Kuhnhenn Fourth Dementia Old Ale

Brewed by Kuhnhenn Brewing
Style: Old Ale
Warren, Michigan USA

Hand bottled by iowaherkeye. Thanks Joey. Served at cellar temperature. Poured a hazy brown color with ruby-purple light shining through when held up to the window. The head was thick, creamy, and off white with a yellow-orange tint. It reduced over a few minutes to a clingy film. Some decent lace was left behind at the end. The aroma was malt dominated with plenty of caramel and toffee. There were also whiffs of raisin, some sprucy hops, dark rum, and a dash of brown sugar. The mouth feel was velvety smooth, thick, and oily with carbonation on the low end of the spectrum. Boggy, gooey, a real morass. Sweet on the tongue with a warming alcohol effect. The sugars were kept in check (barely) by a mild hop bitterness that peaked at about 3 out of 10. There were lots of dark/dried fruits in the flavor including plum, raisin, and fig. The malt backbone was firm, to say the least, with toffee and molasses notes. Some citrusy hop flavor also came out. A brandy-soaked fruit cake beer if there ever was one.

Thanks to footbalm for sharing this. Pours a hazy amber brown color almost no head. Aroma is aged malts, caramel, sherry, and some vanilla. Flavor is aged malts, sherry, vanilla, and a sweet fruity finish. ’05: Pours a deep amber color with a slight white head. Aroma is malty, caramel, fruit, toasted malt, and some hops. Flavor is malty, caramel, toasted malt, fruit, and sweet alcohol finish.

Bottled August 2004; Sampled February 2008
A vigorous pour produces a half-finger thick, frothy, large bubbled head that is a dark tan, lightly amber tinged color. The beer is a burnt amber color and shows brilliantly clear, though chunky, deep ruby hue when held up to the light. Rich concentrated aromatics of oxidized malt extract, sherry, buttery toffee, caramelized berry notes, chewy grain and toasted brown sugar encrusted whole grain bread. A touch of warming alcohol combines with the fruit notes to provide some soft notes reminiscent of a refined brandy. As the beer aerates a bit it becomes quite a bit more fruit focused, the berry notes become much more noticeable as the aged malt notes reminiscent of Sherry meld into the fruit character.

Sweet up front, but this seems to dry out fairly quickly. The beer is quite light bodied for its strength, but still has a fullness to it; along with the ample alcohol, the body easily makes this a sipping brew. Chewy, caramelized malt notes combine with aged Sherry flavors, fruity raisin notes and browned, whole grain bread-like notes. The hop merely play a supporting role here, but do provide some flavor to this brew; soft herbal notes are found up front and pick up some steam with a herbal, slightly astringent, bitter note by the time we get to the long, lingering finish. Actually because this beer is not overly sweet, the hop character that is here provides a nicely balanced note between hop and malt. The alcohol, while not aggressive, is most certainly here and provides a warming character that sort of radiates down my throat. The finish has a bit of dark grain character to it as well; at times hints of chocolate and perhaps a hint of roast grain becomes noticeable.

Tasty, contemplative and interesting, I have a feeling this is close to peaking. When younger I think it would have been too sweet for my tastes, but the oxidation has started to temper this brew & the still noticeable hop character adds a nice balance to the rich, layered malt character. Not bad, but something seems to keep this from being great; perhaps it is a lack of a certain rich, complexity.

2005 Vintage ~ Batch 3

2/08/2008: I don’t care what the name of this beer is because Kuhnhenn Brewing Fourth Dementia Olde Ale is definitely a barleywine! It has a deep brown color with ruby highlights. It is slightly murky (definitely not clear) and still has a good level of carbonation. The aroma is quite malty with lots of sweetness apparent as well as soft, sticky caramel, hints of residual citrus hops, and a whiff of alcohol. Wow, the flavor is extremely sweet and malty with tons of what seems like freshly melted caramel with some fruit fruity tones. Its complexity becomes more apparent with each swallow and as it warms. Additional flavors include rasins,dates, caramelized brown sugar, subtle roastiness, port, and even some remaining herbal, citrus, and tea-like hoppiness. The alcohol is warming and barely noticeable in the actual flavor. This beer has a very full body and is super thick and viscous on the palate. It is a bit sticky and even somewhat chewy. I love it! This beer shows no signs of decline and will most definitely be quite excellent for many (at least 3-5) years to come! This is a top-notch beer. Wow, I need more! Everything from Kuhnhenn is just so damn good!

12 oz/255 ml bottle (Brewed On 02-16-05, Best Before 2011) from Styles and Tmoney99. Thanks Chris and Tom! Rating #206 for this beer...

Courtesy Dragonstout. This one poured a deep shade of red with a small white head that left some nice lacing. The aroma was of sweet malts, dark fruits, caramel, vanilla, and a nice musky smell that I can’t quite make out. The flavor follows suit with the malty sweetness, dark fruits, plums, raisins, and some carmael and vanilla all blended together perfectly. The flavor is immense and really complex. It wasn’t overly sweet though, it was really well balanced. This one is full bodied with a slight sticky mouthfeel and a nice sweet and warming finish from the alcohol. I really enjoyed this one, thanks Brian!

Pours brick red with a small head.Huge swee, fruity nose.flavor full of dark fruits, caramel and not overly sweet.The balance was just right.the finish was warming and sweet.

Nice one, thanks jtw. Leathery sort of texture. Pours a dark brown color. Aromas off licorice and plum. Full bodied and slightly sweet with big fruit flavors. I’m getting some sweet raisin flavors as well. Faint aftertaste of chalk and roasted malt. Reminds me of a little of a barley wine with the big fruity flavors.

Thanks kryptic for this one Bottle poured mahogany red with a good two fingers of a reddish brown head that settles into lace Aromas of fermented fruits prune and roasted malts the nose is quite interesting on this one Flavors of Sweet fruit and I mean a ton of it .This is a sweet one for sure. An ever so slight alcohol taste in the end (as it warms you get a lot more toasted malts and a light hop) Full Thick syrupy palate A great sipper, I wish I had some more. Well of to enjoy the rest