Beers with Friends

My friends and I had been trying to get together for this bottle share for quite a few months, but one of them has a job that makes it a bit tough to schedule. However, he finally had a Monday off and so messaged us that it was time. As it happened I was walking home from Sabrina's, kind of drunk already, so of course I said totally! I was originally planning on not even drinking the Monday before Thanksgiving but oh well, sacrifices must be made right?

We started off with one of the better beers of the night, Goose Island Bourbon County Rare. This is a special version of Bourbon County, aged in barrels for two years instead of the eight months or so. It did sell for quite a bit more per bottle (about $40 vs $12 for two regular bourbon county).

Alesmith Decadence 2011

Every year, Alesmith puts out a new version of Decadence and each year it's a totally different style. I'm unsure what the 2012 version was, but the 2011 I drank over the weekend was a Maple Smoked Barleywine. Meaning smoked with maple wood, not brewed with maple and then smoked. I was slightly confused by the wording so I figured I'd explain.

Smoky nose, quite noticeable but still pleasant. Smoke was basically on the campfire side of smokiness which I enjoy. On the first sip, there was a mix of smoke and caramel which led into a smoky aftertaste. Not overpowering just delicious. The smoke faded a little after the beginning sips as I got more used to it but still stayed present in the finish and aftertaste. I will say that the 11% ABV was amazingly well hidden. Other than some light heat, it was just nonexistent. Pretty unbelievable really and nice when you are drinking a whole bottle by yourself. This was sent to me from my buddy in San Diego a while ago and I'm glad he included it. Thanks Eric!

Another Savage Sixtel Sunday at Kite & Key

Feels like it was just yesterday that I went to the previous Savage Sixtel Sunday but it's actually been almost a month. Time flies, eh? This time the lineup was impressive with two from Russian River, two from Dogfish Head, an Alesmith, and a couple other rarer sixtels to round out the lineup. The really cool thing was that I finally got to check out the Dogfish Head Randall, their weirdo filter like contraption that lets bars flavor beers in different ways. For this event, the Kite & Key was running Dogfish Head Worldwide Stout through a mix of coffee and vanilla beans. Doesn't that just sound delicious?

I ordered a glass of the Alesmith Speedway Stout since starting with an 18% monster seemed wrong in some way.

Alesmith Speedway Stout

I've been meaning to open this for a while but just didn't find the time until last Friday. The main reason issue is it's a 750ml bottle and at 12% it's a bit of a commitment. Turns out the commitment was well worth it as Speedway is amazing.

Sweet nose with a bit of coffee and some slight alcohol tanginess. Really inviting. Like, super inviting. Like, I wanted to drain the entire glass in one sip inviting. I didn't though. What? I didn't!

Thick and velvety body. Starts with a bit of coffee, a little bitterness, a little cream, and some dark fruit. As I drank more a little roast appeared to mix with all the other flavors. While there wasn't any heat from the alcohol, I could definitely tell it was strong. Nothing wrong with that though considering it was strong. This was just freaking awesome and honestly surpassed my expectations. Just fantastic.

Thursdays shouldn't be this awesome

While it shouldn't surprise me after last time, my buddy Craig is really generous with his beer.  We planned to get together and split my bottle of Ommegang Bourbon Barrel Three Philosophers and his 2006 Alesmith Decadence, Dead by Dawn.  What ended up happening was basically that but we also opened a bottle of Jackie O's Cellar Cuvee 2, a coffee imperial stout from 2009, because Craig pulled out like 5 bottles of other rare stuff and just told me to choose.

We started with the Ommegang Bourbon Barrel Three Philosophers I picked up at the brewery during the Inn at Cooperstown weekend (Friday and Saturday).  It was barreled in September 2009 and then bottled in 2010 so it was already almost two years old when I bought it.