Third Coast Old Ale

Brewer: Bell's Brewery, Inc.
Style: Old Ale
ABV: 10.2%
IBU:
Serving Type: 12 oz. bottle poured into an oversize snifter

From the brewer:

Third Coast Old Ale focuses on malt, offering notes of burnt caramel & other earthy malt flavors. Designed with vintage aging in mind, the malt aspect is matched to a heavy complement of hops. Sharply bitter at first, this will fold into the malt character over time and balance out the maltiness.

It's worth noting that this is the winter 2011/2012 vintage. Pours rusty brown, with pretty red highlights at the edges of the glass. An offwhite to tan head settles out to a thin film but doesn't go away. Sticks to the side of the glass when swwirled, more like wine legs than beer lace. The aroma is great, banana bread up front, cinnamon raisin bread behind, both fresh from the oven. Caramel sweetness round it out nicely.

Very sweet. All the flavors from the aroma are present, with some darker sugars adding complexity, brown sugar and maybe slightly burnt caramel. There's a hop bitterness trying to balance it out, grapefruit and earthy, but comes across a little too aggressive. It is a little young though, this kind of thing will probably mellow with age. Just a tad boozy, too, though that, too, should calm down after a while. Temperature helps, too. I thought I was serving it plenty warm at about 50°F, but there was definite improvement as it approached room temperature. Nice and viscous, thick and mouth-coating, with a light but appropriate amount of carbonation.

It's decent now, but I feel like it could be phenomenal after a few months (years??) in the bottle. This came in a sixer, so I'll definitely be revisting it over the coming year.

My score: 3.5/5
Beer Advocate: 91/100
Rate Beer: 100/100
Pintley: 3.8/5