AleSmith Barrel Aged Decadence 2005

Formerly brewed at AleSmith Brewing Company
Style: Old Ale
San Diego, California USA

Shared by Odeed from Footbalm; bottle 257/280 2005 Vintage; Nose of oak, raisins, caramel, and bourbon; clear brown with some scatted beige bubbles; flavor of dark fruit, caramel, very light bourbon, and woodiness. Thanks to Jake for sharing!

(big thanks to footbalm for this bottle.batch #1,257/280)orange/brown body with no head.very nice complex aroma of oak,vanilla,bourbon,brown sugar,orange,and cinnamon.the flavor carries what the aroma does,along with some caramel and alcohol.this is super complex,yet super smooth at the moment.alesmith does it once again.

Sample from oodeftone on Beer Advocate at the Lost Abbey (ahem, while picking up a Veritas 001, ahem). Huge thanks Kyle! Nice malty aroma with bourbon highlights. The bourbon is a little overly noticable, but certainly not as clearly as in the BA Wee Heavy. Very dark amber color. Small head, but with very nice microbubble ring around the edge of the glass. Nice sweetness. Reminds me of an unrefined Angel’s Share, because there’s a tad too much bourbon. Still an excellent beer. Tried again at fordest’s tasting with ibrew2or3, fordest, papajohn, toncatcher, and others. 9,4,8,4,18: same rating, but I seemed to enjoy it more.

2005 bottle #21/124 Pour a deep mahogany brown with no head. Aroma of wood, tobacco leaf, caramel, bourbon, and alcohol. Tastes of caramel, roasted almonds, a smooth toffee flavor and huge boubon and vanilla tastes with a lot of alcoholic warmth to the somewhat spicy sweet finish.

Pours with a cloudy amber brown body topped by a thin head with little lacing. It’s sweet and full of toffee and caramel notes with a nice vanilla and bourbon note. Very nice. Full bodied and warming.

<2005 bottle # 183/280: Poured a lightly hazed ruby brown color with a small off-white head. The aroma was malty with a large bourbon start. Some fusel alcohol. Nice fruitiness. The flavor started with bourbon, that was mildly tart. Malt was poking through from underneath. The tart fruitiness and bourbon made it seem like I was drinking a cocktail. Silky mouthfeel with a medium to full body. Very warming.

Name: Barrel Aged Decadence
Date: May 08, 2007
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting
Vintage: 2005
Appearance: muddy dark red, frothy beige head
Aroma: sweet oak and vanilla aroma with some dark fruits and some hot alcohol
Body: very creamy body
Flavor: hot buttered caramel flavor with lots of ripe dark fruit, lots of vanilla sweetness, alcohol stays in the background, fruit and sweet vanilla steals the show

Name: Barrel Aged Decadence
Date: February 01, 2008
Mode: bottle
Source: tasting
Vintage: 2005
Score: 3.9 to 4.1
sweet fruity character is coming out strong enhanced by a brown sugar sweetness, vanilla and caramel sweetness still strong but the fruity character is coming foward,

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 8/10; Flavor: 8/10; Palate: 9/10; Overall: 17/20
Rating: 4.1/5.0
Drinkability: 8/10
Score: ***+/4

Bottle #183/280 sampled on 5/8/07: Pours a slightly hazy mahogany with a spotty-lacing light tan head. Aroma of rich, sweet caramel and vanilla oak with nice bourbon character and a touch of aged oxidation. Body starts fairly full and earthy caramely sweet with nice dark fruity raisin and brown sugar flavor well-balanced with good bourbon complexity toward a warming finish. Still a little too hot, but should age well.