Geary's Hampshire Special Ale - D.L. Geary Brewing Company

MaineBeerMan

Maine

4.6/5  rDev +15.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5

It's here and it's still good. The 2002-2003 Geary's HSA is out. Coppery brown in color with a decent light beige head that left some lacing. Sweet carmel aroma with a hint of fruitiness and hops. Taste starts out big with lots of malty sweetness and a smooth almost creamy mouthfeel.

Seems to have maybe more hops than in previous years. Finishes with a little drying hoppy bitterness and you can feel the alcohol warming you on the way down.

This beer is still one of my favorites and I wish David Geary would make it available year round.

Serving type: bottle

09-21-2002 17:47:35 | More by MaineBeerMan

Andy

Massachusetts

4.22/5  rDev +6.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

This beer celebrates everything I personally dislike in Northeastern beer: the Ringwood yeast strain. Deep amber color. Nose is fresh hop, diacetyl, and sweet malt mixed deep within. Mix of sweet english malt and ringwood yeast flavor/diacetyl, buttery overtones. Slightly earthy mix of hops and yeast. Very well-constructed and a solid rating even if I don't personally enjoy it.

Serving type: bottle

05-24-2002 20:40:39 | More by Andy

Bierman9

New Hampshire

4.38/5  rDev +10.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

This years version ('02-'03, reviewed Oct '02) has a solid copper color, with a creamy, tan head which thins down to a nice, lasting layer, with ok lace. Nose shows a lot: malt, caramel, alcohol, and a good hint o' hops. Mouthfeel? Medium-plus for both body and smoothness...goes down easy. Caramel malt and a strong hop presence inundate the palate, as well as a nice, warming dose of alcohol. This one's a keeper!

overall: 4.3
appearance: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | mouthfeel: 4.5 | drinkability: 4.5

*** ***

Original notes from April 2002:
Again, thanks to Mr JohnnyP for supplying me with this sample of the golden-nectar!! Has a nice copper color, and a big, fine head from a hard pour. Nose is mostly hoppy, with some toasty notes, but mostly on the bitter side. Body is medium, and tongue is medium-plus! Semi-sweet start, a touch biscuity-malty...leads to a smooth hoppy end. Nice balance. Lovely brew....! (No score retained).

118

Serving type: bottle

04-28-2002 15:52:08 | More by Bierman9

John

New York

4.3/5  rDev +8.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

Clear amber liquid with nice head following a vigorous pour. Toasted caramel and semi-sweet bready aroma. Caramel and toasted malt predominate the flavor with a touch of grapefruity hop. Alcohol warms the belly nicely. Delicious.

Serving type: bottle

03-18-2002 10:47:45 | More by John

Murph

Arizona

4.08/5  rDev +2.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Pours a nice dark amber/copper with a thinnish bubbly tan head that dissipates. Great malty alcohol smell. Nice caramel maltiness and some decent balancing hop bitterness. Good slighlty creamy mouthfeel and very drinkable for the style. I've had this on draught and in the bottle, definitely much better on draught. Aging a bottle of this might be interesting.

Serving type: bottle

02-08-2002 14:06:20 | More by Murph

Todd

Massachusetts

4.38/5  rDev +10.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

A balanced beer to say the least, with both a distinct malty and hoppy flavour. Very smooth, very drinkable and very alcoholic on the breath. Can't really go wrong with a beer like this, unless you can't handle a RIngwood beer -- but it's well-blended into the mix. One of my favourites and one of Geary's best beers IMO -- "special" indeed.

Serving type: bottle

02-07-2002 22:38:38 | More by Todd

gwfrankpsu

California

3.1/5  rDev -21.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

This is a disappointment - love the ads - brewed only while the weather sucks, or something like that. There are much better winter beers. Just not what I expected.

Serving type: bottle

02-01-2002 18:10:48 | More by gwfrankpsu

Jason

Massachusetts

4.47/5  rDev +12.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Presentation: 12oz semi-fat brown with a gold foil twisty. Winter 01-02 on bottle to denote what year it was brewed for.

Appearance: Rich copper colour with light brownish highlights, a healthy off white lace wraps the inside of the glass with ample stickiness.

Smell: Soft caramel and toasted malt biscuit and bread with a dash of buttery toffee. Honey and a currant and berry mix for fruitiness. Light twinge of ester alcohol in the nose.

Taste: Smooth upfront with a light to moderate carbonation. Certainly full in body with a vague polished buttery feeling. Large and jam-packed with malt flavours of toasted and caramel. Diacetyl is significant yet not to the point of being out of balance. The warming alcohol brings forth fruitiness and esters to round this big profile out. Hints of dark honey and light berry fruit add to the complexity. Hop bitterness drops a great leveling flavour and oily herbal character. Caramel and grain in the finish with overtones of diacetyl.

Notes: Year after year this one is a sure thing for winter seasonals, bitterness seems a step up this year which is fine considering all of the malt flavour to deal with.

Serving type: bottle

01-29-2002 20:33:54 | More by Jason

bcm119

California

4.05/5  rDev +2%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 4 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

This is as close to a session beer as you can get at 7% abv. Its a really nice feeling beer on the palate, and the toasty biscuit flavor is delicious. I didn't like the minerally, hard water flavors though (you can actually smell this too), and I think the hops could be more up front. Still a very good winter brew.

Serving type: bottle

11-21-2001 21:45:36 | More by bcm119

hbis2gut

New Hampshire

4.95/5  rDev +24.7%
look: 4 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5

WOW, this guy does a few beers and does them well. This is the showcase beer for this brewery. A strong ale that gives off malt and hop aromas rather than booze fumes. Mouthfeel is perfect in my opinion. Too often these types of ales are sticky or too heavily bodied. Highly recommended.

Serving type: bottle

10-08-2001 18:53:03 | More by hbis2gut