Aspen Meadow Black & Tan
Cold Spring Brewing Co.

 

Poured a medium copper color with bountious tannish puffy head. The appearance was nice, except this is supposed to be a black and tan Smell is mostly caramel, with some toasty notes. Taste is pleasant enough and refreshing, but nothing like a black and tan. Finish is a bit dry, but nothing outstanding. I am beginning to wonder if they are using the same beer for all their products, but putting different labels on them.

I approached this beer with some reluctance - having tried the pale ale and nut brown, and not having been too impressed, I figured this would be the worst of all, since a bottled black & tan is tough to pull off, even for a talented brewer.

Here is where I would like to say that I was pleasantly surprised, turned out to be a great beer, yada yada yada. No dice. This was a washout. Poured an very, very clear bronze amber. How do you get that color in a black and tan? If a stout got anywhere near this beer, it was waved at the bottling line as it went by. Might qualify for some sort of insipid pale ale, but it had no qualities of a black and tan mix. They should be embarassed to market this.