Iron Hill Oak Aged Old Tom

Formerly brewed at Iron Hill Wilmington
Style: Barley Wine
Wilmington, Delaware USA

Poured a murky red amber color with a small, off white head that left light lacing on the glass. Aroma of vanilla, caramel malts, dried fruits, brett, light toast, oak, citrus, and a bit of alcohol. Taste of vanilla, sticky caramel, oak, sherry, dried fruits, bretty yeast, citrus, and light alcohol. Fuckin fantastic, we were downing mugs and not even realizing the 10.5%.

On tap at the Wilmington location. Poured a deeper and cloudy amberish color with a smaller sized off white head. Aromas of vanilla, dark fruits, brett, wood (came out more as I drank it), fruity, some smokiness, and some citrus. Tastes of vanilla, wood, citrus, brett, dark fruits, and caramel. Smooth body with the alcohol content hidden. Too easy to drink. Damn this beer was good.

On tap at Iron Hill Wilmington for the Cassis release party and the World Series final game. I couldn’t think of a better beer to be drinking when the Phillies won. Poured cloudy amber bronze in color with a thin beige head. Aroma of light brett funk, dark fruits, orange citrus, caramel, and vanilla. Tastes of a fruity orange sweetness and light citrus, with dark fruits, oak, brett, Very complex and quite drinkable for 10.5%. In the excitement as the Phillies won the World Series, my second mug of this was knocked over by the brewer and spilled everywhere. Oh well. I can’t wait to get more of this sometime.

Re-rate on draft at the Wilmington location a couple of days later: Darned great, just a great brew, loving it all the more. Have to bump up the aroma rating, a near perfect brew for me. Original rating: On draft at the Wilmington location. Poured a deep orange-copper color with a nice off-white colored head with good lacing, much surprising for a BA brew. Aroma was bretty funk, caramel, raisins, and oak. Flavor featured the regular base beer: caramel, raisins, other fruity notes, faint resinous hops still present. The barrell aging, however, provided a wonderfully complex and tasty experience, lactic tartness, bret notes, and musty oak. Really great and lively mouthfeel, just very well-done.

Draft at IH Wilmington. This one has a really pretty reddish copper cloudy color with nary a head. Aroma is pure funk and Oak barrel lots of sugar, green fruits, sourness, a d loads of wet oak wonderful smelling! Flavor has a nice sweetness with tart/acidic berries, funky mushrooms, rich sugar and malt, with a pleasant sour/oaky/funky thing that is pretty awesome. Fantastic mouthfeel. Well, seems pretty obvious that this one is fantastic on draft and terrible when handbottled - much like the Oak Aged Quad With Brett Was. Nevertheless on draft this is not only the best beer Ive had from Iron Hill, but probably the best beer Ive had on the East Coast. Awesome.

On tap at Wilmington. Hazy burnt orange color with a smaller head. Aroma of wood and bretty tartness, brown sugar, dark fruit (plums), vanilla and caramel. The orangy taste of the regular Old Tom is still present, and blends nicely with the heavier tartness of the brett. Tangy texture and candy orange finish. As good as it gets in so many ways.

On tap at IH Wilm. Pours a hazy deep almost ruby amber with a medium creamy off white head that left some lacing. Aroma of brett, fruit loops, vanilla, light oak, very fruity, dark fruits, floral and citrus notes. Flavor of sweet tarts, earthy, oaky, vanilla, dark fruits, nuts, floral, citrus an bretty. This beer was very solid. Well done. Really smooth, abv well hidden.

Much, much thanks to axilla for opening up this growler at The Sly Fox IPA event... Appears a hazy, dark mahogany with a small, off white cap that never fades. Tons of scattered lacing is left around the glass. Smell is of rubber, ripe fruit, caramel, toasted nuts, vanilla, funk. Wow. Taste is of sweet, funky fruit, caramel, cashews, almonds, brown sugar, vanilla. Jesus...complex isnt even the word here. This is fucking great stuff. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, funky, rubbery, fruit filled, with vanillins coming through. Palate coating. Holy Christ in Heaven. This is really outrageous stuff that everyone needs to try. It is almost like being able to have a super power for a few minutes because your senses are overwhelmed with goodness.