Originally released in 2010, I bought all four of the XXX anniversary beers from Sierra Nevada, And with Beer Camp rumbling across America, now seemed a good time to open 1/2 of my bottles up. Here is the second of the two a strapping black barleywine…
The initial aroma was not promising for this black barley wine. I had been congratulating myself on my cellar success stories and I felt Karma was coming back around. Jack & Kens was a little too sweet on the nose. Initially there is a swirling mix of caramel and milk chocolate in the pint glass that I am sure (assuming) earlier was balanced out by Cascade hop bitterness. This beer seems just a little off when the hop leaves the building. The barley wine pours a dark brown with a very lasting espresso head. It is still there after 10 minutes of staring. Might be a new record of sorts.
As it warms chocolate milk keeps coming to my mind even though the beer is still nicely carbonated. There is a pleasing smoothness here as well with no notes of barrel or sherry at all. But this is all chocolate all the time. I don’t know if this is what an aged New Albion beer might have tasted like if the brewery had lasted but it is interesting.
The Verdict? – A qualified failure. If you had asked me of the two beer that I cracked open, which I would guess would have held up better. It would have been this one. Alas, I feel the Imperial Helles Bock did more. Maybe the loss of hops was too much too overcome or my expectations were too high but this only sort of worked.