Exhibit 'A' Swordfish

The Stats
Style: American Barleywine
ABV: 11%
Current Ratings...
- Beer Advocate: 4.47/5
- Untappd: 4.01/5
- RateBeer: N/A

"We brewed a barleywine using just Maris Otter malt and some hops. We then aged it in Rye and Corn Whiskey barrels from Breuckelen Distilling to create this sweet and warming beverage."

Pours a rusty orange, iced tea color with almost no head, but what was there was almond in color.

The aroma is full of vanilla, caramel, and toffee. I mean, wow, this one blows my hair back. A refined alcohol smell and big blasts of whiskey and oak make me smile. Plums, raisins, and other dark fruits add even more to the complexity and then there's a piney hop element added to it. Great stuff.

Considering the large alcohol and barrel character on the nose, I was bracing for a potential booze bomb, but this is an incredibly smooth experience.

I can't get over how much vanilla I am getting from this beer. I know the barrel adds a touch of it, but damn, the vanilla in this is almost making this a dessert beer. Perhaps it's the sweetness from the flavors of caramel and toffee that might be making me think this way, but in any case, this one has me drooling. In addition to all of that, flavors of the rye whiskey and oak run rampant and I pick up a nice char and tobacco flavor from the barrels. Like the aroma, dark fruits come out to play as the raisins and plums make a fashionably late appearance to this party in my mouth. Like the aroma, this has a hoppy influence of pine and even some dank flavors.

Mouthfeel is full and pretty much perfect. It's a big beer at 11% and the alcohol has a refined taste and is never burning. Sip on this one for hours and revel in it's beauty.

Swordfish might also be a movie known for Halle Berry's nudity, but I can honestly say that I get just as much satisfaction out of this beer as I do seeing her expose herself on film. Saying this beer is complex is an understatement. Too many flavors to count on one hand and it drinks so smooth. For those in the area, I believe it is still on tap, so you need to hurry down to the brewery while you can. Exhibit 'A' has delivered a world class offering that you need to get in on.

Rating
9.6/10

Jack's Abby Brewery Maker

The Stats
Style: English Barleywine/ Euro Strong Lager
ABV: 13.5%
Current Ratings...
- Beer Advocate: 4.19/5
- RateBeer: 3.62/5

"While we were building our new brewery we were aging this beer in bourbon barrels previously used for our Barrel-Aged Framinghammer Baltic Porter. Lengthy aging allows the 13.5% ABV beer to mellow and develop a deep molasses-like sweetness with port-like dark fruit flavors. This beer is a sipper- you’ve been warned!"

Previously, I have reviewed Jack's Abby Baby Maker and Bride Maker (both made my Top 10 of 2014), but now we have the Brewery Maker sitting on my table waiting to be reviewed.

Pours copper/mahogany red with a clear body and a finger of eggshell white head.

The aroma is bourbon-soaked raisins and oak. Plums, figs, and a multitude of dark fruits are pushing their way to the front of the line and there's a leathery smell to this too. A strong malt presence is noticeable at every turn.

I'd say the taste follows the aroma almost brick by brick. The bourbon has influence not just in the sweet, sticky bourbon itself, but this has some good char and oak from the barrel with even some tobacco. The ensuing melee is a dark fruit parade of raisins, figs, plums, dates, and cherries. I think if you tossed a Fig Newton into a blender with some bourbon, then the results may be similar. I don't own a blender, so I can't try that, but if I can make that work with my Hamilton Beach waffle maker, then we got a story going. On the transition there's a flavor similar to red wine and lots of red grape, but that bourbon adds a big kick on the back end. Also bringing Pepsi and Ring Dings to the party are some candy-like toffee and caramel, which add give this a dessert quality that I was not expecting. I'm even getting a bitter dark chocolate flavor to this too. Damn.

This is a big beer, no doubt, but amazingly it isn't hard to drink. A sipper for sure, but there's no alcohol taste at all and the body, while nice and thick, has tons of carbonation to move it along.

Brewery Maker combined the best parts of Doppelbocks and English Barleywines and then threw them into a bourbon barrel to create a beautiful baby. Really well-done BBA beers do great jobs of masking alcohol while producing stellar flavors and this is no exception. You'll have to sip for an hour or two, but man it is a smooth ride. These "Maker" beers (I don't know what to call them) are one of the best series Jack's Abby has to offer. I have loved each entry and Brewery Maker has won my affection.

Rating
9.2/10

Firestone Walker Abacus

The Stats
Style: English Barleywine
ABV: 13%
Current Ratings...
- Beer Advocate: 4.46/5
- RateBeer: 4.09/5

Happy 2nd Anniversary to ThrewRedButter!!!!! As always, thank you to those who have stuck it out since Dale's Pale Ale.

So...wow...two years. I try to make it a point to break out something special from the collection for landmark occasions. If I do say so myself, I think I chose a nice one.

Firestone Walker's Proprietor's Series has an aura of greatness. This series of barrel-aged beers are among the best in their respective style. Originally released in 2011, Abacus (now called Sucaba due to legal reasons) is an English Barleywine aged in multiple bourbon barrels. Only the 2011 batch saw the Abacus name on the label, but its been five years, so I think it is time we put this baby to good use.

"Confoundingly unpronounceable yet eminently drinkable—welcome to §ucaba, an epic barrel-­aged English barley wine whose original name was undone by a two­‐bit legal challenge. Big, boozy bourbon and American oak aromas combine with soft chocolate malty undertones. Complex malt flavors are framed in oak with hints of dark chocolate, vanilla, tobacco, coconut and just a touch of dark cherry. §ucaba is built to last and can age for years to come (we recommend counting the years with an abacus)."

Pours ruby red in the glass and the pour produced absolutely no head.

The aroma is still boozy after five years, but is a refined booziness and not a stinging, alcoholic mess. After that is a lot of sweet, sticky bourbon, sweeter malts, caramel, toffee, butterscotch, and oak.

I had some concerns going into this that maybe some oxidation may have reared its ugly head after half a decade, but I am elated at the fact there is no infection in my bottle and everything tastes sublime.

A nice rush of malts hit me first which change on a dime to the heavy bourbon presence which has lasted through all of the years. The barrel is also lending a lot of oak and char to this with almost a smokey quality. The aforementioned notes of caramel and butterscotch are here at an unrelenting pace with those malts constantly adding to each flavor. Deep in the back are some cherries and some minor bits of alcohol. I keep getting this other sugary flavor that I can't put my finger on, but the closest thing I can compare it to would be honey or even a marzipan flavor.

In terms of mouthfeel, the body is thick with a syrupy presence, but without being too thick or syrupy (if that makes sense). The malt presence makes for a somewhat drying experience, but it is by no means a desert in my mouth, The malts (again with these things) are everywhere and they are they are last thing to linger on the tongue on each sip. The bourbon and those smokey char qualities also stick around. Speaking of sticky (if I had a nickel), I am smacking my lips with each sip of the glass. Again there is some minor booziness, but overall you can't taste the 13% and you don't really get a warming sensation.

Abacus has the same great flavors and aromas as any variation of Firestone Walker's Sucaba. Does the five years of aging really turn the beer into another beast? I would personally say not really, but that in no way, shape, or form takes away the fact that this is a superb barrel-aged English Barleywine. Incredibly sweet, soaked in bourbon, and retaining all of the oak characters from the barrel, this is just another shining example of Firestone Walker's barrel-aging program. In year's past, this was a component in the FW Anniversary Ales, but this is world class on its own and one of the best English Barelywines I've ever had.

Rating
9.0/10

Here's to two more (hopefully more) years of excellent beer.

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Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Barleywine Ale (2015 Vintage)

The Stats
Style: English Barleywine
ABV: 12.9%
Current Ratings...
- Beer Advocate: 4.5/10 (Top 250: #42)
- RateBeer: 4.13/5

Number two in my Bourbon County reviews brings us to Bourbon County Barleywine. Originally introduced to the mass markets in 2013, this English Barleywine is aged in third-use bourbon barrels that previously contained Bourbon County Brand Stout. Also, I believe the recipe is the same as Goose Island's legendary King Henry, but KH was aged in the famous 23-yr-old Pappy Van Winkle barrels that people who have never been interested in bourbon will tell you is the best bourbon ever made.

Surprisingly, this variant of the Bourbon County beers was the most scarce during my Black Friday hunt last week.

The beer looks black, but is actually the darkest shade of mahogany/ruby red. The pour generated less than a finger of tan head.

The aroma has sweet, rich malts, bourbon-soaked raisins, toffee, caramel, and some oak.

One word comes to mind to described this beer: Smooth. This style naturally comes with a strong malt presence and it is here, but the bourbon barrel has mellowed it out tremendously and has enhanced all the positives while hiding the negatives. The bourbon is here, but it isn't as forward as the standard BCBS, but it is still strong enough. The toffee and caramel from the aroma have returned on the taste to add a sugary component to the malt and bourbon cocktail. There's also a small breadiness that I associate with English ales. After the sweeter flavors there are some nice dark fruits like raisins and plums which work well with the subtle bourbon and sugary notes.

This feels like a full-bodied barleywine which even has moments of mouth-coating goodness. It's not thick and syrupy, and like the flavor, it's smooth from front-to-back. As for the 12.9%, I don't know where the alcohol is hiding, but I can't seem to find it. The longer you drink this, each sip produces a warming sensation on each swig, but it's easily tolerable.

Bourbon County Barleywine stands out from other barrel-aged barleywines thanks to a better balance of malts, sugary sweetness, and barrel character. The barrel aging didn't just add bourbon flavor, but it enhanced the base beer's characteristics tenfold. Truly at the head of its class.

Rating
9.3/10

Jack's Abby Bride Maker

The Stats
Style: Lager Wine/English Barleywine
ABV: 13.00%
Current Ratings...
- Beer Advocate: 4.44/5
- RateBeer: 3.5/5

What we have here is the sequel to my favorite beer of all time. So, did Jack's Abby rest on their laurels and just release the same beer for the 2nd year in a row? Nope! Here is the description from the website...

"While Bride Maker is the same style of beer as Baby Maker, the recipe was reworked.  The main difference is the use of Special B malt to give it more color and body as well as notes of caramel, toffee and dark fruits. We feel that Bride Maker is a sweeter, more well rounded take on the style."

Oh, the anticipation is killing me!

The pour is considerably darker than last year's offering. It's a dark, rusty mahogany/burgundy reminiscent of English Barleywines. No head at all.

The aroma is quite the malt bomb with big dark fruits like raisins. As it warms up, I find hidden deep in back are some toffee and caramel. This must be said: This was barrel-aged? I pick up virtually no bourbon at all. It's almost the ghost of bourbon past.

Any booziness that existed in last year's batch is a distant memory. Holy crap is this smooth! Rich caramel greets you on the way in followed by tons of malt. There's a lot of fruitcake taste to this, almost as if I'm drinking a world-class doppelbock. A lot of raisin and even plum notes too. At the same time, the bourbon (thank God it showed up on the taste) ties everything together in a nice melting pot of flavor. Just spectacular!

As I said, no booziness anywhere. Good luck trying to find even a trace of that 13.00% because I think I killed my whole bottle in less than 30 minutes. This is supposed to be a sipper, but it's so delicious and smooth that I just can't help myself. It doesn't have a lot of carbonation and it feels thick and syrupy, but not cloying.

Comparing Bride Maker to last year's Baby Maker is tough. Both experiences yield different results. This year's offering isn't as prominent with the bourbon taste, but isn't as boozy either. The fact is that Bride Maker is a world class beer. It's a perfect combination of a doppelbock with dark fruits, malt, and fruitcake while at the same time sticking to the toffee and caramel sweetness that made me fall in love with last year's batch.

Barrel-aging this year's recipe resulted in a smooth ride with no alcohol presence. While I do wish there was more bourbon on the aroma and taste, I won't let that hold me back from calling this near-prefect beer in all aspects.

Rating
9.9/10