Port Brewing | Old Viscosity

Port Brewing's Old Viscosity, an "American Dark Strong Ale," that "blurs the boundaries of Porter, Stout, Old Ale, and Barleywines." This beer is brewed, and then there is a 20% addition of the same beer that has been aged in bourbon barrels.

For all intensive purposes, I consider this beer an Imperial Stout more than anything else… maybe a strong ale. But let's keep things simple, it's a stout!

Poured into a pint glass, Old Viscosity has a thick opaque black color with a huge four inches of caramel colored head. This stuff looks super thick, beads of beer are sliding through the foam on the sides of my glass. After the head recedes some, there is a lot of sticky lacing left.

The aroma is chock full of sweet boozy alcohol, dark fruit, and a nice whiff of bourbon. Dark chocolate, vanilla, leather, and hints of coffee also make their presence known.

The taste is boozy alcohol up front, sweet figs and plums, followed by a smoothing oak character (leather, cocoa, vanilla, charred wood). The finish has a noticeable hop bite with a roasted coffee flavor that lingers for quite a bit.

My god this is an insanely smooth beer. Sweet and boozy, full bodied and syrupy with a somewhat bitter finish. Port is really proving their worth as the new hot beer in town. They make great IPA's, as a San Diego brewer should, but Old Viscosity shows they aren't a one trick pony. My fridge is full of stouts right now, and this one blows them all away.

Personal 8.5/10
Style 9.5/10

The Lost Abbey | Judgment Day

The Lost Abbey's Judgment Day, a Belgian style Quadrupel ale brewed with raisins. 180 pounds of raisins per 30-barrel batch to be exact! It also has to be said that this beer has a pretty bad ass label.

Poured into a Chimay Chalice glass, Judgment Day, has a dark almost-opaque ruddy brown color, a fizzy tan head that recedes to spotty surface foam, and good chunks of lacing. The aroma is very boozy, lots of sweet alcohol, lots of sweet dark fruit like figs, raisins (it is brewed with raisins after all…), black cherries, some vanilla, spice, and a hint of bananas. This thing smells like a beast.

The taste starts with big malt sweetness, and a definite alcohol presence, but not nearly as boozy as the aroma hints at. Again, fruit flavors of figs, raisins, plums, etc. There's tons of rich maltiness in this thing; biscuity, chewy, and just really tasty. The finish gives a taste of some spicy yeast mixing with the sweetness that lingers for a while after each sip. Definite alcohol warmth with this one.

Speaking of sipping, Judgment Day is not a beer you want to drink fast. At 10.5% ABV, and the insane amounts of malt and fruit flavor, this beer is a monster. This would be an excellent beer to cellar for a while, as the bold malt and high ABV will lend to a smoother more rum-like product over time. If I had more self control I would age this one, but I know it wouldn't last more than a month. Sure would be nice to see what some time will do to this beast though.

Judgment Day was a little too over the top for my palate, but still an excellent beer. It almost seems like more of a dessert than just a beer. Maybe I should have paired this with some late night chocolate cake? If you think this will be a bit too boozy for your taste as well, but are still interested in the style, Lost Abbey's Lost & Found would be a great option. Lost & Found is sort of the kid brother to Judgment Day, still a Belgian strong ale (a Dubbel) and brewed with raisins, but toned down just a bit.

Back to Judgment Day:

Personal 7.5/10, for the style 8.5/10

Firestone Walker | 15th Anniversary Ale

Firestone Walker's 15th Anniversary Ale is a once-brewed beer that is a special blend made from many of their other popular ales. This year's blend consists of:
18% Helldorado (11.7% ABV) Blonde Barley Wine.
17% Sticky Monkey (12.5% ABV) English Barley Wine.
17% Bravo (13.5% ABV) Imperial Brown Ale.
13% Double Double Barrel Ale (11.5% ABV) Double Strength English Pale Ale.
11% Good Foot (14.3% ABV) American Barley Wine.
10% Velvet Merkin (8.6% ABV) Traditional Oatmeal Stout.
9% Parabola (13% ABV) Russian Imperial Oatmeal Stout.
5% Double Jack (9.5% ABV) Double India Pale Ale.

Yeah... that's a lot of stuff, and a lot of STRONG beers. As you might expect, this one is quite heavy (12.5%abv) and rightfully so, is in the style of "American Strong Ale."
 
Poured into a Stella Chalice, this ale has an opaque dark brown color that gets to a dark amber around the edges. There is a minimal amount of light tan head that falls to loose bubbles on the edges of the glass. The aroma is of strong alcohol, coconuts, licorice, coffee, and vanilla. It sort of smells like a blend of coconut rum and bourbon.

The flavor is strong and overwhelmingly intense. Sweet boozy vanilla and coconut start it off while it blends together with dark fruit, candied sugar, and licorice. Getting towards the finish there is a drier roasted malt espresso flavor mixing nicely with charred oak bourbon. In the end it finishes very smooth with lingering alcohol sweetness.

15th Anniversary Ale is definitely an experience, and I'm glad I had a chance to try this one (thanks Chad!). With that in mind, as delicious and complex as this beer is, I think it would be very difficult to finish it by yourself, at 12.5%abv in a 650ml bottle, this is a real sipper. Do yourself a favor and pick this one up before it's gone, and to offset the high price, split it with a friend. Personal 8.5/10, for the style 9/10.