Carlyle Barrel Aged Creme Brewlee

Brewed by Carlyle Brewing Company
Style: Belgian Strong Ale
Rockford, Illinois USA

On tap at Carlyle. Red brown with a large, cream-colored head. Caramelly vanilla nose with sticky bourbon undertones. Flavor - whoa! Hot alcohol up front, big time. Further sips revealed loads of melted caramel, subtle vanilla, more caramel, toffee, and more caramel. Did I mention the caramel? Massively sticky, delicious and dangerous.

Tap poured into the heaviest goblet I have ever held. This was the BA version, 2.5 month in Heaven Hill barrels and a lot of vanilla bean. I felt like I was holding a 10lb weight with this beer. I was nervous to try this, not a fan of barrel, not a fan of vanilla bean in my beer, not a fan of the last crème brûlée beer I had (Southern Tier), so this started with a lot of negative for me. However, I was very pleasantly surprised. Aroma is full of thick, crusty vanilla bean that is natural and not artificial at all. This comes off as a thick, sweet pastry. Flavor is similar bit a bit more sweet malts peaking through. Some bitterness emerges to offset some of the sweet. Finish is rich creamy pastry. I did enjoy it. There is plenty of heft to the body and a long sweet vanilla and cream finish; worked well together. As it warms even a bit of chocolate comes out of the flavor. Everything looks good in this goblet, the color was a caramel, copper, reddish, brown. Lightly sticky lacing.

May22, 2009 This is a vanilla ale aged for 2 1/2 months in Heaven Hill rye whiskey barrels with fresh vanilla beans. Pours a murky brick red with a thin head. Caramel, vanilla and bourbon on the nose. Flavors of vanilla, bourbon and caramel with a smooth alcohol finish. An amazingly balanced beer and one of the most uique beers I have ever had. Incredible!

Arrives to the table a very murky brown with a thin, bubbly, white head that leaves great lacing on the goblet. Aroma is very unique; strong sweetness, light spruce bitter hops, vanilla and an overwhelming aroma of caramel and candy apples or cookie dough candles. Flavor has a sweetness up front of the caramel candy apples, moves into a slight vanilla flavor, then a very light bitter spruce finishes out the flavor. Alcohol is so well hidden I couldn’t tell there was any alcohol in this 9.9% beast. Overall the beer was VERY good and definitely the strongest caramel candy flavor I have ever seen in a beer and it worked stupendously!