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

very good..dark brown pour with no head..aroma of raison, toast, nuts, cream, dark fruit, and chocolate...flavor is heavy in malt, chocolate, lactose, and coffee..finishes bitter with a slight warming effect...nice molasses qualities as well...very impy or scotch like...hides the alcohol quite well for 10%...

22oz bottle shared courtesy of egajdzis. Poured a darker brown color with red edges and an averaged sized off white head. Aromas of roast, nuts, rye bread, chocolate, dark fruits, and smoke. Tastes of dark fruits, chocolate, roast, and caramel. Light alcohol in the finish.

Bottle. Pours a clear very dark brown with ruby highlights and a large long lasting rocky tan head that leaves good lacing. Aroma of roasted malt, caramel, smoke, dark fruits, and floral hops. Taste is the same as aroma. Medium full mouthfeel with a mild amount of bitterness. Very good.

Poured a murky brown color with a small, tan head that left light lacing on the glass. Aroma of chocolate some smoke, dried fruits, vanilla, and citrus as well. Taste of strawberry, nougat, roasted malts, some chocolate, citrus fruits, and alcohol in the finish.

Thanks to egajdzis for sharing this one. Pours a deep brown with ruby red highlights and a medium off white bubbly/creamy lacing head. Aroma of dark fruits, molasses, caramel, some vanilla, woody notes, hints of smoke, caramel, cherries and cantolope. Flavor was a mix of the same with some toasted malts, sweet, toffe, some light hop bitterness, coffee and kid of coats the tongue.

22oz bottle had it for a while, easy drinking and nice and smooth, with some dark fruit, malt flavors, nothing spectacular no alcohol for 10% this one is decent, but have no desire to drink this again...

2006 Bottle Date, Sampled September 2007
Well I have been avoiding this bottle for almost a year, not because I think it will be undrinkable, but because I have had so many other distracting things to try instead. Lets see how this has held up. The beer appears lightly carbonated from the scant, one-finger thick, brownish tan colored head. The beer is quite dark with an almost black, burnt brown hue to it. The aroma is quite the mix of hop and dark malt aromatics. Aromas of candied orange peel, dark chocolate, black coffee, tangelo, tropical fruit and a significant berry character. If you dig for it a significant, toasted almost to the point of being burnt / caramelized bread-like aroma becomes noticeable. The hops and malt, along with the 10% alcohol, produce a fruity brandy like note to this beer. The aroma is really nice and complex and hopefully foretelling of good things to come.

Chewy and thick feeling on the tongue, this is accentuated by the light carbonation, which can’t hide the viciousness of this brew. Fairly sweet tasting, but this is quite well balanced by many other strong flavors in this brew. Fruity hop notes of candied orange peel, berries, lychee syrup and tangelo mix with malty fruit notes of raisins and figs and even something like a liquorice note. All of these fruit notes have a significant burnt character to them as if they were blackened significantly over and hardwood flame. Bitter, roasted Coffee notes that one would think would completely clash with, but manage not to, and in fact intermingle and play nicely with the up front, concentrated fruit flavors. The finish is influenced by a lightly bitter burnt malt character, a touch of warming alcohol and a light hop bitterness. The hops also provide a menthol / pine-like note to the finish, that is fairly light.

Easily one of the better beers I have had from Shmaltz. I really like the mix of fruit and dark malt character; this is like a really hoppy Imperial Stout, though without a omnipresent hop bitterness. After having smelled this beer for a bit I was sure that the aroma would be better than the flavor, but I am quite pleased to proven wrong. This is still quite a hop dominated brew, but I have a feeling that time has allowed a bit more of the malt character to come through to better create an overall balance in this beer.

Purchased: <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp? Liquors, Tucson, AZ

bottle shared by thedm and hotstuff - Pours dark brown and yeasty with a thin head. Sweet roast malt, yeast, and some nuttiness can be tasted along with some mild hops bitterness. It goes down easy for 10% abv. Pretty good.