I have done three coastal trades so far. One of them was started after a comment was left on my facebook regarding my Utopias post (here) concerning DuClaw Brewing’s (www.duclaw.com) Colossus. I give you exhibit A:
Exhibit A: “Have a 2007 Utopias (S/N 09610); was planning on forgetting about the bottle for several years…Then again, it’s nice knowing it’s there should an “appropriate” occasion present itself!! Meanwhile, If I’m ever in the need for an uber-alcohol beer, I reach for a DuClaw ‘Colossus’ – It’s 21.92% ABV, and at $22.00 for a 22-oz bomber, is much more reasonably priced.
Looking forward to reading your thoughts on the Utopias…Sláinte!!”
That was how I met Joe. The rules of the trade were simple. 1. Joe sends me yummy DuClaw beer. 2. I send Joe yummy West Coast beer. 3. for the duration of the trade the beer was to be referred to as hostages.
Joe was kind enough to round out the trade with some of his own home brews that have insanely professional labels with government warnings on them and his “company” name Imzalbeh Brewing (http://imzalbehbrewing.blogspot.com/). I can’t wait to try one of those homebrews!…did I mention one of his beers is a pumpkin, you know how I feel about pumpkin…
So last night the Boy and I broke into that trade stash for the first time for DuClaw Brewing’s, Devil’s Milk.
The Stats:
Style: Barleywine
Color: Dark Amber
Hop Variety: Varies each year
Grains: Pale male, Wheat malt, Aromatic malt, Crystal malt, special malt.
Bitterness: Varies each year
Gravity: 25 plato
ABV: 10.6%
The back of the bottle states:
“No prayers, no exorcism, no divine intervention can save your soul from the dark lure of our most popular seasonal beer. This unholy Barley Wine style ale will tempt your palate with sensual fruit esters, seduce you with a mighty malt backbone and complete your fall with a demonic hop presence. One sip of this evil amber nectar and you will believe…The Milk Man Cometh.”
Brewed in July and generously dry hopped Devil’s Milk is released in November for our consumption.
And consume we did.
This poured lighter than I’d anticipated. A very hazy amber with a fingers worth of head on it. The nose is sweet with the promised fruit esters, I got raisins, cherries, plum against caramel malts and piney hop.
Taste was caramel, brown sugar and sweet dark fruits with a haze of alcohol binding it all together then came the spicy (faintly citrus) hops. In fact this is a surprisingly hop forward barley wine and I think that works really well against the sweetness. This is an extremely nice and memorable barleywine, in fact the only forgettable thing about it is the 10.6% abv.
Great beer, kept some of the hop balance. I love the fireplace picture, looks like the head is flames and there is a little devil to the right. It was The Boy’s idea of course.