Insanity
Bomber with no freshness date pours into my Samichlaus tulip a deep amber, copper color, with a one finger head. Very little retention leave traces of lace, and a thin blanket over top the glass. Aroma is massively woody, vanilla-ey, oak-ey, and alcoholic. All I really smell is the barrel this was aged in. Flavor is malty sweet, with some raw grain flavors, backed by caramel, brown sugar, maple syrup, and of course, alcohol. Vanilla makes itself very well known here as well, along with raw woody flavors. I can almost feel the splinters in my toungue.... no, wait, that's the alcohol burn. Relatively dry finish, considering the sweetness up front, ends with an alcoholic burn. Mouthfeel is smooth and hot. Drinkability is low... this is a sipper. I love Weyerbacher, but I feel that they fall into the same trap as a lot of other brewers, and over extract the oak while aging. This is a decent beer, but needs a lot of time to mellow out. Usually I'm all for oak aging, experimentation, etc, but this is a bit much. Any beer that begins to taste like a mixed drink made with Vanilla Stoli, has spent too much time with the wood. I prefer regular blithering idiot over this, just as I think Old Heathen is way better than Heresy. I applaud Weyerbacher for doing what they do, but this one just needs a bit of help. Some time in the cellar will help, but when fresh, the vanilla and alcohol are just too much in my opinion. I'll have to pick up a six pack of bombers for the cellar, because this does have great potential after a few more years. Either way, Weyerbacher is one of my favorite breweries, so keep doing what you do so well!