St. Seditious
2SP Brewing Company

 

 

2025-05-11
12oz can served in a tulip. Can is not dated, as far as I can tell. @DIM sent it to me in Stout/Barleywine BIF #2.

Pours murky brown, small head, slow layer of dense head arrives late and leaves early. Smell is oaky, dates, a little toffee and caramel, maybe some nuts. Lots of wood.

Taste is leans into the wood and earthy bitterness side of barleywine -- not sure I would pick this out as English based on the flavor. It's woody / earthy bitter like Bigfoot, but not pine resin bitter like Bigfoot. Moderate date and toffee sweetness.

Mouthfeel is maybe a bit on the thin side of medium. Nice, interesting, multi-dimensional. I like it.

Poured from a can at fridge temp. Pours a nice murky brown with almost no head. The nose is wonderful. Rich caramel, slight grassy hops, figs, and a nice nutty layer.

The taste is equally wonderful. A really fantastic mix of toffee and citrus peel bitterness. Leather, candied sugar, raisins, pie crust, every so slight maple, brown sugar, and a grassy note. Not really getting the nutty note that appeared on the nose. Very drinkable and super smooth.

The mouthfeel is relatively light with a really nice aftertaste. Lovely beer!

This absolutely tastes like a well aged beer! Smooth caramel, some potpourri like spice, mellow English hops, well incorporated whiskey, plus hints of cherry and vanilla. Very tasty stuff, thanks Harry!

 

12oz can purchased from the fridge as part of a four-pack for $16.99 plus tax. Canned 11/20/23, so this beer is basically 3 1/2 months old.

Look: Pours a very pretty dark ruby color. It's almost like a light cherry wood color when held up to the light. Nice clarity. There was a finger of light brownish head that dissipated eventually. Nice stream of small bubbles rising up the glass. A faint haze after pouring the rest of the can.

Smell: Nice aromas of bourbon, cherry cordial, malt, and warm spices. More subtle chocolate and toffee notes. This kind of smells like a doppelbock on steroids mixed with bourbon barrel-aged beer. However, I will say that overall, the nose is a bit reserved.

Taste: This is really delicious. It's sweet but not too sweet and it has a really nice, balanced flavor of malt and hops. There is definitely a warming sensation in my chest, which I also may be getting because I should be drinking this slower. The finish is both malty and slightly bitter, which is good because if this beer finished too sweet it wouldn't work and if it finished strongly bitter then I think it would probably benefit from some age. This beer is amazing right now and I just bought it!

Feel: It has a nice medium plus body with a good chewy mouthfeel. The carbonation is on the lighter side, which is appropriate for the style and ABV.

Overall: This reminds me a bit of Thomas Hardy's Ale, which is pretty crazy. This is the kind of beer that you don't often find from American breweries, especially without the need to age (I could imagine that a Brooklyn Monster Ale with a decade of age on it may taste something like this, but maybe not). Kudos to 2SP! I'm really glad that I stumbled upon this - I went to a beer store not so far away that I had never been to before and was very stoked that they had several four-packs of this. I enjoyed this, but would not want to have more than one per session. Thankfully, they packaged this in 12oz cans!

From the website:
An English style Barley Wine, this batch is very special. We blended in two bourbon barrel barley wines that have been aging in the barrel since 2015 (rare to have that happen; typically non-Belgian style beers are aged for roughly a year or so). These barrels, which had big flavors of perfume, sherry, toffee & vermouth, were blended in a fresh barley wine that has big classic notes of rich cherry, semi sweet fino sherry, and port wine.

Availability: Winter

2SP Brewing Co. "St. Seditious"
16 fl. oz. can coded "11/20/2023 10:08:47 2131". Sampled on 01/29/2024
$5.99 @ Total Wine & More, Claymont, DE

Notes via stream of consciousness: There's not much on the label to describe it other than "BARLEYWINE" and "9.4% BV". As I poured it I could see in the stream coming from the can that it was hazy, and it's brown beneath a wide thumb's width of creamy yellowish-tan foam. The aroma is bold and bright with malt, caramel, almost burnt sugar, black raisin, apple, and a little bit of coconut. On to the taste, it follows quite similarly. The alcohol is present but not overblown, and there's a little bit of spiciness to it. Is that entirely from alcohol? I don't know, it might be from rye malt or hops as well. There's a hint of smokiness to it which is interesting. Is it possible that there's some peat-smoked malt involved? Again, I don't know but there's something going on. Other notes include fig, wood (is this oak aged?), pear, plum, toffee, and a hint of Band-Aid. In the mouth it's medium-full in body and gently crisp. It's complex, interesting, and well-balanced but with an edge that gives it a little bit of raspiness (not the right word) while at the same time making it unique and memorable.
Review #8,914

12 oz. can. Beautiful light brown color with some beige foam. The nose has a touch of leather and gingerbread and a bit of smoke, with the flavor adding on to this with toffee, and just wonderful malt sweetness. The can says limited edition so I'll have to stock up. I could drink this all the time.

(12 oz can, 11/20/2023 2131; purchased cold single at Pinocchio's 14th ann. party... poured into a fat tulip)

L: mostly-clear, light chestnut-colored liquid; aggravated foam on the pour, but leaves thin, but equally aggravated collar

S: dark caramel, smashed dark fig, umami (vaguely fishy) meanderings... toasted and earthy... very interesting, to say the least

T: rye whiskey pop up front, bitter-spicy fireworks midway, making noise through the finish; big amaro/birch beer sweet accents bursting out and maintaining loud artefacts long into the burnt, near bbq-y aftertaste... hazy peach and/or orange highlights

F: mellow, moderate, oily-rag drag over the palate... starts off tentatively sticky and never abates, like a slightly-thin PX

O: a banger of a backyard barleywine, but begrudgingly sweety over time... reminds me of a more acidic, nervier Old Horizontal (2245)

on draft, served in a tulip glass

appears a dark brown with garnet colored highlights, but you can't see through it. minimal head. huge wonderful aroma of rich malt flavor - raisin, fig, burnt caramel, oiled leather, a touch of smoke. taste is similar - deep, complex, fairly sweet but not cloying. medium to full bodied, slick and smooth.

overall a wonderful example of the style