Firestone Walker Double DBA at Kite & Key

I actually thought this was going to be a repeat post as I swear I've had Double DBA before, but I didn't have a picture of it yet so I guess I was wrong. Kite & Key was pretty great this past Tuesday as they still had a whole bunch of Firestone Walker leftovers from the Craft Beer Express on Saturday. Pretty surprised about it but a win for me. Since I've had Sucaba (aka Abacus) a whole bunch of times, I opted for Double DBA, a bourbon barleywine though I'd argue it's not really a barleywine but a mix of stronger styles. Surprised it's not listed as an american strong ale.

It's a little darker than in the picture since I had to use a flash to take it but it gives you an idea. Really smooth caramel and sweet boozy nose. Very inviting. Body was similar with tons of caramel and vanilla with a little bourbon flavor to top things off. Just a very delicious beer though some may find it a bit sweet. Don't get me wrong, it's not Southern Tier sweet, meaning it'll give you diabetes, but the caramel and vanilla are very strong without any real bitterness to balance them.

Green Flash Sleepin' with Shaggy

Not sure if the name is a Scooby Doo reference or not, but it is certainly interesting. Sleepin' with Shaggy is a 13% barleywine aged in brandy barrels and was sent to me by my buddy in San Diego. I actually thought it was a sour for the longest time and I'm not sure I could have been more wrong. Also, not sure this was a good choice for a Monday night beer considering its strength but I'm running low on normal beers so here we are.

Well, this was certainly aged in brandy barrels. Huge, huge brandy nose consisting of a fruity, caramel sweetness. Not too boozy either. Thick mouthfeel which I always appreciate in high octane beers and think is pretty important in hiding the alcohol. Body was complex with chocolate, caramel, a lightly bitter earthiness, and more brandy. Some booziness but I felt it meshed with all the other flavors well. The brandy sweetness really comes through which is impressive. I wonder what the base barleywine tastes like before the barrel aging. Regardless, this was tasty and a nice surprise.

Pelican Mother of All Storms

I'd read about this beer a bit as Pelican has allowed online sales of it over the past few years so I've briefly contemplated trying to obtain some. However, they didn't ship to PA (like mostly everyone else in the US) so I just kind of shrugged and moved on with my life. This year, though, my buddy Matt got a few and offered me one of the bottles to defray some of his costs or just to be nice. No work to try an awesome sounding bourbon barrel barleywine? Uh, sure, I'll do that!

Huge caramel, raisin, and cherry nose with a little bit of saltiness. No idea on where salt came from but I wrote it down so it must have been there. Quite thick which is nice. First sip was awesome, absolutely delicious. Raisins, chocolate, caramel, and a nice sweet finish. A slight bite in the aftertaste kept it from being cloying. No alcohol heat either. Just an amazingly put together beer and everything I want in a bourbon barrel barleywine. So good and glad I got to try this.

Schlafly 2007 Oak Aged Barleywine

I picked up this bottle a couple years ago (possibly 2011?) when I was in St. Louis for a cousin's wedding. I saw this and a bottle of 2008 barrel aged Imperial Stout and thought to myself, how can I pass this up? Even more so since I'm pretty sure they were like $10 or something crazy. The stout I drank a couple years ago over Thanksgiving but this bottle has been sitting around getting lonely and older for a few more years now. When I realized it was nearly pushing 6 years old, I figured it was time to open it.

I'll be the first to admit that I expected an oxidized, cardboard-like mess. However, shockingly, it held up remarkably well! Sweet caramel, apples, and a hint of vanilla and cherry in the nose. Poured pretty thick though the mouthfeel was thinner feeling. Body followed with caramel, vanilla, and a sugary sweetness in the finish. No real signs of oxidation except maybe the cherry in the nose. The age was probably the cause for the thinner mouthfeel, but it wasn't a big deal. Pretty impressive. I should search out a fresh bottle at some point just to try it out but I don't know if they are available in NJ. Guess I'll just have to stumble across one at some point.

Hangar 24 Hammerhead

Hammerhead is yet another beer sent to me by my very generous San Diego buddy. I'm always up for trying new bourbon barrel stuff so it's great when he sends me things like this. The base is a huge barleywine, coming in at 14%. Don't mind the fact that I drank all of it by myself because my wife can't handle things like this. She's a wuss, I know.

This is actually the first beer purely from Hangar 24 I've had. Sure, I had the Ichigo Highway, but that was a collab with The Bruery. Spicy alcohol nose with oak, caramel, and vanilla. You know you're getting bourbon and some heat from this right from the start. The body was on the thicker side but not syrupy which was good. Flavors were a mix of caramel, cherry, vanilla, and very rich bourbon followed by a decent amount of heat. Not unpleasantly alcoholic, but totally ever present. Eric described it as "boozy but tasty" which I feel describes it really well. I managed to drink the whole thing by myself without help so take that as a positive recommendation.

Manzanita Brewing Serenity

I don't know where Manzanita brewing is located other than California nor had I ever heard of it before getting this bottle. But, my San Diego buddy sent me this and I finally opened it this weekend. He rightfully mocked me since he sent it like 2 years ago and it took me this long to open it. I drink things slowly, what do you want. Serenity is a barrel aged barleywine.

Sweet, caramel nose, hints of vanilla, bourbon, and a little alcohol. Basically what you'd expect from the style. Body followed with more caramel, vanilla, and bourbon, but did finish with a decent amount of harsh alcohol. Like usual, the alcohol did fade quite a bit as my palate adjusted but it was still pretty present. Good up front and, if the alcohol was a bit more under control, this would be above average. As it stands, if you don't mind alcohol burn, then this is worth a try if you see it but for others it's probably a pass.

Update: Forgot to mention, I'm going to be MIA until at least next Wednesday. Possibly longer, but I don't know what my time will be like coming up since we're having our baby any day now so things may be sporadic longer than that. We'll see. Definitely nothing before Wednesday though.

Split Thy Skull

I'm not sure how long this event has been running, but I believe it has been around 16 years which is crazy. Split Thy Skull is an annual barleywine fest that used to be at Sugar Mom's, but has since moved to Tattooed Mom's since it's bigger (or at least I think that's the reason). Now, thinking about it, I'm amazed they were able to have a barleywine festival  that long ago. I mean, I guess that was near the late 90s so maybe there were plenty of barleywines available actually. Also crazy that 16 years ago was the late 90s. What the heck.

When I arrived, the place wasn't too busy. Took me a few minutes to figure out how things worked with 5 barleywines on the first floor and 5 on the second and no overlap. Since there wasn't any room on the first, I moved upstairs and grabbed a seat at that bar instead. They were already preparing for the rush, which was really smart, and filling a large number of flights with delicious barleywines so I started with one of them.

Founders at Kite & Key

This past weekend, Kite & Key put on a whole lineup of Founders beer for us to try. Starting with the ever popular KBS, they also had Bolt Cutter, Devil Dancer, Imperial Stout, Frangelic Mountain Brown, and quite a few others that I can't remember. All in all, a very impressive list missing only a few offerings from the Founders lineup.

Just like a lot of people already sitting at the bar, I started with KBS, their coffee and chocolate stout aged in bourbon barrels.

Magnolia Brewing in San Francisco

I was recently in San Francisco and since we were there to visit my sister in law and not for me to go around drinking everywhere, I didn't get a chance to get to too many places. A shame I know, blame my wife. However, I did get her to agree that we'd have lunch at Magnolia, a brewpub I've been meaning to visit for a while now but never had the chance. Lucky for me, February is also strong beer month for them so they had a whole lineup of unique stuff for me to try! I mean, look at this list, very cool right?

Return to Tired Hands

Not exactly the most timely post, but, well, it's finally done and that's what counts. After visiting to pick up my bottles of HandFarm, a few days later I saw that Jean tapped MotherAnimal, a beer I really wanted to try. It's a coffee and vanilla English style barleywine and boy doesn't that sound delicious. So, I decided I'd take another trip on Septa to Ardmore to visit sooner than I figured but that's not a bad thing.

When I arrived, I saw they had some other new beers available and considering the strength of MotherAnimal, decided to start with one of those instead. The Singel Hop Saison made with Amarillo just seemed too interesting to be second.

Olde Hickory Irish Walker

This is another bottle I picked up when Jo and I visited Asheville. Saw it was a barleywine and knew I had to have it. Since I'm trying to not stock up too many things, it went right into the refrigerator when we got home.

I was looking for something a bit sweeter and took a chance that this was more of an English style barleywine and boy was I correct. For those that don't know, there are two general types of barleywines: Enlgish and American. Just like a lot of other beer styles, American style barleywines are very hoppy and similar to double IPAs but with a higher malt bill giving them a real backbone. Meaning they have a hop character, but there is a bit more going on than just that. English style is generally sweet and fruity with the hops there for balance and not to be noticeable.

With that, back to Irish Walker. Wonderful nose. Sweet with notes of raisins, plums, and an almost port like quality. Medium to thick body which is how I like this style. Makes you feel like you are drinking something with heft and helps hide the alcohol. Started with caramel, a slightly burnt, almost smoky character, and then moved into the fruit with plums and raisins. Finally finished with a light touch of chocolate and a little more smokiness. For what I was looking for that night, this was just lovely. So many complex flavors that blended super well and just the perfect amount of sweetness. Solid barleywine and real glad I picked it up.

A Very Merry Dock Street Christmas

I had a few bottles of various Dock Street bottles burning a hole in my basement so what better time to open a few than during Christmas? I planned on opening four different ones but never made it to the fourth bottle as I kind of forgot to put it into the refrigerator. Oh well, I just had to deal with only three, woe is me.

Since it was the newest one, I started with the Man Full of Funk Porter, their porter dosed with Brettanomyces and then aged in apple brandy barrels for like three years.

Kevin Mudrick's Odd Barleywine

I recently saw Kevin at an Allagash event at Tria and he was kind enough to give me four bottles of his homebrew. I've had his stuff once before and it was really good even compared to professional stuff so I was excited to check it out. The first one I decided to open was his Odd, a barleywine. Or at least I think he named it Odd, it's what was on the cap at least!

Complex and boozy nose. Not hot or alcoholic at all, just kind of sweet and well boozy. Also figs, apples, prunes, and raisins. Impressive really. As far as carbonation, he warned me it was "Tomme Arthur" style meaning incredibly low. Honestly it was almost still which didn't put me off even though it made it quite thick. My first sip wasn't quite as impressive as the nose unfortunately. Similar flavors existed up front, but the back end was a little empty for some reason.

This sort of reminded me of a beer that was getting a little old but he said it was only from about six months ago. There was still a lot of caramel, raisin, and brown sugar and they weren't boozy at all, they just didn't last very long in each sip. If those flavors were more prevalent through every sip this would have been quite awesome but even so it was still pretty good. He has a version of this mixed with a flemish red or something that I bet is good. Hopefully the latter fills in the light emptiness from this. Looking forward to trying his oaked imperial stout some time this week!

Update: Kevin has informed me ODD is an acronym and stands for Old Draft Dodger. He may have told me that when he gave me the beer too but I clearly forgot. That makes a lot more sense though I liked the idea of naming the beer Odd.

Lagunitas Brown Shugga at Kite & Key

With the ongoing expansion of their brewery last year, Lagunitas wasn't able to brew Brown Shugga. Since it's a 10% barleywine, it just took up too much space in their limited number of fermenters for too long for them to be able to afford it. However, the expansion is finished now so it made its triumphant return this year!

Grapefruit hoppy nose. Body followed, sort of, with the grapefruit hoppiness starting things off. Quickly following was a big brown sugar sweetness and that's where this becomes kind of different than other american barleywines. The finish was sort of a mix of the two with sweetness and bitterness playing next to each other. At first they don't mix well and it was a little odd, but as you drink more and the hops faded into the background, the sweetness came to the front. It's a pretty interesting barleywine, that's for sure, and worth trying. It can be a bit polarizing as some think it's too sweet, but I thought it was pretty tasty.

Fun at Dock Street

Just before Thanksgiving, Dock Street had their annual bottle release (I think it can be called annual since they have had it for a few years now). This year they had quite a few different styles for sale including a couple of old gems. Probably the last year for the Barrel Aged Barleywine and Barrel Aged Prince Myshkin though as they finally may have exhausted their cellar reserves. We'll see next year if that's true!

After ordering bottles for myself and a couple friends that put in orders, I got a glass of their newest batch of Barleywine.

Beers at Sabrina's

Just before Thanksgiving, some friends of mine decided that their cellars were getting too large. To try and start to fix the issue, they asked on twitter if people wanted to go to a BYOB and share some beers and have dinner. I had nothing to do that night and Jo didn't care about eating dinner alone so I figured why not. After some back and forth, we decided on Sabrina's in Fairmount as I figured it wouldn't be too busy as it's mostly a brunch place and it's informal enough that they wouldn't mind us sitting around drinking forever.

After ordering some food and settling in we decided to start with Deschutes The Dissident, the one sour Matt brought along.

Firestone Walker Sucaba

Back from Thanksgiving and after a number of days off I'm still not that rested. It's amazing how quickly four days go by. At least I have some time off during Christmas to look forward to since after that it's nothing until Memorial Day.

I've still got a bit of a backlog from before Thanksgiving so I'll continue working that off. To start, I drank my bottle of Firestone Walker Sucaba a couple weekends ago. It's a blended barrel aged barleywine that used to be called Abacus but was turned backwards due to a trademark dispute. Hence the odd, current name. I still contend they should have named it Manual Calculator, but I guess that's too goofy. Would have been hilarious though.

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!

Real Ale Sisyphus

Over the weekend, my wife and I took a trip to Houston for a friend's wedding. I got to have a bunch of Texas beers Friday night but didn't take any notes or pictures since, well, we were there for the wedding and I wasn't going to be rude. The sour from Real Ale, Scots Gone Wild, was pretty decent though so if you see it somehow, give it a try.

But, to make up for that, I went to a liquor store named Specs on Saturday and picked up some beers to bring home. I also picked up some bottles of Real Ale Sisyphus, a barleywine, and opened one before the wedding to give it a try.

Arcadia Cereal Killer

This is part of what Arcadia calls their "Vintage Collection" but I'm not 100% sure why. I guess the case I bought was supposedly brewed in 2010 or something. Cereal Killer is a barleywine.

Smelled of caramel, raisins, and alcohol solvency. The latter isn't quite what you want to smell in a strong beer as it's not a great sign of things to come. And, I was right as it started with a sharp alcohol bite up front followed by some caramel and plum-like sweetness. The finish and aftertaste, though, contained even more alcohol unfortunately. Now, the flavor that wasn't the alcohol wasn't too bad at least, but if you easily notice alcohol in beers, probably best to avoid a full glass of this. I'll say it got a bit smoother near the end of the glass. Something to get a sample of to see if the pros outweigh the cons, but I wasn't too impressed by it.