Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Insanity ( Weyerbacher, Easton, PA)


Weyenbacher Insanity.  Picture
from http://beerblog.genx40.com/
A little extra time waiting for friends at the Muddy Pig led to a draft of Insanity to bide the time.  No head on the beer, but light white bubbles around the beer/glass boundary.  Blood red beer in singles lighting--more of a brown and ruby held up to the light.  Nose is fairly light, but sourdough bread, dark cherries and chocolate on top of a light spice and assertive alcohol.  Insanity is the  barleywine Blithering Idiot aged in a oak bourbon barrel.  Taste clearly shadows the ghost of barleywine past and has a very familiar blend of dark fruit, oily bitterness and fig.  Departing from Blithering Idiot is the strong oak and harsh alcohol.  Warming while reading a book, the bourbon shows up full force with an alcohol sting--somehow more balance now.  Drink this one slow.

Good, but I prefer Blithering Idiot.  The idea of bourbon barrel aging being added to an already fine barleywine sounds like a great idea, in theory, but this one doesn't add up to more than the sum of it's part.  Well worth a try for a night but I will look elsewhere for my next barleywine.

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