Mash & French Toast
The Bruery

Mash & French ToastMash & French Toast
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From:
The Bruery
 
California, United States
Style:
English Barleywine
Ranked #90
ABV:
13.4%
Score:
93
Ranked #3,384
Avg:
4.21 | pDev: 7.6%
Reviews:
25
Ratings:
94
Status:
Active
Rated:
Dec 25, 2023
Added:
Jan 03, 2017
Wants:
  5
Gots:
  15
This is our bourbon barrel-aged barleywine ale, Mash, joining forces with even stickier, malt-forward forces from our barrel warehouse to create the gooey-sweet profile you'd expect from a french toast-like creation. It rouses the senses with hints of caramel and rich maple character, summoning spices and warm vanilla notes.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by Eddiehop:
Photo of Eddiehop
Rated by Eddiehop from Texas

4.26/5  rDev +1.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4.25

Apr 21, 2017
More User Ratings:
Photo of colts9016
Reviewed by colts9016 from Idaho

4.4/5  rDev +4.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Review: 1988
Name: Mash French Toast
Brewery: The Bruery
Location: Placentia, CA
Style: B.B.A. English Barleywine
A.B.V.: 13.4%
Date: 25 July 2019
I am drinking Mash French Toast today using a Tulip glass. I served it at 46 degrees. The pour created an airy, frothy, one-fingered, light tan head with below-average retention. The color is brown, with reddish hues, charting around S.R.M. 32. The beer is semi-opaque. The slow dissipation left some lacing on the glass. The appearance is average for this style.
The initial aromas are caramel, bready, vanilla, and maple. Nosing the glass again after swirling it around, I noticed light floral, toffee, bourbon, oak, cinnamon, nutmeg, and toasted bread crust. This beer has the aromas of cooked French toast, the eggy cinnamon and nutmeg batter, and a drizzling of vanilla and maple syrup. The big, malty aromas of toasted cereal grains and malty sweetness give the beer a firm backbone. I am enjoying the aromas of this beer.
The Bruery are a few of the breweries in the country, giving you precisely what is described on the label—a lovely English Barley wine with big, malty flavors and a slight floral ester compound. I taste caramel, molasses, toffee, eggy French toast, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, tea, bourbon, char, oak, dried stone fruits, and a light orange peel.
The mouthfeel is warming and chewy. The body is heavy with medium carbonation.
Stellar Beer! I love the flavors of the B.B.A. English Barley Wine. I have a 2016 version I will crack open in a few days; I will add a comparison to see if three more years of aging add anything else.
Dec 25, 2023
 
Rated: 4.25 by paulish from New York

Sep 15, 2023
Photo of stortore
Reviewed by stortore from Illinois

4.29/5  rDev +1.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
750 ml bottle into a tulip snifter. Bottled 7/25/19, had 7/2/23.

Pours a semi- opaque dark amber, with a quarter inch foamy head and light speckled cling. Aromas of cinnamon, nutmeg, caramel, bourbon, vanilla, malt, some maple. Flavors of nutmeg, cinnamon, bourbon, malt, caramel, vanilla, light maple. Tastes a little spicy. Smooth, a very good medium body, well carbonated.

Thought this might be over the top, but it’s not. The maple could be a little faded at four years old, but everything else shows well. Bright aromas and flavors and the base was great, as usual. Really enjoyable.
Aug 01, 2023
 
Rated: 3.93 by Duncian from Pennsylvania

Mar 18, 2021
 
Rated: 4.31 by buzzy from Pennsylvania

Dec 07, 2020
Photo of jlindros
Reviewed by jlindros from Massachusetts

3.42/5  rDev -18.8%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3
Another one that was supposed to be a split with rudzud

Pours med frothy off white head with fair retention, little lacing, not much for legs, semi clear dark auburn to maroon color

Nose brings sweet candy and heavy malt, brown sugar, some caramel but quite a bit of maple syrup, big raw oak, toasted almost cedar like oak, hint of bourbon, light cinnamon and spice, nutmeg, little vanilla, some perfumey alcohol, raw cedar and oak dominating as it warms

Taste brings more sweetness, heavy syrup and maple, hot almost fusel alcohol, a bit of bitterness with cinnamon and nutmeg spice, vanilla, caramel and apple fruit, some generic baking spices as well, more oak and almost cedar flavor that gets strong and nagging, flash of bourbon, sticky sweet finish, some bitterness, nagging cinnamon and nutmeg spice as well as the oak

Mouth is med to fuller bod, syrupy, med foamy carb, hot mild fusel alcohol

Overall this was a mess, and nothing like French toast, very disappointed
Oct 25, 2020
 
Rated: 4.31 by Buck_Jones from Michigan

Oct 18, 2020
Photo of rodbeermunch
Reviewed by rodbeermunch from Nevada

4.33/5  rDev +2.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Boy that really sucks when you're almost 1000 words into a review and all of Chrome crashes your tabs. Had this at the Firestone Walker Fest Pre Party 2017.

Anyways, it pours brown, with a lighter beige head 1/4". Aroma checks all the boxes that the commercial tug job about the adjuncts was getting at. Its all here. And its in amazingly great proportions. The cinnamon, the maple, the powdered sugar even, but don't forget its all wrapped in a bourbon blanket.

Taste just keeps being awesome. All those things, all in the right proportions, virtually no bitterness. Do I give a shit it doesn't taste like 'beer' as most think? Nah. Hides the alcohol as good as any beer, ever. Was kind of an experience like the first time I had CBS, just man when the maple and bourbon tandem in such a near perfect way. I think this beer was responsible for my major hangover the next day. You could crush it all by yourself, but really, you shouldn't. But I love this beer, I'll always buy at least one bottle when its made again.
Jul 15, 2020
 
Rated: 4.33 by JamieDuncan from Maryland

Jun 06, 2020
Photo of ghostfacekilla69
Reviewed by ghostfacekilla69 from Virginia

4.19/5  rDev -0.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
The cinnamon is pretty strong on the nose and on the palette, but the maple syrup and bourbony vanilla come through as well. There is a baked breadiness that comes really strong in the taste and aroma once your palette gets used to the cinnamon and is looking for something else. The mouthfeel is medium-heavy bodied with a little bit of syrupiness that seems especially appropriate for the style. While I think th cinnamon is a bit overpowering, I still think that as a dessert brew it’s probably exactly what you’re looking for.
May 29, 2020
Photo of JohnnyHopps
Reviewed by JohnnyHopps from Indiana

4.31/5  rDev +2.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Appearance - The beer poured a deep copper color with an off-white head. Carbonation was visible amid the darkness of the pour.

Smell - The nose was a bouquet of cinnamon and barleywine sweetness.

Taste - My initial impression was the cinnamon and maple sweetness. Even after 3 years in my cellar, the cinnamon was still a bit hot. However, it was not so hot that it burned my esophagus. The barleywine backbone lended a sense of balance to the profile. The bourbon notes are but may be the source of the light vanilla notes. The beer had a dry bready finish.

Mouthfeel - The beer demonstrated staying power with a full body, that allowed the spice and sweetness to cling to the sides of the mouth.

Overall - Cinnamon is hard to balance in a beer. I believe this was well done.
Apr 26, 2020
 
Rated: 4.29 by Daniellobo from District of Columbia

Apr 20, 2020
 
Rated: 4.63 by BirdsandHops from Oregon

Dec 16, 2019
Photo of Treyliff
Reviewed by Treyliff from West Virginia

4.59/5  rDev +9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
750ml bottle poured into a snifter

A- pours deep brown in color, just a bit of light creeping through, with a one-finger off-white head that reduces to a ring

S- Wow, the nose smells just like maple syrup soaked pancakes, with compliments of vanilla, brown breads, cinnamon & nutmeg. Undertones of stewed figs, raisins, leather, toffee, bourbon & wood

T- sweet and malty up front with a big hit of sticky sweet maple syrup, immediately followed by spiced notes of cinnamon & nutmeg, as well as brown bread, caramel & vanilla. As it nears the finish, the barrel notes come through, adding a hint of bourbon and woody oak. It closes out with flavors of dark fruits, maple, cinnamon and bourbon

M- medium body with moderate carbonation leads to a foamy mouthfeel and a warming, almost chewy finish

O- an outstanding variant of Mash, the maple comes through like I've rarely seen in other beers, and the other spices and barrel treatment make for a delicious sipper
Nov 28, 2019
Photo of SHODriver
Reviewed by SHODriver from North Carolina

4.5/5  rDev +6.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
2019 Edition

A: Poured into a snifter to a deep brown topped by a dense and rocky two finger light tan head which fades slowly to a collar around the edge of the glass with minimal lacing
S: Smells of cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla with a hint of bourbon barrels, along with some caramel and maple sweetness
T: Taste is sweet maple and vanilla up front with cinnamon and nutmeg, hints of oak, caramel, and a touch of dark fruits as well with just a little toasted malt. On the swallow there's more cinnamon and nutmeg with maple, caramel, vanilla, and oak with some lingering sweetness.
M: This beer has a body which is on the heavier side of medium and a slightly syrupy feel on the palate. Carbonation is on the low end but adequate for the style while the beer has a drying finish due to the ABV.
O: Overall this is an awesome beer. The flavors and complexity are fantastic but the beer does tend to lean on the sweet side which may make it cloying and tough to drink for some people. Well worth a try if you like beers that color outside of the lines.
Nov 10, 2019
 
Rated: 3.21 by Cpmitchno1 from Virginia

Nov 02, 2019
Photo of Smakawhat
Reviewed by Smakawhat from Maryland

4.31/5  rDev +2.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Poured from the bottle into a Bruery tulip glass.

Deep mahogany red body color, a very dark brown. A classic English body barleywine appearance. Head is a very light khaki almost white/yellowish tinged and very fine. Manages an easy two fingers with a bit of bubbly snapping out of the bottle. A good pencil thin collar is always presented with a little bit of a nice top as well.

The aroma is not dissapointing in the descriptive part. Realy impressive maple syrup and sugar tones, it's practically crispy smelling like they are straight up crystals. Nice bit of warmth almost a fruity plum like quality coming off this in the nose. Some light vanilla, but the maple dominates primarily and is extremely impressive.

Palate is impressive and surprising. Light bodied but hints just a hair of oaky tones with light mixing malt and fruity quality. There is the round mouthfeel of barrel aging here, but it's a bit softer and lighter when contributing to the flavors. Warm bodied, with that crispy sugar flavor, but with a soft maple that's more hinting on warmth than it is on sugar. Good controlled boozy heat on this, noticeable but tolerable. Light waffery and crispy toffee notes of caramel mixing in with soft sugars of vanilla, and even some dark fruit prune to plum character. The maple seems to have more of a woody than sugary quality which is a real nice flavor.

Very nice light bodied aged brew, I was anticipating much more aggressive flavors but there is a lot of subtley here and nuances. It's not like a sledgehammer, or overly sweet which I really appreciate.
Sep 15, 2019
 
Rated: 4.43 by cd34 from Illinois

Jun 18, 2019
 
Rated: 4.09 by NappyB from Illinois

May 19, 2019
Mash & French Toast from The Bruery
Beer rating: 93 out of 100 with 94 ratings