HeBrew Monumental Jewbelation Tenth Anniversary Ale

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

Easy to drink. Easy to enjoy. Great nose of chocolate and espresso and dark roast. Almost black, very small brown head. I really like the flavor. Might get tiresome by itself but should work with spicey food or, even, with dessert. A sweet stout taste ... sweet chocolate, bitter espresso, sweet fresh strawberries (ok ... not really strawberries ... more the interesting combination of sweet and tart makes me think of berries, sort of like a Rodenbach Grand Cru), and a nice bitter finish.

Bomber. Dark brown color. Aroma is caramel. Chocolate and caramel flavors. Alcohol is present, but it is not too overpowering.

Pours to a very deep burgundy body that looks nearly black but still is translucent. A very tall khaki head that is ultra-creamy and leaves a very gorgeous lacing. The aroma kind of reminds me of Traquair beers. Chocolatey coriander and light coffee. Spicy. Earthy malts and hops. The flavor is quite unique. Toffees, bitter chocolate, coriander, sweet strawberries, earthy malts and hops. Bittersweet palate. Creamy and moderately full bodied.

Poured a brown color with okay head good lacing. Aroma was woody and caramel. Flavor was much the same. was a little to sweet for my liking. It did have a bitter finish to it as it warmed.

Pours a nearly opaque dark mahogany with a nice froth of wispy-lacing tan head. Aroma of sweet dark candi sugar caramel malty aroma has some piny grapefruity hops. Starts with a full mouthfeel with some sweet, sticky, earthy caramel malt with lots of grapefruity bittering and flavor hops toward a bittersweet finish. A pretty decent brew, but I think using 10 different types of malt and hops leads to a muddling of individual flavors.

Pour is brownish black with a thin head...smell is roasty and rather rich with some citric hops and some cocoa...taste is defintaely sweet with lots of caramel and molasses flavors...

Bomber. This sat around for a while, I was actually apprehensive about drinking it, kind of expecting a train wreck. I finally decided to take the plunge. Wow, first off, those hops are quite aromatic, before the pour is finished, I’ve got a pretty good nosefull of about let’s say ten different hop varieties. The pour is murky brown territory, not really too awesome, but not bad. Kind of like they mixed tons of stuff together and poured it in a glass. Flavor time...hmm, hoppier than I expected, but still, so many things going on that I really can’t find a good balance, it is intense, which makes me give it a few points, but it kind of seems more like a brew made only to be as all-encompassing as possible, not crafted to be ambrosial.

Bomber. Pours dark, opaque mahogany brown with nice orangish-tan head. The aroma is licorice, wood, citrus, smooth hops, and a hint of applejuice. The flavor is American hops up front, then caramel and woody pine, maybe a little molasses. The finish is very woody and leaves a sticky aftertaste. After a bit some licorice comes out, as well as a few faint spices (clove, ginger). Not bad at all.