Criminally Bad Elf by Ridgeway Brewery
Cheers, I know it has been a while since my last post. Holiday season is busy for a server/bartender and now I have settled down after the holiday season, time to get back into the swing of reviews. The brew I am trying tonight is one that I received as a gift for my birthday, from my friend Daniel, who is a Sommelier . I have not tried this beer before and am excited to try this particular style of brew. The brew I am trying tonight is from an English Brewery that I have never tried before tonight. Ridgeway Brewery is located in South Stoke. I have not tried this particular style of beer before as well. Criminally Bad Elf is an English style Barleywine. Barleywines are beers that tend to act like wines and are usually able to be cellared like wines. They are strong in alcohol content and tend to blend malt sweetness with bitter hop notes. While looking up this style it gives me some hope to the style because of the blend of hop and malt notes. I have been hesitant to try Barleywines because of their inherent strong Alcohol by Volume and they usually have a high booze taste to them like wine. Criminally Bad Elf has an alcohol by volume or ABV of 10.5%.
Appearance of Criminally Bad Elf
The aroma of Criminally Bad Elf is a sweet aroma. The first aroma I picked up was a sweet aroma followed by a booze forward aroma. The sweet aroma I noticed was a caramel aroma and then I picked up on the fruity esters in the booze aroma. There is a subtle spice note that is tough to pick up, but if you give it a chance it will appear. Moving on towards the appearance of Criminally Bad Elf, I noticed the lighter colored appearance. If I had to pick a color of the appearance of this barleywine, I would have to say is a light Amber or something that reminds me of the appearance of a traditional Lager. In fact it almost looks like a copper color. The foam or head of Criminally Bad Elf is little to none after being poured it quickly dissipates and leaves very little foam behind. The foam or head that is still apparent is limited to the outside of the glass and has a small rim around the outside.
Taste and body of the beer is all the I have left to check out on this brew. So far, from what I have encountered I have not been turned off of this brew. I am eager to see what an English Style Barleywine tastes like. The first sip, I took I noticed the sweet taste of the brew, which for me is something I would look for over a bitter hop note beer. In this particular style the sweet taste is too overpowering and does not allow any other notes to pop through the sweet taste. The caramel that you smell in the aroma is present in the taste of the beer. The other noticeable characteristic that is present is the booze forward presence. Towards the end of the sip you do notice the bitter hop note, but initially the sweet fruity esters take precedence over all other profiles in the brew. I think that the beer has a smooth and thick body to the beer. It is definitely drinkable and something I would/could enjoy on a cold night like tonight.
Criminally Bad Elf by Ridgeway Brewery
Overall I think that Criminally Bad Elf is a good brew for someone that really enjoys higher alcohol by volume brews. I tend to try to only have these types of beers every once in awhile because I know it can mess you up very quickly depending on how quickly you enjoy it. We are in the season of this style of beers, so if you know any other Quads or Barleywines I show try let me know. Getting back to this brew, I think this brew is a little too booze forward for me, but I did enjoy the malt forward taste over the hop forward taste. Barleywines are a particular style of brew one might look to cellar for a year or two to help mellow out the malt or hop profiles in the brew. If you have had this brew or know any beers like this that I should try next, suggest them to me on Twitter: @craftbeerkcco
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