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2013/02/03 02:46:58瀏覽242|回應0|推薦1 | |
Durham Brewery, Redemption (Ruby Old Ale), 10%abv. (Old Ale) Purchased at the Durham Brewery’s on-site brewery shop, coming in a 500ml brown bottle, bottle-conditioned. The bottle label states that this is “A very special limited edition, brewed December 2011 then stored and matured in the brewery. Traditional English character with massive complex malt and nutty Fuggles hops”. BB 07/2017, served cool in a tulip-shaped short-stemmed sniffer. 4/5 Appearance: pours a dark copper colour with a bright black-tea-ish red hues when seen against the light, the beige frothy head builds up slowly and beautifully, while the carbonation is healthy for a bottle-conditioned ale, being constant and fine. 4/5 Smell: like a good quality English Barleywine, the aroma is full of aromatic jammy, dark-fruity malts, with an edge of thick honey to boot, while a swirl gives rise to deeper notes of salted-sweet plum preserve, faint toffee, cherry skins, raw gristy nuts, plentiful esters and even a wee touch of phenol; Fuggles hops render a slightly earthy fragrance, but just enough to balance the fruity maltiness overall. At the same time, the alc. (10%abv.) hides very well to render an even “refreshingly” aromatic impression. After a few sips, a little amount of nectar-like sourness also blends in the air. 4.5/5 Taste: the palate is slightly flat but not without a limited amount of super-microscopic fizz… The initial, lubricating swallow of sweet longan-fruit tea (with some tea-leaf-like tannins), dark honey, and toffee-ish malts is closely ensued by a slowly expanding wave of hop bitterness, until an aftertaste manifests with a slightly dry-ish palate reminiscent of a medium-sweet aged sherry; the finish is packed with raisin-y undertones and bitter-sweet lightly-charred nuts, as the Fuggles hops rub the deep ends of the tongue with a chewy feel. The warming kickback from alc. joins pretty late, deep down the throat, making each sip feel like a real digestif-like liquor. 4.5/5 Mouthfeel & 4.5/5 Overall: lubricating, not too sweet or oily-heavy, on the palate, full-bodied and yet the alc. is so skilfully hidden behind the façade of wonderful flavours on an almost “immaculate” balance. A solid, aged Barleywine, or Old Ale, this is, with a very good ageing potential as far as the flavour profile is concerned. --Yau (01/02/2013) |
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