AleSmith Barrel Aged Wee Heavy

Brewed by AleSmith Brewing Company
Style: Scotch Ale
San Diego, California USA

2006 vintage. Pours hazy deep brown with a small tan head. Aroma of sweet caramel malts, vanilla, dark fruits and bourbon tht is slightly musty. Taste ia the same with alchohol up front and an almost sweet candy flavor finishing it off. copyright undsioux7. Not too cloying OG?

2006 vintage. Pours hazy deep brown with a small tan head. Aroma of sweet caramel malts, vanilla, dark fruits and bourbon tht is slightly musty. Taste ia the same with alchohol up front and an almost sweet candy flavor finishing it off. Thanks grim!

Re-Rate, courtesy Daknole. Muddy brown- looks lousy. Full on assertive bourbon aroma with toffee, caramel and light vanilla. Sweet, soft, very candyish vanilla, caramel, and bourbon on the palate. Very dessert-like. Some late acidity and hints of brown sugar, rum and bourbon. Slight alcoholic dryness. Very full body. Good brew - nose is out of balance and its picked up some tartness but this is quality.

Original rate: Burgundy colour. Hazy but vibrant. Big clean malty nose with a brash vanilla/bourbon character. Simple but rather fantastic. Rich, bourbon/maple character. Not a ton else, but nuts to that, it’s still beautiful. 8-3-8-4-16 = 3.9

2005 vintage shared by Pete at the pad in late March - after glasses of pliny the younger, elder, bourbon angel’s, older visco, and arctic devil, what a joke!

Nose is soothing and unleashes a jargon of sweet oak, sticky bourbon, caramel malts, and hints of vanilla. I just love these BA Alesmith aromas - just lovely. Flavor is really much of the same, predominantly wrapped with a whiskey overtone throughout. The contemplative appeal of the normal Wee Heavy is lost here, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing - it’s just a different enjoyment. Mouthfeel is full bodied, coating, and smooth as can be. Very warming - but still very drinkable. Rumor had it that this guy was a booze bomb - I didn’t get any of that. Just a ridiculously delicious brew...give me more!

Bottled, drank by myself, in my first night alone in god knows how long. It’s been a while since I’ve had a good 750 to myself -- I used to do it all the time -- but this is perhaps reminding me why I don’t really bother anymore. The drunkenness hits fast, and in this case its not really worth it. I mean, really, this is pure bourbon. The normal Wee Heavy is no doubt one of my favorite beers, nearly perfect every time, but this has just been ruined by the barrels. Hell, I don’t even taste oak in it, just a harsh, boozy mess.

It’s got a lightly buttery finish, lots of alcohol, whiskey all around. Aroma is nothing but. Almost no carbonation and no head. All those wonderful malt characteristics we became so familiar with in Wee Heavy have been lost. I simply don’t understand. What is the deal? Why do people even like this? How is Alesmith -- no doubt one of the top 10 brewers on the planet -- releasing a special edition beer that is so critically flawed?

I guess I’ll never know. But, if you can’t tell by now, this was a huge disappointment.

Bottle 14/222 shared by Wetherel. Thanks John for the chance to try this. Pours dark brown with zero head. Smell is intense bourbon(did they pour me a bourbon instead). Sweet vanilla, smoke, wood and caramel. Taste is pure bourbon with a slight resemblance of a beer in there somewhere. Slight oxidation from the aging. Vanilla, bourbon, peat, dark fruit. Complex but over done with the barrel aging. Carbonation is non-existent. Not bad but nothing special.

Bottle. drank at EBF. Pours with a medium sized but lasting head. Aroma is mostly caramel and vanilla. The flavors of the beer mesh so well. Chocolate, bourbon, vanilla and some dried fruits, it’s perfect in every way. Smooth, creamy mouthfeel.

Big thanks to Mreusch for this beauty! Shared with therealbastard. Poured thick brown with small bubbly head. Big aroma of bourbon, caramel, and fruit. Amazing complexity with bourbon, caramel, and fruit. Extremely smooth.