Brewed By: Half Acre Beer Company in Chicago, Illinois
Purchased: 22oz bottle bought at Jewel-Osco near Half Acre in Chicago, IL; 2013 (2012 batch?)
Style/ABV: American Barleywine, 10.0%
Reported IBUs: ?
[Insert introduction here]. Okay, we could probably make a penis joke or something. I'm spent. I had a busy weekend, and I'm not ready for Monday. That's why they invented Barleywines, right? About Half Acre:
Reported IBUs: ?
[Insert introduction here]. Okay, we could probably make a penis joke or something. I'm spent. I had a busy weekend, and I'm not ready for Monday. That's why they invented Barleywines, right? About Half Acre:
The Half Acre Beer Company was founded in October 2006, which is young for craft beer in general, but great for the local Chicago scene. The founders of Half Acre started out by working with the Sand Creek Brewery in Black River Falls in Wisconsin. They eventually developed their Half Acre Lager, and began distributing and selling it in Chicago during the August of 2007. The beer was successful enough that Half Acre was able to buy out a space in the Bucktown area of Chicago. With continuing sales, Half Acre was eventually able to purchase equipment from Ska Brewing Co. and moved to their current location on Lincoln Avenue on the north side of Chicago. Half Acre has been brewing at their Chicago location since 2009, and seems to be really expanding in both amount of distribution and popularity. Check out the full story HERE, and check out their website for a low-down on all their beers and info.
You can read about the Quakerbridge on Half Acre's website. This beer appears to be a Winter/Holiday seasonal, specifically, a Thanksgiving seasonal. Clocking in at 10%, this is a big ol' American-style Barleywine. Let's glass it up and see what we got.
This one pours into a surprisingly dark and hazy reddish/amber/orange body. I kicked up a finger of amber/caramel-colored head in low light. In bright light the beer is a murky red/brown, with tiny streams of carbonation rising upwards, and an off-white amber/caramel head. As you'd expect, there are legs and sticky lacing.
If this was released around November 2012 (as I'm presuming), it has around 9 months of age on it. That's not bad at all, and should have given this some time to mellow out a bit.
The nose has that classic treacle pine, caramel, burnt sugar/molasses, and resinous maple syrup that you might expect to find in an American Barleywine. There's also some bread, raisins and plums, and a hint of citrus sap ala grapefruit mostly. The nose is kind of toned down, and reminds me of an aged American Barleywine.
This is like a lighter, toned down/aged Bigfoot, and that's not a bad thing at all. There's big caramel, burnt sugar, brown sugar, and molasses; lots of pine, pine sap, and pine; and then the back end hits you with cake sweetness, raisins, figs, plums, and sugary bread. There's maybe a dash of sugary grapefruit in the taste, and you definitely pick up on some underlying booze, even if this beer masks the 10.0% with ease.
This starts to weigh on you as you drink it, but it starts out medium-full but ends up being lightly full-bodied. The mouthfeel is heavy and fatiguing like it should be, and the finish gets progressively sticky and sappy. This is heavy stuff; 10% and all. It could just be me, but I definitely feel like this is a sipping beer. Palate depth is good, complexity is good as well. You get a hint of pine sap and tons of burnt sugars/molasses up front; that rolls into pine, pine sap, resin; the back end is boozy with hints of plums, cake sweetness, raisins, and sugary bread. The finish is sticky, boozy, and eventually a bit drying.
Rating: Average (3.5/5.0 Untappd)
I'm feeling a Strong Average here. I may be jumping into this one prematurely, as some of the faded resinous lemon, tropical fruits, and grapefruit hop character seems to be dropping off this beer, and the underlying malt complexity hasn't fully emmerged. It tastes similar to how a Bigfoot Ale will taste if you drink it between 6 and 12 months of aging. There's complex underlying malt sweetness that seems to be trying to get out, and the boozy aspects layer wonderfully with this beer. It's not bad stuff at all, and a great example of the style, if not slightly better and maybe even then some. Next time Half Acre releases this, I will grab a few bottles to age for a bit. Food pairings: you could pair this with turkey or ham as implied, and this would certainly make a nice nightcap in the winter. This would also work well as a standalone beer to sip on over the course of an evening, and it would also pair well with cigars.
Random Thought: I'm really digging the centipede sheep thing on the bottle's label. It's kind of creepy and kind of fun, just like Half Acre (okay...they aren't really creepy...mostly just fun).
This one pours into a surprisingly dark and hazy reddish/amber/orange body. I kicked up a finger of amber/caramel-colored head in low light. In bright light the beer is a murky red/brown, with tiny streams of carbonation rising upwards, and an off-white amber/caramel head. As you'd expect, there are legs and sticky lacing.
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| Half Acre Quakerbridge Barley Wine |
If this was released around November 2012 (as I'm presuming), it has around 9 months of age on it. That's not bad at all, and should have given this some time to mellow out a bit.
The nose has that classic treacle pine, caramel, burnt sugar/molasses, and resinous maple syrup that you might expect to find in an American Barleywine. There's also some bread, raisins and plums, and a hint of citrus sap ala grapefruit mostly. The nose is kind of toned down, and reminds me of an aged American Barleywine.
This is like a lighter, toned down/aged Bigfoot, and that's not a bad thing at all. There's big caramel, burnt sugar, brown sugar, and molasses; lots of pine, pine sap, and pine; and then the back end hits you with cake sweetness, raisins, figs, plums, and sugary bread. There's maybe a dash of sugary grapefruit in the taste, and you definitely pick up on some underlying booze, even if this beer masks the 10.0% with ease.
This starts to weigh on you as you drink it, but it starts out medium-full but ends up being lightly full-bodied. The mouthfeel is heavy and fatiguing like it should be, and the finish gets progressively sticky and sappy. This is heavy stuff; 10% and all. It could just be me, but I definitely feel like this is a sipping beer. Palate depth is good, complexity is good as well. You get a hint of pine sap and tons of burnt sugars/molasses up front; that rolls into pine, pine sap, resin; the back end is boozy with hints of plums, cake sweetness, raisins, and sugary bread. The finish is sticky, boozy, and eventually a bit drying.
Rating: Average (3.5/5.0 Untappd)
I'm feeling a Strong Average here. I may be jumping into this one prematurely, as some of the faded resinous lemon, tropical fruits, and grapefruit hop character seems to be dropping off this beer, and the underlying malt complexity hasn't fully emmerged. It tastes similar to how a Bigfoot Ale will taste if you drink it between 6 and 12 months of aging. There's complex underlying malt sweetness that seems to be trying to get out, and the boozy aspects layer wonderfully with this beer. It's not bad stuff at all, and a great example of the style, if not slightly better and maybe even then some. Next time Half Acre releases this, I will grab a few bottles to age for a bit. Food pairings: you could pair this with turkey or ham as implied, and this would certainly make a nice nightcap in the winter. This would also work well as a standalone beer to sip on over the course of an evening, and it would also pair well with cigars.
Random Thought: I'm really digging the centipede sheep thing on the bottle's label. It's kind of creepy and kind of fun, just like Half Acre (okay...they aren't really creepy...mostly just fun).
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