What I drank 3/2/10

Stone- Old Guardian BELGO Barleywine:  12% ABV

Purchased at Keg Liqours.  Their Old Guardian Barleywine but with Belgian Yeast.  I decided not to age the Barleywine and shared it with Ashley last week.  The taste of Belgian yeast was very evident, but overall, I was pretty disappointed in the beer.  It was a little too sweet of a beer and just didn’t have the typical barleywine ”umph”.  Beer Fail.  I’d like to go on and one about what I disliked, but the only thing I really liked was having an empty bomber for bottling purposes.

2 of 5 barrels

Tyranena Brewing Company- Shaggin’ in the Woods:

Another beer from KEG suggested by Todd.   I had never heard of this brewery before (even though it’s in Wisconsin), but the suggestion of a bourbon barrel scotch ale intrigued me since I had brewed a similar beer.  Shaggin in the Woods is in their Brewers Gone Wild series, what they describe as big, bold, ballsy beers.  As the label says, 70% of the beer has been aged in bourbon barrels and the other 30% is just straight scotch ale.

The beer pours a nice brown and caramel color.  Strong scents of vanilla , oak, and bourbon.  Upon taste (like the label says) caramel and toffee notes and a pretty damn tasting scotch ale.  I wish I had a bottle of my bourbon scotch ale to sample side-by-side, but they tasted very similar.  Great beer…run over the Indiana to try it.

 4 out of 5 barrels

Sierra Nevada: Jack and Kens Black Barleywine   10.2% ABV

A bomber of this had been sitting in my cellar for a month or so.  It was a Saturday night, Ashley was out-of-town, and I just busted my butt working on the house so I figured I would treat myself to a treat.  This beer is from Sierra Nevada’s 30th Anniversary beers where they celebrate some of the forefathers of microbrewery.  Ken Grossman, the first brewer of Pale Ale, and Jack McCauliffe, often seen as the first “micro” brewer, came together to create this Black Barleywine.  Now I know Black IPAs are one of the new “it” beers, but I’ never heard of a barleywine being black.

I think I aged it for a few months, but I needed a different taste in my palate other than my own homebrew.  The beer pours a nice jet black like a stout, but without the same type of head.  It has a nice roasty smell, but upon taste, it’s all barleywine with just a little bit of roast.  It definitely confuses you at first upon tasting it, but tha aftertaste has that great caramel malt backbone.  I’m pretty sure watching Indiana Jones enhanced the impact of the beer as well. Friggin snakes.

  3.75 out of 5 barrels

Troegs- Nugget Nectar    7.5%ABV

I acquired this beer in return for some Hopslam I provided Ashley with on her trip to Massachusetts for our wedding shower.  I’ve never had this brewery out of PA, but I’d heard about Nugget Nectar through the grapevines of beer reading.  The beer is hopped with Nugget, Warrior, Tomahawk, Simcoe, Palisade.  Then hopbacked with whole leaf Nugget.  Then, dry-hopped with Nugget and Warrior.  Now it makes sense why it’s called Nugget Nectar.

This Imperial Amber Ale pours a nice orange color (exactly the color of the label) and has a nice fruity aroma.  A very sweet ale that is just overloaded with hops.  It was almost better to just keep smelling the beer and slowly savoring the flavor to get the whole experience.  This was actually ranks as one of my new favorite beers.  What it lacks in bitterness like most IPAs, it makes up in strong citrus notes and flavor.

      4.25 out of 5 barrels