Bottle/Tap: Bottle

I spent last week raiding my favorite beer spots and finally found a bottle of mythical Vermonster.  As it turns out, it was the only bottle this store had; did I feel bad taking it?  No, because I knew you’d want to hear about it.

We had some friends over for pizza and Dexter watching, so I busted out the bottle to test.  I split the beer in a few glasses and found that the dark amber color was intriguing.  It looked like syrup and had a strong aroma.  Well, it is a 10% barley wine, what did you expect?  I’m not one for barley wines, but I did enjoy this one.

The flavor was pretty complex to boot.  I noticed a caramel taste, it started sweet then turned slightly bitter after a few more sips.  I put it in the fridge for some of the day and then had it sit out before I poured it. It is a wine you should let it breathe.  As it reached room temperature I found that there was a nut flavor, too, and I really could taste the alcohol content.

The best way I could classify this, besides barley wine, would be to call it a strong brown ale.  There was only a little left in my glass when I had the idea: ice cream.  I put a spoonful of vanilla ice cream in my glass, stirred it up and found that it tasted great.  In a few seconds I had a beer-shake, and I was happy.

The fact of the matter is: this beer is great and should be enjoyed by everyone.  If you can tell the difference between caffeine and beer, this is the drink for you.  If you can’t, there is no help for you.