AleSmith Old Numbskull

	Percentile
	100
	overall

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

bottled
common

on tap
available

Broad Distribution
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Ratings	Average	Score	ABV	Style Pctl	Serve in
762	4.04/5.0	4.03/5.0	10%	98	Snifter

Commercial Description:
Bottle conditioned.
Old Numbskull is AleSmith’s first barley wine offering. You may find the name "Old Numbskull" curious. Barley wine has its origins in England and tradition is to begin the name with "Old": Old Nick, Old Sampson, Old Jock, etc. Tongue-in-cheek is often the spirit in naming a barley wine. After drinking a glass or two, you may agree that Old Numbskull feels like a fitting description. It also reminds us of the Three Stooges, one of the greatest comedy teams of all time, so it's meant to bring a smile even before the first taste. Exotic fruit aromas, along with clean ethanol, caramel, honey and toasty notes are present in the nose. At five months of age, the Numbskull flavor begins malty and the hops become more evident from the middle to the finish and linger nicely in the aftertaste. The aroma notes also show themselves in the flavor.

1999 - waxed cap
2000 - dated as such. Pictured at left
2002 - Silver foil with electric blue design and NO filling in the anvil spaces
2003 - Silver foil with electric blue design and blue filling in the anvil spaces
2004 - same as 2003 but with "Alesmith" below the logo in white lettering.

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DubC5000 (199), San Diego, California, USA

4.6	Aroma	Appearance	Flavor	Palate	Overall
4.6	8/10	5/5	9/10	5/5	19/20

Dec 14, 2007

Ochre and clear complexion, tan head. Fruity, yeasty, malty aroma. Gigantic malt profile, with waves of dark malt, molasses, honey, apple, fig, and oak coming and going. Smooth and medium bodied. An expertly crafted ale.

after4ever (2736), Brier, Washington, USA

3.9	Aroma	Appearance	Flavor	Palate	Overall
3.9	8/10	4/5	8/10	4/5	15/20

Dec 13, 2007

750, capped. ’04. Thanks, Kim! Dark amber with rubied highlights. Very little head, carbless, lacess. Huge nutty tobacco and resin nose. Medium body with very light carb. Huge tobacco and leather mid-palate with dense, woody, resinous finish. The numbers apply to the 04, with 3 years aging on it.
’07. 750, capped. Thanks again, Kim! Cloudy dark amber, dense moussy and foamy off-white head. Sweet caramel and date nose, but not very powerful. Hollow, burned-out, fairly neutral mid-palate and finish. Quite a disappointment. This one gets a 6-4-5-3-10.

pepsican (885), The Student Ghetto, Iowa, USA

4.1	Aroma	Appearance	Flavor	Palate	Overall
4.1	8/10	4/5	8/10	4/5	17/20

Dec 8, 2007 Updated: Apr 20, 2008

dark orange, big off white head. Fruit, malts, and hops in the aroma. Taste is very complex. You get nailed with a hop/malt attack, but it opens up into dark fruits, caramel, light chocolate, and more that I can’t pick out. Finishes slightly oily but smooth. Packs a bit of a punch too in a good way. It seems like this can use some time to expand as well as settle down. I can’t wait to compare these notes to one aged a few more years.

Angeloregon (2025), Portland, Oregon, USA

3.9	Aroma	Appearance	Flavor	Palate	Overall
3.9	8/10	4/5	7/10	4/5	16/20

Dec 7, 2007

Poured a golden-copper body with a moosy thin white head. Fruit notes such as grapefruit, cherry and orange with a caramel finish. Tasty brew.

MikeF (528), Cleveland, Ohio, USA

3.9	Aroma	Appearance	Flavor	Palate	Overall
3.9	7/10	3/5	7/10	4/5	18/20

Dec 1, 2007

amber, burnt orange color. little to no head. strongly bitter, but nicely balanced. wood and cherry flavors add to the complexity.

MrBunn (1531), Western, Pennsylvania, USA

4.3	Aroma	Appearance	Flavor	Palate	Overall
4.3	9/10	4/5	9/10	4/5	17/20

Nov 30, 2007

Bottle (2006). Color is a fairly translucent reddish brown. Head is tan and bigger than expected at first, but leaves nothing more than some film and a few scattered bubbles after a half a minute. Aromas are lovely... fruit scents of cherries, figs, plums and the like hover around a malt core that is caramel and heavily sweet and has a bit of a molasses note. Flavor is nice and smooth with a bit of a hops bite to it at the end, but it is still a fairly smooth barley wine without rough edges from an unbalanced hops or alcohol presence. As it warms a bit more the hops edge seems to disappear a bit. This is really pleasant and well worth the wait while it aged a bit.

SpudClampDawg (1027), Jasper, Indiana, USA

3.2	Aroma	Appearance	Flavor	Palate	Overall
3.2	8/10	2/5	7/10	2/5	13/20

Nov 24, 2007

750ml bottle, 2006 version: Deep ruby pour with a dish soap head. Big wood and cherry nose. Caramel, cocoa, plum and dark fruits as well. The body is bitter, with lots of wood, cherry and ether. Complex but far from great in the style.

pantanap (1341), Chicago, Illinois, USA

4.1	Aroma	Appearance	Flavor	Palate	Overall
4.1	8/10	4/5	8/10	4/5	17/20

Nov 21, 2007 Updated: Nov 22, 2007

bottle.....pours an amber brown with a thin slightly off white head.....aroma of an abundance of sweet caramel malt and a small amount of hops but the malt is the focus here (at least for this aged bottle).....flavors of sweet caramel malt and lots of dark fruit. a bit of a hoppy bitterness runs its course and balances well with the malt. bitter finish remains for a bit. low to medium carbonation and excellent mouthfeel......

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