HeBrew Miraculous Jewbelation Eighth Anniversary Ale

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

22 oz bottle: Dark brown body w/ only a thin sparse lacing around the top. Chocolate malt & nutty w/ some hints of caramel. Faint raisiny aroma, but other than that, very little fruitiness. Toasty as it warms as well as a little yeasty. Flavor is well balanced and chocolatey up front. Caramelly, raisiny, & toasty are next. Finish is well balanced but with raisin and toasty malt that lasts into the aftertaste which is not short, but not lasting either...but somewhere in between. Medium carbonation, borderline higher, full medium body, and well hidden alcohol..Smooth! Not an outstanding beer, but very drinkable and flavorful. Also slightly dangerous given the higher ABV and flavorful nature of this beer.

Bomber served in my New Belgium worthy glass:

Pours a deep brown hue with ruby highlights, an initial fizzy but mostly fading head and some lace. The aroma has notes of both grassy and piney hops, chocolate and toasty malting, walnut, raisin, hint of pipe tobacco and leathery esters. The taste starts with a mocha and plum note followed by acidic bitterness. Not badly balanced at all but seems a bit muddled as is often the case with beers with so many ingredients. The finish is a touch nutty and smoky supporting a light lingering bitter quality. The feel is quite average, not bad not great. Overall, the beer is better than expected which seem to be the response from most. I would call this sort of an Imperial Brown Ale or an hoppy porter.

22oz. bottle. Gotta love the name on this beer. Very dark brown color with a small tan head. Hoppy aroma with some chocolate and dark fruits. Flavor was more malty than expected from the aroma. Mildly sweet at first with some caramel notes before the hops come in on the finish to dry things up a bit. Better than I expected.

Poured pretty dark, with a tight and foamy tan head. Aroma smells very much like a holiday spice/fruit cake? Raisins and dates, and caramel, very sweet. Mid level mouth feel, the carbination carries the dark fruit flavors over the tongue. The after taste is bitter but nice. This was a pleasant $2.00 surprise for a bomber.

pours black a lil thin in appearance w/ a small tan ok laced head. A pretty weak aroma of raisens nuts and bread w/ some sweet sugars. Palate is well coated good creaminess. Flavor is pretty basic plums and raisens. Not bad but nothing special.

Pours to a really dark brown translucent body with a thin beige head with poor lacing. The aroma is a bit weak. Grains and nuttiness, chocolate, raisins. The flavor is coffee and roasted chocolate. Light English walnut. Smoke. Unfortunately, I get no hops whatsoever. Fortunately, the flavor is good. The palate is well carbonated and rich and medium-full mouthfeel. I wish that I could taste a bit more complexity. At a minimum of 16 different ingredients, I only detect about 4. :-(

Pours with a dark brown body topped by a thin head with some lacing. It’s slighty sweet and malty with a toasted nut note, some alcohol esters and note of caramel with a bitter finish. Full bodied, warming and full of carbonation.

22 oz bottle; pint glass. Poured almost black, with light brown head. It’s deep red when viewed refractively. Flavor is heavy and deep roasted malt with the hops lending just a little bit of bittering. It’s sweet, but paradoxically finishes dry. That may be due to the alcohol, which becomes more noticeable later in the bottle. This would be a good winter brew, but here I am drinking it on a hot and humid June day in Maryland. A decent brew but I won’t be rushing out to buy more.