Alpine Beer Company Great

Formerly brewed at Alpine Beer Company (CA)
Style: Barley Wine
Alpine, California USA

Date: 12/02/2005
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewfest, Strong Ale Fest

Appearance: clear copper, headless,
Aroma: sweet maple syrup aroma,
Body: thin body,
Flavor: flavor is hot and alcoholic, sweet, a real sipper

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 6/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 12/20
Rating: 3.2/5.0
Drinkability: 3/10
Score: **+/4

375 ml bottle purchaesd from the brewery 9/06 - Pours a hazy deep amber color with a one finger thick off white head. Light spotty lacing. Aroma is toasted malt, oak/wiskey, and dark esters. Flavor is oak/wiskey, esters (raisin), vanilla, and brown sugar. The alcohol is not as strong as I thought it would be. Still, it is noticeable. Medium body. This beer is a real eye opener. A good beer.

Hazy mahogany pour with bright, woody crimson and caramel notes that have a succint outline within the body. A thin off-white head recedes slowly and leaves spotty lacing. The aroma is very oaky, sweet and strong. Notes of whisky, charred grains, vanilla, cherry skins, apple and a massive dose of Madiera wine. alcohol is plentiful, though it doesn’t near the intensity of a typical 15% libation. The flavor muddles these traits under a blanket of woodiness, looming sweetness and striking additions of balsamic vinegar and raw molasses. Moderate acidity and raisiny sweet notes engage in a combative stance with each swallow. It does taste nice. It also tastes odd and overdone, especially in the barrel aging department. The alcohol burn in a long finish is substantial. Mouthfeel is fairly smooth, tumbling around releasing sharp grainy notes and is very softly carbonated. Brash, bold, unforgiving and unrelenting.

375mL bottle at O’Briens on 3/23/07
Deep amber-cherry with some darker beige hues, a medium-high clarity and a dark beige head that was quite creamy and well-retained, lacing lightly.
Sweet coconut/pineapple shows off the bourbon immediately, but it’s neither dominant nor exposed, as a strong toffee-vanilla-like maltiness quickly backs it up and fills in all of the gaps. What’s left is a sumptuous, very deep aroma that, though seemingly simple at first (toffee, light raisins, vanilla, bourbon), actually imparts interesting phenols, wood tannins, a surprisingly elegant yeast and plenty of interesting citrus fruit nuances (marmalade and other citric hop notes). Quite rich and sniffable, it definitely feels quite sweet, but for some reason, I wasnt put-off by it in the least. Moderate acidity from the barrel/yeast balances the sweetness, on the finish, with hop bitterness actually secondary to this, I found. Very unique, to say the least. Alcohol wasn’t overt for its size, just adding more dryness/breadiness on the end.
Extensive malt depth allows all permutations of caramel, toffee, butter toffee, cream, maple, vanilla, raisins, and even light sherry notes. Definitely sweet, but I think the barrel dryness imparts just enough balance, without adding any significant tannic astringency. It’s a slightly oily, but very well-polished wood character that dosent pump out acidity. Nor does the bourbon flavor sit incohesively apart from the malt flavors, but rather makes you believe its all part of the whole. Very soft, creamy body has an ample level of carbonation, giving it an almost fluffy feel at times. Strong esters emerge with warming, with a touch of alcohol bite, but no more than would be inevitable at this level. I hate excess breadiness, and happily, there wasnt too much here. One of the better bourbon barrel beers I’ve had in a long time. As Chris Q reported while sharing this with me, this bottle was quite different from some other bottles he’d experienced, as my rating seems to confirm.

Bottle from Wee HeavySD. Light clear caramel color. Funky, sour, wood , caramel aroma. The taste was the same with some mild sweetness. Whiskey wood flavor with subsides to dry wood finish.

Poured a cloudy dark brown color with no head. Super sweet bourbon aroma with a dark spicy pit fruit aroma. Palate medium-bodied but felt thin for a 15% beer, but that didn’t really detract from the beer. Serious bourbon in the taste along with alcohol heat. The bourbon and alcohol really overpower anything else that might be lurking around.

Pours a dark maroon amber with a light white head. I get alot of that big caramel that I always get in barley wines along with some subtle hops and sweet malts. Pretty big taste. Alot of bourbon and vanilla. Very malty. Some molasses elements and other sweet characters. Pretty heavy alcohol that is up front and in your face for the most part. Pretty good. brew.

From a 375mL Bottle. Orange-ish amber colored pour, slightly hazy, with some gentle strokes of fiery sunset and a thin wisp of fleeting bubbly white head. A high level of distilled alcohols jump up and attack the nostrils instantly from behind the sweet, bubblegummy malt base that’s decorated with some zesty orange hops. Almost a whiff of green apple tanginess, but it could be my imagination. Medium bodied, crisply carbonated mouthfeel that imparts a pleasant tickling sensation across the palate to the back of the tongue. A bourbon drenched fruitcake spiciness creates the first flavor impression before a reaffirmation of the green apple offness found in the aroma makes its first appearance on the palate. The alcohol burn is so stinging that this component seems pleasant by comparison, however. A bit of harsh tannic oak comes through on the back end of the palate, but could stand to lose some of the astringency. Interesting flavors, but kind of a mess for my palate to decipher overall.