Fitgers 1100 Wheat Wine

Brewed by Fitgers Brewhouse
Style: Barley Wine
Duluth, Minnesota USA

Beautiful. Murky tea colored, not much head. Nose mild and sweet, bready, dusty, then butterscotch and toffee. Great flavor, loads of bright butterscotch, bouncy cherries and grapes, then balanced out with a light chocolate/cocoa dustiness. Slightly nutty, some sourness. The finish has lots of vanilla and fresh cream. Alcohol completely masked, very drinkable. Simply an excellent, excellent beer.

St. Paul Winterfest ’06. Thanks to MilkmanDan for pointing this one out to me towards the end of the evening. It turned out to be "best in show." This was a dark, thick and sweet wheat wine that was in no way cloying. Banana and butterscotch on the nose are lifted etherealy by the abv which is the only way I detect it. The mouthfeel was lush and full. I wish I had had this earlier on, but even after many tastings this stood out as brilliant.

On-Tap at the brewpub: Dark musty gold with a slight bronze shade. Small head of off-white foam sits breifly to kinda dull out to a few bubbles at the collar. Gooey lacing is strewn about in a few straggly strings and blobby patches. Big malt aroma of sweet oily fruit cocktail sauce squishing pineapple, mango, banana, dark orange, and pear, and red grapes within a slight rummy-like warmth drizzled with a light caramel and pinched with a creative grassy spice. Taste is just nice as the aroma. Big, fat, thick, and malt-a-lishous. Lots of tropical fruityness takes the palate within a warm, buttery soft ride of smooth succulant maltyness that drips all sorts of pineapple, pear, mango, orange, banana, caramel, and warmed sauces and juices from the fruit bowl from which it was soaked in rum and spiced with cinnamon and herbal grasses. Its a wowful ride of yummyness. Oh my, oh my, oh my...this stuff is heavenly thick and warm. So soft, creamy, full, saucy, and syrupy. Richly coating and everything nice. Like a warmed ice cream sunday. The warmth catches up to ya quick as you down it easily at first. But man this stuff is awesome! A fantastic beer from Fitger’s!

Rich Brown Coloring with Good White Lasting Head. Heavy Malt and Bread Dough, Prunes/Raisin Aroma. Starts Heavy But Gets Thinner Towards the End. Grape Notes. Lightly Bitter. Hoppy and Dry Ending/Aftertaste. Small Yeast Notes. Crisp. Overall a Pretty Good Balance...but Something is Missing to Make This an Outstanding Brew. Very Good.

Tap Winterfest 2006.pours an apricot color with little carbonation.Taste rich and syrupy with some fruitiness and lots of caramel goodness. My favorite of the night.Close to a good Barley Wine but with a dash of earthiness.

Murky auburn pour,with off-white sustaining head. Strong caramel and rose aroma. Ultra-buttery with strong butterscotch and hazlenut flavor. Fades on palate quickyl, but leaves a nice sweet kiss on the tounge. Alcohol very strongly noted. Hops? Tasted again more recently, with added notes of musky indian spice, like cardamon and coriander. Fresh blasts of pineapple, fresh cherries and some coconut. Finishes with a good round of mellowed hops...

Sampled draught at the Autumn Brew Review in Minneapolis, October 7 2006. The pour: dirty opaque brown with little head though what there is sticks around, very thick....the nose: sweet caramel, doughy bread; sort of like a Portuguese sweet bread with berries and dots of caramelized sugar...the flavor: very sweet, lots of caramel malts, faint bitter/burnt notes that creep in slowly but mushroom towards the finish, touches of molasses....very thick, something like cake batter in consistency with very little carbonation....raisiny hints grow with warmth. Quite nice though it gets to be a bit much and the small sample was certainly enough for one sitting.

Bottled under the table by robertsreality. Pours a dark burgundy color with no head. Very dusty and dry aroma with bits of wheat and malt. The taste was very hard to pin down, but it seems to be kind of a plum/raisin/date/grape flavor. Another dash of wheat and a medium hit of alcohol. I’m sure it’s better on tap, but still tasty a day removed from the lines.