Iced BART
FiftyFifty Brewing Co.

A notch below your average appearance from these guys (and girls). Ruddy brown and minor black. Almost no head.

Aroma was complex and had a bunch going on: oak, chocolate, bourbon, vanilla, roast, leather, snow (psych!).

Residual sweetness kept it from ever drinking hot. All the aroma came through on the palate. I'd bang this over and over, pretty underrated if you ask me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Analogchainsaw for this bottle, which I'd been coveting ever since having the 'regular' BART a while back. Plus, I want to drink anything FiftyFifty makes. 22 oz. bottle #90, dated 2012, little over a year old. Split with my wife.

The pour sloshes out like liquid chocolate, with roughly the same amount of carbonation, though there was a decent hiss when the cap came loose. Aroma is cut from the same brew kettle, mild alcohol, sweet malts, vanilla, but the sum of them all is tame.

Iced BART suffers from a lack of bubbles. Immediately one gets a heavy, sloshing feel in the stomach as the first sip goes down & begins to roll around like half-melted marbles; way, way too dense. Taste is interesting. Brown leather jacket that's been scraped across a brick roadway in the rain (man, I didn't need that memory), then scrubbed gently with bourbon, burnt caramel, & black licorice. Prunes, alcohol rub up against my palate suggestively as the beer warms. 11 ounces isn't going to be as bad a raking the lawn, but I'm glad I put the other half on my wife's to-do list.

The lack of any semblance of carbonation dooms this into being a marginal beer. Only the second FiftyFifty beer I've tasted that wasn't excellent, but this isn't even close. Sub-par & a big disappointment.

 

 

2012 Bottle #144 opened on 10.2.13

A - Pours a very dark brown with a small light brown head with decent retention.

S - Booze, coffee, roasted malt, pretty mild.

T - Strong bourbon, chocolate and roasted malts in the finish.

D - Lower carbonation with a heavy body.

O - Very boozy and big. Silk smooth and still hot.

Bomber #131 poured into an Eclipse snifter. The brew appears a dark brown color with a khaki colored head that starts off with a big bubble composition and falls back to a fine penline of bubbles around the perimeter of the glass. When held to the light, some cola clarity is seen around the edges.

The aroma includes notes of raisony alcohol tang, minor citrus and fruity hop elements mixed in with solvent alcohol. It smells strangely inviting and fruity sweet at the tip of the nose but as you breath in deeper, the alcohol becomes alarmingly solvent and burning to the nostrils. A hint of chocolate and caramel malt are also present.

A strong taste of solvent alcohol starte things off that is initially sweet and fruity like plum/raison that fades to more earth and roast character as more sips are taken. A bit of caramel comes out before the solvent alcohol burn reverts and overtakes the profile.

This is a medium bodied brew with a modest amount of carbonation. This probably sounds like a dumb/obvious statement but this really is a souped up, bigger version of bart. It feels thicker and smoother with a bigger alcohol bite and even more fruity elements. Yet it still remains aa not nexessarily a better iteration of its original base unless you love booziness. I never felt like I was drinking a stout or barleywine...ok maybe a barleywine.