Weyerbacher Decadence

Formerly brewed at Weyerbacher Brewing Co.
Style: American Strong Ale
Easton, Pennsylvania USA

29th June 2008. Brewed with honey and spices. The ingredients are not sublte! Sweet and aromatic with strong ginger and honey. Spice in there as well but hard to identify as it’s well integrated. A distinctive tasty beer.

22oz bottle via trade. Pours a swamp water brown with a thin off white ring. Lots of spice with some candied cherries and herbs on the nose, some faint oxidation in there as well. Lots of sweet caramel and toffee on the palate with a lingering spicy finish. Pretty tasty, the booze is very well hidden.

With many thanks to HogTownHarry. How he manages to cellar stuff for so long is beyond me! Cheers. Appearance: Ginger/brown with medium visible carbonation, zero head. Aroma: Ripe apple, toffee, ginger, lots of fruit, caramel, a little alcohol, banana, oak and spices. Wow. Flavour: Ginger, oak, whiskey, lots of malt, banana, cinnamon and an almost pumpkin ale character to it, the alcohol is warming but nicely aged and therefore very complimentary. Long malt & pumpkin finish. Very enjoyable.

Thanks to DIM for this one! Pours a dirty caramel color with a very fleeting white head. Sweet caramel and light alcohol in the nose. Rich caramel and dates dominate the flavor with some alcohol and spiciness present as well. Low carbonation gives this one a very thick mouthfeel. Alcohol warmth and a slight bite at the end. Sips well, but a 4-6 ounce serving is probably all that is needed. Not bad. The aging seems to have helped this. I imagine this was way too hot and harsh fresh - even now, the alcohol is definitely present. Tasty now though.

Bottled at Akkurat, Stockholm (2005 vintage), thanks fiulijn! Cloudy copper colour, almost no head. Aroma of ginger, coffee and cardamom. Sweet and fruity. Quite sticky with honey and ginger as dominat features, backed up by evere amounts of alcohol. Seriously one-dimensional for such a potent beer. Like Becherovka, but less appetizing.

22oz bomber served into duvel tulip glass. Pour is deep golden like a cider with minimal light tan head. Aromas of spice, alcohol, sweet fruits, and a malt bomb of some kind. Flavor is very mellowed and smooth. Caramel, sweet malts, banana, oak, light citrus, and warming alcohol are all present in this guy. Wow, im really enjoying this one, one sip at a time...

Bottle at Akkurat, Stockholm, vintage 2005, 3 years old
Hazy red color; thin head (if poured normally, and too much carbonation in the beer) or big creamy head with medium persistance (if poured from high, and then the beer is correctly carbonated). The aroma is a bit soapy, herbal (rosemary? heater? mild…) and shows alcohol. Good body strength, quite sweet, maybe with too much carbonation, malt and sweet caramel flavor, correct bitterness (at least, it doesn’t surpass the sweetness). The alcohol can be perceived in the final, but at 13% I can’t say that it’s too offensive. I don’t fancy too much herbal flavors (it could have been an 8-5-8-4-16), and in the final it pays a bit for it. Good but not exciting.

22 oz bottle **Summary** - After sitting in the cellar for a few years I finally cracked this open. It was either going to get drunk or get poured down the drain but one way or another it was leaving my cellar. After trying a small sample I feel that this must be one of Weyerbachers failures. A total mess it has no good features at all. **Aroma / Appearance** - Semibrown and translucent it had very little head and a weak fluid presence. The strongest aroma was bandaids with malts in the background. Disorganized and messy it had few interesting aspects. **Flavor / Palate** - Warm and hot the alcohol is dominant even after a few years time. In about ten years this one might be drinkable because it will have devolved into something tame. Just as much a disappointment as Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA I have learned from my mistake not to trust Weyerbacher much.