100 Beers, 100 Days: Day #11
“Premium Ale Brewed with Honey” The Millenium ale is brewed in the barleywine style, so-named because it’s made with barley but as strong as wine. These are beers made for sipping in front of a roaring fire, so of course I cracked one open on a 70° day in late April. At least it gave me an excuse to use a snifter and feel all fancy.
The beer poured a murky golden brown with barely any head. It was aged in oak barrels, which comes through a little bit in the aroma, along with a sweet, fruity smell of plums and dates, and alcohol. I did not enjoy the first sip. It was a surprise: the smell didn’t hint at any bitterness, and I expected something mostly sweet and fruity, along the lines of a Belgian dubbel. I braced myself for the second sip, and, forewarned and forearmed, it was much more enjoyable. There’s a strong, earthy bitterness combined with a syrupy, fruity sweetness and flavors of vanilla and oak. I can’t pick out the advertised honey, so I assume it’s an extra sweetness lost in the sea of mollases-thick malts.
And then there’s the alcohol. I didn’t really notice it much in the flavor, but I started feeling a little tipsy about halfway through the bottle and decided to look up the ABV. 10.5% according to Old Dominion, 11.4% according to Beer Advocate. Either way, it’s pretty strong. This is a good beer for sipping and pondering when you don’t need to operate heavy machinery or do anything important for the rest of the night. The style and strength make it ideal for aging, allowing me to overcome my seasonal mismatch by sticking the other five bottles in a closet until next winter.
My only complaint with the Millenium is the amount of hops. Old Dominion doesn’t make an IPA, so the hops are probably just there to try to balance the very sweet flavor of the rest of the beer rather than to prove something, but I think they went a shade too far. Hopefully that’ll smooth itself out in a few seasons.