22 oz bottle, Hop City, Atlanta, GA, USA. $5.99.
OK, not really sure what’s going on here, but I guess I will try to unravel it.
The pour offers a reddish, hazed body with little or no head except for a small collar. The head has poor retention (probably due in large part to the ABV) and the collar leaves a little lace. Carbonation seems low to me, but in line with a beer with this kind of alcohol.
What we have here is the proverbial “kitchen sink” beer. It comes across as a kind of American Double IPA/English Barleywine clone to me, with more sweetness than ANY American Barleywine has ever had. If you are judging this beer on its ability to replicate that particular style, then you have a failure. It also lacks the true, forward, aggressive hops that one would expect from an American DIPA as well, with plenty of caramel notes coming through and a tremendous (as in large rather than good), malt presence. Of course, it also lacks the subtle, sherry-like notes and nuances of an English Barleywine and therein lies the problem. This beer is neither one thing or another and tops of the whole package with a silly ABV. It’s what I imagine a bad Stone beer to be!
Same problem as the original DP from 2007 in terms of the style being all over the place.
Two into the cellar, one more glass on draft and I’ll be done. Much less impressive than Ron Burgandy and another American brewer’s attempt to “show off” with massive ABV and just too much of everything but ultimately yielding next to nothing. Disappointing.