AleSmith Barrel Aged Decadence 2005

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

2005 vintage, bottle numbered 270. A dark and complex brew with lots of dark fruit on the nose and flavor. Woody, bourbon characters surface with the warming. Sherry notes and vanilla come forth. Something special indeed.

Bottle. 213/280. Clear amber colour with a little nice head. Wonderful aroma of wood, oak, alcohol, dried fruit and hints of spices. Also very wonderful smooth flavour of dried fruit, malt and caramel. Ends up with a strong and smooth ending af caramel, this is art. This beer is totally down rated......

Darker red amber hazy body, beige head; Super smooth orange peel sharp balanced, sour apple vinegar nose; Smooth textured body, soft carbonation (not a lot of it), bitter sweet balanced innocent; Medium long alcohol warm burning finish, bitter, slightly sour and lots of warm caramel aromas, warm sour sugary apples and pear.

Deep red to light brown in hue with virtually no head. Caramel, toffee, a little coffee, vanilla and cherries all present in the aroma. Fairly sweet, very light acidity, not overly oaky, much more integrated than the original. Finishes with a lingering caramel sweetness. Medium to full body, creamy texture and almost no carbonation.

Bottle 37/280 via Jason. The beer pours to a dark murky brown with ruby hints body and no head by the time I started rating. In a side by side with the regular Decadence, it was darker and murkier rather than the lighter, sexier, and glowingly radiant non-BA version. The aroma is tart bourbon and oak with toffee and more oak. Notes of nougat and caramel with some vanilla. The flavor is oaken vanilla, bourbon, toffee, nougat, and a very complex malt. The beer is unreal. The palate is rich and full bodied and creamy with a nice warming feel. Very complex and insanely good. Thanks for sharing Jason!

Nice reddish brown. There’s a bit bourbon in there, but it’s nicely balanced. Good vanilla, wood, caramel, and spiciness of the alcohol. This is a really good blend of flavors and aromas.

Bottle thanks to jarspag, #37/280!! Poured much deeper than the regular Decadence.. plum-tinted mahogany with a short, creamy cap of deep beige head that receded quickly to a light ring. The aroma picked up a hefty influence from the barrel, but remained marvelous.. very lightly smoked aged caramel paired with smoky caramel.. some lighter oaky booziness makes it even better!

Flavor picked up plenty of lightly-smoked caramel, toasted caramel, and vanilla with minor hits from the bourbon.. picked up some more bourbon as it warmed, but it never took over.. warm, lightly-smoked finish stuck around for quite a while! Perfect execution of the barrel-aging and a wonderful underlying beer. Phenominal beer!

Thanks to Ugsmash bottle 37/280 cloudy mahogony pour w/ a thin tan head and some skittish head. Aroma is big and malty lots of raisens and vanilla a good amount of carmel some other dark fruits darker than the non ba served side by side for all you judgmental rating readers. Palate is full and well coated a bit hotter than I’d like. Flavor is a lot of bourbon on top of the regular a much more pronounced dark fruit w/ oaks and vanilla. Very nice.