North Coast Old Stock Ale

North Coast Old Stock Ale

As a continuation of North Coast Brewing Co.’s commitment to quality, our Old Stock Ale is crafted in the tradition of our critically acclaimed Pranqster Belgian Style Golden Ale and Old Rasputin Imperial Stout. It’s brewed with classic floor-malted Maris Otter Pale Malt and Fuggles Hops imported from England, so it’s a beer to be served proudly.
Like a fine wine, North Coast’s Old Stock Ale is intended to be laid down. With an original gravity of over 1100 and a generous hopping rate, Old Stock Ale is well-designed to round-out and mellow with age. North Coast Brewing Co. Old Stock Ale is a vintage dated ale. We produce a small quantity each year and it remains available from release date until our stock is depleted.



pre-2006 ABV: 11.4%.

2006 vintages: 11.6% & 13.25%.

2007 vintage: 11.7%.

2008 vintage: 12.5%.

2009 vintage: 11.5%.

2010 vintage: 11.7%.

2011 vintage: 11.9%

2012 vintage: 11.7%

2013 vintage: 11.9%

2014 vintage: 11.8%

2015 vintage: 11.9%
3.9
2241 reviews
Fort Bragg, United States

Community reviews

3.8 Bottle. Pours slightly murky deep amberish brown. Nose is intense sweet toffee and caramel, sweet malty, wood, figs, dried fruits. Tastes strong in malts, sweet, caramel, dry toffee, woody, warm booze, hint of vanilla. Solid slow sipper.
3.5 2018 355ml bottle at 12%. Pours hazy ruby brown with a small head. Aroma is slightly woody caramel and toffee. Taste has woody caramel and toffee with dried fruits on the finish. A little alcohol on the aftertaste.
3.5 Bottle, 2018 vintage at 12%, online from Master of Malt. Pours clear reddish brown, with fine beige foam. Aroma: malty, caramel, woody, figs, booze. Taste: moderate sweet & bitter, sticky, malty, dried fruits, caramel, toffee. Medium body with fine carbonation
3.5 Sweet and smooth, deep bread flavour.
4.2 Bottle picked up from Biervana, Munich, and consumed at home Friday 16th April 2021 listening to Steve Lamaqs Evening Session on 6Music, we had a Lamb and also Chicken Jalfrezi Curry tonight. 2015 vintage, this pours dark brown or more accurately clear mahogany in colour with an off white head. Nice aroma, complex with an earthy hoppy edge, a little hint of spice, dried warm leather, dried peel fruits, wet wood. Flavours similar i.e. dried fruit, wet woodland, rustic earthiness, caramel and toffee, leather, this is really, really good, really nice mouthfeel, no harshness at all from the significant abv, it tastes like a lovely aged Barley Wine.
3.8 Pours clear dark red amber, small mahogany foam head. Aroma is boozy, vanilla and fruit tones. Taste is same, warm alcohol feeling. (Velp 2103)
3.9 Pours a slightly hazy copper on tap with wispy tan foam that leaves light lace. Aroma of dark fruit oxidation esters and a touch of vanilla bourbon barrel and booze. Taste follows, sweet from the booze and malt, a touch of bitterness to balance, boozy heat on the way down. Nice for an odd style.
4.5 From a bottle to a glass. Pours a murky copper orange red color with a light orange tan frothy creamy silky head. Aroma is sweet malts caramel dark fruits earthy hops red licorice and cocoa nibs. Taste follows the aroma with a heavy mouthfeel Very tasty beer!
4.1 Color ámbar oscuro translúcido con espuma fina beige de retención y residuo nulos. Aroma a caramelo, malta tostada, barrica y fruta fermentada con notas a cognac o ron y especias. Sabor a caramelo, vainilla, azúcar moreno y malta tostada con notas a madera, pasas, canela y bizcocho. Dulzor y alcohol altos y amargor medio con regusto medio-largo. Textura oleosa, cuerpo medio-denso y carbonatación medio-ligera. Una Old Ale viscosa, acaramelada y a medio camino entre cerveza, licor y vino especiado. Licorosa, fuerte en boca y de final cálido. Realmente especial.
4.0 Versió 2020. Ampolla hopt. Color marró amb punt translúcid. Carbonatació baixa. Nas i boca amb fruita madura. Panses, figues, pruna, caramel. Molt bona, li falta un pèl de cos pels seus 11,2 abv
4.0 2021 bottle 11.2% Pours clear bronze copper head dissipates completely. Sweet treacle fruitcake aroma, a little like a sweet dessert wine. Same sweet molasses and fruit cake taste and fresh brown bread. Would never ever guess the high abv. Mildly warming finish, a little dryer still raisiny dessert wine notes come through. Ive had far sweeter old ales and those strong British ales, but this is very very smooth, not the slightest bit overly sweet and a really enjoyable sipping beer.
3.7 2008 vintage, forgotten but now found in cellar. Dark ruby and brown. Raisin and fig aroma. Sweet dried fruit taste. Balanced bitterness and deep fruit lingering. Still good despite (allegedly) overdue storage.
3.8 Versión de 2020, 11'2% ALC. Color granate con reflejos rojizos, sin apenas turbiedad, translúcida. Espuma marfil, cremosa, de más de dos dedos de espesor y buena retención. Aroma medio, frutas desecadas como higos y ciruelas, almendras, maltas tostadas, levemente caramelizadas, alcohol que recuerda al vino fino. Sabor medio, en la línea del aroma, los tonos de caramelo algo más intensos, final medio corto, ligeramente seco, dulce, maltoso y alcohólico. Textura poco más que acuosa. Carbonatación baja. Buena cerveza, la falta de cuerpo e intensidad la dejan un escalón por debajo de las grandes.
4.2 2018 Aspetto: color ambrato con in splendidi riflessi rubino, schiuma cremosa color ocra a texture medio-grande dalla buona tenuta. Olfatto: caramello, zucchero candito, dattero e fico secchi, prugna e ciliegia sotto spirito. Palato: melassa e uvetta sono bilanciati da un elegante e pacata nota amaricate erbacea e terrosa. Retrogusto: calda scia etilica con suggestioni di porto. Corpo: medio, carbonazione fine. Pulizia e perfetto equilibrio rendono questa birra ricca di emozioni.
4.0 12oz 2020 bottle from Hopt, France. Pours a beautiful reddish brown, with moderate beige fine foam. Aroma is malty, woody, figs, liquor. Body is average, like carbonation. Quite an alcoholic feeling, and some stickiness. Taste is medium-sweet, also with good bitterness. Final is fairly long, alcoholic and malty.
4.5 Fles 35,5cl thuis. 2020 vintage. 11,2%. Caramel, hop (fuggles), toffee, fruittonen, licht boozy, rozijn, pruim, licht whiskytonen, zacht, full bodied, earthy, wat vanille, licht hout. Complex. (17-12-2020). (3500ste).
4.1 12 oz bottle, 2020 11.2 abv, poured clear golden brown. Full bodied. Caramel malt and dark fruit aroma. Sweet caramel malt, prune, raisin, yeast taste with malty finish. Seriously good.
4.0 2017 er
3.4 Brown with a creamy, beige head. Aroma of caramel, raisins. Bauernbrot. Taste is bittersweet, fading into a sweet and boozy finish. Lingering toffee on the tongue. Medium bodied, mild carbonation. Not bad but not the depth I’d expected.
3.7 355ml bottle [2014, 11.8% abv]. Sligthly cloudy, brown colour with ruby shimmer and small to average, frothy, hlaf-way lasting, minimally lacing, beige head. Sweet-ish, caramel malty, slightly alcoholic and yeasty fruity aroma, notes of marzipan, caramel, some plum, dried fruit, fig, date, cherry, raisin. Taste is sweet-ish caramel malty, minimally dry woody and bitter hoppy, slightly alcoholic and yeasty fruity, minimally papery, hints of marzipan and caramel, some plum, plum wine, dried fruit, raisin, cherry, fig, date; warming, alcoholic finish. Slightly viscous texture, smooth and soft, slightly cloying palate, fine, soft to flat carbonation. Well matured, nice fruitiness, a tad boozy - nice.
4.2 2017, 12,0% vol. (22.07.2020) 4.2 AR: Malz, Dörrobst, AP: trübes rotbraun/mahagoni TA: Malz, Dörrobst, 2015, 11,9% vol. (10.04.2022) 4.2 AR: malzig,Dörrobst, Tabak, holzig, Sherry, Rosinen, Leder, AP: leicht trübes flockiges rotbraun/kupfer TA: malzig, Dörrobst, holzig, Sherry, Leder,
4.0 Bottle. 2019 version. Amber copper in color with no head. Aroma is grains and fruitcake. Taste is complex fruity deliciousness.
4.5 Très belle Old Ale qui jouit d'une très belle complexité aromatique, très bien servie par un équilibre où un alcool à 11,9% permet de donner tonus et caractère, contrebalançant ainsi une douceur certaine. Seul un final trop discret ne permettra pas de nous porter entièrement au firmament. Le visuel est sur un ambre foncé tournant au brun, trouble, quasiment sans mousse. Très joli nez complexe sur la prune, la poire, l'amande, la vanille et le pineau. L'attaque ne fait pas mentir cette impression, riche et complexe avec en complément des épices et notamment du poivre et un alcool aux accents de sherry. La deuxième bouche, ample, est pleine de variations avec une excellente présence. L’arrière-bouche quant à elle présente un alcool puissant et racé. Le final, déçoit alors, sur un alcool baissant nettement de ton et n'arrivant pas à s'extraire de la seconde bouche, tellement présente. Aromatiquement parlant, on est réellement au top.
3.8 2019 (10.2% ABV) Pours clear copper, some bubbles for a ephemeral head, no lacing. Aroma of caramel and dried raisins soaked in brandy. Tastes sweet and boozy, sweet malts, nutty, caramel, raisins, brandy, oak. It becomes umami as it warms up, hence losing most of his sweetness, til a quite dry finish. Full mouthfeel at first, which is also becomes literally very dry in a second moment. It's an evergreen classic, solid old ale, for sofa and Netflix.
3.8 Keg at The Portland International Beer Festival 2008 on 18/07/2008. Really complex flavour, with dates, oak, vanilla and caramel coming through along with a slight Oxo/ savoury note.
3.7 앰버, 옅은 갈색 헤드 외관 건자두, 건포도, 캐러멜, 토피 아로마 건자두, 얼시, 건포도, 빵, 캐러멜, 얼시 플레이버 미디엄 투 헤비 바디감, 탄산감 보통 떫음, 부즈 피니시
4.0 Bottle. 2014 vintage. Aromas of thick concentrated dried fruit, sugar, stone fruit, condensed caramel. Bright reddish-brown color, glowing in the light. Thick dark sugar, stone fruit jam, treacle, vanilla, and light bitterness from mid palate through to finish. Medium body, tingling carbonation. Sweet, to be sure, but not cloying. This one has held up very well.
3.8 Gold pour. Cherry coconut nose. Cherry and oak flavor with a coconut subtle taste. Total oak palate.
3.9 1/2/2020. Bottle shared at the 10k 10+ celebration. #9997. 2014 vintage. From biershop.com. Pours hazy mid-brown with a creamy off-white head. Aroma of wood, leather, toffee, biscuit, malt, hint of peppermint. Medium sweetness and moderate bitterness. Medium body, slight sticky texture, soft carbonation.
4.6 2012 Vintage. Dark reddish brown pou. Cloudy throughout. No head to speak of. This aged old ale is incredibly complex with new elements unfolding with every sip. Strong caramel and saddle leather, some chocolate, and dark cherry battle for position in the aroma. Smoky notes atop the caramel start to appear as I sip. Dark fruits. Some currants. A nip of fennel. The hops are still banging here, with a spicy earthy tone that mingles in and through the complex malt and yeast esters. It drinks light, and the only hint if alcohol comes in the chest, mid glass and beyond. This is one special beer. This is art.