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A couple of noteworthy things happened this week in terms of beers for me:

1. I hit my 100th beer reviewed (not a 100 posts but a 100 different beers);
   
   
2. Apparently it is the 400th week of the #BeerSaturday weekly post/challenge; and
   
   
3. My 100th beer reviewed, The Icenator, is a whopping 20.4% ABV beer, making it South Africa's heaviest beer by ABV standard.
   
   

I wanted to write about some special beer for my 100th beer review for quite a while. There were a couple of contenders, but when I saw this beer, the heaviest beer in South Africa, I could not think of a better one!

I paired this heavy beer with two other big hitting beers, a Bourbon wood old styled ale of about 11% ABV and the notorious Black Oil, a barrel aged imperial stout.

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This marks thus the last post in which I will list the first 100 beers that I reviewed for #BeerSaturday; I will start a new one from scratch. I will also make a general post in which I go down memory lane in which I write about the best and the worst beers so far for me in the South African beer scene. There were some good and memorable ones, but there are also some bad ones.

But for this #BeerSaturday, I treated myself to having not only some of the heaviest, but some of the best in South Africa! So, without further ado, please join me on this tasting experience of these heavy hitting beers.

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Bourbon Wood: Barrel Aged Old Ale

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Old Ale | 11.2% ABV | ?? IBUs

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The first of the heavy trio was an old ale barrel aged in bourbon casks. The dedication to make this beer was incredible. They blended different aged ales, from 5 to 2 year old beers. It blows one's mind that in this day and age of fast paced consumerism, with commercial beers turning around in 2 weeks, that we can still buy beers that have aged for up to 5 years.

Again, think about this: in an age where commercial beer turn around is sometimes within 2 weeks, this beer aged for 5 years! (At least, some parts of it, as it is a blend between different vintages.)

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Let me move to the tasting notes.

My first smell was definitely cask and woody, with a slight sourness on the nose. But it was mostly wood and that typical ale smell but close to stout or porter - there was definitely some dark malts there.

It was very carbonated compared to the other beers in this Soul Barrel series so far. But, as I will discuss below, I threw some in wine glass to get rid of carbonation.

As I began tasting this beer, savouring every taste, I got pronounced vanilla and chocolate flavours. Also strong liquorice.

When the beer was more flat and in a wine glass, I got very sweet notes, mixed with some sour, but always with the undertones of the complex woody cask character. Again, it was almost like a stout or very strong ale porter taste coming through.

This was an incredibly complex beer; combining all the sour beers the IPA, and the heavy porter. It was very high alcohol but you don't really smell or taste it.

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This beer was so heavy and complex in the end, I needed to pour a tiny bit in a wine glass, drinking and appreciating it more like a wine than a beer. With the carbonation also out of the way (as the double pour got rid of a lot of the carbonation) the subtle flavours also came through more prominently. In the future, I will pour this beer straight into wine glasses rather than beer glasses!

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Black Oil: Barrel Aged Imperial Stout

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Imperial Stout | 13% ABV | 55 IBUs

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This was the beer that wanted me to get to the brewery as quickly as possible. I saw this beer and knew that my father would love this beer. And love it he did! It was an incredible experience, a once in a lifetime moment, as I think they are not making this beer any more (as it is nowhere to be found on their website - not even on the wayback machine!).

The first smell was deep dark; slightly yeasty and musky. It was an incredible stout, I could detect this from just the first smell.

The first taste... was deep. I cannot describe it otherwise. It was warming due to high ABV. There were deep and rich chocolate caramel notes; roasted malt and incredible wood notes.

It really did smell like a barrel but in every pleasant way.

I got some some sweetness on the sip; but it was heavy and bitter the longer you drink. It was very bitter in a good way.

As it warms up a bit, I was getting more pronounced wood flavours with a slight yeastiness coming through as well, but this was a good thing.

The beer could not be other than thick and full bodied with a very luscious and creamy but smooth mouthfeel. It had just the perfect amount of carbonation.

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Icenator Eisbock

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Eisbock | 20.4% ABV | 50 IBUs

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Yes, you read that correctly: this beer has 20% alcohol. Is this even still a beer? Is it not a beer inspired wine at this stage? I am not sure what to make of it.

But for my 100th beer reviewed for #BeerSaturday, I could not think about a more fitting beer to drink. And my word, was this not the best thing? I cannot begin to describe it.

Firstly, I was lucky to even have this, as they only made a limited amount of them and I bought mine when there were only about 10 bottles left. I could not justify buying more than one, because it is more expensive than wine but a redeeming factor might have been that you can age this beer up to 20 years because of the high ABV. But, I am not sure I want to make that investment, as this beer alone cost more than a case of their IPA. And if you ask me, I would rather take the case of IPA than one of these beers.

But this was the 100th special beer, so I kept my eyes closed and bought the beer.

On to the tasting notes:

The first smell was intense dark roasted malts and burnt butterscotch. It was kind of alcoholic for obvious reasons, but it was not overpowering.

The first sip was warming, thick, with strong caramel.

Smelling it again, it was almost like a brandy; but with smokey elements.

There was a very pronounced sweetness, taste and smell.

Then strong raisins come through, very strong as the pamphlet says. I also definitely get the sherry they are speaking about; it literally tasted like a old sweet sherry or a port that was kept for too long in the bottle. (If you ever had the privilege to taste a 20 year old sherry or port you would know.) As it warms up, there were more pronounced sherry notes, especially very old sherry.

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It was just an incredible beer; it was an event, a moment. It was a one in a lifetime experience. I am not sure if they will brew this ever again. As this beer was a fluke, they only found a barrel or two by mistake, something they actually forgot for three years, remaining in the back of their aging room. Through the process of "freeze distilling" (freezing the beer and then slowly thawing it and then removing the ice in the end), they got to this heavy beast of a beer. They then aged it again!

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Postscriptim, or Cheers to the next 100!

I have already started with the next 100 beers. South Africa has so much to offer, with so many unique and different beers. I was in Johannesburg, or Jozi, for a while, and there were so many beers to drink! I could not believe how rich their IPA scene was... But more on this later!

For now, I will start anew with the Inside the Philosopher's Fridge, as this list below has already grown to a really beautifully but incredibly long list of beers.

So for now, enjoy your beer, and keep well.

All of the musings and writings in this post are my own. They are all my own subjective drunk opinions. The photographs are also my own, taken with my Nikon D300.