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My buddy and I got a little carried away on Vintage Night at the Brick Store Pub in Atlanta. We started ordering off the vintage menu, but a lot of them had already gone dry so we turned our attention to the J.W. Lees Cask Series. The bottle was served up in a glass I am not familiar with. It could be tulip but the bulb is much more squat and the lip is very exaggerated. 2008 vintage that ran $15 a bottle (yikes!).

A: Pouring the bottle into the glass, it builds a body that is honey in color, giving off light browns and darker yellows/oranges in color. The body is crystal clear. Bit of a surprise, wonder if it was filtered? It bubbled up a little, and thin line of foam that barely covered the top of the body. It was gone rather quickly, but it was somewhat expected since this is an aged BW.

S: Smells like a damned fine BW. The most prevalent aroma was one from my youth and it took me forever to figure out what it was. Candied apples is what finally came to mind. Caramel presence as well. Good amount of wood and and some honey as well. Alcohol brings a bit of heat to the aroma but a pleasant and complimenting one. Smells great.

T: Just more goodness if you ask me. Just a nice caramel/candied apple flavor comes across first and foremost. It isn't crazy sweet like a caramel apple but it has a wonderful richness and sweetness about it. The wood character mixed with the alcohol, kind of brings out a very light whiskey/bourbon presence at times. Caramel malts are in full effect here but the apple brandy Calvados notes (I had no fuggin idea what Calvados was before this beer) really do a great job of cutting the sweetness somehow. Touch of spice rounds things off, I imagine stemming from the hops. Just fantastic.

M: Just what you expect from a J.W. Lee's BW. Full bodied with a wonderful creaminess, viscosity, and thickness. It coats the mouth wonderfully. Carbonation is incredibly light and the ABV just brings a light, slow burn at times. Aftertaste is that wonderful caramel apple flavor.

D: Uh . . . this is probably the easiest drinking really sweet beer I have ever had. It just has this incredible smoothness to it for a beer that has these wonderfully good sweet notes to it. It was impressive from start to finish and I would love to see what some age would do to this beer. Damned nice and so happy I decide to blow a stupid amount of money on this little beer. :) Get you some.

Price: $15.00 Served In: Tulip

Lightly hazed amber orange with a white ring. The brandy aroma is apparent, but I don’t think I’d pin it to apple. Same with the flavor. There something more that good ole JW Lees here. A touch on the warm side, but easy to drink. All of the great Harvest Character is here. Classic.

Served In: Pint Glass

Whoa..seriously big brew. Head fades rather quick. Smell is strong, alcohol and caramel. Taste is WOW, absolutely smooth for a brew of this size. Alcohol comes in pretty good in the end, but not overwhelming.

Served In: Pint Glass