Friday Beer Mania

What a long week. Rumsfeld calling us traitors again, reminders of the days Katrina hit New Orleans, fresh reminders of our failure to revive a great Southern city, a record week of explosions and death in Iraq...

With all that joy, it's definitely time for the Friday beer.

This week's selection: Arbor Brewing Company's Reserve Select 2004.

This beer was simply amazing. It poured a deep ruby red with brown highlights and held a nice, thick white head. The retention was great. This beer didn't leave "lacing" like most beers do; this one left "legs" like a wine does, whereby the beer itself clung to the glass instead of the foam. Interesting and full of foreshadowing for what was to come.

The aroma was huge: full of Chardonnay, oak, tannin, as well as the typical Old Ale-style aromas of toastiness, slight hop bitterness and a thick sweetness with tons of deep fruits like plums and prunes.

The taste was remarkable. It started with a hige oak/chardonnay up front, followed immediately by the thickness of heavy, dried fruit. From there it flowed into almost a sweettart aftertaste, which was truly interesting. The only bummer was that there was a hint of a medicinal astringency, but all in all it was a truly remarkable beer.

It was definitely a full-bodied beer with little carbonation sting to it and a nice, lingering alcoholic warmth. All in all, this was a real winner and left me with a massive buzz after half a bottle. Truly an enjoyable beer, highly recommended and rare.

What did your beer look like this week?