Hèllûva Brûlée
Firestone Walker Brewing Co.

On tap at Whiskey Road, Cedar Falls, IA; served in a 6-ounce snifter. Presents as a clear golden amber color, think tequila reposado. Minimal head. Slightly boozy (no surprise there, at 14% ABV), with notes of caramel and butterscotch up front. Mellow and warming, with a clean finish. Paired this with seared tuna, rare, in whiskey sauce. No complaints.

Taster at Bier:Thirty. Light amber, small foamy head. Strong, potent aroma, half nail polish remover, have rum. Overall it comes off with somw creme brulee, sweet, caramel, burnt, strong.

 

 

12 oz. bottle poured into a snifter. 2019 vintage.

Cloudy gold color with thin white head

Nose: Rum up front over burnt sugar.

Taste: Rum-forward with caramel, biscuit malt. Finishes sweet.

Feel: Light body, medium carbonation.

 

 

 

 

On tap at George Keeley, NYC.

Pours a clear elegant looking amber color. A fingernail length frothy head retains well. When it dissipates, it yields a ring of lacing.

Boozy aroma evokes notes of rum and licorice amidst rich malt tones of honey, biscuit and toffee. There are also notes of melon, grass, creme brûlée, and a touch of chocolate and cinnamon.

Full bodied, with a sweet and boozy opening. Despite the fullness of the body, there is, nevertheless, a lightness that aids drinkability. Complex flavors, of alcohol spices, rum, biscuity and doughy malt that is chewy, honey, raisins, melon, and some pithy grapefruit hops flavors. In addition, there is a touch of burnt caramel and sugar that evokes creme brûlée. The mouthfeel is smooth with a relatively mellow carbonation. The finish is long and dry.

A big boozy beer with complex flavors. Definitely a sipper; a good nightcap.

Had on tap. Smells like cheap rail rum and tastes like even cheaper rum. Sickly sweet. There are some decent barleywine elements in there - vanilla, oak, toffee - but the cheap rum flavor overwhelms all. However, there is absolutely no alcohol burn, kind of impressive at 14% abv. But that doesn't save it from being a drainpour.

P.S. Reading over previous reviews it seems that others felt quite a lot of alcohol burn. Weird.

 

 

 

L: Had this beer on-tap at Capital Ale House - Innsbrook, poured into a snifter glass. Had an amber / golden yellow color and a mostly clear consistency. There was a half inch of foamy, somewhat long-lasting head. Not a whole lot of lacing.

S: A big, sharp aroma of rum, caramel, hops, honey, malt, and apples.

T: Tasted of a fair amount of malt (present throughout), a bit of hops (less than expected), a lot of rum (and its accompanying barrel), light apple notes, some caramel (quite sweet), and some honey as well. This is a big, boozy, unusual flavor. It's not quite as robust as it should be, but it has its good qualities.

F: A decent amount of carbonation with a warm, syrupy finish. Medium-bodied.

O: This beer's a mixed bag, but there are some good things to be found in it. Worth a look.

 

Half pour:
Quite clear, near perfect amber. Letting it warm killed all but a few rim bubbles, but a decent amount showed up when the beer was jostled.

The nose on this is fusel alcohol fuel-like in nature. I’m not a fan or of rum BA beers, but this goes beyond personal preference to near-Everclear notes. There’s some caramel and even burnt sugar notes to give it a little credit, but the fumes aren’t enticing.

Feel also has a bit more burn than it should, even for 14%. Initially it was damn near like I couldn’t wait for the sugar-melting torch to finish before I dove in, especially in the back of the taste/throat. The opening is a sweet caramel with a hint of spice. The back is more like I tried to mimic a BA beer by adding booze. It dominates what seems like it maybe could be a decent BW underneath.

It was still ugly even as I got used to it, and way out of whack for what I expect from FW.

 

Don’t let the innocent light Amber color fool you. This beer is a killer. You’ll either love it or hate it. Not a top ranked beer but in small doses I like this beer. A Smokey rum flavored barely wine.

You can never go wrong with the barley wine.