AleSmith Barrel Aged Speedway Stout

Brewed by AleSmith Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
San Diego, California USA

2003. #12/225. Thanks to Hopscotch for this gem. It has been cellaring for a while. Aroma is chocolate, licorice, tart berries, alcohol, smoke, and coffee. Taste is vanilla, coffee, alcohol, dark chocolate, and dark fruits. The carbonation is nearly non-existent. Thick mouthfeel. Possibly served to warm, the alcohol made it a bit hot. Very good, but the lack of carbonation kept it from being even better. This bottle was obtained early directly from the brewery and Peter sat on this vintage forever waiting for it to carbonate, it seems like it never really did. I haven’t noticed hardly any ratings for the ’03, am I just not looking hard enough?

2003 12 of 225. Csbosox finally breaks this thing out, and it was well worth the wait. Pitch black with not too much head. A good swirl got nothing. The aroma is full of coffe, vanilla, oak, dark fruit, and so much more I just couldn’t wrap my head around. Same with the flavor. Everything mentioned in the nose was present in the flavor. All very well blended. There was some concern at the table that the coffee would not make its way through. It was there and stood tall. The palate was a touch on the thin side, yet very fullfilling. Big thanks to Chris for sharing such a wonderfull beer. I hope my nagging didn’t ware on you too bad. This stuff is great.

2003, bottle 12 of 225. Wow. This poured very dark black with no head. It smells like slipping into warm blankets on a cold night -- lots of oak, vanilla, malt. I can’t smell any coffee in this beer, despite how much I tried. The flavor is nice and sweet, with a heavy mouthfeel, The flavor is where to find the coffee -- there’s a lot of it, and it follows through to the aftertaste. There’s very little carbonation here, which makes the beer smooth and almost milky. I couldn’t taste the alcohol at all, except long after I’d set the glass down, I could taste it lingering. The beer has a drier finish, but pulls through with an overall sweet character. I’m more than grateful to csbosox for sharing this taste of heaven.

Bottle (96/228): Courtesy of Styles. Outstanding aroma of chocolate, caramel, vanilla, mild roasted coffee, a hint of black licorice, subtle bourbon, and light wood. Pours a dark brown, virtually black, with a small tan head that leaves great lacing behind. Starts with chocolate, caramel, and vanilla. Very mild and subtle bourbon flavors really mesh well with the base beer. Finishes with mild roasted coffee that lingers on the palate. This is a very well done BA beer. This beer forced me to adjust a few ratings of some of my higher ranked beers.

2004 Bottle. Head is initially small, frothy/fizzy, brown, mostly diminishing. Body is opaque black (flashlight tested), bottle conditioned. Aroma is moderately malty (roasted/burnt grain, coffee (stale?), nut shells, dark chocolate), with notes of cardboard, wood, vanilla. Flavor is heavily sweet, lightly acidic, lightly to moderately bitter. Finish is moderately sweet, lightly acidic, moderately bitter. Medium to full body, creamy/watery texture, lively/soft carbonation, moderately alcoholic. As expected, much less enjoyable than the regular Speedway. Dulled, oxidized, not particularly enjoyable in comparison.

Bottle 195/228. Beer looks like it means business. Opaque black with a small, light brown, mostly diminishing head.<P> Huge nose. The aroma is malty with heavy notes of roasted grain; bright, acidic, equatorial coffee beans, moderate molasses, chocolate, brulee sugar. Hoppy with moderate resin/pine, moderate herb (tarragonish), light lemon zest. Yeasty with a light note of basement. Light miscellaneous notes of raisin, date; moderate smokey oak; light vanillan, burbon, garden soil.<P>The flavor is heavily bittersweet, light acidic with a long, warm-to-hot, moderately-to-heavily bitter, moderately sweet finish.<P>The body is full, the texture is velvety-syrupy and the carbonation is average.

The anticipation to have this rare gem presented itself the night before my wedding. My best friend throughout college and I sat down that night with a glass of this and a Montecristo #2, figured I might as well have the best with the best. I drank half my glass before having the cigar, ensuring it would not distort the taste. Pours out deep, black and thick, like syrup with a rich off white head. The aroma is intense with notes of coffee, chocolate bourbon and roasted malts. The palate is perfect very rich. The taste before the cigar was awesome and during the cigar out of this world. The #2 was a perfect compliment to this perfect beer. The taste is extremely complex with notes of bourbon, chocolate, coffee, oak and some molasses with a touch of dried fruit. Mild alcohol on the finish, otherwise well masked alcohol content.This beer is truly world class and lived up to every bit of hype it has. Much gratitude to kenb for trading for this beer. Much applause to alesmith

Bottle. Vintage 2004, number 74 or 228. Provided by Zug4abby through illinismitty. My deepest gratitude to you both. Sean shared with me, rooftoprogue, and Landseer. An opaque black elixir poured from the bottle and was topped by a creamy tan head. The nose was incredible. One of those beers you want to just sit and sniff for a bit and let those fragrances stimulate the juices. Definite salivating now. Notes of chocolate, molasses, oak, bourbon, coffee, of the finest quality. MMMmmm. I have been craving this experience for some time but worried that the hype might be too much. It wasn’t. If I were to fault it at all, it would be the viscosity. Thicker and creamier would have been the topper. An insignificant thing and perhaps only noticed becuase of the awesome quality of the aroma and flavor. Ah, the flavor. The rich complexity of the aroma fulfills itself in the flavor. Chocolate, coffee, bourbon, molasses. Some slight bitterness of roasted coffee, and truly barrel-aged. A truly erotic, if not orgasmic beer experience. Were the body a bit more oily, so as to coat the mouth and linger on the tongue after it was swalloed, it would have been an extra edge. Sean, you could trash my kitchen anytime!!