A few beers on top of the ratings pile get there quickly on the speedy backs of hype.  Today’s beer used no artifice, instead slowly and surely winning fans a little more with each year’s seasonal release.  It’s more than just a bandwagon effect.  A score of 98 on Beer Advocate and 100 on Rate Beer reflect hundreds of individual craft beer fanatics trying it and saying, “Wow, this has megatons of explosive flavor!”  

This slow rolling juggernaut is Fremont’s renowned Bourbon Barrel Abominable Ale.  Abominable sets off a burst of deliciousness so loud locals affectionately refer to it as B-Bomb.  It rises above other Bourbon offerings with a Strong English Ale base whose caramel notes interweave and fortify the caramel and vanilla of the fifteen year old toasted oak.  

 

A near black with oily thickness, B-Bomb is intimidation in a glass.  Waves of molasses float by with caramel, whiskey and oak.  Whiskey flavors continue assuredly as you taste with sweet milk and chocolate balanced with a just noticeable English hop backing.   Deep leather ties in all together in one wood drenched bundle.

 

One of the most desired collectable beers, 2014’s B-Bomb packs a winter’s worth of bourbon flavors into each wax sealed bottle destined for the cellar.  Just released in extremely limited quantities, B-Bomb actually reflects years of effort.  Like a fine whiskey or wine, it is blended from 12 and 24 month old batches.   

 

As elusive as a yeti, yet the number one English Strong Ale on Rate Beer, Fremont’s Bourbon Barrel Abominable Ale must be tasted to be believed.  Pull up close and prepare to be blown away.