Geary Hampshire Special Ale (HSA)
Maine’s original “Winter Warmer”.
The unique incredibly complex “HSA” is a clear, mahogany-colored strong ale with a heavy body and thick mouth feel.
A toasty, malty, stone fruit sweetness compliments and contrasts the assertive flavors of the large hop build and noticeably high alcoholic content.
ABV 7.0% | SRM 21 | IBU 48
HOPS:
Cascade, Mt. Hood, Golding (initially East Kent Goldings)
MALT:
English 2-row
The unique incredibly complex “HSA” is a clear, mahogany-colored strong ale with a heavy body and thick mouth feel.
A toasty, malty, stone fruit sweetness compliments and contrasts the assertive flavors of the large hop build and noticeably high alcoholic content.
ABV 7.0% | SRM 21 | IBU 48
HOPS:
Cascade, Mt. Hood, Golding (initially East Kent Goldings)
MALT:
English 2-row
3.4
421 reviews
Portland, United States
Community reviews
Purchased in a mixed pack on my trip to Maine. Pours a clean copper colour with a light beige head and some decent lacing. Sweet malt nose with rye grain notes. The taste has rye as well, but is overly sweet. Hard to go down and heavy as well. Not one I would have again.
Pours dark reddish brown with a thin, white head that lingers a while. Nose is malty. Taste is mildly bitter with a long finish. Medium body and lively carbonation. Decent brew.
Pours a rich amber with no head at all. Aroma is of bread and caramel with a light hint of fruit. Medium bodied on the tongue it's very upfront with the caramel sweetness of the malt but finished with a nice hop bite. The alcohol dies linger for a while but is very satisfying.
It has a pleasant aroma of a bit of caramel, bread, and what smells like honey. It is dark amber in color with a light tan head that clings well to the side. The taste is of caramel, bread, and alcohol almost like scotch.
12oz bottle from a Hannaford Supermarket in Kennebunk, ME. Amber with a thin cream head; rich fruity aroma; strong alcoholic taste with a solid carmael malt body; and some biscuit and dry leafy hops to finish. Sadly the alcohol dominates.
12 oz bottle into a pint glass.
A: Pours a dark chestnut color with decent clarity. The head is a two finger pale orange shade. The retention is quite solid, and the texture is quite creamy. Solid lacing is left behind on the glass.
S: DAT RAISINY NOSE. This starts off strongly with dark fruits, before a slight whiff of hop bitterness comes out after warming up. Caramel notes are nicely restrained but not nonexistent.
T: It starts off with a light hop bitterness redolent of tobacco. Maltiness takes over after the hops fade on the palate, with some unsweetened toffee. The finish is mildly fruity, but not as strong as the nose indicated. Sometimes I even get some wisps of chocolate. While I don’t enjoy all of the flavors (COUGH CRYSTAL MALT COUGH), it’s clear this is a high-quality example of the style, without a hint of alcohol anywhere.
M: This style is usually plagued by intrusive malts and a heavy lingering finish. This one is superbly clean, crisp, and there’s only a slight sweetness on the back end. The carbonation is fairly mild, and yet it’s still quite drinkable.
O: Normally, I’m not a fan of this style, but these guys damn near nailed this. It’s super clean, drinkable, yet nicely complex and savorable. I would definitely buy this again - this is one of those ’hidden gems’ that few people know about but is actually really damn good.
Reviewed from notes. She pours a nice dark brown colored body with a big beautiful one inch white foamy head that wants to spill over the pint glass no matter how careful you try to pour it, decent lacing. The smell has some dominating pale malts and the hops remain in the background for the most part. The taste has the previously mentioned flavors with darker malts coming through, slight yeastiness. On the palate, she sits about a medium to heavy, borderline sessionable, noticeable coating of the tongue, sticky malty aftertaste and finish. Overall, good for the style and good for me, I would come back to this if it was in my distro.
Pours a hazy copper with an average head. Aroma of sweet toasted malts and caramel. Flavor has caramel, sweet breads, and fruits dipped in alcohol. I really enjoyed this brew.
Pours a dark mahogany color with a white head. Smells of biscuity malt and tastes chocolate fruit up front and hoppy finish
Clear dark mahogany with a big head that slowly drops to a head cover, mottled streaks of lace. Taste is sweet caramel malt and medium hops - coast to coast! Both sides contribute their strengths the entire way, even through the lingering finish. A solid offering from Geary’s, maybe their best. Recommended.
Bière achetée dans le Maine, dans une caisse mixte de dégustation. Couleur roux foncé qui tire vers le brun, mousse correcte, beige. 7% d’alcool, bien que ce ne soit pas inscrit sur la bouteille. Nez intéressant de sucre d’orge, de gomme baloune et de houblon. En bouche, on dénote d’abord une belle présence. Sucre bien balancé, avec une touche houblonnée bien calibrée elle aussi. Un tantinet liquoreuse, cette bière n’a rien à voir avec les bières légères américaines qu’on boit souvent aux États-Unis. Belle surprise. Le goût de sucre d’orge se mêle parfaitement aux notes d’alcool. Cela descend très bien. Décidément un bon petit produit qu’on se doit de verser dans un verre, d’ailleurs! Cheers!
Not much to smell, almost no aromas. Color is a medium red - brown. Darker than I expected but I complements the taste. Intial flavor is toasted biscuit. The more I drink the hops start making an appearance. A Malty start with a nice hoppy finish.
A - Pours a clear dark amber. 1.5 finger head that sinks down to a nice ceiling.
S - Toffee malt, slight spice, alcohol vapors, fruity-mostly grapes.
T - Roasted toffee malt, nutty gingerbread spices, sharp citrus, apples, dates, and butterscotch. All this is surrounded with with quite a bit of grassy lemon hop bitterness. Finishes dry.
M - Medium to full bodied and creamy.
The rich fruity malt is masterfully balanced by the grassy hops. A very complex brew that is a joy to drink.
Serving type: bottle
12-12-2010
12oz bottle 4/13/13 (Binny’s Naperville Clearance Rack)-40° in English Pint-Pours a murky brown with a small tigh off white head. Aroma of caramel, toffee, and hops. Taste of malt, hops, dark fruits, and alcohol. This full bodied brew is not bad. Wasn’t sure what to expect with this one.
On tap at Great Lost Bear Portland, Maine. Nice aroma and taste was balanced. A little hot on alcohal but plesent on palate to warm me on a cold night in Portland.
Dark clear amber pour with a frothy off-white head. Smells as traditional as any English ale so well done there. Dark fruits, musty yeast, english hops in the nose. Flavor is mild and pleasant. Typical savory english yeast flavor that im not a huge fan of but it is done properly.
Bottle. Pours light amber. Buttery smooth with some bitter. Nothing special.
Nutty. Good fall winter beer. Can’t have more than one or two though. Its a super, but not boozy
Very nice hoppiness with some spicey aftertaste. the aferrtaste is definitely lingeringgggg.
12 oz bottle. Pint shows the color dark amber leaning to a murky brown. Nose is English malts and Earthy hops. Average carbonation. Taste has caramel malt, nuts and leafy hops. East Kent hops give a hoppy bitterness that does well to balance the malt. Medium to heavy in body. A syrupy texture that wasn’t to cloying. I drank all six bottles at Christmas party and had no problem doing so. That says something for me.
Tap at the Stagshead. pours clear amber with subtle nose. You get some english qualities for sure. tastes of earth, nutty, leaves, caramel, light peat. creamy and light bitterness.
Draft from stags head. Light brown pour. Tgin white head with lacing. Fruit and caramel. Light bitters. Pretty decent
Oh, this is complex and good. Orangish/copper in color. Thin head with slight lacing. The toasted malts are smooth and sweet all over the tongue and mouth.
Bottle. Well some of it. Amber pour with tan head. Aroma is controlled by malt and spice tones. Flavor is malt driven, quite one dimensional, and has a bit if oxidation and off flavors. Not quite sure how long this sat.
Extremely light aroma with some hints of carmelized sugar. Pours a deep brown color with thick cream head. Smoky, roasted caramel, malt flavor.
Although the label is pretty unattractive (this bottle has been sitting in my "to review" fridge for about a year now because it doesn’t look very tempting), it looks much better in the glass. It has a somewhat clear body of a dark orange/slightly amber color with an off-white colored head and moderate carbonation.
Its aroma is just about as expected from its appearance: slightly sweet/caramelized, with hints of possible spices and a candy-like, fruity stickiness that reminds me of licorice, but without the anise-like character. Although this is considered to be an English Strong Ale, it’s much lighter in body and strength than you’d expect from the style.
Unfortunately, it also has a pretty unforgiving finish of oxidized, bitter, rotten beer. It’s pretty smooth on the palate (for a while), but then an awkwardness strikes. Such a shame. About halfway through a glass your palate starts to adjust to it. Its flavor is somewhat sweet, but mostly, well... like a sweet, lightly creamy English pub ale. Unfortunately the alcohol is well masked - otherwise, that would probably have helped this taste a little better. Maybe.
Strong roasted caramel malt aroma. Red-amber, clear, tan head. Semisweet, dried out malt taste with reasonable contrast. Pretty thick, with some boozy character as might be expected from this type of beer. Good Maine drinking.
Aroma is malts, an undercurrent of fruit and a sharp, hard to describe element. The flavor is dark fruit, very nutty/pecans and a hoppy/fruit finish.
Very good ale, nice flavorful hops without some of the odd citrus flavors that would spoil a strong ale. Could be even stronger, but probably right for the style.
I was expecting this to be a special bitter based on the name but, while it definitely has an English character, it is way stronger than a special bitter. It pours a clear amber w/ little head. Its nose is fruity w/ a lot of caramel and an herbal hop presence. Full bodied but not too sweet w/ earthy hops to finish. I can’t place my finger on it quite but there is something a touch off in this beer; the balance is just weird or something and there’s nothing especially good about it to make up for it. It’s an OK beer but no more.