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Continuing the reviews of beers bought from the Glendale Tap cellar, we go old with the 2019 barrel-aged Barleywine release of Old Jetty from El Segundo Brewing.
This ale was aged in bourbon barrels and strides in at 13.2% ABV. Old Jetty is both prickly and smooth at the same time. There is loads of bourbon character but at the same time the sweetness is restrained. A bit of syrup note here. Great brunch beer.
For those who have not had Utopia from Sam Adams, well this is new collaboration with business partner, Dogfish Head might be a close approximation for you to try. Not that World Wide Stout is something to sneeze at.
When one thinks of Christmas and Sierra Nevada beer, you think Celebration their fresh hop winter seasonal. But dig a little deeper and you find a plum festooned 10%ABV beer as well.
I certainly didn’t see this extension of the “squeeze” coming from Deschutes. But seeing as I have liked other beer versions of the classic cocktail, I think I will take a swing at this one to see how the fresh and the bourbon meld.
Cellador Ales is going fancy on Friday November 15th when they release two Jackson Ranch wild ale variants. They are whiskey inspired beers as described by the brewery as, “one aged in a High West Double Rye Single Barrel and the other in a Knob Creek Cask strength Single Barrel.”
Cellador will be making cocktails with the beers that night and if you have had one of them before, you know it will be tasty and interesting.
I do not like much highly corporate mass produced beers but if I was forced to make a choice, I would draft Modelo. Not their full range of Pacifico’s and Corona’s but the Modelo only. I do not know much about the Grupo but I have had much better experiences with their beer than other of the big players.
Which makes their foray into a tequila barrel-aged pilsner a bit interesting…
They are going to take their plain vanilla pilsner and give it a tequila spin. Hopefully the process is more of a subtle hint than a -Rita style blast.
Moonlight Meadery has a cider that should pair well with the barrel-aged syrup, Little Apples is a Semi-Dry Hard Cider that is Aged in Rye Whiskey Barrels. made from natural and locally sourced Granny Smith apples.
Barrel-Aging isn’t just for beverages. It can also be for your breakfast, Burton’s sells some pricey maple syrup aged in a variety of spirit barrels and according to this post on The Takeout (visit that site, it is super cool), they even have collaborated with “distilleries and using different kinds of spirits, even beer (New Belgium Brewery’s La Folie Sour Brown Ale).”
I didn’t see that syrup on their webstore but they had a bacon and bourbon version that sounds great and makes me crave waffles for sure.
I have gotten very used to buying singles and when I go to a new beer store that is tilted to buying 4-packs and 6-packs, I get a little ticked off that I will have to place a bet on a beer that may not be to my liking, then be stuck with the rest. Boulevard is with me it seems with their BLVR+D sixer…
…(3) different barrel aged beers with (3) different base style beers. Find a friend and you can easily share this 6-pack.
I talk A LOT about collaboration beers but rarely do I talk of beer / mead collaborations but this Superstition Meadery and Mumford Brewing combo is truly bonkers enough to merit consideration. It has lemon, coconut and vanilla added to mead and then aged in Brandy barrels.