Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot

Deep orange-amber in colour with a lingering but thin tan coloured head, lots of floaties, light lacing. The aroma is alcoholic, very sweet, lots of malt, sugar, raisins and plums. The flavour is sweet with only some minor alcohol, plums, caramel malts, light cherries. Warming and sweet mouthfeel, medium body, medium carbonation. Finishes lingering with ever present alcohol, dies off quickly.

This wasn’t as chewy as the aroma led me to believe. Not the usual "scary" Weyerbacher beer but still lacking in balance and this turns into an alcoholic mess.

355ml can from Beers of the World in Rochester, New York.
Opened on February 22, 2008.
Vintage 2004.

St. Petersburg, Fl. - Shep’s Deli - 12 oz bottle. Dark, deep, copper colored pour with a medium thick, creamy khaki colored head. Gumball-like sweet aroma with some cotton candy notes, and figs. Chewy, hearty flavor with elements of figs, raisins, milk chocolate, candied sugar and a touch of maple syrup. Mouthfeel is thick and warming - would be a pleasant diversion on a cold winter’s night. 11.1 abv hidden extremely well.

12oz bottle. Pours a deep, somewhat dark, somewhat cloudy amber/copper with deep red and orange highlights. The head pours thick and light tan in color, but it quickly fades into a thin, persistent ring. The aroma is all malt - almost like liquid malt extract. There is a definite fruitiness, but from the sweet, vinous malts - not from fermentation byproducts that I can tell (considering it smells like a clean maltiness - not unlike that of a doppelbock). The flavor follows the nose: a very strong, very sweet, very thick, clean malt flavor - very bready, with touches of melanoidins (light toast) and caramel. By mid-tongue there is a touch of fruitiness and some bitter hops - along with the subtle bitterness of ethanol. But the flavor of alcohol is amazingly low considering the beer’s strength. It could pass for an 8% Barleywine (maybe even high 7s) based on how unimposing is the taste of alcohol. At mid-to-end of the palate, the fruitiness and alcohol combine with the intense flavor of malts to add an interesting dark fruit complexity. The finish is full and sweet with a touch of spicy bitter hops, ethanol, and light notes of roasted grain (a hint of dry cocoa powder). The mouthfeel, paradoxically, is thick, full and sugary but also strangely lightened by an unexpectedly strong level of bubbles. The beer doesn’t taste really carbonated at first, but after a few sips you can feel the tingle on the tongue and then all over the sides of the mouth from the stronger-than-expected effervescence. Overall, this is not a bad beer, but not my favorite. It is balanced like a doppelbock, whereas I generally prefer my Barleywines more on the American side: more hops and less thick caramel.

Poured from a 12-oz botth a dark brown. The aroma was of thick malt. Had a sweet taste of fruits with a strong alcohol backbone. Definately a warm finish that got better with each taste.

Dark fruit aroma with hint of the alchohol to come. Clear amber golden with small fine white head. Sweet flavor of raisins and plums with a thick malt sweetness. Full body and a sweet finish with some bubblegum and fruit and a bit of hot alchohol. Nice sipper.