Beer Review, Duck-Rabbit Barleywine Ale

Last night after softball (in which I hit my first over the fence homer of the season, thank you very much, with only one more week remaining) and the post game festivities at Hooters, came home and had a beer. Last night's choice was Duck-Rabbit Barleywine Ale.

As you can see, this one poured a dark brown, almost like a dark tea. It had a massive malt smell upon opening the bottle, that smell followed it to the goblet and stayed during the whole experience. The next smell that I noticed was alcohol. Finally I started picking up some roasty notes, not a smoke or burned, just a roasted bread crust feel, not toast.

It felt somewhat thinnish, and had an alcohol burn to it. The taste was roasty, bready and alcoholy. As it warmed to room temperature more flavors developed; I started to get some hot tea and some dark fruit (raisins). It had a sugary sweetness and also a back of tongue bitterness that was quite pleasant.

After my first sip, it kind of took my breath away, like when doing a hard liquor shot, how it forces you to exhale. That felt like alcohol.

This beer clocks in at 11% ABV. Did I mention Alcohol? It had alcohol smell, feel, taste and ending. It wasn't a painful alcohol experience like Samichlaus. It was quite noticeable, but not to the point that it was undrinkable.

I picked this up at Bruisin' Ales in Asheville. I can't think of a Duck-Rabbit that I've had that I didn't like.