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First brewed in 1968 in honor of the 40th anniversary of the passing of the Victorian author, Thomas Hardy's Ale has a long and illustrious history. A history that I won't bore you with since others have recounted all the various ownership changes and tumultuous brewery shenanigans ad nauseam. Also, sometimes that sort of thing is boring all by itself. Suffice it to say that it's a venerable, storied British barleywine that is often aged for upwards of 25 years or even more. Legend has it that the original run of these beers peaked at around 8 years in the bottle. I... did not wait that long, and have a couple of recent vintages here, so take these reviews with the appropriate, sarcastic boulder of salt in which I offer them:

Thomas Hardy's Ale Golden Edition 50th Anniversary - Not sure what differentiates this from earlier editions (it's marked as a "Special Edition" and lists out others brewed to celebrate this or that), though it does seem to have a higher ABV, so maybe that's the ticket - Pours a slightly hazy copper color with almost no head at all, not even especially a ring around the edge. Smells nice, some spicy hops, lots of crystal malt character, not quite the caramel and toffee that you really want, but it's kinda there, and could perhaps emerge over time. Taste is sweet, lots of that crystal malt, some dark fruit too, earthy, spicy hops and a bit of booze. Mouthfeel is medium to full bodied, but nearly still and thus sticky, a little bit of alcohol warming. Overall, it's a nice little barleywine, I could see it improving with age, but I'm still not sure it'd really compete with top tier barleywines I've had. B

Beer Nerd Details: 13% ABV bottled (11.15 ounces/330 ml). Drank out of a snifter on 12/7/18. Bottle No. 32685. Vintage 2018. Best by: 19/09/27.

Thomas Hardy's Ale The Historical 2017 - This is 2017 Thomas Hardy's Ale aged in Tennessee whiskey barrels (probably Jack Daniels, though I suppose it could be Dickel or something more obscure) for 6 months, a "historical" throwback to the original Thomas Hardy's Ale, which was aged in Cognac barrels - Pours a bit of a darker copper, and again there's no head or real visible carbonation. Smells better, rich caramel and toffee coming through more here, with the crystal malt anchoring it, and just a touch of whiskey, oak, and vanilla too. Taste is much fruitier than the nose would imply, lots of dark fruit, plums, raisons, figs, and so on, with some whiskey, oak, and vanilla pitching in. As it warms, the fruity character takes on an odd sort of tangy note. It's not quite tart, but it doesn't feel right either. Mouthfeel is full bodied and flat as a board, a little alcohol heat too. Overall, it seemed like an improvement over the regular at first, but that didn't quite last. Probably heresy, but I think American barrel aged barleywines tend to be far better than this was. Maybe some age would help, but I can't see it rivaling the best. B

Beer Nerd Details: 12.7% ABV bottled (8.45 ounces/250 ml). Drank out of a snifter on 12/7/18. Bottle No. 18836. Vintage 2017. Best by: 29/10/27.

So I enjoyed this exercise and it's always nice to delve into historically significant beer. I have another of the Golden Edition sitting in the cellar for a rainy day 8-10 years from now. Maybe.

England's Siren brewing started luring unsuspecting and wary travelers to their doom a few years ago, and the first beer they brewed was a big American-style barleywine - their "maiden" voyage, if you will. They promptly stashed the result away in various wine and spirits barrels and got a crew together to come up with a harmonious blend at the end of the next year. They never fully empty the barrels, though, leaving at least 10% left and refilling the remainder with fresh Maiden for the following year's batch. A sorta hybrid solera type system going on here, and I find myself reminded of a few big American efforts along similar lines. The solera-esque nature recalls the Bruery's Anniversary beers, the same-beer-in-different-expressions approach is like FiftyFifty's Grand Cru, and the whole Anniversary blend thing reminds me of Firestone Walker's Anniversary beers... Pretty good company, if you ask me.

This particular edition is the third in the series. About 50% is fresh American-style barleywine, the rest was the previous year's batch aged in a variety of barrels: 33% Auchentoshan (non-peated Scotch that has a reputation as a lighter whisky that makes a good component in blends), 21% Red Wine, 15% Jack Daniels, 9% Pedro Ximenez, 9% Madeira, 4.33% Tequila, 4.33% Glentauchers and 4.33% Banyuls. I've been somewhat lax at covering the whole British beer scene on this blog (hey, I've got a crapton of American breweries to keep up with here, give me a break), but this is the sort of thing that makes me want to succumb to that Siren song:

Siren Maiden 2015 - Pours a dark amber-hued brown color with a finger of off-white head. Smells of dark fruit, toffee, oak, with a little whisky and wine character coming through. Taste starts off rich and sweet, with some oak, fruit, and toffee kicking in, but dries up a little towards the finish, which has the remnants of a bitter hop bite. As it warms, more of that dank, aged hop character emerges. Mouthfeel is rich and full bodied up front, but thins out a little in the finish, a little booze heat, but nothing untoward, medium to high carbonation, but on point. Overall, a damn fine, complex barleywine. B+

Beer Nerd Details: 11.9% ABV bottled (500 ml waxed cap). Drank out of a snifter on 7/7/17. Vintage: 2015.

I may have to dig a little deeper into Siren's catalog, as this was quite pleasant. Would love to try other vintages to see how much the differing blends and barrels contribute.

My favorite time of the year is the Halloween through Christmas corridor, and part of that is the seasonal beer we get. It's not fashionable to be into Christmas beers, winter warmers and the like, but I love them and always make room for some of them during the holidays. I know I just got done mentioning that I don't feel the need to write about every beer I drink, but now that the holidays are over, I need some way to occupy my time that doesn't involve poopsocking it through Fallout 4, so here's a sampling of two beers I drank for last minute Christmas wrapping fuel, and two that were gifts.

Ballantine Burton Ale - So Pabst revived the Ballantine name with a decent IPA, and for Christmas, they put together this little barleywine number. According to a bunch of strangers on the internets, this is the single best beer Pabst has ever made. Let's see, shall we? Pours a clear amber orange color with a finger of head and some lacing. Smells sweet, lots of dank, piney hops and a little dark fruit. Taste is also quite sweet, more of the dark fruit here, but the hops balance things out without feeling too bitter in the finish. Mouthfeel is full bodied, tight carbonation, hints of booze, a sipper for sure. Overall, it's a solid little barleywine, tasty, and I haven't had something like this in a long time... B+

Beer Nerd Details: 11.3% ABV bottled (500 ml). Drank out of a snifter on 12/24/15. Vintage: 2015.

Samichlaus Classic 2010 - It's become something of a Kaedrin tradition to do last minute Christmas wrapping whilst watching cheesy Christmas movies and imbibing a Samichlaus of some kind (or maybe, um, two of them). This year was no exception, and in the spirit of dipping into the cellar to drink some of my aged stock, I grabbed a 5 year old bottle. Pours a deep dark amber orange color with a half finger of head that quickly disappears. Smells intensely of clean, dark fruits, very sweet, a little booze. Tastes very sweet, sticky, sugary sweet, with muted dark fruit, and did I mention it was sweet? Not cloying though, age has treated this well. Mouthfeel is full bodied and rich, well carbonated. Overall, it's very good with some age on it, among the better I've had. I'm going with a high B+

Beer Nerd Details: 14% ABV bottled (500 ml). Drank out of a snifter on 12/24/15. Vintage: 2010.

Samuel Smith Yorkshire Stingo - My brother isn't a big beer guy, but usually manages to get some decent stuff. For instance, this year's selections included a Sierra Nevada Celebration, a La Fin Du Monde, and a few other beers I genuinely love yet rarely revisit. Then there's this one, which sounds like the most interesting of the lot on paper... English Strong Ale aged in oak barrels for over a year? Well sign me up! Alas, this runs into that Belgian pale ale character that I always find distressing and the oak aging doesn't feel harmonious at all. Something odd going on here. Pours a murky amber color with a finger of off white head that sticks around for a bit. Smell has a lot of fruity character to it, some toffee and maybe some butterscotch, possibly diacetyl. Taste has more of that dark fruit, raisins, toffee, butterscotch, and a hint of tart astringency. Not, like, infected, but I think it's the result of that barrel aging. Mouthfeel is well carbonated but medium to full bodied. Overall, this seems well crafted, but it's just not really my thing. C

Beer Nerd Details: 8% ABV bottled (500 ml). Drank out of a tulip glass.

Ridgeway Lump of Coal - A gift from a coworker, I knew I was in for trouble because I've never had a Ridgeway that I've ever liked, despite the fact that they put out, like, ten Christmas beers. Pours a clear dark brown color with amber highlights and a finger of off white head. Does not smell like a stout at all, getting that toffee and butterscotch and diacetyl here. Taste is along the same lines, diacetyl and maybe even some skunking, this is terrible! Notes of death and decay. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, well carbonated, appropriate for the style I guess, but the problem lies not here. Overall, this is terrible! It doesn't even warrant taking the time to upload the image I took. I don't hand these out often, but this one earned it: F

Beer Nerd Details: 8% ABV bottled (500 ml). Drank out of a tulip glass.

A decidedly mixed bag this year. I shall have to endeavor to do better next year. In the meantime, New Years Eve drinking was more palatable, so I'll cover that one tomorrow.

Limoncello is a spirit of Italian origin that is made by steeping lemon peel in a neutral spirit long enough to extract the oils out of the lemon peel. The result is then mixed with some simple syrup and served as an after-dinner digestif. Clocking in at around 30% ABV, it's a sipping drink, but the bright lemony tartness gives it a more refreshing kick than your typical spirit. It's not my favorite thing, but it's definitely something worth trying after a hearty Italian meal.

The idea for this beer was to create a much more drinkable version of a Limoncello. It's kinda like a beer/Limoncello hybrid, with the tart and refreshing nature of the spirit mixed with the quaffability of beer. This is accomplished by doing a quick sour mash, adding lemon peel and juice to the mixture, and then adding lactose to sweeten things up*. Finally, they add a bunch of Sorachi Ace and Citra hops to the mixture, each of which contributes additional citrus notes. Despite the hop additions, I feel like calling this an IPA is a bit misleading. It's got some nice aromas and the balancing bitterness is there, but the beer is otherwise dominated by its tart, lemony character. This was the intention, of course, so I'm not saying its a failure or anything, but it feels more like a wild ale than an IPA.

This beer was a collaboration made at Siren brewing in the UK. I've never had any of Siren's beers before (they're a relatively new operation), but their collaborators are some of my favorites. Hill Farmstead is in the running for best brewery in the world, while Mikkeller certainly makes some of the best beer in the world, though occasionally he engages in flights of fancy and experimentation that don't always pan out. This beer seems like one of those flights of fancy, so how did they do? I don't really know.

Siren / Mikkeller / Hill Farmstead Lemon Cello IPA - Pours a deep golden color with a finger of fluffy white head that leaves some lacing as I drink. Smells of big citrus hops, with an herbal component, and what is presumably that lemon peel peeking through, melding with the citrusy hops and providing its own interesting character. Taste is, whoa, tart and lemony, almost like, well, lemoncello. Nothing in the nose betrayed this sort of flavor, but it's fine for what it is. It's very sweet, and the hops are there along with some bitterness on the backend. Mouthfeel is surprisingly smooth, well carbonated, a little acidic, medium bodied. Ah, yes, this is made with lactose, and that does come through in both the sweetness of the beer, and the mouthfeel. I don't normally go in for the hoppy sour beers, but this one is working well enough. Overall, it's a very interesting beer, if not something I'd really go out of my way for again. B

Beer Nerd Details: 9.1% ABV bottled (500 ml). Drank out of a snifter on 9/26/14.

Vermont beer treasures are rapidly depleting at this point, though there's at least one remaining Hill Farmstead beer coming up, so stay tuned.

* Most of the time lactose is reserved for Milk Stouts (the sweetness balancing out some of the bitter roasty character), but this marks the second time in just a few weeks that I've had a pale beer with lactose. Go figure.

Tonight was beer club, a gathering of beer minded individuals from my work who get together about once a month at a local BYOB for good company and libations. As per usual, a good turnout, with a good representation from the core team, but also some very welcome new faces. About half of us are, at this point, avid homebrewers, so discussion veered into a rather nerdy realm from time to time, but that's all good, and there was also a nice contingent of non-beer drinking peeps who were bemused by our nerdery, but steered the discussion other ways as well. Good times had by all.

For the sake of posterity, initial thoughts on each beer are captured below. As you might guess, conditions here are not ideal, nor did I always drink a full portion, so take this with a gigantic grain of salt if you dare. Or not. I am pretty awesome, so I'm sure these inchoate notes are all you'll really need. In order of drinking (not necessarily in order pictured):

• Heavy Seas Gold Ale - A pretty basic Blonde Ale, comparable to most macro slop, but a step above such extremes. B-
• Kaedrôme Saison - This is drinking well, though it still has not carbonated as well as I'd have liked. I don't know if this is because the yeast is just so old and overstressed or if it's because it's been so cold lately and my cellar is just so cold that it's taking the beer a while to condition. Whatever the case, the flavors are at the right place, and there is enough carbonation to make it drinkable, it's just that I wish there were more. B
• New Belgium Lips Of Faith - Coconut Curry Hefeweizen - Holy curry, Batman! At first, the curry seemed to overpower everything else, but as I drank and as it warmed (we had some of this later in the evening as well), the coconut and hefeweizen notes came out a bit more. Its a very interesting, weird beer, but I don't think it's quite the right combination of flavors for beer. C+
• Stone Matt's Burning Rosids - I think you all know how much I love me some saisons, even weird, incoherent takes on the style, but this one seemed to be filled with a sorta burnt rubber band aid flavor that overpowered everything else. Perhaps not totally undrinkable, but I'm really, really happy I only tried a smallish sample of the stuff. D
• Green Jack Rippa - I've seen this around and been curious about an "English Triple" beer, and it was an interesting beer, though it came off as being incredibly boozy, which is a bit odd for an 8.5% beer. To be sure, that's not a whimpy ABV, but it's also not something I'd expect to be quite so powerfully boozy. It had a nice malt backbone too, but not enough to stand up to the booze. C+
• Ken's Homebrewed ESB - A light take on the style, though perhaps it just seemed that way because we had this after the boozy bomb previously mentioned. Still, very easy drinking stuff, malt forward but quaffable. B
• Wells Sticky Toffee Pudding Ale - Now, this beer club group occasionally visits an authentic (at least, to us Yanks, it seems so) British pub called The Whip Tavern. They have this rather spectacular dessert called Sticky Toffee Pudding, so hopes were somewhat high for this beer. To be sure, I was tempering my expectations by the fact that a lot of English ales, even stuff like this that is flavored with adjuncts, come off with hints of diacetyl, but in this case, my fears were unfounded. It's nowhere near as good as the actual dessert, but it had a really nice toffee/caramel character that worked really well for the beer. B
• Chimay Tripel (White) - A beer I've obviously had many times before, and it's just as good as ever, though I seem to have veered away from a lot of the Belgian styles that initially hooked me on good beer. Still, this is a nice one. I'd probably downgrade to a B+, but it's still very nice.
• Starr Hill Psycho Kilter - A nice take on the Scotch Ale style, certainly not a top tier effort, but a nice, malt forward, relatively low carbed beer that doesn't quite bely its relatively high 9.3% strength. B
• Kaedrin Bomb and Grapnel (Bourbon Oaked Version) - This is the version of my RIS homebrew that was aged on bourbon soaked oak cubes. In this version, the charred oak really comes through strong. Not a ton of bourbon, though it is there. The charred oak is pretty strong at this point, which makes me think that perhaps I should have soaked the oak cubes in bourbon for longer than the 1-2 weeks I employed. Still, this turned out well, though the blended version seems to be the best version. B+
• Lost Abbey The Angel's Share (Bourbon Barrel Aged) - A beer I've had and reviewed before. It is still pretty fantastic stuff. A-
• Deschutes Jubelale - Another beer I've had a few times this year, and it's a nice winter warmer style beer, malt forward with lots of spice, quite enjoyable (and surprisingly did not suffer from a no doubt beleaguered palate at this point in the night). B

Get a load of this marketing fluff: "The idea behind the Dark Island Reserve was to create a super-premium, unique and special beer that set new standards in Britain in quality of product and packaging." Translation: "The idea behind the Dark Island Reserve was to create a beer that is super-expensive."

This is a Scottish ale (like, for reals, a beer brewed in Scotland, not just a beer in that style) aged in whisky casks. RateBeer sez they were Dalmore barrels, but the bottle label sez they're "hogsheads used to mature fine Orkney Single Malt Whisky." Well, Dalmore isn't on any of the Orkney islands, so perhaps that was an old batch. If they're really using Orkney casks, they're using either Highland Park or Scapa barrels. I've always found the overpowering peat smoke of Islay Scotch to be a problem for barrel aged beers, but neither of these distilleries put out anything that aggressive. This doesn't mean they're bad or anything, and I know Highland Park casks can be used to great effect in aging beer. Scapa seems to have less of a reputation for complexity, but I'm sure it would work fine.

So does this marketing fluff and high price tag translate into amazing beer? Well, it's fine, but not really:

Orkney Dark Island Reserve - Firstly, yes, it is a gorgeous bottle and overall package. Certainly ticks those Pavlovian checkboxes for us beer nerds. But, you know, you can't drink the packaging. Pours a deep, dark, clear brown color with half a finger of quickly disappearing light brown head. Smells of booze, bready malt, toast, maybe a hint of peat smoke and Scotch (which yields complexity, not overpowering Islay smoke). Taste has that bready toast base, with some caramelized sugars or molasses peeking through, and just a bit of boozy Scotch. As it warms up, the Scotch comes out a little more. Mouthfeel is full bodied, smooth, a bit of richness, but not as much as I'd like from a whisky barrel aged beer. Overall, it's good. Even very good... but not really worth the price tag. I'm feeling generous, so give it a B+, but unless you see it for cheaper than $20, I'd give it a pass (and given that it usually goes for double that, you'll probably never see it that low.)

Beer Nerd Details: 10% ABV bottled (750 ml taped swing top). Drank out of an Only Void snifter on 7/12/13. Gyle 10, Vessel 9. Bottled 12 November 2012. 3641 bottles produced.

Well, I guess you can't win them all. I suppose a B+ isn't a "loss", but maybe I'm being too generous. In any scenario, I don't think it's worth the price. Onwards and upwards.

I'll be the first to admit that my palate isn't the most refined of them all, but one of the things I appear to have absolutely no tolerance for is Diacetyl. It's a byproduct of fermentation that can yield powerful flavors of butter or butterscotch to a finished beer. I know what you're thinking: Butter and Butterscotch are awesome! And yes, it is, but you wouldn't put a pat of butter in your beer, would you? That's kinda gross, is it not? Well, to me it is, but to some, low levels of diacetyl are actually desirable (high levels, not so much). Notably, a lot of English pale ales tend to lean in that direction. Not all of them are like that, of course, but that just makes sampling British beers a bit of a crapshoot for me. In this case, an expensive crapshoot, as I (wrongly) assumed that a port cask aged barleywine would have minimal diacetyl.

J.W. Lees Port Cask Harvest Ale - Pours a cloudy orange brown color with half a finger of off white head. Smells of toffee and some fruitiness, presumably from that port cask. The toffee has that buttery diacetyl note that I generally hate in British beers. And yep it's prominent in the taste too. I've had worse examples of this, but I just can't get on board with that particular character. Otherwise, it's got some nice port notes, and some caramel and toffee that are nice. Mouthfeel is rich and smooth, full bodied. Overall, it's clearly well made, I just can't get past that diacetyl. C+

Beer Nerd Details: 11.5% ABV bottled (adorable little 9.3 oz bottle). Drank out of a snifter on 6/1/13. Brewed in 2011.

A pity, as I like a good Porto every now and again and you rarely see US beers aged in Port barrels. Yeah, so anyway, I'm probably not going to check out the various other barrel aged treatments of this stuff, especially given the expense (for a tiny bottle, no less). Fortunately, I had some other great beer this weekend that would make up for this one, so stay tuned.

This is as close as I'll ever get to the ur-example of the Russian Imperial stout style, the granddaddy of all those monster stouts I love so much. Its origins date back to the 18th century, when an English brewery by the name of Thrale's brewed an extra hearty stout for export to the court of Catherine the Great in Russia. The apocryphal story of the beer's high alcohol and hop content is that they needed to do so in order for the beer to survive the trip (something about the beer freezing). This is apparently bunk. It turns out that the court of Catherine the Great was just a whole lot of fun, if you know what I mean.

Thrale's was eventually bought by Barclay Perkins, and soon after that, this beer changed hands again when Courage took over Barclay. There it stayed for, oh, let's say about 2 centuries. Courage fell on hard times, and by extension, so did their IRS. The style basically went extinct in Britain when Courage brewed their last batch in 1994, but us cheeky Yanks kept the style alive (what with our penchant for extreme beers) and UK brewer Wells & Young's purchased the Courage brand, re-instituting the venerable IRS in 2011. It comes in an adorable little 9.3 ounce bottle and carries a rather large price tag. I guess I should expect a high cost given the .rar bottle count of just 210,000. This thing is going to taste so rare. Sarcasm aside, I figured a beer this storied and influential deserves a look:

Courage Imperial Russian Stout - Look at me, with all my fancy camera angles. Oh, right, I already set aside sarcasm. The beer pours a pitch black color with a couple fingers of light brown head that leaves plenty of lacing as I drink. Smells of Euro hops, light caramel, toffee, slight roast. The taste features that caramel and and prominent toffee character, those Euro hops (guess: Fuggles or some form of Goldings), with a very subdued roast character emerging in the finish. This is going to sound silly, but it tastes British, the sort of thing I'd call out blind for sure. That Euro hop character was surprising for a big stout like this, and the toffee notes also seem distinctly British. Or maybe I'll full of shit. Mouthfeel is not quite as rich as I'd like, but definitely a lot to chew on, well carbonated, full bodied, but nothing overwhelming either. An interesting change of pace, for sure, though not a face melter or anything. I'm really glad I tried this, though something about that toffee character always bothers me. It wasn't as big of a deal in this beer as it is in, say, a British pale ale, but I still found that a bit odd. I'll give it a B with the proviso that this just isn't suited towards my tastes.

Beer Nerd Details: 10% ABV bottled (9.3 oz.) Drank out of a snifter on 2/8/13. 2012 Vintage. Best by 16/08/25. Bottle No. 116,808 of 210,000.

I'd be curious about how time treats this one. According to Martyn, the hop character fades considerably (unsurprising, especially since he's drinking a 40 year old bottle of the stuff!), though the toffee notes seem to stick around. On the other hand, I'd rather save my shekels and pick up an American facemelter more suited to my tastes.