HeBrew Jewbelation Bar Mitzvah Thirteenth Anniversary Ale

Shmaltz Brewing Company
Brewed at Olde Saratoga Brewing (Mendocino Brewing Co.)
Style: American Strong Ale
Brooklyn, New York USA

Serve in Snifter, Trappist glass

13 pours a dark, nearly opaque brown with a bubbly, foamy tan head. Some light spotty lacing disappears quickly off the glass. The nose is alcohol potent with a big nutty, biscuity roasted malt with a nice chocolate note and a bunch of sweetness. My first taste is sweetened in the middle with nuts and molasses rich roasted malts. A mild hop on the finish with a full bodied, sticky mouthfeel. The finish has a warming, pungent alcohol. overall, an okay brew.

Draft. Pours dark brown/black. Smell is figs, brown sugar, rich caramel and some bourbon notes. Taste is big ripe fruit, some spice, caramel and certainly a know booze element. Very good, but behind the 12th in my opinion.

Tap at Churchkey. Roughly two years old - poured an almost pitch black color with a tiny tan head. Aroma was still a bit boozy, but had mellowed out quite a bit. Chocolate notes, a ton of roasted malts, dark fruits. Flavor was big on the alcohol - not hot, just very warming. Hops are extremely mellow at this point - wow.

Had this one twice, once in 2009 and once in 2010. Amazingly strong and almost off-putting due to the amount of ingredients. Tasted almost of caramel, chocolate, coffee, etc. extract! When you’re throwing in 13 varieties of hops and malt, there is a limit. However, other than the alcohol burn, this one rode the wave of beer-strength to the edge of the world. The 14 was just rediculous, hence the Vert.

Bottle from Pacific Liquor: I had previously written a review for this beer and then somehow lost it, but luckily a bottle resurfaced. Therefore, this is a vintage bottle with 2 years of aging in a cooler. Pours a dark jet black liquid with a fizzy short lived head which retreats leaving behind a thin layer of film for a covering. As for the aroma, there is a sour scent of dead yeast and malts that are starting to turn into a goopy syrupy mess, but there is some smell of roast malts still apparent. The initial flavor is intensely sweet and has a dark fruit like taste such as prune, raisin, and fig, but of course this is because of the time this beer has taken on. Still has a roasty blend of malts that suggest rich black coffee bean added with a little sugar and creamer, though, that flavor was much more apparent in its early days of life. This is still a really tasty beer that has been holding itself together and still hides the high ABV. Rating scores are based on how I remember this tasting fresh.

Bottle. Pours a deep dark brown with a small creamy tan head. Aroma of chocolate, dark fruit, molasses, caramel and booze. Flavor was moderately sweet with chocolate, ripe dark fruit, molasses, caramel, toffee, alcohol and a hint of wood with a boozy finish

12 oz bottle-part of the celebration box but not in order. I may burn for not doing this in order but here goes a good Catholic try!! Hellish dark with no heavenly light coming through. Lots of sugary sweet goodness from the nectar of Jesus on the nose. Taste is of cane sugar, the essence of the Wise Men, the alcohol of the wine of the Last Supper. Chewy like the bread of the breathern. A meal to be sure. One to share with the masses.

Bottled@Oliver Twist, Stockholm. Hazy deep brown colour, small off-white to beige head. Aroma is caramel malts, some fruits, raisins, rye and mild toasted notes. Flavour is toffee, spices, mild raisins, plum and some mild alcohol. Also some slight wooden and mildly vanillaish notes.