The Drafting Room 12th Anniversary Ale
Tröegs Brewing Company

Have to admit this was a disappointment after having sampled the 11th Anniversary at same place, TDR - Springhouse. Just didn't have the drinkability. Having found much more drinkable Doppelbocks has proven my initial impression. Worth trying, but after all, so many beers, so little time.

Slightly hazed chestnut red colour with a dense, beige head of fine bubbles. Thick lacing. Sharp grapfruit aroma with a bit of pine, very fragrant. Caramel malt was present, but very mild (it became a little stronger as the beer warmed). Solid bitterness with a juicy grapefruit character. There was a restrained caramel maltiness that provided a bit of balance. Pine resin hit in the finish. Chewy body with some puckering dryness from the hops, particularly at the end. Good malty texture though. This was quite tasty and not at all what I expected - the depth of hop character was a bit of a surprise.

On tap at the Drafting Room in Exton over the weekend. Glad to see that this was still on tap since they brought this out a few weeks back. The beer poured a darkish brown color with a thick tan head that lasted a bit and left a good amount of lacing down my pint. The aroma was of fresh grapefruits via the heaping amount of hops that were probably used on this bad boy. Reminds me a bit of their NN. The taste is an equally impressive shot of hops to your taste buds, sugary grapefruit goodness. That is pretty much all I tasted from this beer but it was enjoyable. The beer had a medium body and with the large amount of grapefruit that you get in the nose and taste, I could not see myselft sitting down for more than one or two of these in a night but it still made for an enjoyable beer.

I liked this beer, my only complaint is that this is a one-off from troegs for TDR ( I got mine in spring house) , I wish they would keep this puppy out there and continue to refine it.

Pours a dark amber, muddle brownish color . Nose is incredibly citrusy with a nice bit of malt hints. There is a tickish semi-tan head, that is frothy and kinnda pillowy.

Flavor is domitanted by a sour, graprfruit flavor. there is some bit of a sugary hint, but it never really materializes. Has a semi-acidic taste as well. Not something that takes away from other flavors, but it is there and worth nothing. Mouthfeel is pretty good, for a IPA finish it has, there is a slightly chewy, malty balance that is also present in the overall flavor of the beer. While the balance is not imeadiatly detected, it makes a nice presentation all together. Nice beer, nice way to celebrate a birthday

On draft at the Exton location...
Appears a muddled dark brown with a frothy, 2 finger tan head that slowly fades into a mild cap. Plenty of full rings of web are left all around the glass.
Smell is of huge amounts of sugary grapefruit. There is perhaps a bit of caramel and brown sugar going on in the background but this is about as fresh of a hop blast you will find outside of a hopboil in the kettle.
Taste is of the same hops explosion found in the aromas with the emphasis being on the sugary grapefruit and nary much more of anything that is being consumed by the alpha acids of this hoppy monster.
Mouthfeel is rich and full bodied, covering the palate with a sugary tease up front that just seems overkill on the bitter hops before settling right on the middle of the tongue with a mild bitter burn. In my opinion, this is where this beer loses out. There is just not enough balance in this mix for me...not to the extent of say, Nugget Nectar, where they nailed it perfectly. I don't want to say "too much hops" but without that balance, I might as well be drinking ruby red grapefruit juice.
I don't want to bash this beer b/c I think it has outstanding qualities. It just doesn't have a huge maltyness to counter balance the bitters. They say that 1600 lbs of malt was used in this but wow...bitter city, baby.

Promised myself to hold off on this review until it was past the date of the release...was lucky to get a sneak peak at a truly unique beer that should fall in its own category.

With that said, I kind of shrug off those super-high scores because people are biased and as a person who is within a couple miles of Troegs, I am undoubtedly biased.

This is the first Imperial "Brown" Ale I have ever seen/tasted...it really doesn't have a category, so I will do my best to describe.

Appearance - An unfiltered Brown color showing a notable amount of malt was used...brewer noted that he went out of his way to find a dark malt that affected the appearance but was EXTREMELY subtle in the taste...kind of a seen but barely heard type event. Something I have never seen before when it comes to such a hoppy beer.

Smell - is that of pure, blissful hops...goldings and a few others...the same nose-full that you get with their Hopback or Nugget, but with some different hops that I cannot name right now from memory. Medium head retension that sends just a wonderful smell up through the pint glass.

Taste - definitely imperial brown ale...with a boatload of hops...can't really describe it better than that, imagine a brown ale with all the characteristics of a hoppy IPA, but it has a malt character to it that I can't put my finger on.

Mouthfeel - perfect. love the fact that they left it unfiltered for us Troegs nuts out here....

Drinkability - High...didn't ask what the % or IBUs were and at the time, they may not have done the final test for the distribution of June 21st...but I will tell you, it was definitely imperial and it was definitely hoppy...plus malt.

I must have if you are in Exton. Please go out of your way to get to this. Slante!