AleSmith Old Numbskull

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

Pouurs dark reddish borwn with minimal head. Aroma of plums, raisins, toffee, and yeast. Thick mouthfeel. Taste of caramel, honey and forest fruits. Very smooth finish with a nice bitter kick. Was my first Alesmith. Won’t be my last.

Sept. 2006 - I’ve been saving this for Review #500 for months now. Poured caramel brown color with smallish head and very little lacing. Aroma was caramel and strong hops. Given the high hoppiness, I’d say this is more American than English Barleywine, but whatever. Strong caramel flavor balanced by a strong citrus hop flavor with that characteristic AleSmith yeastiness in the end (very strong yeasty flavor). Flavor improved drastically (got fuller) as it warmed. Another winner from AleSmith!

Bottled, consumed on 02/08/08. Pours a hazy dark honey/red with plenty of carbonation, enough to make a fine, off-white two finger head without much effort. The nose is greeted with notes of sweet malty fruit and a hint of yeasty booze. Mouthfeel is smooth, almost creamy. Sharp acidic citrus tang on the tongue with huge sweet malt not far behind. Some raisin-like fruit flavors evident. Quite bitter near the end, just before the mild alcohol burn on the finish. Something off in the flavor, perhaps oxidization. Then again, I’m drinking this pretty young. It may just not be mature yet. AleSmith has yet to do wrong that I have tasted.

Clear ruby red color with a tight head. Nice sweet caramel nose with herbal hops. Full bodied and lightly carbed. Smooth, sweet tart flavors of caramel and apple peels with other pit fruits. Has a nice hop/alcohol bite to finish. An easy drinking B-wine here. 10305

2006 (?) bottle: Silver foil and blue lettering, silver second-color in the printing.

Pours a glowing red brown with a good-sized tan head. Dark caramel, some tropical fruit, cinnamon, just a mild touch of oxidation on the aroma. Also something less pleasant that I can best describe as a faint whiff of trout skin. Overall the aroma isn’t particularly powerful, for a 10% beer served in the vicinity of 60 degrees.

Pretty strong malt drive right from the get-go, not candy-sweet but enough gentle sugars to avoid being dry or sour, fruits from the hops come through , some alcohol flavor, mild salt, chewy brown bread baked with molasses. Toasted grain, nuts. Ultimately, though, the flavors don’t blast forward the way one would hope given the brewer and the ABV. Instead I’m left with an aftertaste like drinking the melted icewater off an empty scotch on the rocks.

Relatively little carbonation; the mouthfeel hides the 10% very well, soft with very little heat. I’d have said this could be 8% at the very most. Mostly that’s good; but it’s also thinner like an 8% ABV and I could some more heft to the palate.

If this were a no-name barleywine I’d be not exactly disappointed but also not overly excited. Instead, coming to this one after all the hype, I’m a bit let down. It’s fine, I guess, but no better and quite often worse than any number of more easily available options.

The color was medium orange/brown. The head was creamy, thin, and off-white. The aroma was sweet malt, alcohol, and hops. The flavor was very hoppy, sweet malt, alcohol, and waxy. The palate was smooth. The finish was warm and waxy.

Thanks liquidsolutions.Pours a lean copper reddish amber with a one to two finger creamy light orange head. The aroma is sweet, mild citrus, hoppy, toffee, sweet, a little bit of alcohol, fruit. The flavor is rich, sweet, citrusy, hoppy, waxy, grapefruit, warming alcohol, fruits. The palate is full and rich with a mild coaxing mouthfeel and a slight waxyness. The finish is sweet and warming.

Bottle from my 2007 secret santa; foil is silver on top. Pours a crystal clear copper brown with a big-bubble foam head initially medium sized, diminishing to a heavy dusting and a creeping border of foamy lace. The piney hops on the smell are surprising and nice, mixed with a sweetly fruity cherry and a lightly syrupy sourdough malt. Alcohol apparent in the smell. Aggressive hops attack the back sides of the tongue with a very denatured bitterness; tar, blackberry, licorice, and a little bit of clove on the tongue in the finish, very interesting. Not as malty as I expected, this is pretty light bodied for a barley wine. The middle is dominated by a whiff of alcohol and piney prickling hops that make the finish somewhat acidic every few sips. This is a sipper and seems like it was designed to be an accompaniment to foods; it’s not the type of beer that consumes your senses and focus. Parts of it can get a little out of control: the alcohol can creep up and overshadow things every few sips, sometimes the hops seem out of balance, but I really like the rootsy flavors in the finish. Very well crafted and delicious.