Dark Apparition - Tea Bagged
Jackie O's Taproom & Brewery

 

Sampled at Redlight Redlight; January 2011
The beer is quite black leaning in color and has a brown tinged head. The aroma has notes of vanilla, a floral character that leans towards chamomile, some anise notes and some green herbal touches to round things out. As I get used to the nose more of the toasted whole grain character and dark-roast notes start to come out and there also seems to be spiciness to this beer that is not unlike that from rye.

The flavor is very herbal tasting, but there is lots of anise like flavors to it up front that mix in quite well with the herbal notes. The finish has a huge, creamy, dark chocolate character that is characteristic of a big stout. The anise note actually continues in the finish and mixes with the dark chocolate and dark malt notes quite well. I am definitely digging the rich, sweet, dark malt character that forms the backbone of this beer. The body is quite rich and chewy; this is definitely a sipping beer, but it is not so thick as to be cloying.

This is quite a nice beer, the spice doesn’t quite overwhelm the base beer richness. Actually, especially given that a spice dominance like that found in this beer, actually works for this particular beer; I found myself enjoying this beer quite a bit more than I would have expected.

On tap at the bar side of the brewery on December 30, 2010.

Pours near black with a good tan head. Not sure if this changed much since the Anniversary Extravaganza, but I thought it was spot-on when we came back. The aroma was really, really nice almost smelling the an Andes mint as the mint and chocolate characteristics of the beer really came through with the fennel, licorice, and basil lingering more in the background. The taste was nearly just as explosive with a beautifully-done mint presence. Good sweetness and minty freshness in the feel. A bit too much to drink a full pint of, but this was a really nice beer.

On tap at Jackie O's into a tulip...Of the DA variants this was one of my least favorite, interesting attempt but in reality I just don't think the flavors work well together...Looks at da...The aroma is strange with tea come across too strong, notes of chocolate, raisins and spices come...The taste loses a lot of the tea but it is still present. While tolerable in the aroma this becomes pretty difficult to drink for me, notes of tea, vanilla, roasted coffee..

Tastes as a side by side with '09 Dark Apparition, Vanilla Dark Apparition, Coffee, Turk, Mole, Tea Bagged, and Bourbon Barrel aged

Dark with a bit of smooth head. Smells strongly of anise and fennel. Tastes of licorice and fennel. very overpowering... smooth and strong... a definite sipper that burns going down...

A-Body is a very dark brown, nearly black hue. Served with a one finger or so tan head that fades to aq thin collar that remains thin but lingers on for awhile. Hints of vibrant red can be seen when this brew is held up to the light.

S- The tea and mint can be detected and accent the profile of DA-which is pretty mild with plum raisin, anise, chocolate, and a hint of roasted malt coming through deep in the background.

T- Initial flavor is quite smnooth and balanced with an equal balance of roasted malt, vanilla, anise, licorice. The initial flavor is pretty much the same as regular DA but a lot milder and a hint of tea can be detected deep in the bakcground The flavors remain mild for the finish but just a hint of refreshing mint comes through on the back on the palate and lingers briefly.

M- Low to medium carbonation a medium weight body. The body is very smooth but noticably thinner than regular DA.

D- This is an interesting, refreshing spin on DA- and the slightly lighter weight body and addition of the refreshing mint make it slightly easier to consume.