AleSmith Barrel Aged Decadence 2005

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

Courtesy of Styles

Bottle: The aroma is loaded with bourbon and is very boozy. Behind all the bourbon is chocolate, vanilla, and some faint fruitiness. It pours a hazy orangish-red with a small beige head that quickly fades to a ring around the edges of the glass. The flavor starts with chocolate and caramel. There is some faint fruitiness in the background. Big bourbon and vanilla finish with a hint of wood. Not a lot of heat, but definite alcohol flavor. Medium-full bodied with mild carbonation. A little too bourbon dominated in my opinion.

Bottle shared by Kyle(doubleo) at Lost Abbey. Cannot remember bottle number. Huge thanks for the taste. Pours a dark brown with ruby highlights. No head on this one. Smell is bourbon, oak, dark fruits and weird candy apple. Slight sourness also. Little bit of oxidation from the barrel aging. Taste is the same with a little bit of chocolate. No carbonation and a slight dry mouthfeel. Not bad.

Courtesy of kmweaver. Bottle #98/124 (2nd bottling). Opaque, muddy brown body with a small off-white head. Big bourbon nose is quite hot with light oxidation, some toffee and dark fruits. Moderately sweet and boozy taste with rich caramel, toffee, nuts and figs. Full body is sticky, soft with light carbonation and a warm finish. It did improve as it warmed and breathed.

Bottle shared by thebeercellar at the footsex gathering. Didn’t even realize this was BA till a couple beers after we drank it oh well. Thanks so much for sharing this Matt! Pours a very dark brownish orange with a small head. Nose has a lot of sweet malts, oak, booze, and sugary sweetness. Flavor is also very sweet, with some more oak and boozy, sugary flavors. A little too much here, maybe more time in the bottle with smooth things out.

Courtesy of Fordest and shared at the Fordest Tasting. Pours a cloudy brown with a slight amber hue and not much head. Aroma of wood, bourbon, vanilla, malt, and caramel. Flavors of sweet malt, bourbon, caramel, and alcohol. Very nice.

Courtesy of fordest who opened this gem at the fordest tasting sharing it with toncatcher, padrefan98, wetherel and of course fordest. It pours sort of dirty amber brown with thin to weak off white head. The aroma is simply huge with wood and booze along with plenty of caramel candy goodness and some dark fruity esters. Wow, great flavor with booze and wood mixed with creamy caramel, dates, prunes and pan seared apple wedges. Could be a bit heavy on the barrel aged flavors that outshine the yummy base beer. So a little more balance is the minor flaw noticed for my taste. Still, awesome brew that I thoroughly enjoyed. Big thanks to fordest for opening this puppy.

This was a special beer that i enjoyed with a neighbor that introduced me to craft beer now i come up with stuff that amazes him,now the beer it was a strong,dark and had a big bourbon taste with little head and was a great sipping beer, it had hints of wood and vanilla with a sweet and fruity type finish but very enjoyable and wish they had put out more to age one.CHEERS!

750ml bottle #77 of 124. This was one of the brews released on 9/28/07. Poured a dark murky brown color with only a moderate amount of brown head, that faded quickly. Smelled deep and dark of vanilla and bourbon. Tasted so smooth, much less of the bourbon flavor than I was expecting, which was a good thing because I didn’t want it to be too overpowering. Tasted surprisingly sweet, vanilla and dark fruits. This was one of the smoothest and most complex beers that I have ever had. I thoroughly enjoyed it and definitely wished that I had more. Oh well, next year.