Lee Hill Series Vol. 19 - Batch 1000
Upslope Brewing Company - Lee Hill

 

So I’ve been holding this for awhile for the perfect time. Tonight my wife accidentally opened it, mistaking it for one of her current favorite Firestone Walker 805s.

Oops.

I had planned on a nice hoppy beer night. Climbing the ladder from a Dale’s Pale Ale to an Oskar Blues Can-o-Bliss to an Odd13 noobI went ahead and finished the Dale’s, and popped the Can-O-Bliss, but then I had to deal with the accidentally opened Batch 1000.

My God this is great. malty, boozy, decadent, rich.... it doesn’t matter that my palate was set for hops, this just ignored that. ....but I’m a little too drunk to properly review it. My advice: put it somewhere your wife won’t accidentally open it. Make a crown rib roast with rosemary roasted potatoes and Brussels sprouts, and serve that with a nice Oregon Pinot Noir. Then drink This motherfucker with a homemade French vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce.

Picked up this 12 oz. can in Omaha recently, & the aluminum can is now…concave. Looks like it’s caving in on itself like the Nazgul stabbed by Eowyn. Feel like I better open it or risk a strong ale explosion in the beer fridge. Canned 3/11/19.

Pops silently & pours with nary a whisper of foam – dead flat with a nose of a bourbon after-dinner liqueur, thick & rich, with added figs & brown sugar. Nice.

Batch 1000 – I should really learn to read, I misread the ABV & now I’m hoping my wife will come home & save me from falling asleep on the couch in 45 minutes. This is more decadent than a Minneapolis Club dinner: rich brown sugar, currents of bourbon, dripping caramel, alcohol – so much alcohol – wood, vanilla oil. Thick: this should be server in ½ oz. after dinner servings.

My wife is here to save me! But my belly is already warm, senses dulled, & smile fixed. This is a heavy, heavy monster mash of a beer with a huge bourbon heart. Excellent beer.

$11.50 a 12 ounce can? I trust Upslope. Canned March 11th, 8 IBUs.

It pours a really dark brown with a minimal and short lived head of foam. Not surprising. No lacing.

The smell is huge with the Bourbon, has dark pitted fruits, vanilla, huge caramel malt sweetness, boozy! Hell, it's 17.5%abv!

Lots of Bourbon up front. Caramel malt sweetness is in your face...chocolate attributes to the sweetness. Dark pitted fruits, vanilla, very very sweet overall and a syrupy mouthfeel to it.

Lightly carbonated, the syrupy mouthfeel is a bit much.

A fantastic Old Ale that must have cost Upslope a bit of bucks to cellar before releasing. Worth the expense? In my book, yes.

Deep reds and browns in the body; mahogany; virtually no head (not unusual with high ABV beers). Rich and heavy aroma exuding roasted and charred grains; brown sugar and molasses; dried figs and dates; a bit of tobacco and warm leather; oak and bourbon. Incredible flavors throughout the taste; sweet and spicy with a well-rounded bourbon taste; anise and spearmint. Heavy and oily body; very slick and viscous; heavy residual sugar presence balanced with some warming boozy heat.

This is the way to do an anniversary beer in a big way. This certainly won't appeal to folks who don't go for big, heavy and dark beers with massive alcohol presence, but that is their loss. Very much like a cordial or brandy and a true sipper. Warming and soothing...