Thursday, May 22, 2008

Thunder Hole Ale, Bar Harbor Brewing Co, Bar Harbor, Maine


I was recently gifted the Thunder Hole Ale from a visiting friend from Maine. This selection won a gold medal at the 1997 World Beer Championships in the brown ale category, and I do not know why. The beer did start off great. The pour was a bit crazy, no matter how you poured it it came out 95% head. It looked like a giant chocolate frappe. The taste started off with a nice chocolate malt with hints of roasted coffee. And that's where it ended. The malty goodness disappeared halfway through your sip. But good news, this is when you realized the beer was flat, wait, that's NOT good news. At this point it was suggested that I put salt in the beer, because apparently this is what you do to flat beer. I tried it at the end, but it did not help. Can someone confirm this old wives' tale? Apparently I must have gotten the bottle of beer that was not "naturally carbonated" as the label suggests. One good thing about the beer, it came in a 22 oz bottle which is sweet. From Microbrews I tend to look for something stronger than the 5% ABV this beer was packing. As a brown ale guy I was disappointed with this entry. I'd have to give it a 1.5.

1 comment:

jay said...

next time i come down, i'll bring another bottle. hopefully one that isn't flat..