Reviewed by Ron DeGregorio
Last night I sat down with my fiance, and we enjoyed the premier of Fox’s Cosmos. I myself am a space nerd and absolutely love staring deep into the endless expanse of our heavens. As I drifted off into the endless nothingness of space, I took one small step for man, and one giant leap for man-kind and cracked open a bottle of North Coast Brewing’s Old Stock Ale (2013). This was a gift from a dear friend of mine, so thank you for that, Greg.
North Coast is the creator of one of the world’s most fantastic Russian Imperial Stouts, at least in my opinion. Old Rasputin is absolutely amazing, and is one of the more economically friendly RIS that I have come across, which is awesome, because that beer is damn good. Knowing what North Coast is capable of, I was very excited to try this Old Stock Ale.
Now, for the sake of full disclosure, I am normally not a fan of strong ales. I do not typically enjoy the dark fruit flavors nor the abundance of alcohol present in the taste. With that being said, I am working toward getting over this prejudice and working very diligently to enjoy them. Now that I’ve made that disclaimer, I want you all to know that I opened this beer with every intention on being unbiased to my own taste predispositions. I hope I achieved that.
Let’s hear what North Coast has to say about Old Stock Ale.
“Like a fine port, Old Stock Ale is intended to be laid down. With an original gravity of over 1.100 and a generous hopping rate, Old Stock Ale is well-designed to round out and mellow with age. It’s brewed with classic Maris Otter malt and Fuggles and East Kent Goldings hops, all imported from England.”
I have an issue with delayed gratification. I think it is a generational thing, and I fully blame Google and high speed internet for creating an environment where waiting for something is cruel and unusual. So, no, I did not age this beer. That is doin’ too much (in the word’s of my very articulate and well-spoken teenage students). So let’s take a look at what I thought of this beer in its present state.
APPEARANCE:
Old Stock Ale is quite beautiful in my tulip glass. The color is a deep, rich amber color. It is a bit darker than rust, but has a brownish/orange quality similar to it. It has a worn penny color; a dark copper tone. There is almost a Fig-Newton filling color to it (come on, bet you have never heard a visual description like that!). Stock Ale has a very fluffy, two-finger wide white head to top it, though it dissipated quite quickly. As far as appearance goes, this beer is stunning.
AROMA:
Immediately upon pouring this ale, rich and deep notes of dark fruit smothered my olfactory. Figs, plums, raisins all to the forefront. Honestly, it is not a smell I personally enjoy, but wow, it is spot on and extremely well crafted. I was quite impressed by the ability of North Coast to have such an impressive aroma on this beer. You can smell the alcohol coming through the dark fruits. It added a certain sweetness to the aroma and let me know right away that this beer is not for the faint of heart.
TASTE:
Woah! This is definitely a strong ale in every sense of the word. There was an explosion, a cacophony, a deluge of dark fruit flavors coating my mouth. I may as well have been chewing on some figs or raisins; that is how well those flavors come across. There were light fusel notes coming through as well, from the high alcohol content. This beer is after all, 11.8% ABV, so it is no joke. This beer sent a warmth plummeting through my body right down into my belly. It would be perfect as a winter-warmer type ale and definitely served that purpose as I drifted through the icy-nothingness of space and time (at least on Cosmos).
CONCLUSION:
I am torn with this beer. As I mentioned earlier, Strong Ales are just not my thing. I find them difficult to enjoy as a beer because I am personally not a spirits drinker, so those high alcohol content beers are typically not my thing, however; that is no fault of North Coast, and so it would not be right of me to give it a low grade due to my own personal preference of styles.
All things considered, I give this beer a 93, or A-. Though it is not quite my style, I can definitely appreciate the well-craftedness that it displays. The appearance, aroma and flavor are absolutely spot on and fit right in with the style guidelines of an Old Ale.
I wish there was just a bit less alcoholic presence, especially in those fusel notes mentioned earlier. This is definitely not quite a barleywine, which I find almost undrinkable (sadly, as I know they are highly-regarded), but not quite a winter warmer, which tend to come in at less than 6% ABV. This is an approachable example of a Strong Ale, and for that, I can appreciate it.
Cheers!
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