Rainchaser
Alma Mader Brewing

Beer Geek Stats
From:
Alma Mader Brewing
 
Missouri, United States
Style:
English Barleywine
ABV:
15.75%
Score:
+7 ratings needed
Avg:
4.48 | pDev: 1.56%
Ratings:
3 | reviews: 2
Status:
Active
Rated:
Dec 23, 2025
Added:
Jun 30, 2022
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  0
Back in January of 2020, we brewed up a behemoth with our friends at Holy Mountain Brewing Company in Seattle. We racked it into Willett Bourbon and Rye barrels, and it was subsequently aged for 26 months before bottling. We patiently waited to finally wake up the beast, and we're beyond excited to release our first barrel-aged collaboration beer. The feel and structure of the base barleywine is definitively British, but the barrel character reflects the best of both worlds. It feels particularly spicy from the Rye barrel up front, but finishes with a rounded and soft marshmallow finish. The beer has long legs and it will be exciting to see it to evolve with time.

Tasting notes: figgy pudding, allspice, toffee, oak
Recent ratings and reviews.
 
Rated: 4.58 by NolaHopHead from Louisiana

Dec 23, 2025
Photo of Harrison8
Reviewed by Harrison8 from Missouri

4.45/5  rDev -0.7%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Pours black with little to no foam. Heavy oily legs cling to the glass after a swirl of what looks like motor oil that's been run through an engine for 10k miles. Aroma is thick raisin, with toffee, caramel, and chocolate behind. Toasty and caramely malts develop some balance. Barrel is present, especially towards the close, but is well integrated developing the depth and complexity without piling on extra heat. Flavor profile is back to thick raisin, with caramel and molasses shortly after. Mild fig adds some extra semi-sweetness. Barrel comes through at the end, which is just enough to elevated the finish, but not tack on heat. Semi-sweet as a whole. Mouth feel is thick with a semi-soft effervescence that almost sits still due to the weight. Overall, a big raisin bomb. Great barrel character that refrains from dipping into boozy, which is even more shocking after glancing at the ABV level just north of 15%! Each sip encourages a gulp.

Served in a stemmed AM membership glass from a bottle at the brewery.
Jul 30, 2023
Photo of StoutSnob40
Reviewed by StoutSnob40 from California

4.41/5  rDev -1.6%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5
Pours a dark brown, nearly black, with dark tan head. Head is erratic, with bubbles of various sizes sprouting up everywhere. With over 2 years of barrel-aging and nearly 16%, it’s amazing it has any carbonation at all.

First whiff, and you know this beer means business.. You’re immediately hit with massive amount of alcohol burn, even at a fair distance from the glass. This smells old school, with tons of cigar tobacco, freshly laid hardwood floor and black cherries. Oaky, bourbon coconut arrives when it warms, but only after you push through the incredibly boozy nose.

You can see the Holy Mountain influence in the flavor. Reminiscent of Hand of Glory, it unapologetically smacks you in the face with every sip. The barrel presence is massive, and in some cases, overshadows the malt-bill a bit. They are Willett barrels, so that’s not a bad thing, but they leaned a bit too hard on them here. A touch of bitter barrel tannin, but loads of black cherry, leather, tobacco and some umami on the finish. I don’t drink enough Rye to really pick it out in here, but it could certainly be contributing to the spicy perception of heat in this. Huge changes as this beer warms and opens up.
Sep 10, 2022