The Sass
Dock Street Brewery - South

Thanks to Ffejherb and Brewslut for bringing back a grolwer of this from Dock Street.

A-Clear, medium brown with a medium tan head that reduced to a thin cap and left spotty lace.

S-Like root beer light. A bit of anise comes in on the back end as it warms.

T-Like a light root beer flavoured brown ale. Quite dry in the finish and surprisingly not sweet at all....not sure if this was good or not?

M-Medium-light body with a dry spicy finish.

D-Interesting. Not sweet at all, like I expected. A nice effort but not a beer I would drink over and over, but glad to have tried it.

Via growler pour on 9/14/08.

A - Actually looks like root beer, except that this has much less carbonation. Almost one finger of beige head quickly receded into a patchy film and left spotty lacing.

S - This brew has the nuttiness of a brown ale with some of the spiciness of root beer. Hints of sasparilla root, star anise, herbs, maple syrup, molasses and brown sugar.

T - Root beer character is very reserved, so the flavor isn't too sweet or spicy. The nutty quality is allowed to shine through, but the sasparilla and licorice/anise characteristics come through enough to spice things up a bit.

M - Medium body that's a tad thin and watery overall. Not as carbonated as I expected, nor as swet on the tongue. Bitterness is pretty mild. Finish is a little on the dry side.

D - Interesting take on a brown ale, but ultimately fails to really hit home for me. I think my expectations we a little high with this one. This is fairly tasty, though, and I appreciate Dock Street for brewing something as unique as this brew.

Brewslut's Quote of the Day:
"I think it smells like wet wood."

A growler courtesy of ffejherb and brewslut, shared with ksak, ffejherb, brewslut, deuane and SierraGS.

A: The ale looks like root beer with a dark brown color that is fairly opaque. A decent head arose on several pours and stuck to the sides precariously.

S: The nose is faint sassparilla, tangy and sweet with a fuller malt aroma. Very interesting.

T: The taste is not as strong as the nose but you can still pick up the sassparilla flavoring. The spices are evident but not overpowering, content to pop up occasionally behind the caramel malt body. The ale is much better than hard root beer but far too interesting to be an every-day offering.

M: The ale isn't well-carbonated. That is good because too much would push it into cola territory, but a little more would be nice. The fleeting sassparilla flavors could use a little more oomph if they are intended to be the prime focus of the ale.

D: The growler didn't last long amongst the 6 of us. An interesting beer, if only for the novelty aspect.