1314 Barrel Aged Anniversary Ale 2021
Black Tooth Brewing Company

Passed through Wyoming recently and stopped at the Black Tooth location in Cheyenne. Picked up the 307 Lager there and a can of this. Indeed, this cost a lot but it's description sold me and once I cracked it open back here in New Jersey, it was obvious that this was worth the effort to obtain. No doubt that this was a beast and although it felt like an "Imperial Scotch Ale" to me, this could easily be considered that or a Barleywine as it had plenty of heft, stickiness, and nuance to be worthy of the awards listed on the label.

Such a lovey, molasses brown pour to this with a moderate, but enduring tan head that softly settled down as it offset the liquid nicely. A thin topping of suds stuck around for the duration as the lacing had some of the most well-defined rings that I've seen in a long time. Loads of dark fruit, caramel, bourbon, and wood barrel in the nose as the taste was just as rich, nuanced, and sticky as the aroma led me to believe. Plum, raisin, oak barrels, and whiskey emerged in the taste as this completely blew me away with it's quiet simplicity and vanilla bean smoothness that tied everything in together. A light carbonation and strong alcoholic presence only added to this beer's heft, as this was unabashedly strong from start to finish.

This straddled so many stylistic lines that I could have placed it in a few categories but this was so damned good that it could have easily been put into a category of it's own. Yeah, this was dated 11/9 on the bottom of the can but I could have easily thought that this was released last week. So, so impressed with this as this was one of the best, and most unique, beers that I've had in quite some time. The richness of this was second to none as the toffee sweetness that lingered long after I finished this off had me wondering when I could head west on Interstate 80 to get another can of this...