Newport Storm '09
Newport Craft Brewing & Distilling Co.

 

 

 

Pouring a cellar temp bottle into a snifter. Its been aging in my basement since I purchased the beer many moons ago.

The beer pours a clear mahogany color with minimal frothy head foaming up and fading to nothing immediately after the pour.
Aroma is caramelized malt, rum soaked raisins and dark fruit, musty old blanket and lots of booze. Nose isnt great and is messy and kind of funky. It is appealing with the complex malts but everything else overshadows this and makes me wonder about taking another sip.
First sip reveals a still body with no carbonation and a sticky texture. I also get a lighter overall body than anticipated from the ABV. Perhaps the higher booze resulted in thinner body.
The flavor is similarly messy as the nose, with lots of robust malt that I like. Caramel, dark fruit, molasses, and some big booze again. I also get dank funky yeast notes and musty blanket and a little wet cardboard. The flavor finishes with the black pepper booze note.
the beer has not become awesome over time and is a messy experience. i dont hate it, but not finding it to be exceedingly enjoyable either. If you have a bottle, drink it now, I cant see it improving with more time.

Picked it up and thought I grabbed something special becuase of the vintage. Boy was I wrong.

A. Murky brown swamp water. No head at all.
S. Big time booze, sherry, slight chocolate
T. Same as nose, but with extra oxidized flavor
M. Light carbonation, dense body. The sherry like oxidation gives a balancing astringency.
O. Had to dump it. Stay away. It has some redeeming qualities, but just too mich wrong w it.

Poured from a 750ml bottle into a snifter glass.

A: The beer is a deep coppery brown color, with a very thin off-white head, that fades very quickly and leaves almost no lace on the glass.

S: The aroma contains brown sugar, alcohol, caramelized malts, some Belgian yeast, some fruit and a faint touch of hops.

T: The taste starts out sweet with flavors of caramel and fruit. Then some weak breadiness comes in from Belgian yeast and a hearty but not too heavy malt character. The hops presence is very mild and there is barely any balance. The after-taste is slightly sweet.

M: Not very crisp or smooth and is somewhat watery, medium body, completely flat carbonation, finish is slightly sticky.

O: Not very tasty, does not go down very easily, not too filling, strong kick, not the best representation of style, definitely one of the more undrinkable beers I’ve had, regrettably a drain pour.

750ml corked bottle served in a snifter glass.

pours a murky, muddy brown tone with no head or lacing; not the most attractive looking beer.

aroma is good. sweet, fruity (plum/raisin/fig; maybe apple), malty... alcohol presence is faint put perceivable; reminiscent of a barleywine. flavor follows the nose, with the headliner here being a sweet maltiness. a bit astringent; not really doing a lot for me. not a drain pour, but pretty 'meh'.

for me, the mouthfeel of this beer is its real undoing. medium-plus bodied but borderline flat. not well-received; this directly translates to how drinkable it is, making it, well, not very.

originally reviewed: 12-14-2010

 

 

My local packy has 8 sitting on the shelf. I figured I would give one a try. Boy was that a mistake! It tasted of fermented fruit and was completely flat. I would not recommend consuming or buying this beer. I wish I had read all the reviews before I went ahead and wasted 11.99 on such filth.

 

Thanks? Roger

Pours a murky hazy orange. Not much carbonation. Looks okay. But not great. The beer tastes kinda crappy. Malty... Oxidized. This beer is kinds blah and totally flat. Syrupy... Gross. .. Meh i don't like this beer at all really. That's too bad

From notes, 8-3-2010

A - deep cloudy copper body, no head

S - light bitter hops, dark fruits, sweet malt, and a belgian yeasty spice.

T - sweet, mildly bitter, belgian spice. Fairly complex, but flatness kills it

M - light and bland, flat.

O (D) - easy drinking, warming, but it's flat...not great

Received a couple of these bottles during spring/summer 2010 (thanks, hoppymcgee for this one). A slender cobalt blue 750ml (as is the norm for these annual 'Storm' big beers), poured to a large snifter. Cork only (this one a little lumpy and off-centered), but a good 'pop' when released.

A: Pretty color, a warming blend of muddled orange and apricot hues and a deeper ruddy pomegranate. Hardly any head, a quick fizzle of froth and gone in seconds. Almost no carbonation either, a few sleepy rising bubbles. No lace.

S: Sugary/fruity aroma, full of green grape, plum, berry... even apple cider. Then more sweetness, oatmeal raisin cookie dough and sticky toffee. Fairly strong booze fumes - a definite 'dessert' beer if aroma is the sole indicator.

T: Well, more sweet and fruity elements... apple butter, spiced raisins, canned peaches, fig. Doughy and yeasty foundation has a hint of tang and some Belgian-like 'seasoning' (I read later this is an 'abbey' yeast strain used). It's kind of interesting, but is such an odd and balance-deficient blend that I'm hard-pressed to give any more than a '3'.

M: As prefaced by the appearance, a really dead-looking ale has an equally lackluster feel. Some sticky malt lingers; an initially thinner feel gradually develops some muscle. Overall, though, dull and almost devoid of carbonation (which is ok by me for a well-aged strong ale), but 2 years or thereabouts should have held up much better, in my opinion.

D: Took a long time to (almost) finish. As mentioned above, it's a disappointment that this didn't seem to age well. Some interesting complexities flavor and aroma-wise, but nothing really came together well enough that I'd want this again.

Corked 750ml purchased at Yankee Spirits in Sturbridge, MA in Feb 2011.

The cool blue bottle was the high point of this beer, I opened it with no "pop" or pressure release and knew it was going to be bad news.

I could faintly make out what this beer might have tasted like, but it was skunked beyond drink ability. Poured like translucent mud and tasted like rotten fruit mixed with sour mash.

Oh well, maybe next time.

Corked 750mL poured into New Belgium Globe Glass. When I popped the cork there was not much of a sound, so I knew it wasn't going to be too impressive in the carbonation department.

A - Pours a murky, muddy, orange tinged amber. Even though I poured it quite hard into the glass there is absolutely no head. A few little bubbles are left down the side of the glass, but not impressive at all.

S - The aroma is where the beer peaks and at that, it's not impressive. Spells like an English Barleywine, butterscotch, toffee and alcohol heat hits the nostrils with some candied sugars.

T - Sweet and boozy with no distinct flavors that I can capture with some hops in the background.

M - Feels very light and watery with no carbonation at all, slightly hot in the finish but for 11.6% it's very slight.

D - Due to the light body, it's drinkable but that's only if you want to put yourself through the glass that is pretty much a mess.

Pours a murkey orange colour with hints of amber. Head is quite small, very mild lacing on the glass. Smells mostly like a barleywine. Butterscotch and brown sugar in the nose, some alcohol too. Flavour is a bit boozy, but quite sweet. Syrupy mouthfeel almost, though it seemed to fit with the beer.

750ml corked bottle served in a snifter glass.

pours a murky, muddy brown tone with no head or lacing; not the most attractive looking beer.

aroma is good. sweet, fruity (plum/raisin/fig; maybe apple), malty... alcohol presence is faint put perceivable. very reminiscent of a barleywine.

flavor follows the nose, with the headliner here being a sweet maltiness. a bit astringent; not really doing a lot for me. not a drain pour by any means, but pretty 'meh'.

for me, the mouthfeel of this beer is its real undoing. medium-plus bodied but borderline flat. not well-received; this directly translates to how drinkable it is, making it, well, not very.

Thanks Vaino for bringing back. A medium yellow body with a reddish tinge, a crowning head. The smell says solid barleywine and was rich with fruit. The taste is barleywinish, with notes of fruit, grapey, wine,caramel. above average mouthfeel. A decent barleywine not too sweet, underated and perhaps needed just some ageing which it got from us. Will it even improve more? Boozy though,which really hindered drinkability.

the color is a sharp garnet. no head

strong kettle caramelization aromas and plenty of heat come to the nose. brown sugar

highly fruity and sweet. dates, figs, golden raisin and more heat. hops keep to themselves. touch of coriander, cardamom

the bottle claims an abbey yeast was used but any belgian character is subdued. enough, though, that this ought not be listed as an american strong ale