Wee Heavy
Town Hall Brewery

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Town Hall had a vintage keg from 2008 last night.

Pours a beige head. Decent retention. Color is a dark cooper.

Aroma: Very peaty and smokey. It is pretty malty with notes of caramel and bready. Some oak shows.

Taste: Very similar to the nose. Very peaty and smokey. It has a bacon flavor that I find in Rauchbiers. I also get some oak notes. I was surprised with this one. I guess this was a more traditional version of the beer. Pretty malty. Not very hoppy.

Mouthfeel: Smokey and smooth. A bit warming. Medium to full bodied with a medium amount of carbonation.

Overall, this was a good beer, but it just wasn't what I was expecting. It was much more traditional than any other wee heavy I have had. I enjoyed it.

Went to Town Hall expecting to down a few pints. Mission accomplished!

A: A dark burnt umber colored body with a head that quickly dissipates to the familiar salivary pool that beckons you to drink it. Lacing was present, not spectacular, spotty at best. The reddish hue makes this beer warm on a cold January day.

S: When I think Wee Heavy I think of big caramel and smoke notes, but this was a little underwhelming. I was greeted with molasses, caramel, touch of smoke, alcohol, low hop profile. Decent aroma, just doesn't want make me want to drown my nose in it.

T: This beer is pretty malt forward with a layered sweetness that produces some caramel, molasses, and cherries. The smoke is pretty subdued in this beer and the finish at first slightly bitter possesses some vinous qualities.

M: Notable carbonation, but the body could use more viscosity to it. Syrupy feeling on the tongue in coordination with the malt profile.

D: If it weren't winter in Minnesota I'd be hesitant to order a 10 oz pour of this again. Decent offering from Town Hall.

This beer pours a dark mahogany color. The head is small, but a nice cap of lacing sticks around until the beer is gone. The aroma is of nuts, caramel, vanilla, and toffee. The taste is like the aroma with a mellow, long lasting finish. The mouthfeel is full bodied with lively carbonation, and a silky texture. Overall, this is a nice wee heavy. I would certainly drink this again.

12oz hand bottled sample lifted from a growler filled at the Brewpub. Thanks Harry!
Some active carbonation, a greyish head was quick to form off a slow pour. Most only lasted as a thin blanket but it was always quick to re-assemble on swirling. Spotty lacing. Dark, deep burgundy colour, only transparency comes when held directly to the light. Great aroma - sticky malts, hop resin, great molasses, large dose of peet. A coating of burnt, ashy coating. Mouthfeel lightly syropy. No alcohol noticeable. Taste is very impressive! A great malt bill with all the character of the aroma. A little thin in the mouthfeel but quite robust in the taste. A little metallic, result of the water? Bitterness only on the finish. Nice resonance of molasses and peet. Not only true, but fantastic representation of the style.

Handbottled 12 oz courtesy of Footbalm. Thank you, Eric. The aroma is sweet malt, hard candy with cherry notes, caramel and a touch of smoke that gets a little plastic smelling. Still a decent smelling brew all in all. The body is a very dark dull brown and it holds a thumb thick tan head that is fairly diminishing.

Smokey, malty sweet with caramel notes int he fore. Some bitterness in the middle and then a lot of fruit sweetness on the back end before finishing smokey again. It has a very creamy mouthfeel. The smokiness gets to be too much for me, but there are a lot of very positives elements here.

Originally reviewed on 1/17/07. On tap at the brewpub. Light crisp malt aroma, with some edges of pan-seared carmelization. Ruby brown pour, very clear, with a rim of ivory. Flavor is a surprisingly dry, smokey preserved fruit, with a lot of aromatic malt character. There’s a certain smokiness that jumps out at me right off the bat, but it’s ethereal and clean, as if from a luxury cigarette or something. A little woodsy and touch of peat. At first, I’m really down about this beer. It seems too dry, too one dimensional. But, as I drink it grows on me. I’m used the the coarse grainy sugars of the style, with a lot of residual caramelly sweetness. Instead, I have this really drinkable, refined beverage with all the subtle, yet unique and definable characters, that take time to grow on me. Gentle vinous notes ebb from the tide and leave a grapeskin and strawberry residue. Faint chocolate-mint character grows. It took me a while to realize what a good beer this is. A lilting song of gentle warming smoke, dispersive sweet caramels and light husky phenols carol along in the night, with phenomenal drinkability and true uniqueness. Towards the end, the number closes with a cusp of minty dryness, for that longing hop balance. Nicely attenuated and any aging really melds this beer into a beauty.

Glad I got a growler of this one. I hadn't made it a priority to get a Wee Heavy, but quickly noticed my mistake on Saturday. A dark brown ale with garnet highlights around the edges make a clear impression early--light brown head is thin and disappears but the smell attacks the nose: alcohol, plums, raisins, smokey peat, and tones of malt. Dive in and more of the same, though it is sticky sweat, probably too sweet for some. I can see from the range of reviews that it is very much a matter of taste on this one. If you're into big barleywines, and don't mind the syrupy base to your beer, this is a good one--don't have a sweet tooth, move along.

Another fine growler from my Town Hall hookup BA JeffKrenner.

A: What I imagine chocolate cola would look like. The body is very still and the carbonation on the low end. I fine film tops the ceiling of the brewing with a dark beige ring surrounding the glass.

S: Cherries, oak sap, Hershey's syrup, smoked peat and molasses. This is quite intriguing.

T: Begins very peated and smoky like a nice scotch. Deep chocolate saturates ripe red berries, dark plums and fermented raisins. Next comes cold smoked caramel with more abundant and striking dark red fruits. The theme here is peat though and it shines through after every sip. Some smoked beers the palate adjusts to the smokiness but not this one. Finishes sweet and slick with more oily cold smoked fruits and warm, inviting alcohol esters.

M: Medium mouthfeel, really smooth with a delicate carbonation.

D: I'm enjoying this quite a bit. I'll kill this growler tonight.

Into a tulip glass, was poured a deep russet brown approaching almost black with a nice white fluffy head, some reddish color, some nice lacing as the brew receded. Aroma is yummy, heavy fruits, syrupy molasses, sweet malts, lovely. Taste is even better, a malty beast, warm alcohol and smooth mouth inviting flavors of sweet sugars and dark fruits, syrupy, sweetly, lovingly malty. I'm entering a short wee heavy phase, and I'm liking it! This is a tasty brew, and if I hadn't already had so much to drink, I'd have another.

1/8/08: Upon further review, the mouth is a bit better than before, and more drinkable, both up .5 from before.

Murky, ruddy-amber and quite dark in color. Clear but not brilliant. Nose is all about the malts . . . pretty hard to fathom as it'spoured cold, but there's a nice subtle tang in there too. Quite sweet, yet there's a nice lightly cleansing carbonation that makes this seem lighter on the first sip than it actually is. Smooth and creamy mouthfeel, and a bit slick/oily and yet coating the tongue in a dense, treacly way (and it's best if you like that, or this is a long sip!) A light touch of that iodine quality that you either love, hate, or don't notice in this style. Personally I dig it, but it's understated enough here (at least seeing as this is fresh at the moment) to where it won't be too funky for the newbies to the style. An ever so slight lactic tang here, but it's more of a Granny Smith sourness. Syrupy in a good way, and with whiskey, molasses, and vanilla notes. Rather full-bodied, but on-style and with very good drinkability for the style as well.A toutch of boubon in here also . . . but I'd hate to see this put into a boubon cask to enhance a natural and fairly distinct light touch. Great stuff!