Iron Hill Bourbon Wee Heavy

Brewed by Iron Hill West Chester
Style: Scotch Ale
West Chester, Pennsylvania USA

On tap at the Phoenixville location. Poured a medium brown color with a small sized off white head. Aromas of wood, earthy, bourbon, peaty, light smoke, toasted/burnt caramel, and nutty. Tastes of bourbon, lighter wood, vanilla, chocolate, and caramel. Softer body.

Huge applause for Chris LaPierre of Iron Hill West Chester for this one. Do yourself a favor and visit this place. The beers just keep getting better and better. I loved the original Wee Heavy, and this one is even better...an upper echelon beer, a true beer for the ages, a beer that Russian czars, British royalty, or ancient buccaneers would have been proud to drink. Pours dark brown/blackish with a very creamy, nitrogenated light tan head. Extremely complex and intense aroma of malt, big oak and vanilla, figs, applesauce, caramel, fruit, licorice, and slight smoky roasty malts. Tastes malty, very fruity, figgy, with some finishing applesauce, oak, berries, licorice, and smoky peat. Extremely smooth and velvety on the palate, and the finish is exquisite. I’m honored to have rated this first, and even more honored to bestow a perfect score upon it. I couldn’t growler it due to the nitrogenation, so I’ll have to make regular trips to West Chester. Bravo!

Poured a reddish copper color with a small tan head that left nice lacing on the glass. Aroma of bourbon, some smoke, vanilla, roast, and chocolate. Excellent taste... caramel maltiness, roast, bourbon, sticky mouthfeel, rather thin. But still an amazing beer.

On tap at Pville for the 08 Mug Club night. Pours a nice hazy ruby/amber with orange notes and a smaller bubbly/creamy off white head. Aroma was lots of bourbon, vanilla, oak, dark fruits, sticky sweet malt, nuts and earthy. Flavor was of bourbon as well, but slightly more toned down than the flavor (but it was really intense in the nose), caramel, vanilla, dark fruits, toffee and some toasted malt.

On draft at the Newark location. The pour was amber-reddish with a haze, much lighter than I was anticipating. Served on nitrogen, slow cascading fallout, large head. The nitrogen was probably a good addition to this BA brew, keeping the bourbon tame in the aroma and flavor. Aroma was also lightly grassy, sweet malts. The flavor was caramel malts, fruity overtones (esters?), presence of grassy and earthy hops, some toasty-roast (but lacking anything peaty), light vanilla, stronger oak, and firm bourbon. Mouthfeel was full and airy.

Appears a mahogany toned brown with a small, off-white cap that fades into a mild layer and heavy collar. Tons of scattered lacing are left around the glass. Smell is of toffee, broubon, caramel, vanilla, raisins, cream, brown sugar...similar to a glazed sticky bun with a spritz of bourbon. Taste is of the mentioned aromas with tons of creamy caramel, toffee, broubon, vanilla, tobacco, and perhaps even a touch of cocoa. Mouthfeel is of slight heat in the mouth, along with sweet raisins and toffee, which linger with a warming welcomeness of booziness and tobacco, along with a touch of spiced gingerbread in the swallow. Hell, yeah!

On tap at newark local... Nitrogen pour into a thistle glass, redish in color. Good cascading head. The aroma was touch of bourbon, malts and sugar. Taste was the same, sweet malts, sugar and just a touch of bourbon. Really easy to drink. Creamy smooth. Good beer that wasnt overdone.

Loved it. Anything Iron Hill puts into a bourbon barrel in my opinion is liquid gold to me. This slick brew offers up so much in the way of flavor you’ll be dizzy after the first sip with delight. I even had the girlfriend liking it! Vanilla and oak permeate every aspect of the brew in a superior effort. I’m at either Media or West Chester once a week.