bluebeer wrote:Sierra Nevada/Dogfish Head Life and Limb...Was extremely fortunate to get a bottle of this as my local store received a whopping 6 bottles of it. Not sure what availability is elsewhere but very limited up here in MA. 24 ounce bottle with probably the best label I have seen...
http://www.life-limb.com/
I guess I would cal this a barleywine or strong ale...Pours an imperial stout-like black though much thinner and with a very small head. Taste is extremely complex. Lots of sweet carmel malts but balanced well with a mild pine hoppy bite. I'm not sure if it's the birch but there is a fairly substantial earthiness/woody taste that reminds me a bit of some scotch ales. The maple syrup is very noticeable but also subtle enough to not overpower everything else. No alcohol bite despite the 10% ABV. This is easily one of the best beers I have had. I thought it would be very sweet but it is balanced just perfectly. I have 12 ounces to finish tonight and I will be quite sad when my glass is empty...
From 2/9/14:
Life and Limb 2 or 2011 edition-Sierra Nevada/Dogfish Head Brewing
I'm gonna quote bluebeer/bluebear with his original review of Life and Limb 1.0 from 2009 and then add a few thoughts of my own. His thoughts are on the money. I'd probably go with strong ale as it did not have the usually intense hop bitterness of a barleywine. I'd guess the IBU to be 50-60 however. I doubt they varied the recipe much for this year's edition except I thought the pour was not quite a RIS-like black. Four of us split the $10 750 ml caged and corked bottle late this afternoon as we had our family gift exchange and everyone found it absolutely delightful by itself, slightly chilled from red wine glasses. I have another bottle and I do believe it will be cellared until Christmas, 2012 :D .
BTW, the fish are still swimming on the label on the link but I could not get mine to even budge on my label. Maybe if I had 3 or 4 of these they might start moving :o.