Barrel Aged Wee Heavy
Town Hall Brewery

 

 

Ten ounce pour consumed on release night at Town Hall.

Purty beer, nice ruby-red shining through the glass. Nose is weak; touch of the barrel, scattering of malts. Not much there.

Barrel Aged Wee Heavy is one of those few beers that truly changes character as it warms. My initial reaction was "meh", but as the beer warmed, & only a few ounces remained in my glass, it was wildly better. Lots of toffee & caramel, with only a touch of vanilla & a underhanded statement of wood, bit of smoke.

Nicely done, & a good beer. Ultimately, not good enough to fork out the dollars for a growler, but very pleasant to spend 20 or 30 minutes with.

Pours a dark brown with a slight red tinge. Nice 1 finger bead. Malty, Biscuity, sweet aroma with a touch of vanilla and alcohol. Medium mouthfeel. Peaty, smokey, sweet dark fruit and honey flavors abound in the taste. Pretty sweet but in a good way. Apples flavors as well. Scottish/Irish whiskey notes. Sweet honey with smokey finish.

Went down on the Friday of Town Hall's Barrel Aged Week and was lucky enough to see they still had Wednesdays brew on tap. Drank from a generic 10oz snifter.

Wee Heavy aged in American Oak Wine Barrels

Appearance- Pours a dark copper brown with a small half finger off-white head. No cap after a few minutes, thin collar and not much lacing remain.
Smell- This thing just reeks of woody goodness. A bit of caramel and toffee but considering original beer's nose is so weak, this is all from the barrel. A bit of alcohol but nothing specifically that's 'wine like'. This one is all wood.
Taste- So boozy and intense. The wine must have been like 20% to bump up the booziness of this brew so hard. The oak is intense and tannic with a big caramel thing that is damn near fruity in the grand scheme of things. As the beer warms the dark fruits come out a bit more and the alcohol is really accentuated. This almost drinks more like a after dinner liqueur than a beer.
Mouthfeel- On the lighter side of medium with s crazy harsh bite of carbonation that needs tamed a bit.
Drinkability- Wee Heavies aren't exactly my favorite brews of all-time and I've never been a fan of Town Hall's. The wood obviously adds a lot of flavor (which this beer is in need of) but it's too boozy to really enjoy. Glad I got to try but not my favorite of the week.

Aged in American oak wine barrels

1/2 finger of light tan head. Fades to a thin layer. Color is a dark ruby hued copper. Very dark brown.

Aroma: big and malty. However it has some oak and big grape flavors. Some caramel and smoke. Just a big malt bomb with some extra additions.

Taste: the wine barrel aging in this beer is odd. Very odd taste. Grapes, oak, caramel, toffee, smoke, and roasted malts. Decent, but odd.

Mouthfeel: smooth, creamy, and bubbly. Medium bodies with a higher amount of carbonation. Ends malty, sticky, and oaky.

Overall, I wasn't too impressed with this one. It was good but nothing amazing. I think they should have picked other barrels. Not something I want to much of.