Ellicottville Fifteen

Another of the beers I tried at the Ellicottville Brewing Company was the Fifteen, their fifteenth anniversary beer. The beer pours an amber color with a frothy off-white head. The aroma consists of caramel, malts, pear, and oak. The taste is malty with pear and banana, some oak accents on the finish, and the after taste leaves vanilla on the tongue. The alcohol content is 8.4% ABV. The entire time I was drinking the beer, I was thinking what a smooth and flavorful beer the Fifteen was. Lots of sweet tastes balanced with wood makes for a very enjoyable brew.

Weyerbacher Fifteen- Smoked Imperial Stout

I picked up a four-pack of Weyerbacher Fifteen- Smoked Imperial Stout from Al's of Hampden. The beer pours a dark brown color with a thin bubbly tan head. The aroma consists heavily of chocolate and toasted malts, some milk and coffee, and a light background of smoke and oak. The taste starts off heavily on the dark chocolate flavor but quickly dries out with a big dose of smoke and toasted malts. There is a sharp alcohol bite of the back of the throat that clears the way for some coffee flavor. The beer finishes pretty dry due to the smoke and dark chocolate. The alcohol content is 10.8% ABV. This beer is not for the faint of heart, or those that don't like sitting around a campfire. The warmer the beer, the better it is, as the smoke becomes slightly less dominant and allows the other flavors to come forward.