AleSmith Barrel Aged Old Numbskull

Brewed by AleSmith Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
San Diego, California USA

Bottle # 240/449 (2007). Special thanx to Joey for hooking me up and allowing me the chance to taste this rarity. Aroma is of sweet caramel and maple syrup as well as a faint scent of alcohol. The initial flavor is a tart and almost shock of sourness but then opens up to become a sweet malty blend that is strange compared to the pre barrel-aged version of this beer. In my opinion, this reminds me of a Sam Adams triple bock without the soy sauce flavor. The aging definitely morphed the profile of this beer into chewy and over sweetened malts. And lastly, the appearance is an opaque mahogany with a firm foam head.

2007 bottle courtesy Daknole. This one poured a mahogany brown color with a small tan head that slowly fades to a thin film. Small spots of lacing surround the glass. The aroma is so inviting and just keeps coming at you with chocolate, caramel, cherries, and figs. Some oaky vanilla and bourbon undertones round out the nose. The flavor follows with the chocolate, caramel, and dark fruits all soaked into the bourbon with a nice vanilla flavor in the background. Just an amazing flavor that makes you want more and more. Medium-full bodied and very viscous and just smooth texture on the tongue. Subtle carbonations lends well to an all around great beer. One of the best beers I have encountered with the barrel so well integrated. Awesome stuf.

750ml thanks to Hophead22. Pours a dark brown with a small head. Aromas of caramel malts, oak, vanilla, and some booze but not much. Flavors of sweet caramel up front with some nice vanilla and bourbon barrel notes. Finishes with a touch of hops. Palate was lightly carbonated but big full bodied and smooth. Tasted side by side with regular Numskull, and the most impressive part was seeing how much darker the BA version is. Thanks again Tim.

07 bottle. Tasted side-by-side with regular Numbskull. Poured a deep amber-brown color with a moderate beige head that faded to a ring, considerably darker than the regular Numbskull. Aroma of caramel, brown sugar, barrel oak, soft vanilla, and some light hints of alcohol. Smooth, moderately sweet entry with some caramel malt, hints of bourbon barrel oak, some vanilla, and a bit of honey that leads into a lightly bitter hoppiness paired with some drying oak and a faint fruitiness. Low carbonation, full on the palate. The barrel-aging seemed to mesh nicely with the beer and create a nice layering of flavor that actually complimented the beer rather than overpowering it.

Talk about luck, I’m sitting at the bar and Daknole comes up and pours a nice sample of this in my glass before I can even say hi to him! Brownish amber pour with a little bit of a creamy head. Wonderful aroma of vanilla, caramel malt, bourbon, hops and dark cherry. Taste is malty with a nice blast of earthy citrus hops, vanilla, caramel and touches of bourbon. An absolutely wonderful beer.

Thanx to Daknole for this.WOW WOW! A sweet nose of caramel, dark fruits, vanilla, and bourbon.This well blended tasting everything from the fruits to the bourbon with nothing overpowering.Awesome beer.

Bottle from sauceyhops. Gabe you made my year. This was the best beer I have ever had. It is exactly what I would call my perfect beer. I would take this as my "desert island" beer. Amber pour with a creamy light head. Aroma is full of bourbon, vanilla, caramel, toffee and some notes of white chocolate. The barrel aging of this beer has created a smooth and sensual beer that I LOVED. Caramel, toffee, wood, bourbon, some hop balance and a tiny bit of dryness at the finish. Wow. This is my first 5 rating.

Bottle shared by Daknole. THANK YOU! 2007 bottle/batch 334. I am not a giant fan of barrel aged beers simply because sooooo many of them are NOT done well. This one was awesome. WEll blended so that you get the caramel vanilla stickiness up front, and a slight, very slight alcohol burn at the back. The beer still shows through.