Jackie O's Pub & Brewery Bourbon Barrel-Aged Brick Kiln

Brewed By: Jackie O's Pub & Brewery in Athens, Ohio  

Purchased: 375ml/12.7oz single bottle bought at And Beer in Athens, Ohio; 2014 

Style/ABV: Smoked English Barleywine, 11.8%

Reported IBUs: ?

Make me a beautiful barrel-aged Barleywine. About Jackie O's Pub & Brewery:

Jackie O's is a brewery and brewpub based out of Athens, Ohio. The brewery was founded in 2007 by Art Oestrike and his friend, and brew master, Brad Clark. In 2012 when the production facility expanded, brew master Sean White joined the company. For more info, check out their website or Facebook.

The bottle for the Barrel-Aged Brick Kiln reads: "Starting back in the early 1800's the brick industry was a catalyst for economic development in Southeastern Ohio for nearly 100 years. The brick kilns of Athens Brick Company stood just down the street from our current production facility. Brick Kiln Barleywine style ale is brewed in the English tradition and it's deep mahogany hue is accompanied by rich caramel and raisin notes. Aging in bourbon barrels for an average of 11 months contributed a rich caramel/vanilla/coconut character. Share with friends and loved ones." 

Jackie O's Pub & Brewery Bourbon Barrel-Aged Brick Kiln

This pours into a hazy, murky, dark red-brown body, kicking up a centimeter of protesting head. This brings the murk and has that barrel-aged treatment look. 

This smells amazing with raisins, cherries, chocolate-coconut pastries, intense bakery sugars, coconut, macaroons, layers of molasses, and dense sugars. The barrel is present, and this feels like an appreciable contender. 

Mmm this is fantastic stuff. This hits those notes of macaroons, coconut, treacle sweetness, raisins, cherries, light sherry/oxidation, and subtle barrel character. There are subtle coatings of chocolate in here, and this dials the sweetness up to just the right amounts. Hawt damn.

This is full-bodied, but well-carbed and easy enough to drink. You would never guess this is 11.8%. This has fantastic palate depth and good complexity. It's teetering between Above-Average and Divine, with the barrel character and base beer complexity being the only thing holding this back from something like a Goozie Inlets Barleywin or a Bruery Bois. Still, this brings a ton of bold barrel character with lots of subtle raisin, cherry, coconut, and macaroon notes. The finish is perfect, and the beer is not overwhelming. I highly recommend this.

Rating: Above-Average (4.5/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this. Jackie O's has their barrel-aged beers down, and this one is no exception. Pick this up and drink it without any food. This is yummy stuff.

Random Thought: Jackie O's was definitely one of the better parts of being in Ohio. 

Hair of the Dog Adam

Brewed By: Hair of the Dog Brewing Company in Portland, Oregon

Purchased: 12oz bottle generously gifted to me in Chicago, IL; 2014 (Batch #91)

Style/ABV: Dortmunder Adambier / Old Ale, 10.0%

Reported IBUs: 50

I don't know what it is, but this Spring/Summer I have been on a heavy beer streak and I ain't even mad. About Hair of the Dog Brewing Company:

Hair of the Dog Brewing Company is a brewery based out of Portland, Oregon. The brewery was founded in November of 1993 by Alan Sprints. Sprints, like many brewery founders, began as a home brewer through the Oregon Brew Crew. In 1991, after an inspirational trip to Belgium, Springs turned the hobby into a profession. The brewery is family owned and operated, and was one of the first breweries in America to specialize in high-alcohol and barrel-aged beers. 

Today's beer, "Adam," was generously gifted to me by an Adam. Small world. This bottle conditioned, "hearty old world ale," is described: "Adam is made with Northwest hops, Organic Pilsner malt and a variety of specialty grains. The flavors in this beer have been compared to chocolate, smoke, leather and figs. Brewed in loving memory of Adam Kerchival 11-30-69 | 01-26-05 Brewer and friend." 

If you check out Hair of the Dog's website, Adam is categorized as a recreation of historic beerstyle. This historic beer was originally brewed in Dortmunder, Germany, and is described as a dessert beer. The not-mentioned beer style is an "Adambier" or Dortmunder Altbier[?]. Ron Pattinson has a write-up on his blog about the style, noting that the traditional Dortmunder Adambier was a "strong, sourish, top-fermenting beer...9.4% ABV." The Adambier was heavily hopped, unlike other sour beers like Gose and Berliner Weisse, and acquired its sourness through a long secondary fermentation. HomeBrewTalk has a wiki on the style: they note that Adambeir was a strong, dark, sour beer, aged in wood for long periods. Unlike sour Belgian beers, the Adambier was very hoppy. Having noted all that...

Hair of the Dog Adam

Pouring this one out must have been a relief for the bottle..this one gushed out carbonation. Bottle conditioned beers do strange things. Aside from the mountain of cola-brown head that this beer produces, I'm getting a nice cola-brown body. It looks very much the part of an Old Ale...kind of raw and dark....there's some lingering head sticking around, and lots of lacing. It's not exactly a looker, but most beers in this genre aren't.

The aroma here is kind of like heaven in a glass. Wow. There's a rustic, leathery element, lots of dark fruits (cherries, figs, prunes), dark caramel, strawberries, wood, chocolate, mild soy sauce, and tons of pleasant sweetness. The aroma here is rich and pleasant...just fantastic. 

Mmm...this is blissful, if not a little young even. I'm getting a lot of nice hoppy character on the back, but up front this rides that sweet malt train with lightly smokey leather, dark fruits, prunes, figs, dates, sweet caramel, and big sugars. I'm getting woody aspects, mild soy, light licorice, and impressive burnt sugars, wood, and hops on the finish. It kind of reminds me of a Scotch Ale meets Belgian Dubbel meets Old Ale. 

This is full-bodied stuff, but the booze is surprisingly well integrated into the beer, even at this point in time. I'm not getting much of the 10%. Palate depth here is good, and complexity is not far behind. All things considered, I think this is probably Above-Average right now, but this is hoppy and malty in all the right ways. I bet this holds up nicely down the stretch. Up front: dark fruits, leather, molasses, hints of smoke, chocolate, and leather; the mids roll into more dark fruits, you get some burgeoning hops, licorice; the back end layers on the hops and finishes with nice, lingering malts. Complex, big, and likely going to age well (although I have some concerns with the carbonation issues).

Rating: Above-Average (4.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Strong Above-Average on this. This is a huge, complex, Old Ale type beer...good stuff all around, and would pair well with a cigar, some creme brulee, or in a snifter on its own. I'd love to be in Hair of the Dog's distribution net, because this seems like a fun beer to pick up regularly and lay down. I feel like this is a strong candidate for the cellar...such is life out here in the Midwest. 

Random Thought: Is it Sunday night already? Fuuuuccckkk.

Prairie Artisan Ales The Beer That Saved Christmas

Brewed By: Prairie Artisan Ales in Tulsa (brewed in Krebs), Oklahoma  

Purchased: 500ml (16.9oz) bottle bought at Fischman Liquors and Tavern in Chicago, IL; 2013  

Style/ABV: Old Ale, 10.0%

Reported IBUs: ?

Tonight is one of those nights, but I ain't complaining. About Prairie Artisan Ales:

Prairie Artisan Ales are yet another brewery that began as a Kickstarter campaign. Founded in 2012 by brothers Chase and Colin Healey (nice beards), the duo have been busy making beer as Gypsy Brewers, but also have their own brew facility (complete with barrels!). You can check them out on Facebook here.

The Beer That Saved Christmas is an "Ale aged in oak barrels with a mixture of wild bacteria." This one happens to be an Old Ale, and is described as having notes of chocolate, cherry, vanilla, and caramel. I like all those things, so this should be good.

Prairie The Beer That Saved Christmas

This beer pours about how you expect: brown, murky, dirtier than the mall santa's lap, and with a finger or two of bready, dark brown head. In bright light the beer takes on red/brown/purple tones, with streaming carbonation, sticky lacing, and glossy alcohol legs. It's an Old Ale, yo.

The barrel and the "wild bacteria" give this beer some noticeable fruity character on the aroma, with raisins, dates, cherries, figs, plums, fruitcake, peppery and phenolic esters, and tons of wood. The wood leans towards that wine-like, fruity character. The chocolate/vanilla/caramel also comes through on the aroma.

You almost expect this beer to blunt you with malt thickness and caramel/chocolate/vanilla...but this beer is super subtle, with tons of cherry, wood, fruits, oxidized/sherry notes, and growing booze on the back. The back palate really hits you up with wood, chocolate, some nuttiness, and booze. It's a surprisingly complex beer, despite not being as big as you might expect.

I usually roll through the palate progression last, but this is a strange beer. So here we go. Up front: fruity notes, namely cherry, raisins, plums, perfume/phenol; the middle dials up some vanilla, wood, chocolate, sherry/oxidized fruits; the back rolls into dense woody character, chocolate, nuttiness. This beer is surprisingly complex, but the duration is a bit short. The funky yeast mostly manifests as fruit, and you get tons of wood character. It's a medium-full bodied beer with high complexity and an average palate depth and duration. The 10% comes and goes...I do pick up some alcohol in this, but it is mostly blended into the scenery.

Rating: Above-Average (3.5/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Light Light Above-Average on this. This beer is surprisingly complex, especially if you sit down and mull over it. If you drink this beer in a hurry or without much thought, a lot of the flavors are going to get lost. I do wish it dialed up the mouthfeel a bit, but it technically achieves Old Ale status with the boozy complexity, rich malts, and rich dark fruits. I bet this one will age well for a few years. Food pairings: nutty desserts, dry cakes, anything with gravy, anything with a berry/fruit sauce, pork or beef roast, duck, and certainly meats and cheeses. This one didn't cost much and worked out in the end. I would recommend grabbing a bottle or two. You pretty much can't go wrong with Prairie. 

Random Thought: This has seriously been the longest week ever.

Dogfish Head Immort Ale

Brewed By: Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton, Delaware

Purchased: 12oz bottle bought at West Lakeview Liquors in Chicago, IL; 2013

Style/ABV: Old Ale/English Strong Ale, 11.0%
Reported IBUs: 50

Concluding Sunday Funday....about Dogfish Head:

Dogfish Head is a craft brewery based out of Milton, Delaware. The brewery was founded by Sam Calagione back in 1995.The brewery began as a brewpub (the first in Delaware) called Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats, and was originally located in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. The initial brewing setup included three kegs and propane burners. They brewed 12-gallon batches of beer three times a day, five days a week. In 1996 the brewery began bottling their beer, and by 1999 they had distribution to around a dozen different states. In 2002 the company outgrew their Rehoboth location, and moved to Milton, Delaware. More info can be found HERE.

The Immortal Ale is one of Dogfish Head's oldest beers, dating back to the brewpub in 1995, and making its way to bottles in 1997. This beer featuers maple syrup from the Red Brook Farm (Sam's family farm in Western Massachusetts), peat-smoked barley, and vanilla. The beer is fermented out with a blend of English and Belgian yeasts, and aged in oak tanks at the brewery. Punching in at 11% and 50 IBUs, this Old Ale/Scotch Ale/Barleywine hybrid is a big, badass brew. 

Dogfish Head Immortal Ale

The Immortal Ale pours a hazy, orange-red color, and kicks up a finger or two of dense, foamy head. The head is off-white, with some tan/red/orange/amber tones, and is leaving plenty of lacing and legs. It is also sustaining nicely, and probably is fueled by some hops.

On the aroma: booze, brown sugar, peated malt, meats and raspberry puree, turbinado sugar, maple syrup, oak...it smells like the Dogfish Head Fort with some oak, maple, brown sugar, and peated malts.

Surprisingly simple taste...lots of oak, toffee, brown sugar/turbinado sugar, tons of maple syrup and molasses, and sugary malts. There's some resinous hops in the form of pine and citrus that plays off all the sugar and maple syrup. In addition to all the maple, there's some vanilla and fruity notes (ala a Quad maybe?) as well. There is some peated malt and smoke as well.

Full-bodied mouthfeel, sticky, dense and heavy...but drinkable for 11% ABV. Palate depth is blissful, but complexity is moderate to lower. Sweet malt and maple syrup up front; maple and peated malt, smoke, oak, vanilla, spice in the middle; fruit notes, wood, oak towards the back...syrup hoppiness abound. Good.

Rating: Average (3.0/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Strong Average on this. Average, but not mind blowing. Especially compared to beers like the 75 Minute IPA, Burton Baton, and Palo Santo Maron. This tastes like maple syrup with some heavy sugars, sugary/resinous hops, and some peated malts and smoke. Good beer that I would pair with pancakes and sausage, biscuits and gravy, potatoes and gravy with meatloaf, and with fruity cakes and dessert.

Random Thought: I feel like a ticker. Tick tick tick.

The Bruery Bois

Brewed By: The Bruery in Placentia, California  

Purchased: 750ml bottle bought at Binny's in IL; 2013 

Style/ABV: Old Ale, 15.0%

Reported IBUs: ?

Whew, 15.0%? Are you kidding me? About The Bruery: 

The Bruery are based out of Placentia, California. As with many craft breweries, The Bruery began as a homebrewing adventure when Patrick Rue, his brother Chris, and his wife Rachel brewed their fast batch of beer. Patrick Rue continued to homebrew during his first year of law school, until he decided that he had a passion for brewing beer. The Bruery opened up in 2008, and since then, they have built a reputation around their experimental, and wild ales brewed with a Belgian flair. To read more, check out the Breuery's website.

The Bois is The Bruery's 2013, 5th Anniversary release. The Bois clocks in at an impressive 15.0%, and is brewed in the English-style Old Ale tradition, using The Bruery's in-house Belgian yeast strain. This beer is also blended using the solera method: a portion of each previous anniversary ale that has been saved in The Bruery's barrels is blended in with next year's release. This beer should feature huge dark fruit, vanilla, oak, and burnt sugar aromas/flavors. 

The Bruery Bois

This one pours into a swampy dark brown/reddish body that is deceptively opaque in low light, especially towards the bottom 3/4s of the glass. Some hazy, gold light is peaking through towards the surface, but that's about all you get. The head on this one is a red/tan/brown color, and started out as a pinky's worth but quickly faded into a ring around my glass. There's both glossy alcohol legs and sticky lacing. This beer looks like shit. It looks like it's been through hell, and it has. This is what a blended beer aged in barrels looks like, and I couldn't be any happier about that.

The aroma on this beer is rich, thick, and strong. It's reminiscent of a Bourbon County Stout or a He'Brew Jewbelation Sweet 16 Anniversary Ale...there's rich wood and barrel character, a huge layer of chocolate fudge/brownie/brown sugar/molasses, big oak/bourbon sitting in the back providing some vanilla sweetness, and lots of fruit. There's definitely some tart cherries on the nose, raisins, dates, boozy and booze-soaked fruits, rum, and some cakey berry/pomegranate thing. The nose hides the booze well, but this is still a boozy beer by all means.

As you'd probably expect, this beer has tons of wood, bourbon, and trailing booze on the finish. The booze provides heat, and also burns a bit going down. What is maybe less expected is the huge punch of tart fruits I'm getting in this. I'm getting dates, rum-soaked raisins, chocolate-dipped cherries, light tartness, pomegranate  and berries. There's also a ton of sweet molasses/sugary complexity fighting the fruity booziness. And I'm also getting some rich brownie/fudge. Nice stuff.

Honestly, you knew what you were in for. You don't show up to drink a 15.0% monstrosity for nuances. This is a big, boozy, full-bodied sipping beer. This is a beer to share with friends, and mull over. The palate depth is huge! Each sip coats your tongue and fills your mouth, and the beer lingers on the palate well past the 20 second mark. After a half minute when the beer fades, you get lingering alcohol in your throat that rises up and down, warming your belly and hitting the back of your tongue like a bourbon cumshot. If ever there was a beer to drink on a cold winter day, it's this. Complexity is good, if not better than good. There's a lot going on here: dark fruits up front, boozy rum-soaked raisins; that rolls into HUGE booze, oak, bourbon, brown sugar spice; there's some molasses/brownie/fudge on the finish, and you get warming booze and all the jazz I mentioned in the above paragraph on the finish.

Rating: Divine Brew (4.5/5.0 Untappd)

I gotta go with a Decent Divine Brew on this. This is some epic sipping shit. Nevermind that a 12oz pour is like drinking three beers. A whole bottle is like a 6-pack. I guess that almost justifies the price at around...what was it? Like 30 bucks a bottle? Ouch. B-U-T, the price does seem kind of reasonable when you consider what goes into making this beer. It's oak aged. It's a blend of beers that are up to four years old. It's also huge at 15.0%. This is a big, complex beer, and despite the price you should almost pick up two bottles so you can age one for 2 years, or 5 years, or 10, or even longer. If I was pairing this beer with food, I'd pair it with pecan pie, a cold winter day, or even some dry chocolate cake with some sort of fruit component. But mostly, I'd treat this beer like a spirit and drink it by itself in a snifter after dinner.

Random Thought: I'm not going to drink this whole bottle by myself. That would be insane. Right? 

Dogfish Head Burton Baton

Brewed By: Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton, Delaware

Purchased: 12-oz bottle from a 4-pack bought at Binny's in IL; 2012

Style/ABV: [Oak-Aged] Imperial IPA, 10.0%

Reported IBUs: 70

The only thing better than no snow is tasting her tears.

I'm pretty sure Chicago just set the new record for longest stretch without measurable amounts of snow (281 days, bitches!), which is pretty awesome. Don't get me wrong, I like snow...I just prefer being able to drive more than enjoying the snow. A year or two ago, I drove through three pretty rough snowfalls. The best two trips were the 120-mile drive to Urbana, on Christmas Eve, in the middle of a snowstorm. The roads weren't plowed and cars were in the ditches; it took me 5+ hours to make a trip that usually takes around 2 hours. I also drove from Chicago to the burbs in the middle of a snowstorm during a Bear's game. I timed that trip especially bad as I was ahead of the plows. Fun times. 

To celebrate this monumental occasion (excuses to drink beer, #763), I want to crack open something special. And what could be more special than an Oak-aged Imperial IPA? Awww yeah. About Dogfish Head:

Dogfish Head is a craft brewery based out of Milton, Delaware. The brewery was founded by Sam Calagione back in 1995.The brewery began as a brewpub (the first in Delaware) called Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats, and was originally located in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. The initial brewing setup included three kegs and propane burners. They brewed 12-gallon batches of beer three times a day, five days a week. In 1996 the brewery began bottling their beer, and by 1999 they had distribution to around a dozen different states. In 2002 the company outgrew their Rehoboth location, and moved to Milton, Delaware. More info can be found HERE.

If you roll over to the Burton Baton page, you can get all the info on this lovely beer. This beer uses a blend of an English-style old ale and an Imperial IPA (the 90 Minute IPA, I believe?). The two beers are fermented separately in stainless steel tanks, and then blended together in a giant oak tank, where the beer sits on the oak-wood-goodness for a month. This beer melds flavors of citrus, wood, and oak. Ratebeer gives a slightly different synopsis for "how this beer is made." According to what is posted on Ratebeer, this beer is made from Pilsner and Amber malt (getting up to 11% ABV), and is then hopped with Warrior and Glacier hops. They say that this beer is then fermented using two yeast strains, an American and English yeast; and then the beer is conditioned on oak for four months. Then the beer is dry hopped with Glacier hops; and then the whole mess is blended 50/50 with the 90 Minute IPA bringing the beer to 10% ABV. It's entirely possible that Dogfish Head has since tweaked the brewing process for this beer. Nevertheless, at 10% and 70 IBUs, this is a formidable beer. Let's glass this up.

Dogfish Head Burton Baton

The beer pours a rusty, copper/amber color, with 2 to 3 fingers of big creamy head. The head has a copper tint to it, and there's a ton of carbonation in the form of tiny bubbles visible in the beer. When held to a bright light, the body of this beer is more orange-amber, and the head picks up those orange hues. There's nice head retention with a fat, creamy, finger hanging around; and there's some mad lacing. This beer is very carbonated, and appears to be a touch hazy or unfiltered? This beer is supposed to lay down nicely; so it may have some yeasties floating around. 

There's a fuck-ton of hops and sweet malts on the nose of this. This is very Barleywine-esque, and you get that marriage of super sweet malt sugars with giant citrus hops. I'm getting very light wood aromas, and any oak/vanilla is masked by the huge malt sweetness. I'm getting big dank pine, huge oranges, orange candies, some shades of pineapple and sweet tropical fruit, molasses, a brandy complexity (seen in the 90 Minute), maybe a dash of raisin, and some wood.

Wow...this is awesome. This is not what I was expecting at all. This is incredibly balanced, with huge sweet citrus, brandy, bready cake, raisins, caramel, and molasses up front; all balanced by nice, but gentle, woody notes. The middle cleans up with sweetness and bitterness from the hops, and the back end features alcohol complexity. The whole mess is slightly sticky, but very balanced. Even at 70 IBUs, the hops are held in check by the giant malt profile. And the 10.0% ABV is well-hidden. This has notes of wood, but any oak is blending in with the giant malt-hop thing. 

This is insanely smooth and drinkable. At 10.0% ABV, this drinks like much less. This is definitely a sipping beer, and fits the winter season well. I can feel this warming my belly. Palate depth is outstanding; and the mouthfeel is medium-full to full, with some stickiness and sweetness. This is carbonated, and balanced, which lends to drinkability. Complexity is okay. Up front is just smooth carbonation, and then a blast of sweet hops with big malts; this rolls into malts, boozy malts, hop spice; the back end is lingering hops and sweet malts. There's wood throughout, and nice boozy complexity.

Rating: Divine Brew

I'm feeling a light Divine Brew on this. This is insanely well-balanced, refined, mature, and not at all what I was expecting. Complexity is a little low, but the Barleywine-esque malt and hop sweetness play off the wood in such a mature and refined way...and at 10.0% ABV, this is really a smart winter warmer. I would pair this beer with spring rolls and peanut sauce, spicy wings, and temperatures between 10 and 40 degrees. Any colder and you might need to upgrade to something with more aggressive heat. This is definitely worth checking out...and I'm going to lay down a few of these to see how they hold up in a few years.

Random Thought: I'm getting cats. Well, kittens. I haz excitement. Excuse, #814 to drink beer. Right?