Archive for the category “Old Ale”

19 Aug 2013

Bois – The Bruery

boisSoCal Beercation Edition

15% ABV
Purchased at The Bruery Tasting Room ($7/4 oz. pour) and served in mini-snifters.

This barrel-aged offering from The Bruery pours a muddy brown with a tight eggshell white head, and a surprisingly subtle nose of alcohol, vanilla, and touches of brown sugar and coconut.  It offers an eye-opening taste of hard alcohol on first swallow, but without the residual throat burn, instead fading into flavors of pineapple, brown sugar, and vanilla beans.  The alcohol burn eventually comes in on the finish, but there are also some bread, spice, and molasses notes in the picture to capture your attention.  Bois is not a beer for timid palettes, and it’s almost too intense to be fully appreciated at present (a couple years of aging should take some of the edge off), with the alcohol beginning to overwhelm the subtler flavors after the first few sips.  That said, if you’re looking for a big beer, they don’t get much bigger or more flavor-packed than this one, with everything from nuts to tree sap to unsweetened maple syrup making an appearance on the tongue.

toasts-4   4 Toasts

bois

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06 Jan 2012
1 Comment

Triple Exultation (Eel River)

9.7% ABV
Purchased at BevMo ($6.49/22 oz. bottle) and poured into pint glasses.

His Notes:

This “Old Ale” from Fortuna’s Eel River pours like maple syrup and is colored rusty brown with a sandy brown head.  The smell is filled with hard alcohol and fruit esters, alongside notes of licorice and mild cooking woods like cedar.  Woody alcohol is also dominant on the palette, but it’s kept in check by a notable hop kick.  Chewy grains and malty smoothness enter the picture on the finish, which is slow and warming like a shot of good whiskey.  The smell, color, and consistency of Triple Exultation are similar to those of a traditional barleywine, but the emphasis is more towards bitterness than sweetness, and the result is a lovely slow sipper with a beautiful back end.

   4 1/2 Toasts

Her Notes:

  4 Toasts


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