Petrol Station Anniversary Party: Divine Reserve 10

So it turns that one of the best beer bars in Houston celebrated it's fifth anniversary. To celebrate, Petrol Station set up a tap list of all high gravity rare beers, including some special ones that are not even for sale. I must say it was a very special event. I had to beat it out of there at about 8PM unfortunately, but it was fantastic. It's one of those things where you wish there was a hotel next door to the place. One sec.


Beer Log: Right now
State: Rather thirsty from my run this morning still

Celis Pale Bock
Copped this one over the weekend at Spec's Downtown. Clear amber color (looks like rum in my Old New Orleans Rum glass) with a lasting white head. Just sad on the taste. Pretty bitter and sour. No real malt in there. It's almost like the beer is infected. Well, I'm pouring this one out. I'll let you guess the rating.

So at Petrol I sat with a few other Houston area beer bloggers/tweeters and we had a great time. Great beer, good beer talk as well. Not to mention some cigars outside. Anyway let's start the show with a few reviews. The wife and I basically ordered a bunch of the beer in half pints as everything was VERY HIGH ABV.

Beer Log: November 13, 2010
State: Fired up for the big event, eating a Rancor burger and drinking a Dogfish Head 90 Minute as a palate cleanser.

Founders IPA
Amber with a white head. Great balanced hop and malt aroma. Taste is nice and very drinkable. I get a lot of grass and wood for the hops. I actually find this very refreshing as a very hop forward beer. I could tell many were not too thrilled with this one, but hey, I like it. I've been backing off my love of the balanced IPA for a hop forward pale ale or even something like an extra pale ale. 4 Stars. Hold up...

Beer Log: Right Now
State: Still thirsty as hell but now I have this sour Celis bock taste in my mouth

The Duke of Winship by Middle Ages
Got this from one of the boys maybe a year ago. Great malty and somewhat lemony nose on top of the huge head. And the head is on top of a cloudy deep brown color. The first thing that strikes me is the high carbonation on the mouthfeel. The beer has a nice light porter quality (roast, malt). I get some cinnamon as well in there. The beer finishes very dry with a light light bitterness. The body is thin as per style. Otherwise I'm getting a touch of metallic and water in there which takes it down to a low 3 stars.

So back to the Petrol

Dragon's Milk by New Holland
I've heard so much about this beer. Especially in places like The Brewing Network. Deep brown color with bourbon/plastic nose. Very strong malt almost imperial like. Lightly hopped with an excellent kind of chocolate and cream flavor throughout the experience. High 4 Stars.

Southern Star Abiding Dude
I learned that this beer was made with of course Southern Star and Ben's coffee beans (owner of Petrol Station). How cool is that? Brown and cloudy, smells strongly of maple syrup and oak and coffee. The taste is of strong bitter coffee (not usually my thing). This one got a little watery on the back of the palate. But very good for it's purpose and seem to get stronger as it warmed up. 3 Stars.

Hop Mouth by Arcadia
I don't even know how these dudes even GOT this beer here. The rub about Texas beer laws is that you cannot sell beer in a bar that is not available to the public, unless of course the beer only comes on draft. So when you are out at a great beer bar, you can basically assume that whatever you are drinking you can run to the Specs Downtown or on Jones Road and pick it up. But these beers I have not seen anywhere. Moving on. Hop Mouth has an amber color and creamy white head. Cascadey nose. Very creamy and smooth, like an English pale ale with American hops. High 3 Stars.

Divine Reserve 10 by Saint Arnold
AT LONG LAST!!!!!!!!! I was in San Francisco when this beer came out and if not for the man @Davewantbeer, I would not have this beer with me at all. But I have three bottles in my beer fridge, and I figured what the hell, I'm drinking this one everywhere I can get it. Dark amber color with excellent malt and sugar sweetness. Smooth and very delicious with the strong caramel and malt flavors. Low hops and very very clean. And I did not find it too cloying. I gotta give it to them again. 5 Stars. Absolutely divine. And that comes after a sh1t-ton of other beers.

Real Ale Mysterium Velum
This one is from our good friends at Real Ale. I understand this is the great Devil's backbone (one of my favorite Tripels) aged in Merlot barrels. Now if they managed to age this in Pinot Noir barrels I probably would still be at the bar drinking it. I get this beer and the first thoughts I get are "oh hell yeah". Great banana, clover with light character that yes cut through the DR10 English Barleywine. I can see the wine flavor in there with a pinch of sourness that I first attribute to Chardonnay. As it warms and I get the palate cleansed, I can see the Merlot. Dry finish, soft character with a little tannins going on. 4 Stars.

Southern Tier Creme Brulee
Very nice nose. This beer is like a stout with Creme brulee. I get the cream, the vanilla, and the burnt sugar thing. I don't know how in the hell they pulled that off but the flavor comes out very well, especially in the aftertaste. Very creative. 4 Stars.

Stone 10.10.10
Ah the Vertical Epic beer that never made it to Texas due to some mixup in the labelling. It's a tripel (going so out of order) and it has a great tripel nose and great tripel taste. Similar to the stuff I've had from Ommegang and Allagash. You all know the tripel characteristics by now, so when I tell you these guys have nailed it better than any Belgian Tripel I've had from Belgium, you know it's is the bomb. I actually have a bottle we brought back from San Francisco, so on 12.12.12 I'll be cracking open at least one bottle. 5 Stars.

Beering at the Saucer: Finally

Well I fell well short of getting to 200 beers at the Saucer this summer. Here it is October and I haven't been back here in a couple months. Oh well, I can certainly make up for lost time...

Beer Log: Today, right now
State: On the laptop sitting outside in perfect weather at the Flying Saucer. Putting together some documentation to get a raise and/or a promotion.

Real Ale Oktoberfest
The fellas in Blanco, TX are hitting us with a seasonal, and I think this is the first Oktoberfest they've done since I've been in the beer world. This beer looks and smells VERY authentic oktoberfest. Toast/malt nose coming off strong from the thin head. Not to mention a perfectly clear amber color. My first beer in over a week and this thing tastes almost alt-like or American Amber like. Lots of toasty malt and I want to say American citrus hops as opposed to the funky noble hops. This thing is tasting like manna from heaven right now. I love the slightly medium body, mouthfilling, moderate carbonation. I think I'm experiencing a little absorption right now. My system has cleaned out and now I'm getting some beer in my system. 4 Stars baby.

Dogfish Head Aprihop
Had this in the spring but it's on fire sale baby! Nose is rather hoppy/malty, almost imperial like as only Dogfish Head can. Great mix of apricot and a strong american IPA. Got to love the mashups. The apricot is strong enought to power through but not so strong that it overtakes the beer itself. High 3 Stars.

Well they were out of the 512 Two beer, but now I have my heart set on an Double IPA. DIPA baby. And here we go with some Brewdog.

Brewdog Hardcore IPA
Damn man, Brewdog. It's here. Damn, it actually smells like a beer and not the lit end of a cigar. The nose is actually rather fruity, kinda sweet cherries and apples, of all things. Maybe some pineapple. I get a nice citrus hop as well. This beer tastes pretty choppy, in that I don't get much up front, but hops come on strong a little bit after it gets in your mouth. The beer is full and wet, but leaves my mouth dry and a touch chalky. I like my beers to be more crisp these days. Harsh stuff but gets a little more drinkable as you move along. Give me 3 Stars for the chalk. I prefer the poofier and cleaner DIPAs of Avery and Dogfish.

Gastropub Review: THE BRC

Checked out this spot over the weekend with the Misses. We've heard tell of a great new gastropub, and sure enough this place delivered. We get in the BRC around 1PM and it kinda packed. Lots of shirts and ties for the late lunch crowd. There were even a couple middle-aged businessmen there with their 19 year old daughters, how sweet. They sat us at the wall couch kinda close up with the other patrons. Lots of red and white colors, smallish bar with a flatscreen off in the cut. You can't see the TV from most of the seats in the restaurant, but we can live.

I did the old three beer thing. First a beer for appetizer and I notice a new one, Twisted Pine.

Beer Log: Last Friday
State: kinda hungry, chilling at the BRC
//Damn you've gotta drink this Sunburn quick, or it goes bad fast.

Twisted Pine Blonde Ale
Since it's hot as balls out there, I felt the need to drink some lighter stuff. Kinda breay and sweet, served muy frio in a frosted glass. I'll allow it since it's a blonde ale and I'm still sweating, even in the AC. Nice hint of fruit, like apricot and noble hops. It's shyte load better than this week-old Widmer Sunburn I'm drinking right now, and with the variety pack of Twisted Pine we just picked up, I have a half a mind to grab another Blonde Ale right now. Low 3 Stars.

The White Wine mussels were on special and I decided to break my rule of never getting "the special" at a restaurant, especially on my first time there. The mussels were very well done with the cream sauce and some andouillie sausage for flavor. But the fries, oh WOW! Just slightly crispy on the outside, and soft in the middle. If these guys did not use the twice-cook method Alton Brown espouses, I would be shocked. I'm thinking they baked these fries first, then QUICKLY seared them in grease. Or just spritzed some olive oil on the baked fries and turned up the flame to broil. But whatever. Everything went great with the North Coast Pranqster. They served it with some sort of a hot sauce syrup for dipping sauce, which was just that, some mixture of hot sauce and maple syrup, which sounds like something we would take shots of at the IHOP in Buckhead at 3AM while in Grad School, but this little sauce was STELLAR with the mussels and fries.

Lastly I got the skillet griddle with the Real Ale Devil's Backbone. Very well done as well. The sandwich was something resembling a patty melt (patty melts are awesome), but the meat was pulled beef bbq, and the cheese was some Oregon cheddar and Pola Moonster. And MORE fries. Hell-f8ck-yeah!

It's creative places like this that will make you want to live in Heights/Midtown/Upper Kirby if you are a foodie and/or beerman. Not to mention it reminds me of one of the old school wrestlers.

Sorry for not blogging

Apologies to the BeerBrotha Nation, all three of us. I have been uber busy as I've just been approved for a transfer to an onshore position, which means I'll be home every night and still doing what I like to do. Fantastic! But that means I'm working like crazy to wrap up my projects before I transfer. We're also doing a lot of research to revamp our investment club to investing in business ventures as opposed to just stocks. Lots more work involved deciding to be a major investor in a small company than a minor investor in a large company.

Not to mention I've just got the greenlight to give a presentation on the Energy Sector at a conference in Tulsa, OK (Pass the Choc Beer) this Halloween weekend. And the people of OK think they are just as big in this business as those of us in Texas, so I got to be on my stuff.

Somewhere in there I have my daughter's birthday today (2 Years old) and a little trip to OKTOBERFEST in Munich.

Anyway, how about a little month old review:

Beer Log: August 22, 2009
State: At the Alamo Drafthouse

Real Ale Phoenix Double ESB
Like Dave Chappelle said: "It's too real for ya!". Nothing like some good old ESB on a summer day at the old movie house. Light malt smell, copper color with thin lasting white head. Served pretty cold with a light malt/chocolate thing going on with the taste in the middle-back of the tongue. 2nd draught is just moderate grassy hops. 3rd draught is a little buttery and kinda chalky. Not sure how that happen in three separate gulps, but whatever. No rating just yet. Looking forward to this one again.

Turns out I only have one more beer to go before getting an Alamo Beer Hunter Beer Stein. Hellz yeah. It takes 30 beers on draft at the Alamo to make this happen, and after some hardwork and movie going, we're almost there. Holla.

Beering Scene Houston and Fireman's #4

Either I'm paying attention more, or we're getting a lot more beer options in the bar scene in Houston. First we have Block 7 Wine having a great Belgian beer tasting, featuring some awesome beers like Deus and some more widespread Belgian beers like Delirium Tremens. I'll have a post about that sooner or later.

Next it looks like we have a new little spot called The Drinkery on Washington Ave in the Heights, with a nice beer selection. Actually they are owned by the same folks that own Corkscrew, a great wine bar also on Washington Ave. So that's another group of winefolk that are putting some of that energy in beer.

Next is a new spot called Taps House of Beers. We just came from that area and it looks like Taps was not open, but I'm looking forward to doing some Washington Ave beering soon. The Flying Saucer stays packed and apparently Sunday night is cougar night.

To add to the beer scene, Lil' Napoli in downtown Houston was your typical intimate Italian restaurant with a good seafood pasta selection. Now it's your typical intimate Italian restaurant with a good seafood pasta selection and about 20 taps of craft beer. NICE! But now come this November we'll have a Yardhouse at the new CityCentre complex on the west side. Should go well with a rather classy Studio Movie Grill and a super stylish pool bar MonnaLisa.

Most restaurants now at least have some Saint Arnold and Shiner Bock. I was even able to grab some Shiner 100 at Goode Co. BBQ out on the northwest side. But the common beer kinda making headway with the masses is Real Ale's Fireman #4 which I reviewed this time last year. Of all the great Real Ale beers, I guess I should not be surprised this Blonde Ale is climbing the ranks mainstream in Houston. This town is still owned by Shiner Bock with Saint Arnold amber a FAR second, but we now see F#4 appearing on more shorter tap bars. I would even say F#4 is a great introductory craft beer for swill drinkers. So if you haven't had some Fireman's #4 yet, um, you probably will at your company happy hour.

(And for clarification, I think Saint Arnold Amber is so far back b/c those boys just cannot brew anymore than they are right now, so I think they'll get more love once they expand operations.)

Beaver's with some Texas Beer

Ah the Beave. Heard about this gastropub a few weeks ago and we had to check it out. You walk in and it has a whole rustic/eclectic/cut out of wood look to it. The tables and chairs at the bar are logs and whatnot. It smells like BBQ as well. I'll forgive the 3 beers on tap as they were all local beer, yet they made up for it with 75 bottled beers. This place is perfect for the Heights, a happening part of Houston just northwest of downtown. It looks pretty grimy, but it's damn expensive to live there.

I did try a couple beers...

Beer Log: May 9, 2009
State: Hanging out with the Misses

Southern Star Bombshell Blonde (ON TAP)
The more I research the beer name "Bombshell Blonde", the more I realize how unoriginal it is. But it's a helluva name, so I won't knock the boys from Conroe for coming up with it. Light malt nose. I notice a kind of chill haze orange color, no head. Moving on the taste, I get a light toast followed by bread (if you like amber beers, you'll know what I mean). A little grapefruity and a little sour (perhaps intentional?). There is some light bitter aftertaste, but that puckering sourness lingers and a touch cloyingness hurts. Medium body and medium carbonation. Sadly this is 2 Stars for Southern Star. I think they were trying to get to an amber ale, and it very well may be an amber ale if you entered it in competition, but not quite there for me.

(As I read these entries in my book from early May, everything seemed to taste sour and/or overly hopped. Could be my palette was evolving at the time).

By the way, take your girlfriend to Beaver's. It has a much better wine list than other beer bars and it has some very fun looking cocktails which I'm sure the ladies would love.

Real Ale Coffee Porter
From one extreme to the next. Light espresso nose. Black night color with a creamy head. It tastes like coffee, has a thin body, and is a touch watery at the back of the tongue. Low 3 Stars. The more I drink it the coffee morphs into chocolate and the mouthfeel is pretty dry. But that doesn't save this brew as the feeling of burnt coffee remains throughout the pint. Oh well.

I would much rather have a New Belgium Giddy Up or the Kona Pipeline Porter for my coffee porters. Again, this is at the same bar. These beers are local so I'm sure I'll have them again. If nothing else, Southern Star beer comes in cans, which is great if you're going to the beach or the pool.

After we made it back home I turned to my old trick of drinking a pale ale.

Summit Extra Pale Ale
I need to take some time and look up the difference between an "Extra Pale Ale" and a "Pale Ale". Holdup, I'm on the Internet, one sec...

Alright I'm back. After the first six pages of Google, I give up. I see a lot of beer pages for beers with "extra pale ale" in their name, but no formal definition. Wikipedia doesn't even have that. Someone please chime in and tell me what the specific style of "Extra Pale Ale" is. I get the feeling it is open to interpretation, but the XPAs I've had kind remind me of "Extra Special Bitters" ESB, in that the name is a misnomer. ESBs are not really bitter at all, and I find XPAs (save Bear Republic's) are not super hoppy like you'd think. Where was I?

Summit Extra Pale Ale
Light malt and orange nose. taste is some light malt and hops with a metallic character in the back of the palette. There is a funky type of hop with an icky hop aftertaste. Maybe it's sat too long in the store. The good woman brought this one back from her trip to Maryland. Clear amber color with offwhite lasting head. Low 3 Star to 2 Star.

Beering in San Antonio: Can I get some FreeTail

Do you know the Gingerman?

A little more beering in Houston. A friend of mine and I called another happy hour for guys in the Oil & Gas industry. "The Oil and Gas Boys Happy Hour". Every time we have one of these, someone decides to bring his girl or something. We are thinking about changing the name to "The Oil and Gas Boys Happy Hour, Bring the Women". Anyway, we always do this at a beer bar somewhere, and this time it was Gingerman.

This a nice pubby beer bar and ranks in the Top 3 in the beer bars of Houston, along with the Flying Saucer. As many pints that I've knocked back at the Sauce, I could see myself spending more time at Gingerman. It's smaller, more intimate, and oodles of taps. They don't have the numbers of beers like Saucer, but they have a lot of different beers there I haven't even seen at the big Specs downtown. The bartender was a cool dude that knew his beer. We talked beer for quite some time, mostly discussing some Belgians and Real Ale. He even let me try a shot of a couple beers as well. When I do my Beer Bar rankings at the end of the year, I may have to put this at or near the top of my own list.

Date: November 5, 2008
State: Chillin, a little irritated, still fired up with the Obama win

The wife stuck me with the baby so she could play beach volleyball, so I got to my own happy hour 2 hours late. A lot of my friends had already left, but I many were still there. I decided to stick to the beer on the chalkboard without any particular style in mind...

New Belgium Giddy Up
The girl at the bar warned me that this has a small shot of espresso in it. I don't really drink coffee or espresso, but with all the coffee tasting beers I've had, why not. It smells and tastes of lemon and coffee, with a nice malt backbone to remind that this is a beer. This is very smooth with a dark amber color. Damn nice beer. I'm sticking this with a 3 star for now. Hella strong flavor. And I was awake the whole night.

Real Ale Dunkel Roggen
No clue what this style was. I see dunkel and I think dark. I see Roggen and I think conservative from California. This one is light orangish in color and smells of that Belgium Bret and fruitiness/banana. I did not see that one coming. And it seems that Real Ale pulls the old switcheroo, as the taste is way more bitter than I thought. It smooth with some Bret in taste near the back of the tongue. The mouthfeel is very interesting as well. 3-4Stars.

Real Ale would easily be the best brewery in Texas if it weren't for the Saint Arnold's Divine Reserves, both of which I put as 5 Star Beers. Then again, do I want to give SA credit for just brewing some ish that a homebrewer submitted. All they had to do was let the guy in the brewery to do his thing and slap it in a bottle and sell it for 3 times the normal six pack.

A lot of the guys were leaving at this point, but a couple of us were still up, so why not some Chimay I haven't had...

Chimay Cinq Cents Tripel
It has that bret smell again and the fruitiness again. I first notice the hops and alcohol, followed by the fruity maltiness. It is hoppy/bitter on the aftertaste. As it warms, the sweet/sour continues to come out. 3Star.

Almost Caught Up, Go Blonde

I like my beer like I like my women: blond that goes down quick.

July 16, 2008


State; Cooling down, taste of clams in my mouth
Actually I'm an Imperial IPA man, but I love that line. Yes, I made that one up myself.

I'm back at the Sauce, and I am at a loss as to which style to sample. I'm still pretty far from the 200 beers needed to get a plate on the wall, so I'm still drinking the beers on the Fire Sale. This means I'm going for the New Belgium seasonal, Springboard. The lady tells me that this is a blonde ale, so blonde ales it is for the night.

I had some crappy clams and pasta at an Italian place down the street, but whatever. We called a happy hour for a few of the guys, calling it the "Oil and Gas Boys" happy hour. Since our happy hour, the price of oil has gone down by about $23, so check us out man.

New Belgium Springboard
Big fan of the New Belgians. I drank a considerable amount of Fat Tire during football season last year. This one is a little cloudy and orange-yellow straw color. Smells a little estery like a wheat beer. High carbonation (like a wheat beer), but with a sudden pleasant sweetness with a dry finish. A little hard to get down though. The sweetness is fruity, yet slightly malty and bready. Another taste and I say the fruit is like apple. It's seems more a wheat beer than a blond ale. With the bread, I say it's like one of those Apple Muffins you can get out of the vending machine. The head is white with some decent lace. A little bitter on the AT. The more I drink it, the more I can taste the Blonde Ale-ness coming out, as well as a touch of spice. Very nice beer, 3 stars.

Real Ale Fireman #4
Been looking forward to trying this one. She poured it in a tall wheat glass. Strong white head, straw clear color. Head is lacy too. Not much of a smell. Bready taste with med-low carbonation. Low hops with a very quick finish, no real aftertaste. A little buttery the more I get into it with some of that emptiness. I love the quick finish however. I'm noticing some spice as I get more used to it, but not as bready. 3 stars.

Coopers Sparkling Ale
I actually used a Coopers kit for my first homebrew, which I need to formally review some time. The can said "Lager" though the instructions had it ferment at around 70 degrees. This one was slightly cloudy with a straw color. White low head. Good basic yet sudden maltiness, then a vegetal flavor like the homebrew "lager" I brewed. The second draught is a little empty, then vegetal. A little wet and rough on the aftertaste. I wrote down "worst of the night". 2 stars.

For clarification, when I say "empty" I'm talking almost watery or just plain liquid. In other words, I not getting any flavor one way or the other, kinda of like the light beers.

These beers are pretty good, and I do enjoy a good blonde ale in the right condition. I'll say the Springboard was the best, followed by Fireman and then Coopers rounding out the rear. Good experience overall and the happy hour was pretty fun as well.

Central Market Run-off

The wife and I have decided to take another run to Central Market in Houston, TX. Again, a killer variety. We still have some stuff from San Antone, so we make a good three beer run later on that night.

Real Ale Full Moon Pale Rye

May 16th, 2008

Oh yeah, back to REAL ALE, for REAL MEN. Copper color, slight cloudiness. A little bitty sniff talks of citrus hops, but a deep cocaine snort will get you the caramel malt. It has a white very lasting head. I've never had beer with rye, so this ought to be interesting. It has medium bitterness with very drinkable mouthfeel, low carbonation. The malt is low, yet noticeable early in the taste. It's a little bitter on the aftertaste, yet goes down very smmoth. It's not much one way or the other, more good citrusy hops comes out as it warms. It's goes nice with my baked fish and asparagus. It very well may be American Pale Ale

Later on, we go Divine!!!!!!!!!

This deserves its own post.

Good ol' Central Market

At the risk of losing my "Man Card" and "Black Card" simultaneously, I walk into the Central Market in San Antonio. The wife says they have a huge selection, and indeed they do. Nice surprise. I may even get some spices for my next home brew. We went there to see if the local San Antonio brewpub Blue Star, but apparently they only sell out of the brewpub, the nerve. But they have a variety pack of Real Ale, and I have to support the beers from the Republic of Texas. I think we also grabbed some Dogfish stuff as well.

May 9th, 2008
State: Full, Chillin
Is there ever a time I'm not chillin. Well we start with none other than what I gather is a Blond Pale Ale.

Real Ale Rio Blanco Pale Ale
Very nice label. Artistic. The beer is transparent with quality brozne and a good white head. What more could you expect from something with word "Blanco". It smells of caramel, cloves, and light flowers. (Note, I now know what cloves smell like after the wife had me sniff some cloves in a bag, or was that...) It's slightly sweet, with a medium hops that dies fast. The 3rd and 4th gulps give of hints of citrus. It's got a light-medium body, with a sudden aftertaste. It's bitter on the back of the tongue for a good 60 seconds after drinking and then vanishes again, I counted. It's alright, but maybe a touch too hoppy for a Blond, but a nice one. Ooh, a little lace on the head, probably not blond.

May 10th, 2008

State: I'm full and chillin, but could use some hair of the dog after getting a little slizzard last night.

Aprihop (Dogfish Head)
I've got a tan head, with clear copper, and peaches and hops smell. I have no CLUE what apricots are, but the wife tells me they smell and taste like peaches. It's got a medium body, tastes of peaches with medium hops, though not really bitter (go fig). It's very drinkable with little aftertaste. Later on in the gulp they sneak in a slight maltiness. Nice touch. It's a little sour and tangy as well. As I keep drinking it, it feels like peach juice near the back of the tongue. It's not a harsh beer, but different than anything I've ever had before. It's getting even more peachy as it warms up. I'm gonna have to either move somewhere near Delaware (maybe DuPont is hiring). Nah, I'll keep making the oil money.

Penn Dark
More beer of the month club stuff. It's smells of caramel sweet lager, brown color, white head, and red in the light. It's got medium carbo yet kind of reminds me of Shiner Bock. It has a late bitter aftertaste. It's very light but not dry, a little residuey. I'm getting some sweet chocolate and vanilla notes near the end. Come on.