Name: 10th Anniversary Old Ale

Brewer: Southampton

Style: Old Ale

Vintage: 2006

Cellared On: November 30th, 2007

Original Tasting: January 13th, 2008

Since I was going over to my friend Darren’s (a beer fanatic) place to watch the NY Giants playoff game yesterday, I knew I just had to bring an interesting beer for us to try. Since the Giants are a New York team that actually plays out of state, I thought it might be interesting to bring a New York beer that is actually brewed out of state. So Southampton’s 10th Anniversary Old Ale was the choice, a Long Island brewer that does a lot of their brewing in Pennsylvania.

We Poured this ale into a couple of pint glasses, and it came out with an extremely dark brown body topped by a creamy white head. It was very aromatic with smells of sweet sugary malt and dark rich fruit. Needless to say, it looked and smelled great.

The taste here was very, VERY sweet, but not in a cloying way at all. This beer manages to give big brown sugar flavor, but still remain very pleasant and drinkable. The dark fruit flavors also present (fig flavors stood out to me) also gave some great balance and complexity to this beer. There was a long and sweet brown sugar/molasses finish.

I think it’s a great accomplishment by Southampton to be able to make a beer this sweet without overwhelming the other flavors present. It was very fun and interesting to drink; I would love to try this in the future with some vanilla ice cream!

Six-Month Tasting: June 1st, 2008

Not too much change over the past six months. The best feature of this brew is still the amazing brown sugar/molasses sweetness that manages to be so strong yet still doesn’t overwhelm the balance. I would say there may be a bit more of a roasted malt feel midway through the drink, but it just adds to the beer’s complexity. It’s still a great drink.

Cellar Outlook: Southampton sure thinks this Old Ale will age well, mentioning on the label that this beer should continue to improve for years to come. I certainly don’t disagree. I think the additional development of some sugary (caramel/toffee) flavors could really add another dimension to the flavor.

Six Month Cellar Outlook: There’s no reason to think this won’t still stay strong for a long time. I have no reason to doubt my original prediction of malty complexity developing over time.

Next Tasting: December 2008

Jason

jason@brewbasement.com

www.brewbasement.com