Weyerbacher - Insanity

Tonight I'll be reviewing Insanity from Weyerbacher Brewing.  Every time I taste a new beer from these guys I become a bigger and bigger fan.  Since I started reviewing, I've had Tiny, Blithering Idiot, Harvest Ale and Imperial Pumpkin Ale and have been generally impressed with each beer I've tasted.  Weyerbacher seems to brew a huge variety of beers, ranging from their straight forward Harvest Ale to their Dark Braggot Honey Ale (a GAFB Gold Medal winner!).  You can never be quite sure as to what they will brew next.  But you can certainly depend on it straying from the style guidelines.

Weyerbacher Insanity is Blithering Idiot aged in oak bourbon casks.  If there is one thing that can make a big beer better, it's aging it in oak.  While I wasn't a huge fan of Blithering Idiot as a stand-alone Barley Wine, I think the noticeable flaws I found would be remedied with some age, especially on wood.  Their website doesn't tell me how long they let it age in the casks, or really any other information for that matter.  So lets just get to the tasting.

Burnt amber brown.  The foam is fizzy like a sparkling wine.  It recedes just as quickly as it formed leaving no evidence of its existence.  The aromas are of sweet dark fruit - plums and figs mostly - with maple syrup and hints of vanilla and brown sugar.  Everything about the smell is very prominent, and the flavors are just as bold.  This is where the barrel-aged really shines through.  Plenty of bourbon undertones are supported by a big, but not thick, malty body.  Oaked vanilla, brown sugar, caramelized dark fruit and burnt caramel are all discernible.  A very light carbonation combined with a strong alcohol warmth keep this English Barley Wine finishing smooth.

Overall - This is a huge beer with an ABV at 11.1%.  But you wouldn't know it without reading the label.  The alcohol is so well blended with the bourbon-esque characteristics you could easily forget the alcohol was there if it weren't for the pleasant warmth it provided in the finish.  Weyerbacher Insanity should be treated like a port wine or bourbon and consumed at room temperature.  Above 50 F is where these subtle flavors will be most noticeable.  Insanity is a complex and very tasty oak-aged English Barley Wine that will certainly get better with age.  I'll drink Insanity over Blithering Idiot anytime.

J.W. Lees - Harvest Ale 2002

During a recent trip to Pairings, a food, wine and beer store where you can build your own six packs of any brew available, my brother and I came across this gem hiding in the corner.  When we went to check out the cashier said "I didn't even know we had a bottle of this left!  I would have taken it home myself had I known".  Thats when I knew this 2002 vintage English barley wine was going to be a treat.  Thankfully enough my brother was gracious enough to let me have the first few sips to write a couple notes for this review.


J.W. Lees is a family owned brewery founded in 1828.  Based in Middleton within North Manchester England, J.W. Lees specializes in cask beer while also maintaining an impressive line up of lagers and "smooth beers" year round.  One of their seasonal bottles is the Harvest Ale.  This is brewed once a year in limited quantity and dated since aging each vintage is recommended.  Harvest Ale is brewed in a traditional method of open air, copper vessels and stored at a temperature ideal for aging.


Since this is from 2002 I am keeping my fingers crossed that its journey from brewery to my glass has been kind.  Who knows what conditions this beer has been through in the past eight years.  Even if its horrible it will still be fun to drink a beer that is almost a decade old.  Lets give it a shot, shall we?


Opening the cap provides a hiss of carbonation.  The pour is viscous and thick.  No head forms on this 11.5% ABV ale.  The color is a deep brown and slightly murky.  Swirling it in the glass shows lacing similar to that of a nice wine.  My taste buds are agonized in anticipation!  The aroma is amazing; caramelized fruit, figs, brown sugar, chocolate and bread.  No hops at all.  This is expected not only as an English barley wine style but also due to the age.  The taste is everything I expected.  Hints of chocolate, dark fruit, toffee and caramel all come together in a sweet and creamy profile.  The alcohol is hardly present, if at all, but is there to dry out the finish.


Overall 5.8/6.0 - It was only after sipping this is when I realized how lucky we were to find this bottle.  Its almost everything I could want from an English barley wine.  The flavors meshed together wonderfully and the big body was right on par for my expectations.  The only thing keeping this from being perfect for me is that it was only every so slightly on the sweet side for my liking.  But thats really splitting hairs in this case.  If you can find a bottle of this, no matter the vintage, pick it up.  Its a perfect after dinner drink or one to cozy up with next to the fire.