Beer # 200 Frost Quake Bourbon Barrel Aged Barley Wine

Frost Quake


Wellington Brewery

Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Independent
Bourbon Barrel Aged Barley Wine 
9.8 % ABV Brown Glass Bottle 750 ml (Crown capped with a swing top lid for re-closing)
$11.95 (Canadian) At LCBO 

Twitter: @WellingtonBrew

The morning was cold and crisp today. Down around -29. Perfect day for the namesake of this beer to happen. My 200th beer in fact! As you can see I spruced the place up a bit. New look, new layout, and there are a few more improvements to be coming very shortly. Stay tuned! But back to metaphor I just left dangling there for a second. Frost quake. Maybe you haven't heard of them, but they are quite real and a really weird sensation. It happens more often in areas that have a lot of rock near the surface. Water percolates down in between the cracks of the rocks and when a rapid temperature drop occurs it freezes very quickly causing a big cracking noise. More like cracking your knuckles than an earthquake, but it can still be loud and scary. We have them around Pint Jockey Headquarters at least once a year.

Tonight's beer is named for this phenomenon. A hot little barley wine wine, almost 10 % alcohol, that has spent a few months in Kentucky Bourbon barrel.

Let's get shaking...

Pours a translucent chestnut brown that is slightly hazy. Very viscous. The head is quite thin and the colour of caramel. The nose is quite smoky, earthy, woody, sweet malt brown sugar and a hint of licorice. First sip gives us oak, vanilla, bourbon whiskey, bruleed sugar, bittersweet chocolate and smoke. As the beer warms a mild nuttiness comes out as does the high alcohol content. Very warming, but not to head fogging. Aeration gives us rich oak and smoke with some light malt sugars and a hint of the caramel on the finish.



Impressions: Fail, So-so, Pass, Exceptional 

Cost: 4/6 PASS
Colour: 5/6 PASS
Beer Style: 5/6 PASS
Re-Order:  5/6 PASS
Experience:  5/6 PASS


Final Thoughts:

A bit pricey for what the beer delivered. Don't get me wrong it is a good barley wine, and if you only want to drink one beer a night this one should do you nicely. Better yet sip this with some food, or a friend, or just use the swing top closure to save some for another night. Worth a try pick one up while you still can. Or maybe two... and age one for a year.

CJT


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