Smuttynose Wheat Wine

Overall: 3.5 out of 5 steins

Good for people who like: Barleywine, Belgian Quad, syrup

Goes well with: pork

Stats: 11.4% abv

Brewery: Smuttynose Brewing Co

Bought it at: Sam's Quik Shop

Wow. If you are looking for a beer to lay you out, this is it. The alcohol content is big and you can't miss it. As with most high abv beers, this one's alcohol presence masks some of the other great flavors going on here. To Matt's comment on the Brooklyn Chocolate Stout, I bet this one also gets better with age. That being said...

Start drinking this beer with a meal, and continue drinking through the evening. I drank this after a long day and a hastily eaten plate of tortellini, which was a mistake. There is a lot of complexity to this brew, and I think you need different flavor combinations and temperature changes to bring them all out. Plus, holy crap the alcohol is so big that it will knock you into oblivion if you drink it too fast. I think pork would be a good choice for a meal pairing.

Personally, I'm not a huge barleywine fan. But if I'm in the mood for one, I'm going to try this beer again. The wheat really helps balance out some of the harshness that barleywines usually have and there's a dose of hops that do a nice job of rounding out the flavor without slamming you in the face. Smuttynose calls them herbaceous. Sure, we'll go with that.

Bottom line, I think this wheatwine is worth a try if you are in the mood for something in the strong ale category. This is my first experience with the style. Love to hear if anyone else has tried this or another wheatwine.