AleSmith Brewing Company - Old Ale

I'm sorry. No really, I'm sorry. It's not you, it's me! I haven't updated in a while and I don't really have an excuse. I have been busy but honestly, I haven't really been drinking anything mind blowing. But alas, that changes tonight!

I've had this for a month or so in my fridge and I've been absolutely waiting for the day I crack it open and get some Old Age goodness into me. Oh, I spoiled it... as if the title didn't spoil it for you. Unless you just ignore the title. That's entirely possible. I mean, I tend to skim things from time... no, all the time.

So yeah, tonight I'm drinking Old Ale from AleSmith. Yep. Ale-fucking-smith. So good. So amazing. They do no wrong. This is an 11% abv Old Ale. Yep, clever fucking name. No gimmicks needed. It's just an old fucking ale. DEAL WITH IT. OK, let's get this opened.

Old Ale pours out a really nice dark mahogany color with some deep ruby red along the bottom of the glass. There was about a finger to maybe a finger and a half of a creamy, thick, eggshell colored head. I didn't really pour too aggressively because I like to treat my beers like I like to be treated. Delicately. Like treasure. Like.. ok, I'm kidding. I just didn't want to spill any cause I'm paranoid. There's a very little amount of carbonation coming up from the middle of the glass. This looks a lot like a barleywine and I'm totally stoked about this. Let's get the nose!

Lots of caramel and brown sugar on the nose, like big and bold. Right behind that initial sweetness are a lot of dark fruits. Figs, raisins, dates. There's a nice amount of vanilla. A bit of alcohol. 11% would anyone be surprised by that? There's some sweet bread like type of smell. Maybe some kind of sweet pastry or a sticky bun. I'm stoked. This smells amazing. I'm going to do some drinking now. I'll be back.

Wow. Big caramel sweetness and vanilla sweetness. Very thick and sticky. A lot of brown sugar. There's a bit of a raisin character on the sides of the palate. When I say this is sweet, I'm not saying it is in a cloying way. This is incredibly balanced. You don't get a lot of alcohol burn but it definitely warms as it makes it's way down into the chest. Back of the palate as things linger a little you get some more fig like characters, more vanilla.

Overall, the Old Ale is fucking amazing. No really. AMAZING! This might be the best AleSmith beer I've had to date. Old Numbskull is way up there as well but this just, I don't know, this is just so good. If you can get this, definitely pick it up. I'd say get one now and get one or more to age. Drink one now, forget about the others. Definitely a sipper and definitely one to enjoy over time with someone you don't completely despise. Cheers to AleSmith!

Rating: A+