Yankee Swap 2016
Somerville Brewing Company (Slumbrew)

Beer Geek Stats
From:
Somerville Brewing Company (Slumbrew)
 
Massachusetts, United States
Style:
English Strong Ale
ABV:
12%
Score:
Needs more ratings
Avg:
3.65 | pDev: 23.56%
Reviews:
2
Ratings:
8
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Jan 20, 2020
Added:
Dec 09, 2016
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  0
This strong ale has quietly snoozed in Turkey Shore Distilleries Tavern Rum barrels all fall and is ready to raise your spirits.
Recent ratings and reviews.
Ratings by ichorNet:
Photo of ichorNet
Reviewed by ichorNet from Massachusetts

4.06/5  rDev +11.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
This is the second strain of Yankee Swap I've had... pretty sure I skipped 2015 for whatever reason, but the cans and amusing label art were enough to reign me back in with its promises of rum-barrel aged goodness...

Pours a deep, semi-dark ruby color with a lingering light-tan head that retains pretty solidly over the course of 10 or so minutes after a hard pour into an oversized glass. Lacing is spotty but decent overall. Surface is somewhat hazy and the beer retains decent translucence, with some nice bright-ish red tones seeping through the murk.

Nose is heavy on the rum and sweet toffee notes, bringing forth some strong elements of molasses and heavy dark fruit. The nose in this is very plum-forward, with a prune-like complexion as well, eventually becoming toffee-forward and sweet with a candied cherry-like note. Ethanol, candy sugar, rum/molasses and expressive fruity yeast dominate the nose, for sure.

On the tongue, I get a big wash of dark cherry, pit fruit, molasses, rum, sherry and light spice notes. Ethanol is fairly prominent but not egregious (which is nice considering the ABV). Surprisingly hoppy towards the finish with some earthy, dirty herbal hop flavors coming to the fore. Almost a vegetal quality that comes out once the beer warms. Slightly sweet with a light note of cocoa powder and dusty yeast. No real dominant flavors here, but this is a nice combination of Belgian quad-like dark fruity notes with English-style strong ale flavors and yeast elements.

Feel is definitely on the thicker side of medium, with a low-ish carbonation and a hefty body that sneaks up on you big time. This definitely doesn't taste like as big a beer as it actually is, and the barrel-aging is surprisingly subtle despite being pretty well-declared by its huge toffee and molasses notes. Maybe it's just me but rum barrel beers always feel like their actual barrel (as in, wood/tannin) notes are more subtle, and you get more of the actual liquor, and that comes across here. Good stuff, and it would be interesting to age for a year to see both how it develops and how it stacks up against the new batch!
Dec 24, 2016
More User Ratings:
Photo of supersigy
Rated by supersigy from Massachusetts

1.46/5  rDev -60%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 1 | feel: 2 | overall: 1
Slumbrew is fine but avoid this series. It's hard to describe the taste but almost like if a candy cane could somehow go bad.
Jan 20, 2020
 
Rated: 4 by MustangPauli from Massachusetts

Jan 27, 2019
Photo of Davepoolesque
Reviewed by Davepoolesque from Massachusetts

3.56/5  rDev -2.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Deep, rich mahogany in color. Molasses, charred oak, vanilla and overall rum booziness. Not really sure the base beer and the barrel are integrated well. Maybe the base beer is lacking in flavor. Probably my second least favorite of the series behind the infected year.
Jan 26, 2017
 
Rated: 3.64 by Kmlund from Massachusetts

Jan 26, 2017
 
Rated: 4.06 by SebastianOwl from Massachusetts

Jan 13, 2017
 
Rated: 4.12 by MA08 from Massachusetts

Dec 27, 2016
 
Rated: 4.27 by Abe_Froman from Massachusetts

Dec 24, 2016