AleSmith Barrel Aged Old Numbskull

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

Bottle #111/223 Shared by hapjydeuce. Thanks for the taste! Pours dark brown/amber color with a small off white head. Smell is intense bourbon and dark ripe fruit and fig. Can smell oak and slight oxidation that plays well into the overall nose. Taste is less bourbon then the nose and more oak and dark fruit. Caramel , toffee and chocolate malt. Slight hop bite. Mouthfeel is thick on this compared to the regular version. Creamy and dialed in just right. Very good barrel aged beer. Great job Alesmith and thanks again hapjydeuce for sharing..

From a bottle brought by ygtbsm94 at ZBF 08, thanks Brad. Bottle 160 2005. Chestnut colour with thin beige head. Caramelised coconut aroma. Some hop. Sherry, raisiny, oaky, vanilla flavours. Hops and vanilla and dry oloroso sherry spring to mind. That is pretty good. Hot alcohol on finish. But for a barrel aged beer, yeah, pretty good.

A Mes rate: Bottle at Zythos, MASSIVE thanks to Brad (ygtbsm94).
Murky mid brown and struggling to hold onto any head at all. OH MY GOD what an aroma. This had me doing cartwheels. Coconut, chocolate, candy, thick sweet tarry malt and some very slight soy but it’s not putting me off any. Such incredible boozy barrelly notes that are surprisingly not overdone at all and just perfectly poised. Caramel, lovely sweetcorn, obvious brandy overtakes the bourbon easily. Damn, it really is all over the shop. Harmonious and seriously good. Very nutty in the mouth. Possibly a little too much alcohol showing with plenty of burn but it is one of those beers where it is enjoyable rather than being a problem. Caramel and chocolate echo the aroma really well. Not quite so good in the mouth as on the nose but still a challenging and complex brew. It’s like drinking coconut butter and I loved every minute. Thick and tangy mouthfeel with such an amazing zip round the sides of the palate and a harsh but immensely satisfying sting right at the edges. A rare and very special treat.

A measure of what a bloody marvelous guy Brad is. I did a bit of a trade with him at Zythos and in the weeks running up to the festival I pestered him constantly to try and get him to trade me this bottle. Eventually he comes back to me to say sorry but he just can’t bring himself to part with it. Quite understandably. Then what does he do? He brings it to Zythos and opens it right there and lets me help myself to a huge serving and I went back for seconds. Brad, I definitely owe you one mate!

Thanks to Brad (ygtbsm94) for sharing this!
Muddy amber body with a lightly brown creamy head. Strong, metallic aroma of port, malts, cognac and aged beer (like more than 10 years) with a very sharp edge, so you get this isn’t really aged for more than 10 years. The aroma isn’t very well balanced, although it is quite complex (this sharp edge just spoils any possible balance). Moderately bitter, lightly sweet (caramel) flavour. Subtle and quite nice, but this weirdy edge still continues in the flavour. Nice anyway, but different.

Bottle at home with Tom and Royce ... Big thanks to Ughsmash for this 2005 bottle 68/225 Brown ... typical barly wine nose with just that hint of spirit(bourboun) ... sweet toffee... loads of vanilla ... but again the Bourbon is showing a bit too much... and a wee bit too sickly for me... Oh dear us scots dont seem to have taken to this that well... Like tom im not sure the barrel ageing has helped so real interested to see how the non BA is... Its got a great initial falvour, but its not draging me back to lifting the glass. very odd.

2005 #68. Bottle at cgarvie’s fantastic sunday sojourn. Pours a coppery cloudy colour with no head. Aroma is bourbon but some damp wood, oxidised and some vanilla. Mouth is lots of vanilla and some milk chocolate, even a lactic edge. Creamy and bulky and coating, which is good on its own, but doesn’t work fantastically as I’d have liked. No sense of alcohol that I notice. A fantastic, well constructed beer, but I’m not sure that it works as well as it should.

Bottl eand i cant thank cgarvieuk enough for the oppertuniy to taste it. Aroma is coco and vanilla. Taste is really chocolate vanilla, alc well hidden and very drinkable for % and nice but barrel aging does not help this puppy. Age is showing.

NorCal Feb ’08 - 2005 Bottle #96 - Somehow AleSmith is one of the few breweries who really know how to intergrate what barrel aging does to beer in a way that is damned near perfect. While I’m a huge fan of the regular non-barrel aged Old Numbskull, this was equally as tasty. Better? I don’t believe so. But not beneath it in anyway either.

The beer pours out a burnt/brownish orage color with a smaller sized light tan head. Aroma is raisiny, yeasty, alcohol, wood, vanilla, brown sugar..reminded me of whiskey in many ways. Flavors were nearly spot on with the nose with a little more emphasis on the vanillin and toffee character from the bourbon barrel. Fantastic beer.