Barrel Aged Gold Rush
Hale's Ales Brewery & Pub

22oz into a tulip. Pours a hazy golden copper color w/ a minimal white head.

Aroma is sweet and fruity. Dried apricots, candi sugar, Bourbon. Mandarin orange? Unique and intriguing.

Taste follows nose. Just a weird, unique, good blend of contrasting flavors that somehow work together. Orangey citrus, apricot, sugar, boozy heat. Indistinguishable spice.

Mouthfeel is between medium and heavy, sticky but not cloying. Lingering aftertaste.

Overall a welcome and interesting surprise of a beer. Hale's is doing some interesting things with their barrels, seemingly completely under the radar.

 

 

Poured into a Gulden Draak tulip. Pours a medium golden amber with a thin white head with good retention and light lacing. Aroma of Belgian yeast, candi malt, whiskey and light apple family fruit. Flavor is caramel malt, toffee, light stone fruit, whisky, light oak. Finishes with Belgian spice bitterness and residual whisky barrel notes and light fruit. Medium bodied with active carbonation. A sweet, fruity and quite whisky barrel influenced Belgian strong dark. Although warming, the ABV is well covered by the fruit and barrel flavors. I've had a lot of Belgian barrel aged strong pales, but most were aged in fortified wine and apertif barrels. This is an interesting Americanized version that works well. So far, I've been pleased with Hale's barrel series. All are tasty and fun to drink.

Remarkable combination of sweet and malty brew with the crazy strong barrel taste. It's like the best Trader Vic's rum drink with some exotic, never-tasted citrus.

The candy taste is amazingly subdued by the Belgian yeasty drying. Sharp finish with a long nose of brandy. Hugely aromatic. Not very woody at all. More than a touch of butterscotch, but it's on fire with the alcohol. Sweet and delicious with cedar aromas.

This is one of the best Belgian-inspired beers I've had in a long time, and at the same time one of the best uses of booze-barrel flavoring. From the 22 oz bottle bought at The Market in Anacortes.