NOTE: This beer has aged in the bottle for nearly 1 year.
Flashlight shows a deep clear ruby hue, no real head retention, smells of caramel, toffee, and black cherry. The taste is semi-sweet and very fruity, with flavors of cordial cherries, fruitcake, plum, raisin, and fig on a smooth and creamy full body. The finish is long and moderately high in bitterness, featuring notes of dark chocolate, oak, bourbon, herbal hops, black coffee, and vanilla. Overall this one is very nice, not quite as luscious in body as the XXVII, but with brighter and bolder flavors that give it a touch more complexity.
October 2024 Vintage
About The Blending
Every late summer, right before the wine harvest gets rolling, we invite our local winemaker friends to the brewery to help blend our annual Anniversary Ale. Winemakers are practicing experts in the art of blending and we realised carly on that they could provide invaluable input for creating a seamless beer out of numerous barrel-aged component ales. The winemakers come for both the challenge and the camaraderie They split up into small teams and create their own preferred blends from the provided components. Each of the resulting trials is then blind tasted by the entire group, and votes are cast for the winning blend. The victorious team walks away with bragging rights-and with a set of coveted cardboard crowns.
XXVIII Final Blend
DDBA (11.8% ABV) Aged in Bourbon Barrels (9% of blend)
Imperial Special Bitter OG-27.8P FG-7.9P IBU-26 Color-Ruby/A double version of our flagship DBA, fermented in oak barrels and aged for 12 months in bourbon barrels.
Stickee Monkee (12.9% ABV) Aged in Bourbon Barrels (37% of blend)
Central Coast Quad OG-29.37P FG-77.8 IBU-35 Color-Walnut / Round and full-bodied Quad brewed with Belgian Candi sugar and Mexican brown sugar.
Bravo (12.55% ABV) Aged in Bourbon Barrels (28% of blend)
Imperial Brown Ale OG-25.2P FG-3.4 IBU-35 Color-Deep Brown/The OG – A longtime beloved base beer used to blend our barleywines. Old school and lean. Hopped with Brave und Styrian Golding hops. 12 months in bourbon barrels.
Helldorado (14.2% ABV) Aged in Bourbon Barrels (4% of blend)
Blonde Barleywine OG-27.1P FG-28P IBU-11 Color Golden Blonde/Special four-year-old bourbon barrels were unearthed from the cellar. Lean and focused to express barrel character, hopped with Styrian Golding.
Velvet Merkin (8.5% ABV) Aged in Bourbon Barrels (4% of blend)
Milk Stout OG-21.9P FG-5.3 IBU-30 Color-Black Velvet / An old friend from the barrel program which goes into barrels as a 5.5% ABV milk stout and comes out as a complex and rich 8.5% velvety fudgy delight. Brewed with oats and milk sugar. Hopped with 100% Oregon-grown Fuggle.
Weldwerks Stout Blend (12.74% ABV) Aged in Bourbon Barrels (7% of blend)
Imperial Stout OG-34.5P FG-14.5P IBU-48 Color Black Hole / A collaboration with our friends from Greeley, Colorado. These two-year-old stout barrels were the last of our stock. Massive, chewy and complex.
PaRyebola (15.2% ABV) Aged in Rye Barrels (11% of blend)
Imperial Stout OG-34.22P FG-9.7P IBU-55 Color Midnight/Our beloved Parabola recipe aged for 18 months in very wet, small format, straight rye whiskey barrels. Massive amounts of roast barley, hopped with Styrian Golding and Hallertau Tradition, saturated with rye whiskey character.
