Weyerbacher Decadence

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Sampled December 2007
A carefully pour produces a light dusting, not quite covering, tanish colored, wispy froth. The beer is an amber color that shows a brilliantly clear, cranberry color when held up to the light. Interesting spice aromatics greet my nose as I take my first smell of the aroma. Earthy spice notes reminiscent of cardamom, nutmeg, clove and perhaps a touch of coriander mix with notes of honey, root beer and dr. pepper. The spiciness really amplifies the apparent sweetness of the aroma. The honey and spices sort of make this smell like some interesting, all natural spice-soda.

The beer tastes sweet, especially as a sip moves across the tongue. The sweetness seems a bit like a spice laden honey, but the spice notes meld and mix to make me think of myrrh; very much a sort of perfume-like quality or even potpourri. The mix of honey and spice notes make me think of the ancient middle east. Spice derived turpenes play a big role here; the spices themselves have aged enough that I can't quite pull out what was used, but there are notes reminiscent of cardamom, nutmeg, clove, orange zest and mace. The alcohol plays a subdued role here, but does provide a touch of warming in the finish. The beer is quite thick and feeling, though not really in a chewy malt sort of way; the honey notes and texture seem to keep this a bit lighter feeling than it might otherwise be.

This is an interesting beer, it certainly could age for quite some time still without getting any worse and perhaps even significantly improving. I am not entirely sure what to think of it, but it is not the drain pour that I had feared (why else has it sat in the back of my fridge for the last two years?). this is still very spice driven in flavor, and with the sweetness I could even see this being served hot in a coffee mug on a cold Winters eve.

Aroma: 5 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 6

Aroma is spicey, paprika, pepper, and honey. Flavor is LOTS of honey and cinnamon! Like little red hots. There’s even a little heat to it. Some BIG palate, and flavor. Bit of an alcohol burn to it going down. Not my style but interesting nonetheless.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

This American Strong Ale pours a dark copper color from a 12oz bottle. Small sized white foamy head. Aroma is sweet, honey, brown sugar, spruce and spices. A medium to full bodied American Strong Ale. Malts are caramel, fruit and chocolate. Hops are slightly spicy. Lots of spices compete with a lot of sweetness. Lively carbonation. Nice balance. A touch sweet for my taste. Some bottle aging could probably improve this beer a whole lot. It does hide the 13% alcohol well. There is some alcohol warming on the palate at the finish. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is sweet with a touch of alcohol.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 6

The aroma is full of nutmeg as well as some ginger spice with maybe some cinnamon as well and is sweet to some extent and is not bad. The apearance is a nice and hazy reddish to orange in color with a small head on top that diminishes to a light and bubbly lacing that leaves even balance on the glass. The mouthfeel is very full and heavy as well as syrupy with huge spice complexity as well as massive sugar balance with a palate that is chewy to some extent. The flavor is extremely sweet with massive brown sugar as well as cinnamon and gingerbread with an aftertaste that is very thick and a bit too sweet to some extent but not too bad with a finish that is sticky and chewy and of gingerbread cookies. Overall, not a bad brew with massive sweetness and a chewy palate with some alcohol noticeable...definite alcohol burn on the back end with this brew.

Aroma: 4 | Appearance: 4 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 4

Bottle: Poured a hazy deep amber color ale with a small foamy head with minimal retention. Aroma of strong malt with something very sweet and a mix of spices that probably include some cinnamon. Taste is incredibly sweet with what seems like a jar of honey that has been dropped in here, cinnamon and finally some hops that try to emerge from this strange concoction. Body is as full as it can get and alcohol is definitely detectable. I read lots of comments on how this beer should be cellar and even after a couple of months, this is still very hot and not that enjoyable and makes me wonder how many months/years will it take to tone it down.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 4 | Overall: 6

This was a rough customer. A dark amber appearance. The aroma is loads of cinammon and honey. The alcohol shines through only to be overtaken by the BIG BAD Gingerbread Man armed with a cinammon stick as his weapon. The flavor was hot almost. Give this one a few years to tone all that noise down.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Clear copper with a reasonable head. Very spicy aroma. Tons of nutmeg, and cinnamon. Touch of honey. Almost like a braggot actually. A bit of heat from the alcohol. A touch overspiced, but shows promise for aging.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

07.23.m05 12oz bottle. Dark maple syrup pour with tiny, fleeting head. Fascinating aromas of ginger, clove, spiced tea , rum punch, anise, juniper. Alcohol on nose really comes through with temp, and on the palate as wel. Body is slick, thick, and chock a block sweet and boozy. Hot alcohol, but entirely appropriate and in keeping with the ginger and other strong spices as well as the sharp bite from the wood...this was in wood, right? Fun stuff that will age great.

Aroma: 5 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 4

Not what i expected at all and wasn't impressed. Poured orange color with 0 head and no lacing. Aroma was of spices of some kind. Flavor was cinnamon which got worse as it warmed. Mouthfeel was way to thick. Didn't like this one at all.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 4

Poured an orange color with no head and absolutely no lacing. At these ABVs, I guess the latter isn't surprising. Thick stuff, the carbonated bubbles rose at a pretty slow rate, which was the best part of the appearance after the pour. Aroma was of junipers and some unidentifiable spicing. Flavor cold (45-50C) reminded me of Rogue's Juniper to the nth degree. As it warmed the spices (cinnamon?) started to come out and boy, they didn't come across all that well: way overdone. This beer got hard to drink the more I had, far too much cinammon in there. Alcohol was astringent, needed to settle down as well. Rather thick and sticky mouthfeel, very syrup-like. Not that enjoyable.