Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary Jack & Ken's Ale
Jack McAuliffe was the first American "micro" brewer. His tiny New Albion Brewery in Sonoma, California inspired countless dreamers to start small-scale breweries of their own. Jack agreed to guest brew this very special ale with us in honor of our 30th anniversary. This Black Barleywine Ale is a nod to the legendary ales New Albion served at their legendary summer solstice parties. Rich with bittersweet and roasted malt flavors, balanced with whole-cone American hops, this robust ale should age gracefully for years.
3.9
570 reviews
Chico, United States
Community reviews
Bottle shared. Deep red brown pour with thin tan head. Aroma is very roasted, tons of Madeira, so oxidized, minty. Taste is very rough, roasted, oxidized, lots of booze. Palate is full bodied, hot alcohol, light carbonation.
Où, Quand, Comment :
Bouteille, dégustée le 9/14/2013.
Visuel :
Couleur : brune foncée.
Apparence : semi-voilée.
Arôme :
Caramel toffee, houblon herbeux et résineux, léger de fruits (raisins), notes rôties.
Goût :
En entrée de bouche : Léger goût fruité (raisins, notes de fruits foncés) avec des petites notes épicées.
Une dominante maltée de caramel et de malt sucré légèrement rôti est présente une moyenne amertume de houblon herbeux et résineux ainsi qu’avec des notes d’alcool.
En bouche :
Corps : moyenne.
Effervescence : moyenne-douce.
Texture : légèrement huileuse.
Finale : moyenne-longue, composée d’un moyenne amertume d’alcool, de houblon herbeux et résineux avec des notes fruitées et sucrées.
Just opened a bottle on 01/04/2016 which I had cellared/saved and wow, very good...
Bottle. Thanks Tim! Medicinal, roasty, bit of spice. Taste is good, treacle, bit of sweetness, booze, dark chocolate but sweet too, caramel, very nice as it warms. Warm and full bodied.
Thanks to TimE for sharing the bottle at the tasting!
Poured into a taster showing light coffee with a finger of latte colored foam.
The nose shows a lot of caramelized black sugar.
The palate shows a lot of the same with a moderate carbonation and a strong caramelized black sugar forwardness. Very slight bitterness at the end from the hops.
Pours dark brown, bit of beige foam. Aroma is nicely full of roast, vinous even, bit boozy, hints of vanilla. Taste is more intense, some bitterness bringing out vineus dark fruits. Actually very nice, full of berries, smooth, flavours are coming nicely together. Boozy but in a good way. Hoppy as well actually. I like this one a lot, excellent sipper and I could sip quite a lot of this.
Dark brown color. Huge nose that is slightly tart with huge burnt raisins, brown sugar, dark fruit just over the top, a bit of molasses and treacles. Really rounded. Smooth. Heavy. So we’ll put together.
Draft at TBBT for their anniversary party. Pour is a murky brown with minimal head. Aroma is a bit of paper and cardboard. Light raisin/fruitiness. Taste is immediately showing the age. Light paper, seems thin too. Still has some nice bread and biscuit. Lightly carbonated. Overall, drink immediately.
Bottle. Pours clear ruby black, large brown head, creamy and slow to dissipate leaving great residual and lacing. Aroma is caramel, toffee, raisin, vanilla, fig, pine, dark breads. Flavor is medium sweet and medium bitter, rich and complex. Full body, creamy mouthfeel. Lingering bitterness.
Appearance: dark mahogany; slightly hazy; squat off-white head has decent retention.
Smell: Spicy hops and roasted malt dominates. High ABV evident but not objectionable.
Taste: Quite smooth and tame (in terms of bite) for a barleywine; some extra aging in effect here, I believe. A nice palette of hops, malt, caramel, and spice flavors also helps mask the alcohol. More hops than usual for style, but not so much as to overpower the nice complex interplay of other flavors. Rating approaches 9.
Mouthfeel: Medium body; light carbonation; slight warming from alcohol.
Overall: Probably my 1st black barleywine, so I can’t judge it for style. Certainly quite enjoyable for a beer with this kind of ABV, and better than most barleywines of any variety in my limited experience. Excellent choice if you like a black IPA. (From notes)
I selected this as my Thanksgiving Day 2014 "special occasion" brew from the cellar. Yummy...tastes of dried fruit laced with notes of coffee, brown sugar, and all good things barley wine. The brew was four years old but still had quite a head in my glass.
"marketed as some form of hybrid imperial porter/barleywine...ends up not being either. aroma is a bit of sweet and roasted malt, and a sh--load of hops, piney and spicy. pours black, a little viscous, but not as thick in the feel as you expect. flavor is dominated again by the overzealous hopping, which while not altogether unpleasant, kills the complexity i was expecting from this beer and made it instead into a palate wrecking hop bomb. c’mon, guys, show a little restraint when hopping a beer. this is a good beer, but it coulda been a contender! the hops mellowed big time with just a little age. more drinkable, not necessarily better."
Bottles in 2010, stored under under refrigeration until Sept 2014. Black, with a huge brownish beige head. Lots of raisin and prune in the aroma, plus vanilla and oak. Taste is a lot of prune, some grape, some oak, and some black pepper. Hints of dark chocolate emerge as it warms. Seems to have held up pretty well, actually.
750 ml bottle into snifter, bottled on 7/12/2010. Pours fairly pitch black color with a 2 finger dense khaki head with great retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice dense soapy lacing clings around the glass, with some moderate streaming carbonation retaining the head. Aromas of big caramel, toffee, toast, brown sugar, brown bread, raisin, plum, fig, chocolate, cocoa, light roast, citrus zest, light pine, herbal, grass, and herbal/toasted earthiness. Very nice aromas with good balance and complexity of dark/bready malt, fruitiness, and light-moderate hop notes; with great strength. Taste of big caramel, toast, toffee, raisin, plum, fig, brown sugar, brown bread, chocolate, cocoa, light roast, citrus zest, light pine, herbal, grass, and herbal/toasted earthiness. Light-moderate earthy pine/roasted bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of caramel, toast, toffee, raisin, plum, fig, brown sugar, brown bread, chocolate, cocoa, light roast, light pine, and herbal/roasted earthiness on the finish for a while. Fantastic complexity and balance of dark/roasted malt, fruitiness, and light citrus/pine hop flavors; with a great malt/bitterness balance and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Medium carbonation and full bodied; with a very creamy, slick, and lightly chalky mouthfeel that is great. Alcohol is well hidden with only a slight warming present after the finish. Overall this is an outstanding dark barleywine style. All around awesome complexity and balance of dark/roasted malt, fruitiness, and light-moderate citrus/pine hops flavors; and very smooth to sip on for the big ABV. A highly enjoyable offering, definitely aging well.
Draft at HopCat. 2010. Pours black. Aroma is malty caramel and toffee. Taste is toffee and alcohol.
Draft at HopCat GR - 2010 vintage - pours almost jet black . Piney citrus aromas . Mild roast notes and still a fair amount of bitterness . Very good .
From notes. Enjoyed at the Ashley’s Rare & Vintage Beer TasteFest on June 07. The pour is a deep ruby with a thin ring of white head and no lacing. The aroma is pretty great. There is a bit of malty caramel, a nice toast on the malt, and a good presence of dark fruit. There is a light booziness and a mild grass hop on the back end. The flavor is incredibly similar. It’s nice and sweet, with a good complexity. The mouth feel is a bit thin and the carbonation is there, but doesn’t help out much. The after taste is lingering dark fruits and light malt. Pretty good
From a 75 cl bottle courtesy of Andree’s secret stash. Pours a hazy dark amber with an ecru head. Aroma of caramel. Flavors of dark cherries some oxidation but still quite tasty.
bottle..Pour is dark brown with a off white head...Nose dark caramel s, toffee, some hop spice..Taste is some coffee, bold roast, bitter, hop spice..
Aged for 3 years in cellar and serves in a tulip. Aromas of rich cocoa married with earth/floral hops and moderate alcohol. Deep, deep brown, cola brown highlights and dark tan head. Rich, complex flavor of roasted coffee, moderate high bitterness and chocolate.
Dark brown with a beige head. Aroma is caramel, honey, raisins, brown sugar, toffee. Full bodied, sticky mouthfeel, bittersweet on the palate. Taste is toffee, toast with marmalade, burnt citrus.
Pours an opaque chocolate brown with a bit of a buff head. Aroma has sweet caramel, woody, and bourbon-ish notes. Flavor has a strong alcohol bite as well as caramel and woody notes. Smooth, viscous texture is fairly fizzy. Glad I caught a snort at the HMOG!
Black, big foamy tan head. Aroma is surprisingly hoppy, a swirl brings out some chocolate with toffee undertones. Flavor is odd and not at all like a barleywine. Sweet roasty chocolate with some alcohol in the finish. Strange beer, maybe I waited too long on it.
Black in the glass. Flavor and aroma of fig, prunes, mocha and spice. Overall, very tasty. Thanks to BarZigKin for holding on to this gem and sharing.
Pours a deep brown with a huge, dense, brown head. Aroma has a strong hops presence with notes of deep citrus, light grassy notes with a very strong caramel, toasted malt presence with a light roasted note and a very big, boozy, almost whiskey like finish. Flavor starts off with a light chocolate, strong caramel and hefty toasted malt presence. The hops compliment the sweet maltiness with a very pronounced citrus, light pine and grassy bitterness. The alcohol comes in late and melds very nicely with sweetness and bitter from earlier. Body is modest with a medium amount of carbonation but looses a bit of body to the alcohol. Overall a very nice beer that stokes the fire for these cold, snowy days of the year.
A nice black body with a tan head that had decent retention and no lace. Aroma had a bold presence of oak and pine notes upfront. Subtle vanilla mixed in with bold caramel malts and there was a nice sense of alcohol. Flavor was initially sweet upfront, bitter balanced it out and the finish was of alcohol. There was a nice vanilla character to it. A smooth body and minimal carbonation were a plus. Good beer.
Wow, this one packs a punch, like a robust Baltic porter combined with a west coast ultra hoppy barleywine. Thin head that dissipates quickly, good lacing on the glass, leaves nice lines down the edge of the glass like a whiskey. Aroma is of dark fruit, caramel, roasted coffee beans, and some floral hop notes. Taste is the same, tough to hide the booze but this does a good job of it. Wonderful finish.
Reviewed from notes verbatim on 9/23/10
A: Deep brown, barely visible light. Thick, whipped tan head. Strong lacing. Great.
S: Chocolate, pine, bread, coffee. Quite nice. I keep leaning back for a whiff.
T: Burnt cocoa, coffee notes, pine. A hint hot on the alcohol front. Warm, thick finish belabors the intensity of this beer.
M: Thick and vicscous rivaling beers such as ten FIDY in thickness. Good carbonation.
D: Absolutely fantastic! Wish this was a regular offering. One and done seems to little. Guess I will need to stock up because this one’s gonna age so well.
Serving type: bottle
03-18-2011
Bottle share taster. Dark brown, amber highlights. Aroma of tart raisin, chocolate. Taste is tart, followed by a sustained dry finish.
Bottle at the parentals with my dad. Pour is deep, murky brown with a frothy brown head and great lacing. Caramel, toffee, woody, minty, roasty, herbal, figgy, and plummy aroma. Taste roasty, slightly oxidized, black licorice, chocolate, raisins, figs, toffee, sticky bread, and biscuity with a lightly roasted finish. Creamy mouthfeel with soft carbonation. Pretty good.