AleSmith Barrel Aged Decadence 2007

Brewed by AleSmith Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Strong Porter
San Diego, California USA

An almost black pour with a tan creamy head and lace. Aroma is bourbon, chocolate, and a hint of roasted malt coffee. Flavor is a nice warm BB chocoffee flavor, hints of vanilla. Full bodied with very nice carbonation. A very nice beer.

(DC Local Gathering, 750ml bottle, thanks ygtbsm94) Medium beige head atop copper/brown body. Aroma is moderately sweet, vanilla/Bourbon, light coconut. Taste is moderately sweet, Bourbon, some alcohol, chocolate. Light-medium body. Too much Bourbon, not well balanced.

This beer pours a nice clear dark brown with no head. The nose with rich with vanilla and bourbon with a bit of oak. This is hot as hell. Bourbon, some oak and vanilla. Body is thinned out compared to original. Really kind of disappointing.

[Bottle] shared by tytoanderso. Pours black with a creamy tan head. Aroma has lots of barrel, coconut, is very boozy, some roasted malts, and hints of tanning lotion. Flavor shows way more alcohol than the supposed 10%, and it’s really difficult to get past it to the underlying flavors. There is a really nice german chocolate cake flavor, but its like if you stuck it in a blender with a cup of rum or something. There is a light, dry sweetness at the end with some lingering roastiness.

750ml bottle. #28/817. Alcohol soaked chocolate cake initially on the nose. Roasted malt. Fusel alcohol. Lighter coffee aromas. Dark semi-sweet chocolate. Some lighter spice. Plenty of bourbon barrel in the form of grain alcohol soaked malt. Pours a thick, dark brown with a sustained dark khaki head. Flavor is laden with grain-alcohol hotness and sharpness. I see some great potential here. There are a lot of nice flavors here. German Chocolate Cake, vanilla, mild coffee. Slightly tarry. As of now, the alcohol really dominates the flavor. Medium bodied. Nice creamy texture with the right amount of carbonation for the style. This has excellent potential, but now the alcohol presence is WAY to much. Thanks Chris!

Smells great, chocolate some barrel, is it bourbon? ...I can’t tell, but it has a bit of alcohol. Damn, this shit goes down hot, but if you can get past that it has some awesome chocolate flavour, like a lot of it. Like cake, fudgy. I wonder if some age will take care of the booze, it’s pretty damn good once you warm up the the alcohol.

750ml bottle @Pilsner Petes East Coast Gathering-22oz bottle–pours a dissipating tan head and brown/orange color. Aroma is medium malt, bourbon, some spice hops. Taste is medium malt, bourbon, some spice hops. Big. Thanks decaturstevo for sharing.

Got to try a bottle of the ’07 this courtesy of "hannont". Colour... DARK brown with no head. Nose... quite boozy, sweet and Caramello-y. Palate... wowzers! What a cacophony of sweet resonance that truly lives up to its "Decadence" name!! Plenty going on here with a symphony of dark sweet chocolate, Madagascar vanilla, toffee, treacle, malt, Arabica coffee, gentle spices, oak and smooooooth bourbon, topped off with a fantastically looooong finish. Can’t really tell that it’s a porter but who gives a rats arse! This is a glorious elixir!