Hibernation Ale
Bronzed dark brown with fiery orange peel highlights. With backlighting, the beer becomes dim magenta. The head is a beautiful shade of golden beige and would look at home on the hoppiest IPA. Thick, rich and creamy, it resembles mousse, or even sherbet, as it falls. The lace display is impressive as well; thick, yet still intricately lace-like. Well done. Since I'm drinking the 2003 vintage, I would have expected the alcohol to have matured by now. Perhaps it will have on the palate, but it's still a young whippersnapper in the nose. The aroma is malt-dominant, with chocolate being something of a surprise. There are earthy notes as well, which I guess I should attribute to hops. Unfortunately, the nose is somewhat medicinal and isn't as varied or as complex as it could be. The flavor is a definite step up. Hibernation Ale tastes like a combination of several different styles. The principal elements are a roasted black and chocolate maltiness, along with an unripe fruit sourness that is kept in check by hop bitterness. There's a lot going on and it all fits together reasonably well. A good comparison would be equal parts porter and baby barleywine. The fruitiness is more figs, dates and tart apples than the darker, richer raisins and prunes. I have no idea what sort of hops have been used. Hop flavor has been plastered over, even as the hop bitterness has survived intact. Unlike the nose, there's very little alcohol noted on the palate. The finish features a nice interplay between sweet, sour and bitter, and lingers for several minutes at least. The mouthfeel is roughly midway between a big porter and a barleywine, to keep the above comparisons alive. Hibernation Ale has held up well during its 2 years of... uh... hibernation. Like many strong ales, it doesn't fit neatly into any one category. It is an enjoyable sipper, though, and one that would be good to have around when the thermometer dips into the single digits. Thanks to prAna for the bottle, although he's probably forgotten this long ago trade (the first one I ever made).