Consumed 05/11/08 during Brewfest 08 at Barley's Casino & Brewing Co., Henderson, NV.

Fairly clear yellow pour. Nothing remarkable about the appearance. A clever disguise for what awaits...

Aroma is honey and light, sweet citrus. Pineapple?

First taste is a shock. STRONG honey flavor, like mead. Mouthfeel is thick, a little cloying. Nice floral note on finish.

This certainly doesn't taste like 13% ABV, but I wouldn't necessarily call this "drinkable"! Perhaps sippable? An interesting taste, to be sure.

Pours light yellowish with a smell of almost exclusively honey. Alcohol also present in nose. Taste is much the same with sweet honey, and alcohol warmth in the finish. Never had a mead, but this is what I imagine it being like. All 13% is noticeable. Interesting, but not something you'll want much of, I'm guessing.

Wow, this is some strong stuff, but very interesting. I see that this beer is classified as a braggot. I'm not too familiar with the braggot style, so I'll tell you what it reminds me of. It's somewhere between a mead, a belgian tripel, and a barleywine. They used loads of honey which has this baby's ABV kicking at 12.5%. I had my cousin try it, who isn't much of a beer fan, and she loved it. Said it tasted like a Riesling, only carbonated. Hmmm, confused on what this tastes like? Yeah, I still am too, but I remember it being quite enjoyable.

Appearance: Golden color about an inch of head when poured, but quickly dissipated, served in a belgian imperial tulip, looked great.

Smell: Smell of high alcoholic content, spicey, flowery hints, honey aroumas.

Taste: Very sweet, honey and fruit flavors (maybe pineapple), slight citrusy bitterness from hops. Pretty well balanced.

Mouthfeel: great silky, full-bodied presense in mouth.

Drinkabilty: a little hard to consistantly drink, but so interesting and delicious, that it's worth the extra effort

Side Note: I applaud Chicago Brewing Company for consistantly putting out solid beers, and being some of the only inventive brewers in Las Vegas. Thanks for experimenting and putting so much passion into your brews

Bartender said to try the new honey brew, so I did. Expecting the typical weak honey beer, I was shocked with this.

Clear yellowish orange in color with a short head. The head quickly fell to a surface spots. The aroma was of honey and alcohol. The flavor followed suit as honey dominated the flavor, with a bit of a yeast tone and very strong sweet malt level. Alcohol all over this and really no bitterness here.

Mouthfeel was smooth and syrupy. The alcohol and honey rode the tongue well into the aftertaste. Heavy body. This beer was a slow sipper, and one was more than enough. Had to ask the bartender about the alcohol level, and she stated around 12%. Ouch.

Sampled on-tap at the brewpub. 90 lbs of clover honey added after the boil. 6 yeast strains used: 75% champagne yeast plus Alt, Irish, English, California, and San Francisco. Called an "Imperial Honey Blonde Ale".

This ale poured a crystal clear amber-orange color with white foam that settled flat. The smell was mead-like with aromas of honey, malt, and alcohol. The taste was dominated by honey with a light malt sweetness and non-discernible hop bitterness. There was a light floral flavor similar to orange blossoms. The flavor of alcohol came through in the finish. The mouthfeel was smooth and warming with medium-full body and very low carbonation feel. The light taste of honey lingered in the aftertaste. This was an enjoyable honey ale, and was dangerously smooth and drinkable. Perhaps luckily it is served in a 12 oz (?) snifter.