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.

Victory - Storm King Stout

Tonights post is a little late, I must admit.  I am off my normal schedule and haven't had time to prepare any reviews in advance.  My partner in beer reviewing crime has fled the country to the warm sandy beaches of the Bahama's.  And who can blame him?  Its friggen -11 degrees outside without the damn wind blowing.  Seriously, anything above 32 degrees at this point feels like a humid summer day.  I cant wait until the three feet of snow next to my driveway melts in August...

I decided at the end of the work day today that I was going to enjoy myself a thick, creamy dark stout this evening.  I had a few in mind but most were bombers that I was aging.  Victory's Storm King, however, was staring my directly in the face when I opened my fridge door.  If you don't believe me just look at the label, it has beady owl eyes!  The beer store boasted this brews 100 rating on Ratebeer so naturally I was interested.  A six pack of this will run you somewhere around $14 so I opted to only buy a single bottle in case I disagreed with Ratebeer.

Pouring thick and black this thing consumes any light that tries to beam through it.  A veritable black hole of beer.  A solid tan head forms and quickly recedes leaving a small slug of foam floating around my glass.  Still cool from the fridge I am able to discern dark fruit and bittersweet chocolate tones in the aroma.  A waft of alcohol sneaks in behind a roasty aroma on my second smell.  The flavor is full of roasted grains, bitter chocolate, coffee and a mild astringency to boot.  Not nearly as thick as I had anticipated.  The carbonation cuts through the body and lightens the overall mouthfeel.  The finish has a warming alcohol presence while allowing the bold roast characteristics to finish the job.

Overall 4.9/6.0 - For a RIS I think this one falls a bit short of my expectations.  Old Rasputin by North Coast knocks the RIS style out of the park by my standards.  I think Victory could lower the carbonation to allow for a smoother drinking experience.  Towards the end of each sip a harshness comes through that I find unpleasant and uncharacteristic of the style.  As a standalone stout I think this is great.  But to characterize it as a Russian Imperial Stout would be doing other, better brews in the category a disservice.  Im happy with my single bottle purchase.

Victory - Yakima Twilight

I picked up this Yakima Twilight brew last night...I've had this before and enjoyed it, but it's probably been over a year since, so I figured this was a good time to bring it in for round 2.  As you may notice in the picture at the bottom of the post, the bottle says 'Best by Nov 16 2010'.  Whoops, I'm a dumbass.  Hopefully that won't make a difference. 

I checked on Victory's website for the stats of this beer, and I couldn't find it!  There is a brew called Yakima Glory, which has the exact same label and description seems to fit this one....did they just change the name?  WTF?  Their website is a pile of shit. 

This beer pours with a ferociously frothy off-white foam, and it's a lot darker than I remember.....a deep reddish brown.  The lace falls away pretty quickly and doesn't hold any real definition.  The nose is floral and spicy, I really like how the aromas jump out at me - that's something I've come to expect from good IPAs.  There's also some caramel malts hiding in there.

First sip starts off with some sweet maltiness and toffee.  Then there is a decent amount of bitterness when the hops hit home, the hops are floral and piney, it's a pretty nice balance between sweet malts and bitter hops, but after that little party there is a little cough medicine in the aftertaste.  Doesn't completely ruin it, but definitely isn't good.  I wonder if the old age of the beer has something to do with it?  

Overall Rating:  Good (3 out of 6)  This beer isn't bad - I enjoy the helping of bitterness Victory serves up in the hop profile.  It actually reminds me of Surly Furious, just not nearly as good.  That medicinal aftertaste isn't overbearing, but it's there and just annoying enough to make this a mediocre beer for me. 


MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD BEER!