AleSmith ‘08 Decadence

Posted January 7th, 2009 by Nate

I’m mad at AleSmith. They are evil, conniving people. AleSmith has gone off and created a beer that will most likely ruin me for beer for weeks to come. I will not be able to drink a pint of anything without comparing it to said beer, and thus all others will fall short.

I had the opportunity privelege glorious luck of getting to try the new (unreleased) Decadence at AleSmith’s tasting night at the wine cellar in Escondido. It was about the tenth beer and things were really starting to get interesting when they busted this out. As soon as I tried it I got the chills. I’m not exaggerating.

AleSmith’s newest Decadence (which they offer up every year) is an Imperial Porter. As previously mentioned, I am not a huge Porter fan, or at least I wasn’t before this. Decadence is aged in Bourbon Barrels for nine months. The nose is a strong mix of bourbon and vanilla. It’s definitely complex; you get hit with all sorts of flavors while drinking this, but nothing really gets lost. It is a perfectly balanced beer.

I begged and pleaded with them to sell me a bottle. They politely refused. AleSmith hasn’t said when they’re releasing this, but rest assured that we will be there when they do, and we’ll let you know about it (as soon as we’ve bought ours, that is).

photo credit: brixton