Sanctuary (Brewmaster Reserve)
Full Sail Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

22oz bottle poured into a Chimay goblet.

A: Hazy ruby-brown in color. The tan colored head settles fairly quickly. A thin ring of lacing and some sparse spots remain in the wake of the collapsed head.

S: Sweet and bready malt aromas. Molasses and toffee. Brown sugar and spices. Slight esters of cherry and a very light phenolic touch. Smells like a dubbel, just a little subdued and perhaps generic.

T: Woody and crusty malts. Hints of brown cocoa powder. Caramel and toffee. A bit nutty. Juicy berry esters in the middle. Yeast character is there, though a little lacking. Vague spices, slight earth. Hints of clove-like phenols. Signs of oxidation and slightly soured. The finish is rather short and indistinct; thin caramel and bread crust and some earthy and spicy yeast.

M: Thick body. Carbonation is lacking, especially for the style. Chewy and creamy. Fairly weighty.

O: I found this in a bottle shop marked down heavily, so I figured 'what the hell?' Although a dubbel is usually a style that can withstand some time, this is on the smaller side of the spectrum at 7% abv, and over a year past its best by date. So it isn't a prime candidate for cellaring, nor did the brewers intend it to be. This bottle was definitely on the decline, but it's still hard to imagine it being much more than mediocre even within prime freshness. Take my review with a grain of salt, should this beer ever come back around. It wasn't intended to be consumed in this condition, so it may be worth a look.

 

 

 

 

 

Best by 1/7/12. Oops.

Pours a slightly murky dark orange with a 1/2 inch fizzy khaki head that settles to a film on top of the beer. Tiny dots of lace slowly drip into the remaining beer on the drink down. Smell is of balsalmic vinegar, malt, and some dark fruit aromas. Taste is pretty sour with malt, dark fruit, and vinegar flavors all mingled together. There is an acidic quality that lingers on the tongue after each sip. This beer has a good level of carbonation with a crisp mouthfeel. Overall, this is a pretty poor beer that is definitely having some sort of issues. It's not all that undrinkable but I doubt the brewer was going for this in the final product.

A: The beer is clear mahogany red in color and has a very slight amount of visible carbonation. It poured with a thin layer of bubbles covering the surface that almost completely faded away.
S: There are moderately strong aromas of prunes in the nose.
T: Like the smell, the taste has flavors of prunes along with noes of wood towards the finish. Little, if any sweetness is detectable.
M: It feels medium-bodied on the palate and has a low to moderate amount of carbonation. There is some dryness in the finish.
O: This beer don’t have a strong malt body compared to other beers in the style and could have used a little sweetness.

A: Pours a crystal clear copper to amber in color with some very light visible carbonation near the surface of the beer. The beer has a thin layer covering the entire surface of the beer that quickly reduces to a thin ring at the edges of the glass. Very light lacing is observed.

S: Strong aromas of dark fruit (prunes) along with some hints of wood. The overall smell is quite sweet.

T: The taste really follows the smell with dark fruits (prunes) really dominating. There is some light notes of spices and a woodiness in the finish.

M: Medium bodied with moderate amounts of carbonation. Dry in the finish.

O: Easy enough to drink but not one of my favorite beers, I think you could have more than one of these in a session but I might not personally. Seems like the malts are a little more hidden than I would prefer.