He'Brew Funky Jewbelation '16
Shmaltz Brewing Company

Black liquid; very little light passes through.

Dark khaki head; looks very much like a stout.

Smells of black licorice, booze & slight coffee. Intimidating.

Thick mouthfeel.

Licorice and dark chocolate in the taste; hint of coffee. Booze burn on the back end.

Some hops hanging around, unlike the Fifteen.

Drinkable; dangerous.

22oz. Bottled in 2016.

This was a strange beer. When I opened it, it quickly overflowed. The funk was there, but in a no-so-good way. I wanted to like it, and I've had plenty of wild ales, but it was too funky for me.

Hard to explain but I will say this is very good, unique, and I paid $4 for it. 1/2 price sour sale, I picked up (2) 2016 Weyerbacher Riserva, (2) 2017 La Folie, and some Belgian Left Hand collaboration beer (Weeken) for $5 each along with this. Wow the Riserva for $5, I've had this vintage, complete sour bomb.

Pop the cap and the aroma jumps out could smell it all over the place, very sour aroma that morphs into, like I said, it's hard to describe. Taste follows, very sour upfront, melds to a sour cherry, chocolate. rye, sour fading but still present. The pour was out of control, glass full of foam that the bottle quickly chilled into something manageable. But watch it, actually reminded my of an out of control RIPA on Rye years ago that i managed to salvage. There's a beer brings back memories, that and the regiular RIPA. I could go for either one right about now ...

Bottom line, this is really good, sour enough, amazingly complex, and very different. Would have again.

 

22 ounce bottle into a tulip glass. Had 11/29/16.

Pours dark, opaque, with a huge, thick, foamy head on an average pour and lots of foamy lacing. The smell is tart, cherries- which fades as you work through the bottle, malt, toffee, dates, rye, some coffee, light chocolate, some black pepper in the head. Tastes tart and sour up front, malt, plums, figs, dates, molasses, rye, raisins, some chocolate. Smooth, solid, medium to full body, well carbonated.

Forget what Shmaltz says it is as a style, it's just a solid effort. Should get more love than it does. A lot of flavors and a big aroma. But, I will say, there's no obvious barrel presence for a beer that was aged in two types of barrels, so that is a negative in the sense that you're expecting that.

 

22oz bottle - always nice to see these 'seasonal' releases from Shmaltz show up around here.

This beer pours a very dark, rusty orange-tinted brown colour, with a teeming tower of puffy, finely foamy, and rather creamy tan had, which leaves some neat layered bleeding cloud form lace around the glass as it very slowly abates.

It smells of sour red fruit, gritty pale and caramel malt, acrid whiskey barrel notes (wet wood, boozy rye, and real vanilla), musty tobacco leaf, muddled earthy spice, a sort of funky yeastiness, and a bit of citrusy, herbal, and piney hop bitters. The taste is bready and doughy caramel malt, sour fruit (cherries and red apples, mostly), a slight indistinct spiciness, still edgy Bourbon/Rye whiskey esters (grain, wood, and alcohol), moderately funky bacteria/yeast, a hint of damp smoke, and an ethereal citrusy and piney hoppiness.

The carbonation is quite active in its palate-pinging frothiness, the body a decent medium weight, and more or less smooth, especially if you have a penchant for saying the same thing about whisk(e)y. It finishes off-dry, still malty, funky, sour, and American hooch boozy.

Overall, this is a decent melange of a selection of this brewery's offerings, all wrapped up in a big ol' barrel wrapper, with the bow on top. More sour (in a fruity way, so props for that) than funky, which makes this a hell of a lot more drinkable than otherwise. Add to that the generally well integrated north of 9 points ABV, and we have another well-made big beer on our hands here.

This beer was a total miss for me. it tasted like paint thinner. I unfortunately had it on tap and it was a hard sale. It's a bit expensive and that didn't help. There were just too many flavors in it. Disappointing because I love this brewery and all other beers are incredible. Don't waste your money on this beer.

 

Just did not do it for me. In terms of sour beer, it was lacking and just had an awful flavor really. I would've thrown this batch out had I made it at home. Fail. Way over priced, instant regret.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Had it on tap and from a 22-oz bottle within a week of each other. Bottle was more understandable : )

Tap: super spicy up front, almost to the point of irritating the taste buds. Don't
remember much more about it.

Bottle: nose has tart fruity tobacco with a hint of bourbon. Taste is tart cherry lemon funk, which gives way to roasty toasty malt and some bitterness in the finish.

It calls itself a barrel-aged sour but I wouldn't. Reminds me of some of the funky Belgian-inspired wild beer we get locally at Draai Laag in Pittsburgh--especially Haviken--but more "roasted." Will make a point of checking back on this annual offering.