I've had to make a New Year resolution to do a better job of keeping up with this blog. Among the other things I'm trying to do this year, I'm going to try to write 4-5 reviews a week and hopefully do a lot more writing on Midwestern breweries, as well as hit the major brew festivals in the area this Spring and Summer. I'm feeling pretty motivated, so I hope that carries on.
I think I've picked a pretty good beer to start 2012 off with. Today's review is of Jewbilation 15 from Shmaltz Brewing Co. Prior to picking this beer up I hadn't tried anything from Shmaltz. I've seen their beers around but just haven't gotten around to trying any, and I think I've definitely started out on the right foot.
This beer pours an incredibly dark brown color. It was very opaque. When I tilted the glass, there was a bit of maroon color in the light. There was about a half inch of light brown head after the initial pour and it dissipated pretty quickly, little to no film on top of the beer and no lacing on the sides of the tasting glass.
Jewbelation 15 had a very malty scent to it, with a little bit of sweetness and alcohol mixed in. The sweetness has a hint of molasses and raisins to it. This brew weighs in at a whopping 15% ABV so the alcohol scent wasn't all that surprising. It was similar to the scent one would get from bourbon aged beers. Overall though the malt was the forward smell in this beer.
The malt was the dominant character of the taste of this beer, as it was in the bouquet. The label touts 15 malts and 15 hops. I was drinking this beer at room temperature, so the first tastes that jumped out to me were chocolate malt and raisins. This beer was very sweet, as one would expect from a beer that depended so heavily on malts. After digging through the chocolate and raisin profile, I got some molasses and bourbon with a tiny bit of hoppiness breaking through halfway through the sip. A hot alcohol taste accompanied the bourbon profile, but it was not unpleasant by any means. (I enjoy bourbon though so I may have a slight bias).
Surprisingly, this body had a medium mouth feel. I was expecting it to be dense and syrupy like a barley wine, but it actually had a surprising amount of carbonation. The aftertaste was a mix of raisins, alcohol, and sweetness from the malt. Despite the claim of 15 hops on the label, I got little to no hoppiness during and after each taste. The lack of hop profile was by no means an issue though. I'm sure the hops served more of a balancing purpose than a flavoring purpose. I really enjoyed the after taste of this brew. It was a pleasant sweetness mixed with a slight hint of coffee and bourbon. The heat from the alcohol died away pretty quickly.
Overall I thought this beer was great. And a little fact I forgot to mention at the beginning of this post is that it only costs 6 bucks (in Illinois at least). If you handed me a sample of this beer without telling me what it was, I'd think it was a 15 dollar+ barley wine. I definitely plan on picking up another couple bottles of this and aging them. I will also be trying some other beers from Shmaltz. I've heard mixed reviews but this beer has left a great first impression on me. I would definitely suggest this beer to friends. I really cant stress the quality for the price enough either.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I should have another post by the end of the weekend. I have a bottle of Sarachi Ace from Brooklyn Brewery sitting in the chiller at the moment that is tempting my taste buds, and I don't know how long I can hold off. I suppose the result of the Broncos game tomorrow will determine my mood and therefore how well I'm willing to drink. Until then, Cheers!
No comments:
Post a Comment