23rd Street Celebration Ale

Brewed by 23rd Street Brewery
Style: Barley Wine
Lawrence, Kansas USA

Serve in Snifter

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Sampled on draught at the Power Plant Strong Ale Fest 2006. Predominantly malty aroma, lightly roasty and sugary with some cotton candy sweetness in the nose and lighter hints of milk chocolate, cola and earthiness. Deep, dark, clear red-brown color, head is almost fully diminishing. Flavor also contains plenty of chocolate and roastiness, along with a dark breadiness and a strongly estery yeast character, followed by touches of licorice and faintly noticeable alcohol at the finish, making it fairly well-hidden. Smooth on the palate with low effervescence and some stickiness, body is of course full. Some good qualities here, quite dark and roasty for the style, interestingly.

Large snifter pour at the brewpub. Probably would have not had a chance to try it if csbosox’s magic with the tiny bartender. Its a very dark barleywine, almost black in the dim light of the brewpub. There are some ruby tints in there if you look hard enough. The head is nice and thick as well. It poured pretty cold but I could still get a nice wiff form the beer. Its sweet cherry and raisin on the nose with some thick orange peel. There is plenty of syrupy sweet malts. Taste is a bit less interesting with some astringent cherry and a thin astringent finish. Basically, the kind of stuff I do not like to see in a barleywine.

On tap (snifter - very full pour) at the brewpub. Pour is quite dark, only faint ruby highlights with only traces of an off white head. Served very cold, and therefore not much initial aroma. As it warmed, I was able to pick up some malt and roastiness. Taste is sweet malt, bit of a hop finish and a fair amount of heat. There is also roast and dark cocoa in the taste as well. I picked up on both BW and some stout characteristics in this one. Interesting brew, nice to see a small brewpub getting creative. Thanks again for re-opening for us Tricia.

On tap at the brewpub courtesy of theisti. Served way, way too cold, it pours a deep, dark brown with a creamy, beige head that reduces to a ring around the edge of the glass. The nose is pretty muted, even once it has warmed: sweet, malty and roasted notes. Medium-bodied with soft, tongue-tickling carbonation and a roasty, almost sour finish. The flavor is fairly unusual: like a blend of a barley wine and a foreign stout. Sweet, malty dark fruit notes alongside roasty, chocolate notes. It is certainly an interesting brew, but I found it too "confused" to enjoy it like I would a top tier barley wine.

On Tap: Poured in a nice little snifter. A beautiful dark brown color with a foamy head that lingers around and has a near "guiness" like reverse bubbling affect, very pretty. The aroma is also quite nice. Something seemed strange about the taste as enjoyable of a beer as it was. My favorite 75th St. offering thus far. Some very good malt flavorings, I was suprised to hear of the high hop content because I only tasted undertones of hops, but maybe thats just my non-expert palate. A good beer.