Orange & Black Congrats Ale!
Marin Brewing Company

 

Social Kitchen & Brewery - San Francisco, CA - draft (guest tap)

 

 

 

 

 

From notes, 4/11/11. The beer pours a very dark brown with a dissipating beige head. It’s just barely transparent in strong light. The aroma is a happy marriage of roasted malt, chocolate and juicy orange peel. It smells like a dark chocolate orange. Chocolate and orange is not my favorite combination, but this is quite nice. The beer has a bit too much sweetness for my taste. It’s mostly cocoa up front. Some bitter roast and orange peel notes hit in the finish. Not a fan of the taste. It’s soft and full on the palate. Quite nice.

 

 

 

Fresh bottle from recent California trip. A good very drinkable shwartzbier/black ipa. A nice hoppiness and roastiness, both understated to allow some orange flavour to come through. Not at all like the Moylan's version, but perhaps that wasn't as immediate fresh.

Opened this bottle, and it exploded! The biggest gusher I've ever had in a beer. Pours about 3 inches of beer, with a lot of head. Tons of foam went over the glass or went all over my carpet. Scent was just as bad as Moylan's version of this beer...which I'm pretty sure is the same beer, just with a bottling problem. Light chocolate with hints of fake orange zest. Taste is like a cheap chocolate stout with like a lemon pixie stick poured into it. Not a great beer. Mouthfeel is light for the style. Drinkability is low. Overall, I don't normally hate this much on beers...especially from a brewery that I usually like or give the benefit of the doubt to. But when this beer has been sitting still for over a week (wasn't shaken up), and I can only get a few inches of actual liquid out of it, it just sucks. I also didn't like the Moylan's version very much, even though it didn't have carbonation problems.

 

 

I picked up a bottle of the Marin Brewing Co. Black & Orange Congrats! at a local shop since it's a local brewery (living in Palo Alto) and I was intrigued by the 'Live Ale - Keep Refrigerated!' warning on the side. After reading the back label it's clearly intended as a one time release in celebration of the SF Giants World Series win.

As for the beer, it pours a beautiful dark brown (almost black) with a ridiculously generous (annoying?) amount of frothy white head that took forever to fall (and bubbled out from the top of the bottle)... possibly related to the 'live ale'? The smell is standard brown ale with hints of citrus, and the taste is decent... with definite malty sweetness, a mild coffee stout sort of flavor, and somewhat light on the hops (especially for a California beer). Definite carbonation with a reasonable mouthfeel. Overall a solid brew, but probably not one I'd pick up for regular consumption. Glad I tried it.