Name: Big Island Brewhaus Golden Sabbath

Style: Golden Ale

Country: U.S.A.

ABV: 8.5%

Beer description: Big Island Brewhaus comes to us from the island of Hawaii. They have a decent selection of beers, but a fairly small distribution and may be difficult to find outside of Hawaii.

Big Island’s Golden Sabbath is, of course, golden in colour and pours thick. It has a tint of amber and honey, which give the expectation of what this beer is going to be. This beer is brewed with Hawaiian honey, and there appears to be a lot in there.

There’s quite a bit in the aroma of this golden ale. The smell hits and it hits hard. First impressions are a lot spice and a sticky sweet smell. Once again, there’s quite a bit of spice in the aroma, lots of spice. This interacts well with the honey and, while the malt is fairly light in the aroma, the honey helps it somewhat. There are some nice tropical fruits in the aroma as well, mostly pineapple and passion fruit giving this otherwise heavy feeling beer a more tropical feel.

As expected, the body of this brew is thick, as there’s tons of malt in there as well as a liberal amount of honey. The pineapple comes through as well, it’s a sweet pineapple though and not a tangy one. Generally, it’s like a canned pineapple sitting in syrup. There is a similar peach taste as well. Once again it’s canned peaches in syrup. This beer is pretty sweet and fruity, like a canned fruit cocktail combined with a great beer.

There’s not a lot of bitterness to this beer and it finishes on a malty vanilla, honey, and some sweetness. The little bit of bitterness takes the drinker by surprise as it builds up in the mouth.

Big Island Brewhaus have made and interesting and surprising golden ale here. It’s a style and feeling that doesn’t feel like it should be from a Hawaiian brewery, but it works, even in the tropics. It’s a Belgian style golden ale, so it’s rich, thick, and strong.

Check out general summary of Hawaiian beers.

Check out other golden ale reviews.

Go to reviews of beer by Big Island Brewhaus.