Brother Adam's Bragget Ale
Atlantic Brewing Company - Town Hill / Mainely Meat BBQ

May-June 2007... GF and I just broke up... tried to take a trip to Canada, only to get turned away at the border (I may have recounted this story in another review)... lemons into lemonade, drove from Niagara Falls to Maine... one of my stops was Atlantic Brewing (still wish I would've stayed for the BBQ); loved the beers (ginger, coal, bluebs, et al) and the atmosphere... grabbed a couple sixers and a bottle of this on the way out... back home in NJ, spent random weekend nights crashing at a friend's place... one night, we broke open this bottle and I for one was blown away, never having had a beer with such a honeyish character... in fact, I can still remember holding the first sip in my mouth, floored by the peculiar flavors and vinous (er, mead?) potency, relaxing to let that sip roll down my throat, coating my gullet and buffering the booze was a rather globulous slug of honey... to this day, I thought they must have back-sweetened this beer with the bees' nectar... can't recall much if anything as far as how it looked or truly tasted; the thing I'll never forget was that honey roll and, of course, that freedom ride that brought me to the edge of our borders (2099)

 

 

slightly sweet ale good hop finish

Draft at the bbq/brewery
Pours a med frothy head moderate retention, fair sticky lacing, mostly clear auburn to brownish color

Nose sweet floral honey with caramelization, toffee, sweet honey syrup, fruity mostly pome fruit, apples with honey, mild sweet caramel toasted malt

Taste brings rich caramelized brochet like honey, more toasted malt and caramel malt, toffee, candied apples as the fruity esters kick in, pome fruit again, little syrupy, apples and honey again, perfumey alcohol, mild sweet finish with more caramelized honey and touch of bitterness

Mouth is fuller bod, little syrupy thick, carb is the lighter side but ok for style, some warming tingly alcohol

Overall not bad, wish the malt came through a touch more, but otherwise well done

 

 

 

Poured into a chalice, the appearance was a wood brown color with a finger's worth of a sly white foamy head. Swiftly dissipated to barely leave any lace.
The aroma centered around the honey then some floral, hay and grassy tones entered in alongside of some lemon sweetness.
The flavor was sweet all of the way through - it's all about the honey. Lemon made a decent effort to try and be underneath. Mild honey sweet aftertaste.
The mouthfeel was about medium bodied with some cloying sweetness sticking to my tongue. Mild carbonation. ABV felt appropriate. Semi-sticky honey finish.
Overall, good aroma and flavor as a braggot, but if that cloying stickiness could be controlled, this could be one of the great ones.

 

12 oz bottle poured into 4 oz taster

A: caramel brown body with an off white tan head fairly good clarity

S: very sweet honey caramel toffee

T: very sweet lots of nice honey almost some clove toffee burnt sugars

M: syrupy and heavy very full not thick though a little cloying

O: I never have had this style but I am pretty pleased. if you love honey give this a shot.

 

 

 

Shoutout to Pearpicker for this trade!

Poured from a 750ml bottle (bottled on 26Nov13) into a snifter.
LOOK: Pours with a half finger's worth of white foam that dissipates to a line within one minute. Very dark red-orange in color with a slight cloudiness. Bubbles are moderate and lacing is minimal.
SMELL: Has strong aromas of alcohol and honey that mix with mild aromas of figs, plums, and cherries. A hint of pale malts, roasted malts, and spicy hop flavors can also be detected.
TASTE: Initial taste is a combination of very strong honey flavors that mix with mild alcohol flavors and subtle spicy hop flavors. Mild fig, plum, and cherry flavors enter immediately after as alcohol and hop flavors persist, but honey flavors tone down from very strong to strong. About 5 seconds after initial taste, alcohol flavors become slightly less mild as a dash of pale malts and roasted malts finally enter the palate. And of course, all other flavors persist in their respected strengths.
FEEL: This is such a full-bodied beer that it is nearly syrupy. It sticks to the back of throat and I love it. Subtly carbonated, with an absolute zero dryness in the finish. This leaves the mouth nice and watery, like some sort of elegant dessert.
NOTE: I don't care if I hate the perception of alcohol, this was one dang amazing beer!

 

Poured into a Gulden Draak tulip. Pours a hazy orange-brown with a thin off-white head that dissipates to patches and light lacing. Aroma of sweet malt, honey, fresh and dried dark fruit, much like a honeyed English barleywine might smell. Flavor is caramel malt, apple and pear juice, honey, figs. Lingering finish of treacle and honey. Medium bodied with light carbonation. A honey forward ale, somewhat sweeter and more carbonated than mead. The honey flavor is well handled; this is only lightly sweet, but the honey flavors are distinct and pleasant. Light fruit flavors appropriate for a Belgian style ale. Unlike the aroma, the flavor is more mead-like than barleywine. Alcohol was lightly noticeable in the aroma, but covered well in the taste, this did not drink like a high ABV ale. I'm a mead fan, but most of those are drier than this and it is nice to taste good honey flavors in a pleasant malt base. Well done. This was a gift from a traveling friend and I don't expect to see it again, but I would very much like to drink this again. Nicely done.