Ignorant Clod
Calusa Brewing

Smart, savvy and woven together with creative intelligence, Calusa's occasional release of a bourbon barrel aged English-styled Barleyewine brings a 2022 edition up to nearly fifteen percent in alcohol content for a session that just plain stoopid.

Aged for nine months in select bourbon barrels, Ignorant Clod pours a deep and rich garnet color with darker threads of tiger eye while skirting the rim with a sheet of ivory foam. Equally as rich as its appearance, the scent swoons the nose with a savory and spicy blend of deeply caramelized sugars, butterscotch, whisky, coconut and oak that becomes powerfully seductive. Lavishly sweet on the early palate, the initial flavors are laden with caramel, toffee, brown sugar, molasses and brittle.

Saturating the tastebuds with decadent maltiness, the session remains sweet and savory while nuanced fruitiness of black cherry, black berry, plum, red grape, date and fig create suggestions of port and madeira with a nutty sweetness, toasted oak and spiced whisky kind of way. A mild mannered bitterness takes an edge off of the sweetness as the session nears finish. Whisky soaked oak, vanilla, coconut and pecan bring a savory warmth to the late palate as well.

Full bodied, rich and powerful in its body, the beer is pleasantly cloying as it's pace is that of a slow and sipping ale lacking refreshment but celebrating high rewards in culinary art instead. Very much an after dinner drink, the beer finishes malty-sweet and with a spicy balance, trailing into an aftertaste of simmering bourbon warmth and all the sweeter, more savory nuances that come with it.

Bottle Date: 1/22/18
Palate Contaminants: none

Dark brown, minimal head yet fine carbonation. It's kinda boring, but at least it's the least important thing for me.

Smell evokes all the best parts of bourbon. Lots of caramel and vanilla. Bits of floral licorice in the background. It doesn't volatilize all that well.

Taste has a lot more intensity. And more bourbon. Anise is more toward the front. Cloves and dark rum. Plenty of smoke in there, too. Moderate sweetness and minimal bitterness.

It managed to retain a lot of carbonation, in spite of the pour. Prickly, though. The alcohol is really present.

A: The beer is very dark brown in color, but when held up to a bright light the edges of the glass are dark reddish brown. It poured with a short off white head that left specks of bubbles on the surface and a narrow collar around the edge of the glass.
S: Moderate aromas of bourbon are present in the nose along with notes of brown sugar and hints of vanilla.
T: The taste follows the smell, having flavors of bourbon and oaky vanilla along with touches of sweet and dark malts. Any traces of alcohol are very well hidden.
M: It feels medium- to full-bodied on the palate and has a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: The bourbon barrel aging of this beer lends pleasant associated flavors of vanilla. The alcohol is not that too apparent in the taste.

Note: Bottled on 1/22/2018

Serving type: bottle