AleSmith Barrel Aged Old Numbskull

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

2007 bottle 414/449 shared with NickTheElder, JoeTheYounger, and DuffmanSW. Pours a cloudy dark orange with a tan film. Aroma is a fantastic bourbon and vanilla oak with caramel, brown sugar, and an alcohol sting. Flavor is hot bourbon, vanilla, some oaky tannins, caramel and dates as it warms up. Very full bodied and dry with a nice medium soft carbonation. Amazing stuff.

2005 bottle from wetherel (213/223). Sorry to be against the grain here but pours cloudy copper color with very low carbonation. Aroma is wood and vanilla with strong oxidation. There is some malt and caramel in the flavors but way too oaky and boozy for my liking. Also flavors shows strong oxidation which probably does not help. I made a comparison with the regular 2005 and a regular 2008 Old numbskull. This showed that both 2005 regular and BA have passed their peak quite some time ago (oxidation has faded everything that was good in this beer) and that the BA version with its intense oakyness and booziness (bourbon) makes it worse. Thanks John for giving me the opportunity to try it but I guess this oak intensity isn’t my thing.

Bottle courtesy of zuluflboy. 2006 bottle (number 174/208). Pours a murky, muddy brown to black color with a thin white head. Aroma is sweet and malty with notes of vanilla, oak, bourbon, chocolate, brown sugar and some hints of wood. Flavor is sweet and malty with notes of vanilla, cocoa, wood, oak, caramel, phenol, some chocolate and dark fruit as well. Generally medium to full body with a pleasing alcohol finish. Amazing beer.

Rating #1600! - 2005 bottle thanks to miketd. This one poured rather flat with a reddish-amber color. Aroma has some nice bourbon overtones with oak, vanilla, and a hint of alcohol. Flavor is dominated by bourbon, vanilla, and graham crackers with some residual hops, caramel, and alcohol. Mouthfeel suffers from lack of carbonation a bit. Nice one overall, but seriously substandard for Alesmith. I would really like to try another bottle because I’m guessing this one isn’t the best example of what they can do with this beer based on the other BA Alesmiths I’ve had.

courtesy of zuluflyboy, thanks for this amazing offering. bottle#174/208, year 2006. Pours dark brown with tin beige head. Aroma is malty/caramel lots of brown sugar and wood. Taste is loaded with wood/barrel goodness notes of vanilla, lots of malts and caramel, warming alcohol. Superbly balanced, a lot more boozy than what the abv would have it. Aged very well, and this review sure doesn’t do it any justice. This was simply pure goodness to drink and I enjoyed every sip of it.

Bottle shared by Ethan. Wow, another forgettable, and slightly disappointing, barrel-aged brew from Alesmith. The Speedway is the only one that even rivals its original. This was fine, but it just seemed a little overly boozy and woody and missing the complex caramel and vanilla flavors that the original holds up so well. Sort of waxy and slightly unpleasant mouthfeel.

2002. Pours a cloudy orange-amber. Aroma is boozy with malt. Flavor is very malty with caramel, vanilla, oak, and sweet dark fruit. Hops seemed lacking to achieve a good balance with the malt, perhaps due to the age.

25.4 oz bottle, 2005. Foggy brown with brief foam. Nose is caramel, vanilla and mild orange peel. Medium body with a mild tang. Taste is caramel, candied orange peel and apple with faint bittering. Wonderfully balanced, alcohol not evident, but a bit muted. Impeccably executed as always with the BA Alesmiths but didn’t quite get that specialness to put it over the top.