Ten Year Beer
Revolution Brewing

Look - great thick dark amber with a thick tan head
Smell - toffee caramel cherry and booze
Taste - solid malty barrel, nice sweet toffee caramel cherry woody... Booze
Feel - medium full body with a light carb
Overall - pretty fantastic BA BW

Is ten a big number? Couldn’t tell you. I once turned it, but never achieved it. You know - ten years with her… ten years changing oil a Jiffy Lube… ten years at the local Elks Lodge… (I made it to 5, so I was close). But, really, think about that… ten years as a “thing.” Don’t you like it? I think I do. And because of it, I’m popping this one with pride. Thanks, Revolution, for this delightful brew. And in the future, from here, let’s hope that Raul grew. Sure, let’s hope that Raul grew.

Pours a burgundy-brown with a light fog to the translucency. Head is a finger and a half of khaki foam. Aroma is raisin, fig, cherries, toffee, molasses, and brown sugar. A little spice comes through as well. Bourbon, barrel, and char add some elevation to the aroma, without bringing on heat. Worth noting, this beer has about 3 years and 2 months of age on it, which may have mellowed out some of the heat. It's sticky, spicy bread. Flavor profile delivers spice, apple, cherries, toffee, caramel, raisin, and fig. Bourbon and barrel add some extra oomph without elevating the heat. As a whole, it leans towards 'sweet'. Mouth feel is medium-thick with a very lightly fuzzy texture. Otherwise, pretty darn smooth. Overall, a wonderful barleywine with some good sugary qualities alongside barrel. Balance is great.

Served in AM's 2023 membership glass from a 12oz can. Canned 01/10/2020. Consumed/reviewed 03/19/2023.

 

 

Canned on 1/20/20. Enjoyed on 2/26/22. Over two years of age.

Pours a murky mahogany with a ruby red hue. Produced a finger of khaki head that dissipated fairly quickly.

Aroma brings lots of caramel, toffee, Sugar Daddies candy, tart cherry, raisin bread, prune, molasses, burnt brown sugar, slight rye spice, oak, slight bourbon. The cherry has definitely taken a step back from when it was fresher, which I don't mind. Barrel character is still coming through nicely.

Taste is divine. The sweet and tart cherry character comes through more than the aroma led on and also brings a slight cinnamon and nutmeg spice note with it. Beyond that, I'm getting waves of Sugar Daddies candy, burnt sugar, molasses, caramel, toffee, bread pudding with raisins, graham cracker, date jam, prune, slight vanilla, charred oak tannin, rye spice, slight whiskey and bourbon. Reminiscent of a spiced fruit cake or some type of decadent cherry pie-esque dessert. Obviously sweet, but never cloying, with a dry finish from the oak barrels to round it all out.

Medium to high medium body. Somewhat soft, silky, slick, sticky. Not as thick or creamy as you see with this style today, but it does have a livelier carbonation than you'd typically expect.

This was outstanding when it was fresh and it hasn't changed much in two years. Layers upon layers of complexity from the base beer, extended barrel aging, and the addition of the sweet and tart cherries that works quite well with everything else. Revolution's barrel program is just ridiculous in the best way possible.

 

 

It pours a murky mahogany into a snifter and rejects a majority of the light attempting to penetrate. There was a fleeting one centimeter head that fizzled quickly into tiny islands of bubbles on the surface. The aroma is classic English barley wine with massive notes of dried prune, raisin, and date sprinkled with a graham cracker crust. Boozy liquor notes also waft from the glass with only a hint of sweet cherry. The taste follows the nose with a rich and decadent blend of the aforementioned dried fruits. The cherries add a slight tart as the liquid meets my palate. There is also a fruity sweetness that accompanies the alcohol burn. The graham cracker crust compliments the brown sugar of the whiskey. Despite the undeniable boozy qualities, this goes down incredibly smooth. A bit of sharp carbonation remains and keeps it active on the palate, making me crave another sip. A truly fantastic barley wine that I wish was still haunting my fridge.

Dark rusty reddish tone with a fleeting head of tan foam. No lace, thin ring around the edge and a still glassy surface.

Aroma has the signature BA Rev beer charater, wet wood and a little musty. The beer has a lot of caramelized sugars, molasses, toasted almonds, raisin, prunes.

Flavors follow suit, raisin and molasses, cherry skins, fruited chocolate, whiskey, brandy, port, wood. Boozy, astringent, and a little thin, mellow carbonation, lingering dry oak. Barleywines aren’t supposed to be tart, hope it’s just the booze and not the “I-word”.

A good sipper in the dead of winter, here’s to 10 more years!

Paired well with a Mindy’s molasses gingersnap cookie.

Rev beer #194

 

 

 

Pours a dark ruby tinged brown color. Thin fizzy off-white head dissipates pretty quickly leaving just a ring of foam along the outside of the beer.

Aroma has notes of dark fruits, overly ripe cherries, prunes, raisins, dried cranberries and fruit cake. Light notes of dark stone fruit notes, hints of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice.

The flavor has notes of tart, overly ripe cherries up front giving way to a rich malty backbone with notes of brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, raisins, and toffee. Boozy, but in a really pleasant way. The overall profile is reminiscent of a spiced fruit cake given that interplay of the cherries and the rich maltiness. As the beer warms there is a slight cocoa note to it. Its just a decadent sipper, perfect for a cold night.

Feel is medium bodied with spritzy carbonation. Smooth, boozy, and rather dry.

Overall this is an unbelievably delicious barleywine. Its like drinking a decadent spiced fruit cake.

 

32 oz. crowler. Deep amber. Smells of brown sugar, bourbon, and a light cherry aroma. Tastes of sweet brown sugar and a light cherry tang. Bourbon, some oak, and vanilla. Heavy, sweet, not cloying. Very nice. Cherry works well. Revolution always surprises me with their ability to incorporate fruit into these barley wines.

 

12 oz. can. Man, I love me having an entirely ‘nuther distribution network 20 minutes away across the state line. Revolution only show up occasionally, which is OK with my wallet.

The pour is dark red oozing to orange around the edges, flat. The nose is a strange mix of barrel aged cherries & Shasta cola. Sweet.

Ten Year Beer – cherries! Cherries rampant on a field of bourbon, sweet brown sugar coated cherries with a slight, gentle tartness. And Shasta cola. Cognac, touch of alcohol in the finish. Smooooooth. One could curl on this. So easy to drink this should be outlawed unless consumed when the only thing one is driving is a couch.

Beautiful beer & I suspect Revolution hit what they were aimed at flush. Excellent brew.

 

This one pours a ruby reddish/brown color, with a bit of murkiness, and a solidly foamy and creamy head, with a lot of lacing.

This one smells like toffee, graham cracker, dried cherry, cherry jam, oak, rye spice, and dark fruit.

Although the cherry is fairly well done here, I think I would enjoy this more without the cherries. The base beer(s) are clearly quite well done here, with caramel, toffee, tobaco, leather, chocolate, with the barrel adding some sweet-ish graham cracker-like spice, along with oak, cinnamon, and rye. It says there's a blend of sweet and tart cherries used here - it mostly adds sweetness, with not much acidity. It's soft and lightly jammy, with almost a fruit leather/fruit roll-up type flavor here.

This is medium bodied, creamy, and not at all boozy. It's really drinkable, as most Revolution seems to be.

This isn't my absolute favorite beer out of their barrel program, as the cherry swings this to slightly unbalanced territory. Their barrel-aged beers tend to be extraordinarily well-balanced. This is nit-picking, as the cherry is well-integrated, and never descends into cough syrup/cloying territory. I enjoyed this a lot.