AleSmith Barrel Aged Old Numbskull

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

Pours brown with no head. Huge robust aroma of toffee and vanilla. Heavy bourbon flavors of vanilla and oak. Full bodied with an oily mouthfeel. Sweet finish with a long alcoholic burn.

Tasted at Cleveland tasting on 8-23-08. Thanks!! I am rating this as part of a vertical tasting. There was an 04 and a 06 tasted this evening. The older version has a minor aroma, but it still has complexity of strong caramel and bourbon overtones. The newer version has an alcohol aroma added and more brown sugar aromas. Taste is unbelievable in both versions. The older version had no carbonation. That was a bit of a let down in a sense. The younger version had a nice amount of carbonation. The older version had a more caramel taste with bourbon and oak that you expect from an alesmith ba. The younger version has more alcohol taste, more toffee, brown sugar, and is overall a better brew at this point. Overall I enjoyed both brews. I wouldn’t let this age more than a few years. Its good now. Don’t wait.

Bottle brought to after4ever’s tasting. Rating from old notes.

2005 edition. Toffee and vanilla aroma, close to the Drake’s bourbon barrel barleywine but drier. Toffee, bits of oxidized hops, lots of wood, gentle vanilla. Beautiful. So good, in fact, that I turned down a shot at as-yet untried Dark Lord in order to get a second bottle of this. I’m looking forward to it!
2005 edition sampled Thanksgiving 2009. Probably past its peak but still lovely. Very well integrated at this stage. Rating stands.

thanks andrew. this was awesome. as always with alesmith, the balance and craft was impeccable. the barrels were very subtle and perfectly incorporated. nutty, honeyed, and fruity. better than the already-amazing numbskull.

thanks cmubeerman. Reminds me of a slightly less balanced Old Salty. Complex (it’s AleSmith) with great smoke, chocolate and nuttiness to balance out the fruity and woody notes.

(Bottle thanks to WeeHeavySD) The first pour was deep and glowing copper to light blood red with absolutely no head while the second pour was opaque orange to brown with a lot of yeast. The aroma is fat and alcohol warming from the bourbon oak with tones of butter, wood, vanilla, coconut, peppermint, toffee and whiskey. Malt and hops bring tones of caramel, toffee, syrup, chocolate, resin and limey citrus. Fruity and berry-like with tones of cherries, prunes, figs, ripe mango, pineapple, banana and canned cocktail fruits like cherries, pears and peaches. Undertones of parsley, dill, shellfish and corn. The flavour is medium to heavily malty sweet, light to medium bitter with a fat oak blanket alongside a nice alcohol warmth. Tones of vanilla, coconut, butter, bourbon, rum raisins, resin, sweet citrus, caramel, toffee, fudge, honey, pine apple, mango, honey melon, parsley and dill. The mouthfeel is full, round, sticky with a biting numbness from the hops and the alcohol. Almost no carbonation. The finish is ultra long with tones of honey, buttery bourbon and alcohol. Full bodied. The oak is strong in this one, just a bit over perfect.

Bottle (Thanks Puzzl) at Sune’s sommerhus. Clear nutbrown - offwhite head. Nutty, oak, vanilla, light sharpness, nice hoppy, raisins, berries, red berries, toffee, caramel, chocolate.... and a lot more - fantastic - but not as good as Sune’s BarleyWine

1000th ranking !! 2004 #67/227. Pours a muddy caramel brown with a medium sized light tan head. Aroma of vanilla oak, bourbon, figs, brown sugar, caramel and toffee. Complex taste of vanilla oak, caramel, toffee, figs, and bourbon. Very nicely done with the bourbon flavor just right. SUPERB !!!