HeBrew Jewbelation Eleven

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

Aroma is rich and sweet, reminds me of a Barley Wine. Color is black amber with light carbonation and a thin head. Taste is like aroma seems like a Barley Wine. Starting with a full body it goes down a little sharp with a rich feel. Finish comes in bold with a rich sweet dried fruit (raisin) and some roasted tones then ends with a bitterness. After taste has a quick alcohol nip as the bitter fads away just leaving a little sweetness. This is a great brew, its a lot like a Barley Wine, its full, bold, rich and nicely balanced.

Dark brown. Sweet malty Chocolate with slight coffee. Crisp hop throughout. Sweet and refreshing.

On beer five. Smell of noble hops mixed with a healthy grain fills the nostrils. From the smell, imperial stout would be expected. But, the taste is very smooth - possibly through vanilla beans or oak. Really delicious brew. I wish I was drinking this beer when I was more sober!

Bottle: Deep brown with a dense, dark khaki head. Boozy aroma, rich malt character. Layers of toffee, vanilla (mildly rum-like), sweet tobacco, buttery/diacetyl hints. Pretty nice aroma. Slick mouthfeel, a bit sticky. Flavor does have some subtlety that the aroma has suggested, but it’s not very well integrated. Starts sweet, with a hint of rye, and lots of caramelized chewy malt character. Then it gets a brief earthy tobacco hint, some leather then comes to a piny, roasted finish, with residual late & subtle chocolaty suggestions. Some nice flavors come through, but some of the subtleties are masked by the high gravity. This beer is close to being very good, just doesn’t have a good dynamic between the nuances and it’s overall density. Not very drinkable, but still tasty, nonetheless. (Smells better though)

Before pouring out of the 22 oz bottle I wasnt expecting this to be like a stout. Poured a think dark brown with a thin tan head. Immediately there is aroma of malts and coffee. If feels thick and it coats your mouth. It tastes like coffee and a bit like chocolate, and even a bit of dry fruit like raisin, with a nice dry hop finish. At first it tastes sweet, but there is a dry finish that balances the sweetness nicely. At 11% i was ready for alcohol flavor but it never came. This is a good one.

Very dark brown, wan but dense velvety head. Strong malty aroma of brown sugar, leather, molasses, light herbal hoppiness. 11% abv surprisingly doesn’t show itself in the aroma. Oily, sinuous roasty flavor presenting with some substantial tartness. Lots of complexity here. A lot of sweetness as well, but it’s well balanced by the acidity. The alcohol never really shows up much. I was ready to brush this one off as another HeBrew brew that I didn’t really like, but this is good stuff. I’ll revisit this one if given the chance.

Poured from a large-sized bottle into a pint glass. A slick, black color with a very small, quickly gone, off-white head. A heavy roasty malt aroma with tones of coffee and chocolate, but also some earthy or grainy hops. I immediately noticed how heavy the taste was. It was mostly sweet and a mixture of chocolate and coffee, with some bitterness from the alcohol. A very smooth, syrupy feel on the palate, with a big kick of alcohol and very little carbonation. A potent and intense beer, somewhat overwhelmingly so, that should be handled with care, but a good experience overall.

22 oz bottle. Pours a dark brown with a small creamy tan head that retains well and laces the glass.

The aroma is sweet and roasted chocolate malts, rye, dark fruits, some hops and alcohol.

The flavor is roasted chocolate malts and some dark fruit and cola followed by a decent sized bitter and burnt alcoholic finish. The mouthfeel is medium to full bodied with soft carbonation (almost watery).

Overall, an interesting beer. I’d like to try it a few more times to see if I really liked it or not. Right now it’s a bit hot. It has interesting parts but the sum is a bit lacking.