AleSmith Barrel Aged Old Numbskull

Brewed by AleSmith Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
San Diego, California USA

Serve in Snifter

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Big thanks to MikeTD. Aroma is bourbon, dark fruits. Color is amber with zero head. Flavor is bourbon, boozy and lots of alcohol. Caramel, dark fruits and just lots of bourbon overpowering this beer. Some smoke and cholcate with raisens and fruits in the background but the bourbon kills this beer. I don’t care how freakin rare it is.

Bottle shared by Ethan. Wow, another forgettable, and slightly disappointing, barrel-aged brew from Alesmith. The Speedway is the only one that even rivals its original. This was fine, but it just seemed a little overly boozy and woody and missing the complex caramel and vanilla flavors that the original holds up so well. Sort of waxy and slightly unpleasant mouthfeel.

From bottle, blind #10, courtesy of thewolf. Pours dark brown, hazy, and with a small off-white head. Dense wineous, wooden and light cheesy aroma. Solid nutty note too. Solid dark caramelish, wineous and walnut wooden. Overripe fruit, light nutty and bitter finish - light acidic touch too.

Bottle, we think from 2005 but might have been - thanks to Boutip for opening up this with my BA Wee Heavy - was nice to try both of them. Cloudy mahogany with limited white head. Right of the start you can tell this is old with a nice musty aroma; then you get fruit, butterscotch, light smoke, toffee, vanilla, light oak, old sweet malt. Smooth, no carbonation, you can tell it would have been fuller bodied but age has mellowed it too much, sweet, very tasty.

[Bottle, thanks Tytoanderso!] Pours hazy brown with a small off-white head. Aroma is mainly bourbon, but definitely some malt, and a hint of something I could not place. Taste is quite sweet with a lot of bourbon, a little vanilla and some caramel malt. Decent mouthfeel with a good finish. An alright beer, but I definitely found it to be a disappointment and didn’t think the bourbon worked well with it.

Bottle shared at our christmas tasting. This bottle was from 2006 and marked as number 13/208. The same experience as in Wee Heavy. The aging in bourbon barrels is taking over too much. It looses its balance and complexity - I know some people really dig it - but i think its a shame. It appears moisty brown and redish without any head what so ever. The taste is soo dominated of the vanilla and to that, there is some caramel amd malt flavours along with notes of alcohol. A pleasure to taste this for sure but to narrow minded due to the bourbon barrels I think. Thx for sharing M

2002. Pours a cloudy orange-amber. Aroma is boozy with malt. Flavor is very malty with caramel, vanilla, oak, and sweet dark fruit. Hops seemed lacking to achieve a good balance with the malt, perhaps due to the age.

Bottle brought by me, 2007 Vintage, #117/449. Poured into Darkness snifter. A - Pours a dark brown/reddish color, cream ring, with random whisps on top. S - Dark fruits, huge oak/barrel, ever so slight hoppy bitterness, caramel, burnt sugars. Perhaps a little more oak-forward then I prefer but otherwise, pretty good. T - Dark fruit, caramel, oak/barrel. Smooth booze, nice caramel sweetness, and the oak isn’t quite as strong as the nose (that’s a good thing). M - Light to medium (a bit too thin), good carbonation, and creamy sweet finish. O - I think I actually prefer the regular 2007 over the Barrel-Aged version. Perhaps a bit too much oak for me in this one. I wonder how the other years stack up to 2007? I guess I’ll have to try them and see.

A murky hazed brown ale with no head. In aroma, a musty caramel malt with vinous notes light soy, musty and smooth. In mouth, a sweet dark fruit, piney hops, plums, a bit of dust, nice alcohol, decent. Tasted with GRM, Puskinwow, Boutip, Ian, Mike on Sept. 7 2012.

Bottle#124/225Amber and slightly orange like colored body which is cloudy and yielding only a slight scattered film on top. Lots of bourbon in the aroma almost overpowering with vanilla and oak. Malt is buried.Vanilla, bourbon in the flavor.. Body is full and velvety smooth. I think I’d prefer the original much better. The bourbon just overpowers everything else.Thanks to SDBruboy for the trade.