Wobbly Bob
Red Collar Brewing Co.

Clear dark red-amber color. Poured almost no head at all; it was large bubbles covering half the surface in a few seconds. Low flow of tiny bubbles from the bottom of the glass. Very thin lines of lace.

Dominant smell is a yeast funk (tending towards a very mild barnyard) and overripe anonymous fruit (could be apricot or some other stonefruit). Moderate malt with a slightly sweet smell. There is something acrid in there that I found in an over-roasted Belgian Dark Strong Ale. Swirling the glass kicked up a bit more barnyard and really boosted the malt scent.

More bitter than I expected; the label says 66 IBU, but it doesn't taste quite that bitter. Slightly sweet with a strong, medium roasted malt. Light anonymous fruit (could be a blend of prune and some stonefruit). Something is a bit harsh and slightly acrid; more of what I found in an over-roasted Belgian Dark Strong Ale. This got stronger and less appealing as the beer got warmer. The aftertaste is strong bitters, the nice malt, and the acrid over-roasted malt.

Very mild tongue tingling. Passed through a creamy phase and then gets to slightly coarser than cream with a light oily feel. Medium-heavy body.

I would have enjoyed this if not for the strange harsh acrid over-roasted component that got stronger as the beer got warmer. It is almost like there was a blend of a medium roasted malt with a smaller proportion of something that had been strongly over-roasted. I have only ever tasted this in a specific Belgian ale (not recorded which) that I nearly poured down the drain. At least this is no where near as strong as the Belgian.

My wife gave this a big thumbs down. :-)

650ml bottle - so who's Bob, and why is he so wobbly? Too much of this particular high-test offering, mmm mmm...

This beer pours a slightly hazy, medium copper amber colour, with three chubby fingers of puffy, loosely foamy, and bubbly beige head, which leaves some sudsy archipelago lace around the glass as it quickly blows off.

It smells of semi-sweet, bready and doughy caramel malt, grapefruit-flavoured vodka, other muddled stone fruit notes, besotted raisins, an ephemeral under the basement stairs mustiness, and some plain leafy, weedy, and floral noble hoppiness. The taste is rather sweet grainy and pastry-esque caramel malt, a lesser biscuity toffee thing, alcohol-steeped mixed fruit bowl esters, more subtle musty and/or yeasty astringencies, and some growing in their bitterness leafy, piney, and perfumed floral hops.

The carbonation is fairly tame in its quotidian frothiness, the body a solid middleweight, and mostly smooth, as just a soupcon of booze and bittering hops take the sheen off of things here. It finishes still geared towards the sweet, but starting to lean into a balancing curve.

Overall, this is much more drinkable and enjoyable than I might have been expecting, given the metrics for the style (mainly the near 11 points of the ol' wowee sauce). The purported big C American hops don't really show up in the manner suggested by the marketing blurb on the label, but at least the yin is well in sight of the yang here. Good stuff, if you can take just a wee bit of the heat.

Really more of an English Barley Wine using New World hops.

Hazy, light copper, with a bit of head that shows a little leg and lace. I'd like to pick another one up and just lightly chill it, to try and avoid the refrigerated haze.

Aroma is nectarine, sponge toffee, grapefruit rind, mango and candied pineapple, with hints of British esters.

Taste is fairly hop-forward as well, and it works with the fruit esters. Really nice biscuity malt with a little toffee sweetness which is balanced with a good bitterness.

Moderate to full body has a drying finish.