The Path Of The Angel
Clown Shoes

From a 22oz bottle. Bottled on 02/16/2018. Consumed on 07/08/2025

There was a nice hiss and a bit of smoke upon opening this 7 year old bottle of beer. The color is a fairly clear amber color with hints of brown in it. There's a lot of carbonation in this beer, way more than I'd expect from a beer this old. The head is, on the first part of the pour, 4 finger and tan in color. The head retention is decent. There's minimal lacing on the glass.
There's nutty notes to the aroma. There's some caramel notes. Since this beer is old, I am getting some wet cardboard notes. I am not getting barrel notes, but, again, the beer is old.
Well, there's a nice nutty flavor up front. The nutty flavor does last and does build toward the back. The nuts are added to by notes of caramel and a hint of chocolate. I am also getting some oak and vanilla notes from the barrel. Since this beer is a vintage, I do get some wet cardboard notes, but they aren't too distracting.
The beer is quite bubbly on my tongue. The beer has a crisp feeling to it. Nice fullness to the body. There's a faint burn on the back from the ABV.
This is not a bad beer by any stretch of the imagination, but I wouldn't recommend putting age on it. I have never had it fresh, but I bet it is better fresh.

22 oz brown bottle - not dated

Clown Shoes The Path of the Angel has a very dark brown body that formed a large almost 2-finger bubbly and creamy tan head. The head had strong staying power and left behind nice clingy lacing. The nose picked up light aromas of chocolate malt; caramel, and dark fruit [raisons]. The taste is similar to the nose but a little stronger with light hop bitterness being revealed at the finish. The Ale is medium to high-medium bodied; a little crisp and creamy with a generous carbonation.

Overall, a good America Brown Ale that hides its strong abv content well.

Big, boozy brown ale with some nice flavors and depth. Just a lot of alcohol warmth. Pours a nice deep dark brown color, almost black, with a little lasting tan head and lots of spotty lingering lacing. Smells of oak, bourbon, roasted nuttiness, a little malt, caramel, vanilla and raisin. Taste follows the nose, along with some brown sugar and a hint of medium roast coffee and lighter milk chocolate. Smooth, slightly creamy, rich, slightly sticky mouthfeel and good carbonation. A nice beer, but the strong warming alcohol was just a little too much early on in the taste, and tended to overpower the other flavors and aromas.

 

Pours a murky dark ice tea brown with a thick tan cap that recedes rapidly but leaves decent lacing. Aroma is roasted malts and faint bourbon barrel. Flavor is sweet caramel malt with bourbon and vanilla, slight bitterness in the finish. Feel is medium bodied. Overall a nice beer, but nothing to write home about.

Deep brown hue with a lot of haziness from the bourbon barrel aging. There's a fingernail of brown around the rim and covering the vast majority of the top. Not much aroma here, but there's faint sweet bourbon and cola. I'm tasting caramel, a light nutty flavor, and cola along with a sweet bourbon finish. The mouth is lightly sticky and chewy and with a light warmth from the booze.

Enjoying a bomber from March 2017. The pour is pleasingly thick, with a rich dark caramel color and moderate head. Some large bubbles cling to the rim of the glass, with cirrus clouds drifting across the middle. The bourbon is big and boozy compared to the unbarreled Angel of Detroit base, totally consistent with the typical profile of Clown Shoes's barrel program. Lots of vanilla, caramel malts, peppery rye whiskey notes, and heavy oak delivered with moderately full body.

2018 Vintage.

Nice looking brown ale with a dense finger of head. Aroma of bourbon, vanilla, wood, and some nuttiness. The barrel is strong with this one. Not much malt to counter the bourbon. Not a lot of depth just mostly bourbon and wood. Not the most robust body. Feels a bit thin but it is nicely carbonated.

 

22oz bottle acquired by a friend on his summer trii to Michigan. Bottled 3/21/17. Served in a Clown Shoes snifter. Enjoyed 11/9/17.

Pours a deep, opaque chocolate brown with some ruby highlights and about a finger of beige head. The froth recedes to a thin veneer and healthy collar, leaving a few small rorchachs of lace.

The nose is sweet and beckons with notes of bourbon, vanilla, chocolate malt and caramel.

An interesting dichotomy of sweet and bitter is present in the flavor from the first taste. Bourbon, pine, mild chocolate, burnt caramel, cereal, wet oak, a vague floral bite, faint vanilla and an occasional healthy dollop of alcohol.

Smooth, semi creamy feel with fairly light carbonation. The aftertaste is like pine aged bourbon with some cooked chocolate caramel cereal.

I didn't remember missing Brown Angel until my first sip of The Path of the Angel. Clown Shoes pays homage to their long lost hoppy imperial brown with this delicious, amped up, barrel aged iteration. One of the best brown ales I've had and I very glad my pal remembered my Clown Shoes fetish while on vacation.

I picked up a bottle of Clown Shoes The Path Of The Angel for $12.99 at The Lager Mill. Since I tried the non barrel aged version I thought it's only right that I try this one too, so lets see how it goes. 2017 Vintage. Poured from a brown 22oz bottle into a snifter.

A- The label looks good, it goes well with the name and it's eye catching. It poured a dark brown color that didn't change when held to the light and it had a little over a finger and a half of creamy light tan head that died down to a thin ring that stayed till the end and it left a little bit of spotty lacing behind. This is a good looking beer, I have no complaints.

S- The aroma starts off with a higher amount of medium sweetness with the bourbon barrels being the first to show up and it imparts some nice bourbon, light oak and a little bit of a molasses like aroma and that goes into the malts which impart some caramel, caramel malt, toasted malt, dark bread, light bread crust and sweet malt like aromas and they are followed by some fruits which impart a little bit of raisin and fig like aroma. Towards the end there's some smokey and more oak like aromas This beer has a good aroma, it lives up to it's description.

T- The taste seems to be similar to the aroma and it's a little lighter, but more balanced and it starts off with a slightly higher amount of medium sweetness with the bourbon barrels still being the first to show up and they are a good amount lighter than they were in the aroma and this time they impart more light bourbon and caramel like aromas and they are followed by the malts which show up just as much as they did in the aroma and they impart all the same aspects with no single aspects seeming to stick out the most. Up next comes a light alcohol flavor that goes into the dark fruits which are a little lighter than they were in the aroma, but they impart all the same aspects and there's just a little bit of an herbal like hoppy flavor. On the finish there's a high amount of low bitterness with a slight herbal hop, caramel and light bourbon like aftertaste. This is a pretty nice tasting beer, but I wish the bourbon barrels showed up a little more to give this beer a little better balance.

M- Fairly smooth, a little crisp, pretty creamy, slightly boozy on the slightly thicker side of being medium bodied with a slightly lower amount of medium carbonation. The mouthfeel is good and it works well with this beer.

Overall I thought this was a pretty nice beer and it's a solid example of the style, it had pretty much all the aspects that I was looking for, but when it came to the bourbon barrel aspects it was lacking just a little. This beer had nice drinkability, I could drink a glass or two, but that would be my limit. What I like the most about this beer is the aroma and mouthfeel, they were both good and the highlights of this beer. What I like the least about this beer is the taste, it's not bad, but I wish the bourbon barrels showed up a little more to balance everything out. I would buy this beer again when looking for a solid bourbon barrel aged brown ale and I would recommend it to anyone looking for the same. All in all I liked this beer, but I didn't love it and that made it just a little rough around the edges. It's not a favorite Clown Shoes beer and it's a nice example of the style. Nice job guys, this is a tasty bourbon barrel aged brown ale, keep it up.

 

 

Pours a medium brown, light lacy head. Smelled a little like sour dough bread. Nice feel on the palate, not syrupy but still rich and smooth. Slightly nutty notes, traces of raisin, hints of caramel and brown sugar. Not boozy at all but the warmth of the bourbon is noticeable. Good balance on the carbonation. A very pleasant, smooth drinking BBA. offering.

 

 

22 ounce bottle into tulip glass, bottled on 3/21/2017. Pours hazy very dark brown color with a 1-2 finger dense light khaki head with good retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lasts. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass. Aromas of big caramel, brown sugar, brown bread, vanilla, toffee, bourbon, coconut, toasted oak, and biscuit; with lighter notes of molasses, butterscotch, chocolate, cocoa, coffee, raisin, cherry, plum, herbal, and roast/toast/oaky earthiness. Very nice aromas with good balance and complexity of dark/bready/light roasted malts, bourbon barrel, and light fruity yeast notes; with great strength. Minimal booze in the aromas as is warms. Taste of big caramel, brown sugar, brown bread, vanilla, toffee, bourbon, coconut, toasted oak, and biscuit; with lighter notes of molasses, butterscotch, chocolate, cocoa, coffee, raisin, cherry, plum, herbal, and roast/toast/oaky earthiness. Light herbal/roast bitterness and bourbon/oak spiciness on the finish. Lingering notes of caramel, brown sugar, brown bread, vanilla, toffee, bourbon, coconut, toasted oak, biscuit, light chocolate/coffee/dark fruits, and roast/toast/oaky earthiness on the finish for a while. Very nice complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready/light roasted malts, bourbon barrel, and light fruity yeast flavors; with a great malt/bitterness and bourbon/oak spiciness balance, with zero cloying sweetness after the finish. Slight dryness from bitterness and bourbon/oak spiciness, lightly increasing through the glass. Medium carbonation and medium-full body; with a very smooth, creamy/bready/grainy, and slightly slick/sticky/chalky/tannic balanced mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is very well hidden; a mild increasing warmth, with zero barrel booziness lingering after the finish. Overall this is a very nice barrel aged imperial brown ale. All around nice complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready/light roasted malts, bourbon barrel, and light fruity yeast flavors; very smooth and dangerously easy to sip on for the big ABV. Very rich and well rounded malt complexity; great barrel presence, without being boozy or overly tannic/drying. A very enjoyable offering.