AleSmith Decadence 2005

Formerly brewed at AleSmith Brewing Company
Style: Old Ale
San Diego, California USA

A hazy amber beer with a thin beige head. The aroma is sweet with notes of alcohol and lots of fruit, leaning towards the over ripe end of life. The flavor is sweet with notes of caramel, prunes, over ripe fruits, wood, and alcohol, that prickles the tongue. The end is dry and woody.

(Bottle 75 cl) Very beautiful clear, dark amber - looks like a good cognac - with a small, off-white head. Fat, flowery hoppy aroma. Very full body with tons of sweet caramel malt. Very vinuos with notes of overripe fruits - a bit sugary. Old Ale? This is more your typical American Barley Wine. 031205 and 061006

Cask at O’Brien’s, San Diego. Clear dark reddish brown. Raisiny, near portlike and very sweet with some cherry tones. Very liqueur-like with notes of orange and curacao. A massive onslaught of flavours, but finishes disappointingly dusty and alcoholic.

Bottle. Cardboardy, fruity aroma. Reddish colour. Bitter, quite peppery flavour with some cream to it. Aftertaste is pleasantly rough.

Bottle. Hazy orange coloured with an off white head. Aroma of caramel, dried fruits, vanilla and wood. Flavour of dried fruits, vanilla, caramel and wood. Light hoppy finish.

Name: Decadence
Date: 10/23/2005
Mode: Bottle
Source: Liquid Solutions
Vintage: 2005

clear red, aroma of rich ripe fruit, ripe plums, sweet cherries, chocolate, woody, flavor is a bit rough and bitter at first, ripe fruit shows up along with an alcoholic burn, takes a long time for the fruit to ripen, yeast swirl smooths it out a bit, never lives up to the wonderful aroma
-------- /> Name: Decadence
Date: 03/26/2006
Source: tasting
Vintage: 2005

rough edges are starting to smooth out, still some balancing bitterness to go with the rich fruit, another six months and it will be perfect
-------- /> Name: Decadence
Date: 09/09/2006
Source: tasting
Vintage: 2005

only an initial hint of the rough edge from the bitterness allowing the rich fruit to shine through even more, a bit of alcohol starts to show up
-------- /> Name: Decadence
Date: 02/10/2008
Mode: bottle
Source: tasting
Vintage: 2005

the rich fruit flavor has fully broken through with the earthy bitterness in the background,

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 8/10; Palate: 7/10; Overall: 17/20
Rating: 4/5.0
Drinkability: 8/10
Score: **4

Cloudy amber. Chewy aroma has lots of caramel. Big chewy body but with a soft milk chocolate character. Robust alcohol finish is also a little bit candyish. I don’t remember having this when it came out, but I’m not sure this is coming together now...just lots of malt and nothing really special. Re-rate A few months later, tackling this again and while I enjoy the soft brown sugar note, there aren’t that many elements to cheer about. I scored it a bit higher and my numbers will reflect both samplings.

@Freakin’ Frog, Las Vegas
Hazy dark amber color. Extremely malty aroma. Strong mouthfeel, a bit oily, sirupy malty, with an English level of bitterness, quite similar to a Fuller’s Vintage, thicker and more warming.