Honey Jacket
Revolution Brewing

2020 version! Sweet caramel and brown sugar malty, butterscotch and honey, golden raisins, and a subtle bourbon barrel nose on this one! Taste follows with a very sweet, honey and caramel, faint bourbon barrel finish. This is very sweet, but I'm digging it! Also, the barrel is subtle here, but that could be because of the time in the can. Almost 5 years old and this has held up really well! Good!

 

One time in my youth (before I was old enough to imbibe), some friends and I made the trip up north to Ventura to see Modest Mouse. Now, MM isn’t my thing anymore, but I’ll still continue on. So after feeling high and mighty after a few suds at a Japanese restaurant that didn’t ID, we made our way into the concert. Easily enough, a friend bought me a beer and I was ready to boogie. But Boom! Almost instantaneously after getting said beverage, I’m sure the Center from the local high school team’s 95 squad asked me where my bracelet was. I told him that I was holding the beer for a friend. Problem solved. Not too long after, with all of our logic, my friend just gave me his jacket to maybe hide the idea that I had a bracelet on as if my sleeve was blocking it. That said, another beer, first sip: ran out of the place like he was returning a fumble for his first touchdown. Homeboy corralled my ass and tossed me like it was his job (because it was).

Coming full circle, that’s a bad story about a jacket. But this (Honey) Jacket is good.

See ya.

Canned 11/4/20

Another Straight Jacket variant, one with an adjunct not commonly seen in bigger beers, honey! Aside fron Eclipse, I’m fairly certain this is the biggest beer I’ve had with honey. It’s something I’m generally a sucker for, so I have high hopes for this one. Let’s crack it open and see what it’s all about

Pours an opaque light brown with 2 fingers of frothy light tan head that fades to a ring and leaves minimal lacing

The nose here is sweet as Straight Jacket tends to be, but it’s a bit more of a raw sweetness that I’m really enjoying. I’m picking up on aromas of burnt caramel, charred oak, sticky honey, golden raisin, molasses, toasted walnut, sweet vanilla, earthy bourbon, and dark cherry

The sweetness it presents in taste isn’t quite pulled off as well, but it’s by no means out of balance. On the front end of the sip I’m tasting sweet caramel, toffee, golden raisin, honey, toasted oak, burnt sugar, sweet bourbon, dark bread, light molasses, and pear skin. The swallow brings notes of sticky honey, burnt sugar, sweet caramel, vanilla, charred oak, earthy bourbon, toffee, golden raisin, and molasses

A medium full body pairs with gentle carbonation, resulting in a slick beer. Finishes a tad sticky but dries out with time

Yet another damn tasty take on Straight Jacket. Who would’ve thought honey would be good in a Barleywine?

 

 

Filled 11/4/20, 13.2% ABV. Thanks FBarber! Hugely sweet but there are a lot of layers here to keep this interesting. At various points and to varying degrees I found honey, vanilla, caramel, butterscotch, and bourbon. Another barreled masterpiece, Revolution kicks ass.

 

 

Can. This was an very interesting take on straight jacket. The honey really showed and added a ton of sweetness. It really made it a different beer. Lots of oak, vanilla, and bourbon. But less of the dark fruit, molasses, toffee vibes.

2020 vintage tasted in a snifter from draft at Gold Eagle Wine and Spirits on June 2, 2021.

 

Thanks to either FBarber or ovaltine (I forgot to mark the can) for this one. 12oz can (dated 11/1/20) poured into 14oz teku. Poured a nearly opaque, just a bit of light shows, dark mahogany color with 1/3 inch of tan head that had low-moderate retention and no lacing.

The aroma was the basic barrel-aged BW at the front, but with an extra touch of sweetness. The wood was solidly present, with the whiskey dancing around the edges.

Similar on the tongue, with a hint of honey (power of suggestion or real? either way, I liked it0 helping to even out the wood, booze and alcohol.

The body was full, smooth, a bit sticky-sweet, and had a sweet finish.

Drinkability was excellent, this would be in regular rotation if possible.

Overall, another great beer from a brewery I'm yet to have a clunker from. a must-try if you see it.

 

 

 

Pours a deep reddish-amber color with two fingers of tan head that walk on the border between airy and foamy. Modest retention and no lacing.

Mild aroma of leather, dust and carbon dioxide. Just the slightest hints of vanilla, cherry and caramel beneath.

Where the nose is reserved, the taste is flamboyant. Big, sweet honey, caramel, vanilla and cherry, tempered only by the hotness of the alcohol and some earthy hop bitterness. A vanilla custard or crepe brûlée impression mixes with the booze and some grape jelly in the aftertaste.

Medium bodied, creamy and slightly sticky in the feel with low carbonation.

Delicious. It’s very sweet, but not cloyingly so. A real treat.

 

Smooth, really smooth. The honey really smooths this one out and adds some sweetness to it. But it is a little too sweet. There is a nice bit of heat on the back end of this witch balanced out the sweetness to a degree. Doesn't top Straight Jacket but I appreciate the effort.