Alpha Hop Society: Barrel-Aged Tiki Torches At Twilight
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

gnarly beer, lots of malt and lots of barrel and lots and lots of sugar, alcohol too, but its also really clever and good, a little outside the box of these guys, for anyone really, toasted coconut and pineapple in a blend of barleywines, one in rum and one in bourbon barrels, super heady! fair clear maple syrup colored pour with decent viscosity and a short off white head hanging on awhile, somewhat more carbonation than anticipated for this sort of thing, visually well refined, nice low glow to it. the nose is real sweet, dark brown sugar and even molasses, the rum barrel seems to exacerbate that, as does the pineapple, which has a little apparent acidity to me. lots of wood on it, warming alcohol, and an almost spiced aspect perhaps from the wood and rum, light love and cinnamon, very cozy with how sweet and strong it is. the coconut is toasted and natural, the pineapple appears more candied, and there is a nice overall whiskey complexion here too, definitely opens up a lot with a little temperature too, lots going on here but really pretty cohesive. the flavor is lovely once i get past all the sweetness, a limiting factor of this. really cool malt complexity that loves all the barrel character, rum and bourbon both apparent, vanilla richness, dark bread and bran, toast and biscuit, honey and maple, again a spice layer in with all of that, obvious coconut all through it, more forward than the pineapple, which is sweet but also acidic, cuts this some, not unwelcomed in that regard, warming higher order alcohol, soothing lengthening oak, light mustiness, a bit of an almost english yeast thing on the ferment, pineapple hard candy, light sweatiness, cedar, amburana, and toffee. delicious but for many reasons a small doses thing, long on the palate, quite fanciful and interesting, warms up favorably, neat to pack these flavors into barleywines instead of big stouts. always feels special to be drinking alpha hop society beer, they treat their members well!

Original Review
Split a membership for 2024 and received 2 bottles at the AHS Party at Mills River on 7-20-24. 2024 bottling; consumed bottle #1 11-13-24.

Beer poured deep amber with an okay white head that dissipated quickly. - 3.75

Nose is very nice, getting a bourbon barrel dominance with some rum barrel splashed in along with coconut and pineapple.-4.25

Taste follows the nose as the base beer gives faint resemblance to classic Barleywine as the barrels commingle nicely with the coconut and pineapple adjuncts. Barrels lend a nice balancing act as this finishes with a nice tropical vibe that is appropriately sweet. -4.25

Mouthfeel is medium bodied and has a slant suggesting rum cocktail refreshment vs Barleywine smoothness. - 3.75

Overall, i like this better today than at the release party as i recall the rum barrel being dominant. -4.25

2nd review 12-30-2025
The flavors have melded together very well between the rum barrel, coconut, and pineapple (although this "cocktail" does not resemble a barleywine at all). Upgrading the Look to 4.0.