He'Brew Jewbelation Fifteen
Shmaltz Brewing Company

He'Brew Jewbelation FifteenHe'Brew Jewbelation Fifteen
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From:
Shmaltz Brewing Company
 
New York, United States
Style:
American Strong Ale
ABV:
15%
Score:
90
Avg:
4.02 | pDev: 13.93%
Reviews:
139
Ratings:
394
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Feb 21, 2020
Added:
Dec 09, 2011
Wants:
  12
Gots:
  100
No description / notes.
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Ratings by Mitchster:
Photo of Mitchster
Reviewed by Mitchster from Michigan

4.5/5  rDev +11.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Probably everybody knows the story by now: 15 malts, 15 hops, 15% ABV, 15th year anniversary.

The malts are specialty 2 row, best malz vienna, canada munich, canada wheat, fawcett chocolate, fawcett crystal rye malt, fawcett dark crystal, canada rye malt, MFB caramunich 40, Best Malt Caramel malt pils, Best Malz caramel malt light, MFB Kiln amber, wyermann chocolate wheat, G&P flaked oats, flaked spelt, and flaked quinoa.

The hops are ahtanum, amarillo, apolla, cascade, centennial, citra, columbus, crystal, fuggle, golding, palisade, simcoe, summit, tettnang, and willamette.

In addition, they used rice hulls, promozyme, biocellulase, whirfloc, servomyces, 700lbs of cane sugar, 50lbs of raw sugar, and 55lbs of dark candi sugar with a 225 minute boil. Whew!
$5.49 for a 22oz bottle. What a deal.

Pours out to a very dark brown, near black, forming a dense creamy dark tan head with superior retention and solid lacing. Mild to moderate carbonation. The aroma is rich with dark fruits...prunes, dates, figs, carob, raisins, rum, milk chocolate, leather, and moist pipe tobacco. When swirled, I get an interesting green ho character. Lovely stuff, this. The mouthfeel is dense, syrupy and thoroughly coats the mouth and tongue. The taste is a recap of the aroma...all the dark fruits in droves, followed by carob and pipe tobacco, and a green hop nose. Honestly, I could stand to use more bittering hops to balance this sucker out. Sharp acidity, no doubt from the copious hops. I think adding some gypsum would help this as well. Long aftertaste of dark fruit. The alcohol is not as potent as one would think. The flavors are so rich, it overwhelms what you otherwise would pick up in something more subtle.

A lovely beer. Well worth storing and aging. Highly recommended.
Dec 30, 2011
More User Ratings:
Photo of brewandbbq
Reviewed by brewandbbq from New Hampshire

4.24/5  rDev +5.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
22oz bottle from 2011.

Pours dark brown with an off-white head of medium duration. Boozy raisins with figs, toffee, and leather in the nose. Fairly full bodied with an oily, chewy mouthfeel. Figs, raisins, chocolate liqueur, and toffee on the palate. Finishes sweet with lingering boozy figs.
Feb 21, 2020
Photo of chinchill
Reviewed by chinchill from South Carolina

4.24/5  rDev +5.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
12 oz bottle served in a Belgian snifter.

Poured dark brown, nearly black, with a thin, weak light brown head. Very little lacing.

Smells sweet, spicy, strong and delicious. Dark dried fruits notes and cinnamon dominate with only faint grains.

Flavor: Sweet but less sweet than it smells. Fig, raisin, date, toffee, and chocolate all feature in the complex taste.

Smooth, warm, full body; good carbonation level (light); Syrupy.

O: Lightly boozy nose and feel, this still drinks like 8-10% ABV brew. Recommended.
Apr 24, 2019
Photo of darktronica
Reviewed by darktronica from Indiana

3.85/5  rDev -4.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
Now that the 20th anniversary is out, I'm going through a vertical of the Jew'belation beers in my possession (11, 15-20, and the 8-14 vertical blend). 11 was pretty oxidized and dry, but 15 is much different. This is more along the lines of what I remembered, with heavy notes of fig, raisin, molasses, and malt. Very little hop character present after five years in the bottle. The sweetness has nothing to restrain it, and the low carbonation leaves the mouthfeel syrupy and verging on cloying. A bit more complexity as it warms, with the addition of vanilla and brown sugar, but nothing that changes the first impression. The near-flatness is suggestive of other high-ABV, cognac-like sippers such as Xyauyu or Utopias, but it's not nearly in the same class.
Feb 05, 2017
 
Rated: 3.32 by mdaschaf from Indiana

Jan 03, 2017
 
Rated: 4.53 by sendsilk from Florida

Nov 12, 2016
Photo of marchoftheclouds
Reviewed by marchoftheclouds from Illinois

4.28/5  rDev +6.5%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Bought in 2011, drank a snifter a few days ago, finished it today (7-16-2016). I wish I would have cleared out the store of their inventory of these. It passes all the tests of good beer ...
Look: you can't see through it
Smell: oh my goodness, so complex, sweet and boozy
Taste: everything a dessert beer should be, over the top, well-hidden 15% alcohol
Feel: chewy

As I was reading negative reviews of this beer, I was wondering if the low reviewers thought maybe they were buying Schlitz instead of Schmaltz?

9-23-2018 — I found another bottle in the cellar! This one really went down smooth after 7 years in the cellar. No head to speak of this time. Still hard to believe this is 15% ABV. SO SMOOVE.
Jul 16, 2016
Photo of Bierliebhaber3
Reviewed by Bierliebhaber3 from Massachusetts

3.69/5  rDev -8.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Probably one of the stranger beers I’ve ever tried. It’s an amazing 15% alcohol, which has some effect on the flavor, but not as much as many very high alcohol strong ales. This isn’t that surprising considering there are 15 malts and 15 hop varieties there to compete with it. This is one of the most complex beers I’ve had with a strong raisin/date and mixed fruit flavor followed by a subtle, but persistent chocolate/rum after taste. It is quite sweet, but still definitely tastes like a beer. On first taste I didn’t like this beer all that much, but it definitely grows on you. Strong ales I’ve found to be a mixed bag and this is about average. I’ve definitely had some that were far better and better balanced, but I’ve also had ones that were a lot worse.
Jun 09, 2016
 
Rated: 3.75 by FrankK from Alabama

Jun 04, 2016
Photo of DeanWormer
Reviewed by DeanWormer from Georgia

2.4/5  rDev -40.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 2.25 | overall: 2
Imagine beer-flavored cough syrup. Ales are all about the balance, but apparently the malt-zoh ballers at He'Brew applied the Mae West theory that "too much of a good thing is marvelous." It's not. It's just too much.
Apr 17, 2016
 
Rated: 2.89 by westcoastbeerlvr from California

Nov 01, 2015
 
Rated: 3.87 by imperialking from Illinois

Oct 23, 2015
 
Rated: 4.15 by Stezz420 from Illinois

Oct 01, 2015
Photo of pat61
Reviewed by pat61 from Minnesota

4.5/5  rDev +11.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
From tasting notes. Bought a few of these in 2011 and drank one a year – just ran out. L: Bright, deep brown crowned by a 1” frothy, lacy light tan foam collar. S: Rich dried fruit flavors that become more sherry like as the beer ages. Also brown sugar, chocolate. T: Big malt, rich dark dried fruit, prune, anise, caramel, winey, alcoholic, bitter hop finish. F: Creamy, chewy, warming. O: This is a rich malt elixir.
Aug 03, 2015
 
Rated: 4 by kjkinsey from Texas

Jul 05, 2015
 
Rated: 3.45 by shagal from Canada (AB)

Jul 01, 2015
 
Rated: 4.69 by lovethebelgians from Illinois

Jun 09, 2015
 
Rated: 4.37 by cheah from Pennsylvania

May 18, 2015
 
Rated: 3.54 by Jas45678 from Michigan

Jan 19, 2015
 
Rated: 4.75 by Rsqrd1 from Illinois

Jan 07, 2015
He'Brew Jewbelation Fifteen from Shmaltz Brewing Company
Beer rating: 90 out of 100 with 394 ratings