Bourbon Barrel Aged Arctic Ale
Hailstorm Brewing Co.

This one pours a fairly dark black color, with a fluffy head, and a little bit of lacing.

This smells like dark fruit, butterscotch, toffee, bourbon, booze, and oak.

This is pretty boozy and burly, but there's some good stuff happening overall. There's lots of dark fruit, raisin, plum, etc, with some caramel and butterscotch, a hint of boozy spice, oak and vanilla.

This has a decently thick mouthfeel, and finishes pretty dry, with not a ton of residual sweetness.

This was a nice little surprise - I wasn't really sure what to expect from it.

12oz can dated 10/29/19 and states: "Best enjoyed within 12 months".
Look is a muddy, orange-tinged, opaque, brown, ever-so briefly floating a 1/8" cap of off-white tiny bubbles, yet leaving sheets of infinitesimally small-bubbled lacing that runs back to an edge-hugging ring.

Aroma is bourbon forward with toffee, butterscotch, and vanilla easily blending with the bourbon oak and molasses notes.

Flavors match and the smooth, velvety, feel is a perfect introduction to the palate. Dark stone fruit flavors arrive with the rising temperature. A very pleasant experience evolves in this elixir. No booze warmth, odd at this abv, and dangerous, as another can begs to be enjoyed.

Overall a high lined barleywine, that might be a nice flavor warmed and thickened over ice cream.

 

 

Bottle dated 2/8/16.
L: A dark reddish brown, minimal head, no lacing.
A: Dark fruit, molasses and bourbon.
T: Similar, to the aroma, a hint of coffee and alcohol, but its not overpowering. Sweet finish.
F: Medium bodied, minimal carbonation.
O: Solid beer from a Chicago area brewer.

Wonderful blend of sweet and malty barrel booze. Has plenty of sugary molasses on the forefront of the nose and taste but backed up by a strong buzzing boozy barrel buzz. Typical Hailstorm barrel aged-a wonderful mixture of subtle flavors and bombastic alcohol. Like I'll complain.

22 ounce bottle into a snifter. Bottled 12/8/16, had 8/19/17.

Pours a fairly dark amber, mostly opaque and cloudy, with no head and only flecks of lacing. Aromas of bourbon, malt, plums, figs, dates, oak, caramel, a little smoke, light molasses. Smells great. The taste is bourbon, caramel, smoke, oak, malt, dates, figs, raisins, light vanilla and molasses, a light bitterness on the finish. Slight alcohol, which isn’t bad for 15.3%. Smooth- again, especially for the high ABV, a good medium to full body, appropriately carbonated.

Really different, particularly the flavor, with the amount of smoke and it being less reliant on a lot of dark fruit. Very well balanced, for all that alcohol. Hope this comes around again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thick and syrupy prune juice color on the pour, with modest head that disappears fairly quickly. A strong barleywine heavily in the English direction, with lots of prune, leather, and tobacco notes to accompany vanilla, barrel character, and treacle. Picks up some ethyl notes as it warms, betraying the ABV over 15%. As a result, I'm inclined to say this would have been a better beer if it clocked in around 13%. I've not had the unaged version for comparison, but the barrel oak and bourbon spice are clearly present here.

 

 

A bomber dated 12/8/16 purchased at the brewery and poured in a 13oz. snifter.

Look- Pours a caramel brown producing a centimeter of light tan foam.

Smell- Boozy bourbon, sweet caramel along with vanilla and some oak.

Taste- Bourbon forward with caramel/toffee, vanilla and oak.

Feel- Thin and oily with some alcohol heat.

Overall- A fine example of the style with great flavor and a sneaky well hidden 15.3% abv. I purchased two and will cellar the other as I think it will age well.

enjoyed January 2017. a little light on carbonation for me, but still delicious. recommended