Sickle Through Sable
Half Acre Beer Company

Solid offering from Half Acre. Strong barrel presence but not overwhelming. Yum!

Pretty delicious but a bit too much barrel on it for it to be truly great.

 

This one pours a fairly dark black color, with a small head, and not much lacing.

This smells like both milk and dark chocolate, roasted malt, some light smoke, coffee, and caramel.

It took me a sip or two to adjust to this one – it feels like a semi-fruity and semi-smokey barleywine is part of the blend here, and it took a second to adjust, as I thought that this was just a barrel aged stout. Once I balanced my palate out, I enjoyed this a lot. The cocoa nibs addition is done well – there’s nice rich chocolate character – bittersweet and creamy, but it doesn’t block out the really tasty barrel character that’s printed in big letters across the taste of this one. There’s oakiness, some caramel, vanilla, and just a generally pleasant spice.

This is medium bodied, creamy, and not all that boozy, with a nice drinkability.

I really need to continue to seek out Half Acre. Their barrel aged beers are pretty much directly down the middle of the plate for me.

 

 

12 ounce can into a snifter. Canned 10/6/22, had 3/17/23.

Pours near black and opaque, with a half inch head of darker foam and light foamy cling. Aromas of bourbon, oak, chocolate, malt, leather, caramel, some char. Flavors of chocolate, bourbon, malt, caramel, leather, some oak. Smooth, a little creamy- almost buttery, a solid full body, appropriately carbonated.

This is delicious and really kind of different. The chocolate really stands out, but there are so many prominent and distinct aromas and flavors. Wish I bought more than one 2- pack.

Canned 10/06/22

a: Black as night. Dark mocha colored foamy 1 1/2 finger head recedes into a thin line circling the circumference of the glass.
s: Layers of chocolate. Vanilla and oak.
t: A tsunami of chocolate. Secondary flavors include dark fruit, oak and bourbon
m: creamy, thick and full mouthfeel.
o: This is an outstanding beer from HA. And what I really appreciate is HA did not take a safe route by making it an all stout but rather integrated a barleywine portion which really works here. And if you enjoy chocolate characteristics in your BA beer, this is a must try. One of the best beers I can recall in this regard. I really hope they make this an annual release. Well done, HA.

 

 

 

 

 

Pours a rich black color, with slightly tan edges in the light. Tan, dense head. It’s off to a good start.

This is what a barrel-aged stout should smell like. It’s oaky, bourbon and dark chocolate heavy, with just enough heat to remind you it spent time soaking into the best god damn wood in the world. It’s rich, without overt sweetness, and no alcohol burn. Exquisite.

Massive chocolate flavors from the cacao nibs, with welcomed bitterness. Rich caramelly, oaky bourbon, vanilla and subtle dark fruit from the barleywine blend. It’s definitely more stout-like, but the barrel-heavy barleywine provides such a unique element to the beer without blurring the lines too much.

Half Acre’s barrel program is just crushing right now. Some stouts are a touch too intense and could benefit from some restraint, but in this case, they do such a brilliant job of blending and letting the barrel shine. It’s exactly what I was hoping it would be. Outstanding stuff.

poured from a 12oz can into a perennial snifter. jet black and thick with a small dark brown foam cap. heavy chocolate and oak on the nose. nice bourbon aromas as it warms. chocolate dominates the initial flavor with lingering bourbon and oak in the finish. perhaps some vanilla too as it warms and opens up. it’s a lot of chocolate though. it has a thick, full mouthfeel. nothing that tires the palate. it lacks a bit of complexity but it’s still a solid barrel-aged ale. malty, chocolaty, plenty of barrel.

 

 

Canned 10/6/22; drank 10/23/22 @ the Yarchives.

Black/brown appearance.

A rough pour yielded a huge dark tan head; strong lace.

Oak, cream, bourbon & dark chocolate notes in the nose.

Thick, creamy mouthfeel.

Dark chocolate & bourbon flavors up front; vanilla & oak notes on the finish.

Substantial, flavorful and drinkable; another barrel aged winner from Half Acre.

10/22/22 nitro draft pour @ the source. Overall Score: 4.75

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11/3/22 12oz can pour. canned on date of 10/06/22. Overall score: 4.71

Appearance: black bodied beer that pours fairly thick. 1 full finger of light brown cap for the head of the beer. The head fades away quickly to a thin ring around the glass and eventually no head at all. Thick booze legs. Some glass staining is noted, but nothing like BBT or BA DL or TG BA "stout like glass staining".

Smell: Smooth top shelf bourbon. Dry oak and light barrel char. Bakers cocoa. Umami richness & faint nuttiness.

Taste: Mellow dark chocolate. Really smooth bourbon and fairly dry / deep oak notes. Stronger barleywine influence in this beer than I expected which adds a lot of rich caramel to this barrel aged strong ale. Vanilla, pecan praline, leather, and a decent oak char. Even more waves of dry mature oak notes emerge as the finish begins. This beer starts out sweet and ends in a complex lingering finish that is lightly bitter and perfectly balances out the sweetness. I really like how the barleywine thread of this beer balances out the stout and adds a crazy level of complexity to this beer.

Mouthfeel: medium full bodied stout. low and adequate carbonation levels. The texture of this beer from the can does not rival the draft pours. Yet it still does quite nicely. It's more thick from the can, but more creamy from the nitro draft. The can pour is silky and very nice, but the nitro pour just seems to take things to the next level in the mouthfeel department.

Overall: I really like this beer at room temperature because it opens up so well. It transforms into a complex and extremely smooth Barrel aged American Strong Ale. This is definitely the highest rated barrel aged American Strong Ale that I have rated/reviewed to date. Half Acre barrel program has really been killing it; the beer is way better than I could have expected it to be.