Review - Smuttynose Brewing Company's Really Old Brown Dog
" The Smuttynose Big BEER Series: big beers in big bottles, released seasonally in very limited quantities. Olive, iconic mascot & spirit guide of our brewery, first appeared on our Old Brown Dog label & has returned, thirteen years later, to pose for our Really Old Brown Dog, a luscious, malt-rich, full bodied "old ale" featuring deep notes of complex fruit. Much like our beloved Olive, this beer will mellow & age gracefully." -- Smuttynose Brewing Company
The ROBD pours with a dark amber color with an almost but not quite light brown head with decent size and good retention. The body settles out to a garnet red hue. The aroma is inviting with chewy malts that smell like you could eat them. Sweet alcohol also invades the nose with notes of German dark chocolate. The first taste doesn't give us much to go on, but as it moves through our mouths, it quickly jumps up to a massive hit of sweetness that then slowly subsides to just a slightly sweet finish with a very oily texture. Medium bodied, it is both creamy and oily with gentle carbonation.
Reviewed on August 1st, 2007.