Deep Color
Skookum Brewery

12 oz. bottle. Deep brown. Smells of bourbon, oak, dark fruits, brown sugar, and booze. Tastes of just the right amount of brown sugar, oak, sharp alcohol. Dark fruity dates and figs. Bourbony and oaky back end. Medium body, but pretty boozy. Quite tasty.

Poured from a 12 ounce undated bottle into a snifter at 52 degrees.

Look- Ruby brown, opaque, medium brown sudsy head, almost zero head retention, zero lacing, high leg formation on glass wall.

Smell- Tobacco, raisin, whiskey, oak, molasses, vanilla, high strength of scent.

Taste- Raisin, whiskey, date, fig, cherry, molasses, tobacco, moderately sweet, highly boozy, high strength of flavor.

Feel- Full body, below average carbonation, syrup like, sticky, moderately sweet, mildly bitter, highly mouth coating, highly mouth warming, highly boozy.

Overall- Appearance was ruby brown and opaque with below average head retention and lacing. The bouquet was a wonderful balance of tobacco, raisin, whiskey, oak, molasses and vanilla. The flavor followed suit with even more dark dried fruit character. The feel was full bodied and delightful with high mouth warming/coating properties. This beer was classified as an Old Ale, but was very similar to a barleywine. Overall this beer provided a wonderful drinking experience with great complexity and depth.

Sampling a cellar temp 12 oz bottle poured into my snifter. Have had the beer for about 1.5 years in the cellar after receiving in a trade.
The beer pours a rich mahogany color with some ruby highlights. Light shows on the edges of the glass. There is a fizzy beige head of about .5 cm that fades away to a very thin edge layer soon after the pour.
Aroma is toffee brown sugar and some pipe tobacco. I also get some whisky and a bit of raisin. No hop character here. Not fusol booze either.
First sip reveals a medium body with slick mouthfeel that is a little sticky on my lips after each sip. Very mild carbonation, barely present in the beer.
Flavor is malt driven and features much of the nose, with toffee and some raisin and pipe tobacco again. I also get some sweeter fruit, some black berry note maybe? tough to nail that flavor down. Good hit of whisky again and no hop presence anywhere. Some warming booze on the finish with a black peppery bite reminds me of the ABV again.
This is quite the tasty brew and Im glad to have consumed it tonight. Im continuing to be impressed with this brewery!

 

2021 vintage (released on 10/20/2021); consumed on 11/7/2022

Pours a deep, clear chestnut body, sporting ruby highlights and topped with a finger of fluffy, pale off-white foam; modest head retention leaves a spotty few islands of cap, thin, frothy collar, and minimal-no lacing holding to the walls of the glass.

Aromas of rich caramel build to smooth Raisin Bran as notes of fresh cocoa underscore; plum subtleties developing on the back end of the bouquet cut the warming peak of whiskey and oak as it fades.

Taste brings dark chocolate and residual oak to decadent caramel accented with a tinge of smoked toffee; slight prune and plum on the mid-palate phase into cocoa dusting over vanilla residuals to an oaky barrel heat on the finish.

Mouthfeel finds a medium body, slick in texture and sporting lower-end carbonation; briefly creamy and entirely smooth, a heavy warming through the back end dries into vague stickiness through the close.

A refined old ale profile, emphasizing bakery sweetness levied against potent barrel heat, and a level of richness maintained with casual finesse throughout.

This one pours a dark-ish brown color, with a small head, and a little bit of lacing.

This smells like caramel, light campfire smoke, whiskey booziness, toffee, and breadiness.

The smoked malt character here is subtle and nice. It’s subtle to me at least, who likes smokey beers, but maybe it would be a little much to someone who isn’t the biggest fan of smoke. There’s lots of barrel too, spicy and oaky barrel, some booze, a touch of whiskey, smoked caramel, and breadiness.

This is medium bodied, kind of silky, a little bit boozy, and a nice drinkability.

This is pretty much directly up Skookum’s alley. The smoke level is done really well for me.

 

 

 

Completely opaque copper-brown, like a worn penny, with a moderate khaki foam head settling to a silky still surface.

Smell is a savory yet richly decadent potpurri of #life loveliness: barleywine, strong ale and old ale, all of the finest kind.

Caramel, charred barrel, nougat and molasses. Riesen and date. My god, it feels thick on the nose alone.

Taste is gingersnap with bourbon barrel ribbons of vanilla, caramel and nougat. It's vanilla drizzled bread pudding with whiskey sauce holy fucking shit.

The drinkably medium yet velvety body just exudes this wonderful char with a hint of black pepper. Its tingly faint carbonation finishes semi-dry and brings some heat out that at times has a hint of lightly numbing Red Hots far behind creme brulee and blondies.

Holy fucking shit. Did I say that already?

2020-11-01
12oz bottle served in a tulip. Don't see a date on it, but it says it's 11.5% abv, as opposed to the listing's 10.3%. Don't remember for sure where I got it.

Pours very dark brown (not quite black) with almost no head at all. On close inspection, there is a little bit of active carbonation, but not a lot. Smell is raisins, dates, booze and a little vanilla and oak but not a lot. Sticky toffee pudding.

Taste is more dates, lots of dates, a little toffee, less booze, caramel and maybe butterscotch, very sweet.

Mouthfeel is thick, smooth, still. Overall, really nice beer.

 

 

17 June 2020 - Beer #122

Corona Day #97

Price: $6.99 at Beer Authority in Seattle, WA

Appearance: 2 - looks like mud. Or poo. Runny poop.

Nose: 5 - does not smell like mud or poo. Not smoke either. Lots of barrel. Smells like a barleywine.

Taste: 5 - all toffee. Tastes like a Heath or Skor bar. The barrel really shines.

Mouth: 4 - very thick and creamy. Goes down smooth. A bit flat, however.

Overall: 5 - this is extremely pleasant. Don't sleep on those guys out in the PNW. Hope I can get back to that area soon.

Stay safe out there, my friends.

Cheers!

 

L: Dark auburn like a rich quad, with a loose and thin tan head of average retention and minimal temporary spots of lace.

S: This bottle is three weeks fresh and there is a lot of booze on the nose, it's not astringent though and balanced by some date sugars, dark sweet plum, oak and tiny leather note. The oddity is that with this much booze in the style I would generally be turned off, but something is rich and fancy here - it's intoxicating on the nose - like there is fine brandy in the bottle.

T: Not nearly as boozy on the palate. I would venture that this brew is not for bottle aging. I really like all the subtelty on the palate and it's probably a drink within 3-6mo brew to have it shine. Love it.

F: A little thin for the ABV, but not more than average for the style I don't think, It's rich and smooth only a touch slick.

O: Another fine beverage from Skookum. I would say this one too is underrated for the style. I enjoyed this brew and would buy it again. I've had so so many inferior old ales.

Brown appearance with a slight off white head that dissipates quickly. Aroma is a slightly sweet bourbon and malt. Taste is also a pleasant Slightly bourbon and malt with an alcohol aftertaste that will feminism with a little bottle aging.

 

As with many old ales, this is not a gorgeous beer. Muddy raisin brown with a little dusting of geometric bubbles.

Nose is rich and delicious. I love old ales. Rich raisins and oak and some wood. Leather and slightly sweet. Nothing crazy, just a really pleasant old ale. I don't really get any smoke to speak of and had to keep reminding myself that it's supposed to be smoked.

Flavour follows a lot of the same ideas. Sweetish initially but it settles in with some spicy tobacco and soaked raisins. Some toffee and a little bit of wood. Again: really really tasty, but I'm not really getting any smoke. Maybe some mild smokey astringency to the finish, but that could as easily be some hops and/or the barrel

I quite enjoy this one. It's nothing fancy, and I don't get the smoke as advertised, and it might be a tad sweet, but it's a really enjoyable old ale. I'm into it. Go Hawks.