HeBrew Jewbelation 5766 Ninth Anniversary Ale

Shmaltz Brewing Company
Formerly brewed at Olde Saratoga Brewing (Mendocino Brewing Co.)
Style: American Strong Ale
San Francisco, California USA

Very dark appearance. Slighy chocolate aroma. Smooth malted texture. Hoppy, cocoa, nuts, and a faint fruitiness to it all. I expected much more from a beer with ’9 malts and 9 hops.’ The high alcohol content comes through a little to strong also, like liquor.

Poured a very deep ruby color with a small tan head. Malty sweet aroma is roasted with toffee and some fruit. mouthfeel started crisp but creamed up as it warmed. Roasted flavor and some cocoa. Dry finish becomes quite bitter on the finish. Maybe even a little peppery form the alcohol. The finish keeps me from being able to drink too much of this.

Bottle, nice brown color. Big toasted malty aroma, with a hint of coffee. More caramel malty flavors, some coffee, and some estery medium fruits - raisin-ish, not quite raisin or grape. Some chocolate also comes out. Very nice beer.

Aroma reminds me of an english barleywine, sort of.Sweet toffee,choco-banana(yeast),a tease of hops.Touches on a couple of styles but is very mellow and drinkable.Nice finish with hops and some creamy coffee.Good stuff,better that last years.9% is well placed.

Bottle. Pours a murky brown with a small sticky foam froth on the surface. It seems to radiate outwards and cling to the glass. Nose is toasted malts, light caramel, bit of cocoa, coffee with cream and sugar and a hint of dried fruit. Taste is sweet but not overly sticky or syrupy. More dusty cocoa flavors, light coffee around the edges, light hops, dark chocolate, figs, mild raisin flavors, light alcohol, burnt toast and a light roasted maltiness. Body is medium with moderate carbonation feel, but leans towards creamy at times. Finishes with a bigger fruitiness, more chocolate and coffee, light cocoa, toasted bread, light hops, and a spalsh of spiciness. Alcohol comes through a bit more as well. Nice beer!

22oz. bottle. Roasty, darkly sweet aroma, some dark, toasty breadiness and mild coffee combined with elements of light cocoa, toffee and even lighter touches of grape, plum and date. As it warms, leafy, fruity hops emerge. Deep, dark brown color, clear, with a fine, subsiding tan head and respectable lacing. Flavor is roasty, lightly burnt and grainy to start, becoming progressively sweeter throughout and seeing an influx of gentle hoppiness and chocolate on the finish, which is mildly alcoholic and bittersweet. Smooth, creamy texture and full body. Interesting stuff, certainly possessing traits from multiple styles.

Pours deep red--almost black--with a medium-sized tan head. Aroma of raisin, toffee, chocolate, and light smoke. The same is in the flavor, which would be excellent but for the harshness of the alcohol and the spices. As the last rater said, the flavors don’t blend very well. It’s definitely drinkable, even good, but in the end it’s just a Stone 8th Anniversary gone wrong.

Bottled. Pours almost black with a frothy light tan head. Chocolate and roasted malt aroma. Sharply bitter with some chocolate, coffee and prune flavors. Has kindda a cookie dough thing going on. It has many good flavors but they don’t necessary meld togther very well. Sort of hornet’s nest in a glass. There’s almost too much going on. I like the idea though!