Tax Holiday
Taxman Brewing Co.

Reddish brown opaque body with a tan head with thick sporadic bands of lacing. Smells of cherry, molasses, brown sugar, honey, and buckwheat, and dark esters. Taste has candied cherry with the buckwheat upfront, honey dipped raisin, light molasses and sweet malts right after, subtle earth underneath. Feel is yeasty and malty with light esters, smooths and clean

12oz can from Tavour. Dark brown pour with a thin, silky layer of beige foam. Malty aroma, honey, sweet, hint of booze. Honey comes out in the taste, sweetness, but is well balanced; malty, woody, raisins. Plenty of warmth leaves a nice afterglow. So smooth, so tasty and very well balanced.

12oz cannned 11-20-24, opened 1-3-25.
1 finger sand colored head that falls quickly to a cap. Glowing amber-brown body with limited visibility.
Thin, spotty, wispy lacing.
Floral aroma, cereal, with rich honey as an appealing portion.
Fruity and floral flavor, raw honey, dates, figs, and light spice. Red cherry as a late taste.
Full body, slick mouthfeel, low perceived carbonation. Some low key heat that builds and disappears - never overbearing. Rich, flavorful and sweet and perfumed finish. Unique.
Very Good.

A good Belgian dark ale serves as the base and the added spices pair nicely and the elements enhance each other. This contrasts with some holiday and spiced beers where the spice is used to cover up mediocre base beer.

On tap at the source.

A - Dark raisin colored pour with thin caramel lacing.

S - Dark fruit, honey, light yeasty presence, spice, and Bourbon.

T - Some sweet dark malt, honey, spice, Bourbon, and some oak. Leaves a delicate chocolate residue layer with spice and Bourbon reating on the palate.

M - Thick, light syrupy body, viscous, and warming in the back of the throat.

O - An enjoyable cold weather sipper that warms you up.

 

 

 

This beer is a brown colored pour. It reminded me of root beer in the color. I get a beautiful 2 finger light tan colored head. The head has very good retention with a nice bit of lacing on the glass. The bubbles in the head are quite small in size.
The aroma is pretty much caramel to me. I do get a hint of licorice as well.
Taste - up front there's a bit of licorice, and a good amount of caramel. On the back I get a light kiss of honey.
The body is pretty good. Nice and thick, but not too thick. There's no alcohol burn at all, very smooth feeling.
Damn good beer overall.

 

 

Dark body, mahogany in tone, slightly murky; dense and thick off-white head. Earthy aroma; grainy. Malty, boozy flavor; star anise and licorice; boozy; hazelnut. Heavy-ish body yet somehow a tad weak and watery; alcohol heat; warm and slippery.

An interesting holiday ale with character that seems just a twitch weak, yet still an easy enough sipper (especially for the its relatively high octane backbone). 10.0% ABV per the can label.

Thanks to jkblr for this one, from a recent trade. 12oz can (canned on 10/29/19) poured into 14oz teku. poured a dark brown color with just a thin cap of tan head that had low retention and no lacing.

A sweet malt base is at the front of the nose, with some yeast spice, a hint of fruitiness, and just a touch alcohol in there too.

Pretty similar, but expanded, on the tongue. The malts had a touch more grain, the sweetness was more pronounced, they yeast sharper, and the fruit kinda floated around the edges. Just a hint of alcohol at the back. Everything combined nicely on the palate.

The body was smooth, even, and had a finish that started off sweet, but dried out nicely.

Drinkability was good. I wouldn't drink it in a hurry, but it was worth a second can, if I had one.

Overall, a very nice beer. It all came together nicely, a case of the total being greater than the sum of its parts. A must-try if you see it.

Had poured from 12-oz. can, label stamped "CANNED ON 11/25/19," into goblet.

Gorgeous beer on pouring, as apparently black is actually deep rose, with a tan head soon gone. Aroma is dark malts and fruits, and not quite Belgian candy sugar. Alcohol up front, then dark malt, dark fruits, spicy hops and a very interesting honey flavor. A little less hop or alcohol bite might have released even more of the other flavors.

 

 

 

 

I have now quaffed a few beers from Tax Man. They have produced tasty beers from what I have tried. I have this beer and a barrel aged version to try. The beer is 45 degrees and served in a tulip glass. The pour produced a one finger light tan head with a reddish hue. The color of the beer is SRM 24 a deep amber brown color with ruby hues. The clarity of the beer is somewhat opaque. The beer has carbonation and yeast visible. The head dissipated quickly leaving only a creamy ring around the glass. The beer has a satisfactory appearance.

The initial aromas in the beer are cloves and banana, baking spice and a malty sweetness smacked my nose. The beer has toasted malts, bready, crackers, floral, caramel, a touch of toffee, toasted sugar, oranges, and herbal.

The beer is lively with cloves, spicy floral hops, cinnamon, nutmeg, toasted malt, phenolic, bananas, toffee, caramel, toasted sugar, oranges, bready, alcohol, loads of herbal, grassy, and dried cherries.

The mouthfeel is warming and chewy.

The body of the beer is full, medium-low carbonation, and full finish.

The beer has the complex feel of a Belgium but drinks like a gutted car. All the great stuff can be there but is not. I wanted a traditional Belgium beer which I got to a degree. I just kept sipping and wanting more body, more of the Belgium profile. The beer is good but not amazing.

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a lightly hazy, medium reddish orange with a half finger light khaki head with that dissipates to patches with slight lacing. Aroma of dry caramel malt, dried and fresh plums, raisins and Belgian yeast. Flavor follows, with dry caramel malt, dried plums, dates, raisins and Belgian yeast. Finishes a little drier with more dates and figs. Medium bodied with light creaminess. A very well made domestic take on the Belgian dark style. Yeast, malt and fruit flavors are all authentic and appealing. ABV well covered, requiring pacing. There is an interesting overcooked caramel flavor in the finish that is very reminiscent of caramelizing sugar. I'm doing business taxes tonight, and this a welcome holiday indeed. I'm trying both this base version and the port barrel one side by side. Despite taxes, life is good.