AleSmith Barrel Aged Old Numbskull

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

Big thanks to iowaherkeye for this one! A thick bown pour with a decent sized off white head. Aroma was vanilla, butterscotch, and toffee. Flavor was more butterscotch, caramel, bourbon, oak, vanilla. The booze was pretty intense with this one, but it had a good enough flavor to not have it dominate everything. Syrupy finish. We tried this next to the regular old numbskull and both were very nice. This one would definitely be a once in awhile thing if it was available everywhere. Still very nice. Thanks joey!

little head great bourban nose mixed with the sweet malt smell of the barleywine and taste is much of the same great interplay between the malt and the barrel wish I had more

Cloudy mahogany, almost no head. Caramel, toffee, vanilla, cherries, butterscotch aroma. More of the same, great feel.

Many thanks to eaglefan538 for sharing his experience! Without going overboard with the description, the flavor in this one was very similar to the regular Numbskull, obviously. The bourbon/oak flavors from the barrel were subtle at first pour and got noticeably stronger as it warmed, which did not improve the flavor of the beer, but began to take over and make the beer a little on the sweet side. The strong hops showed through even with a bottle, according to eaglefan538, was 3 years old. I can’t say I prefer this to the regular version, but an enjoyable experience nonetheless.

Bottle. 75cl [Thanks to ygtbsm94] @ Zythos Bier Festival 2008, Sint Niklaas, Belgium. Light unclear amber color with a small, virtually none appearance, virtually none lacing, fully diminishing, off-white head. Aroma is moderate to heavy malty, cacao, dark fruiy, port, sherry, oak, vintage, alcohol. Flavor is moderate to heavy sweet with a long duration. Body is medium to full, texture is creamy - syrupy, carbonation is soft - flat. Very very nice BW ... ;o)) (010308)

’02 vintage, tasted ’08

Slightly hazy, fiery amber. The aroma is sweet, with vanilla, caramel and light toffee. May be a bit too rounded at this point - it’s nice on the palate but the nose is getting delicate. Deep mapley character, light alcohol. Beautiful flavour, yeah. 7 4 9 4 17 = 4.1

’04 vintage, tasted ’08

Hazy fiery-amber. It’s a bit boozier than I’d like. The mapley notes are still present but seem more restrained than in the classic ’02 vintage. Big alcohol character. Not supremely hot but hot enough. This one could actually do with a bit more age as there’s some edge that I’d like taken off. 7 3 8 4 14 = 3.6

Thanks to eagle for this one. Poured a copper color with small head. Aroma was of caramel, burbon oaky. Flavor was much the same some hops some vanilla. Burbon began to overwelm this and make it sweeter as it warmed. Not bad not what I expected.

Thanks to Miketd. The ’05 seems to be hitting it’s peak just about right now. The flavor is dominated by caramel, toffee, brown sugar, vanilla, and hidden fruit.