Golden Idol
Heavyweight Brewing Co.

Thanks goes to wohlfs for sharing this at the kuhnhenns gathering on 6/10. from the bottle, poured a brown to amber with a nice off white head and some good lacing. aroma, cotton candy, yeast, bubble gum. flavor, sweet and sour, banana, yeast, floral. a very good beer

Ok, I bought this how long ago? 2003? 2004? Put this puppy in the basement and didn't touch it for almost two years.

I remember Venom saying that this one would be *shudder* in 6 months, or something to that affect. Or was that another Heavyweight beer? Well, I may have let this one go too long. But it was still great. And I must say that I am now ready to handle this beer, thanks to tastings of Orval and Russian River.

The bret is noticeable but not overwhelming. Brett tastes merge into a slight fruitiness and a spiciness. But I could be confusing the spiciness with the brett as well.

Good golden color, deep. Carbonated out the wazoo; hurts drinkability however slightly. A year or so will do that I guess.

thanks to cornboy via trade #001 back in the day

mark (unionmade) suggested i drink this asap, and that was the second such comment, so here goes: uncapping the 750ml yields spurting carbonation, as i watch it (in seeming slow motion) escape from the bottleneck. three paper towels later, i have a nice orval chalice full of bright gold liquid covered in a two-finger sudsy foam. settles into hilly pillows and emits a very familiar scent.

possesses light essential fruit nuances.. apricot and strawberry. crisp euro hop twist, peppered with barnyard wafts and a binding caramel. as the comparison to it's clonemaster, orval, begins.. this beer captures the scent in a sweeter, less abrasively dry fashion.

has that pale hoppiness, but falls short of the luxurious mouthfeel we know from the trappist standout. a bit watery, and also thrown off by excessive carbonation. sweetness is too noticeable, and almost comes through like a fruit syrup. that deliciously horse-drenched botanical finish is there though, and keeps me coming back for more sips. this bottle will not last long in my evil clutches.

surprised this beer stood up to a year of cellaring and 6 months of refrigeration. no off notes or excessive funk. with the exception of chuck, this is the best belgian knock-off from tom and the gang. sucks when its already set-up to be compared to something so godly like orval.. but for someone so experimental nailing a millenium's worth of belgian perfection so closely... kudos.

I've had this bottle sitting for a while; bought it a few months ago directly from the brewery at an open house. Heavyweight open houses rock! A hiss of carbonation escapes upon removing the cap; pouring it is a trial, and it probably need to warm a little and let the carbonation die down. Even after this, its a bit sharp on the tongue. Has a delicious citrusy, clove Belgian yeast bubblegum candy like aroma. Finishes tart and dry, with hints of lemon and sweet malt. Tasty.

Pours with a light cream colored head topping gorgeous deep amber liquid in the glass. Some butterscotch and funky Belgian barnyard aromas fill the nose along with some background fruitiness. The taste is sweet malt and sweet fruit suggestive of melon, with a subdued hop bitterness to keep it from being all about the sweetness. Finishes with the hops becoming more apparent, maybe due to the warming of the beer as I sip, some light caramel ends things up. Truly unique.

Update - 3/9/05:

Broke out a bottle cellared since 8/04 and was blown away by how this changed, lots of fruitiness, good sharp hoppiness and light acidity made me wish I had gotten more of this beaut. Very similar to Orval, which Tom said he was shooting for when he brewed this ale.

From notes: On-tap at the BBF in Boston last November. Light apricot/amber with a nice head of THICK white foam. Good lacing and head retention is at work here as well. The aromas are awesome right from the start. Of course there is all sorts of funkiness going on here, as this TPA was made with my friend and yours Brett. The taste is rustic and very funky up front with excellent farmhouse ale qualities abounding in each sip. The taste is hard to describe. No real maltiness shines for me, but their is definately a biting, herbal hop character with a distinctive spiciness to it that is definately accentuated by the wild yeast fermentation that this beer has undergone. The mouthfeel is medium bodied and the drinkability is very good for such a unique brew. Not quite orval-like, but a great example of a TPA, none-the-less. @ years on this will make it bliss. I wish I had some freakin' bottles of it though!

750ml bottle sampled on 12-18-04. A huge cream-colored head erupted with the pour that rose to form a mountain almost an inch out of the glass without spilling. The body was a lively with bubbles orange color, which that head stayed on till the end leaving huge rings of thick lacing all around the glass. Aroma was strong in fruit notes as well as spices, orange peel and peppery. Also noticed was a slight sweetness. Fruit sweetness starts off the flavor before a nice dose of spice and biscuity malt back it up. Also was there were notes of funky yeast as well. Aftertaste was a bit sweet and spicy. Mouthfeel was medium with ample carbonation and a crisp feel. Great drinkability on this, goes down easy and is very tasty. Thanks to slander for this beauty.

quite simply a lovely beer all around. wha's nice about it is that it both belgian and american in character, and does both equally well. it pours an awesome cloudy orange/golden hazed colour. carbonation shoots up the center of the duvel tulip glass the whole time to a massive, shaving cream like head that is huge and sticky as hell. kick ass stuff. the smell is quite nice as well, with sweet citrus and sugary bubble gum notes. it reminded me at times a bit of the smell of funnel cakes, cotton candy and ice cream at the boardwalk in the summer. the flavour, while nice, is a bit of a subdued version of the smell. it starts out sweet and candy like, moves into a fruity melon/banana mix flavour in the middle and finishes with a sweet but slightly spicy hop kick that turns tart after it sits on your palate for a minute or two. mouthfeel is pretty much spot on and i could drink this one till the cows came home. it's just a delight to drink. i really wish i had cracked open one of the two bottles i have of this stuff sooner. yum.

Appearance – This one has a ton of carbonation (I guess carbonation is just air so that doesn’t make any sense but, oh well). The beer itself is light palish orange and sports a good-lookin’ head.

Smell – The light yeast is very sour. I can pick up some lime and maybe a bit of peach, but otherwise the big Belgian-style spices dominate.

Taste – Yes, the yeasty notes are very sour and come through strongly at the taste. I can also pick up some light banana.

Mouthfeel – This one is light-bodied and not as fluffy in the mouth as I had hoped when viewing the radical carbonation. The sour twang was a bit out of place.

Drinkability – I didn’t care for this as well as the other BAs who have sampled this offering from Heavyweight. I thought it was a bit off-style and couldn't hold its own against the other fine Belgians available at the 2004 BBF.

Sampled at the Pre-GABF babblefest.

Golden.

Aroma of orange, peach, well pronounced noble hops, dry funk, honey, a sense of brett and grass.

Sweet malt, flavor of mainly lemon and peach. Funky, brett character wasn't as pronounced as I figured it would be. Well hopped and nice tasting.

Peachy honey-orange body and a fleeting cream-colored head. The roughness of the pour brings forth a lot of aroma that seems to fade quickly. Swirling, of course, brings it back. Never have I experienced such an extreme variation in aromatic intensity.

The nose is a bit funky -- composting weeds or grass clippings mixed with sweet mangoes and honey. Melon rind and sawdust. Really interesting stuff.

A little plain and watery up front -- a little alcohol makes itself known in the form of some sort of vaguely Orval-flavored jello-shot. But this is distinctly funky and raw through the finish. A lingering chewing-on-plant-stems bitterness slowly fades. Fun beer.

Poured from a growler courtesy of cupbeerman and beergeek279, thanks guys. Appearance: Amber copper color big frothy cream head very nice leaves some fine lacing. Aroma: Melon, bubblegum candi sweetness with honey and other fruity notes nice mild hop background. Taste: Candi sugar sweetness pleasant melon alcohol mix with a slight citrus blend what a great version of a Belgian pale ale, simply an American brewed masterpiece Tom is the man. Definitely Orval like shares a slightly funky bready yeast note, with decent hoppiness in there. Mouthfeel: Medium soft body even carbonation I'm not complaining. Drinkability: Excellent dead on representation of a Belgian style pale, smooth as all hell great sipper a must try honored to sample this beauty.

Served in a Nonic pint at the Sharp Edge Emporium. The color was copper, with a filmy white head. The smell was slight spiciness and fruitiness. The taste starts with a very strong melon sweetness and then warms to esters and a decent hoppiness; the aftertaste is slightly sweet. Mouthfeel is nicely carbed. As for drinkability, this would be a beer with some excellent sessionability and one I'd love to have quite a bit of.

More genius from Heavyweight and Tom Baker! A nice, complex beer with esters, melon sweetness, and even hops! Quite good, and hopefully I can make it back before Hart drinks it all!!

tried this one on tap at the Blind Tiger NYC, at the extreme beer fest. Poured light orange and very cloudy, not much head, tiny bubble film and a bit of lacing. Nose of apricot and melon, faint yeast. Tastes of fruit, melon, honey and a hint of spice, also some funky belgian yeast thing going on. Light to medium body and nice light and refreshing mouthfeel. Love this style (Orval like) so this one was great to try. Hope it gets bottled or hopefully widely distributed in kegs. Give it a try if it comes to your local.