Finally it's here.... my 1000th beer on Untappd! Lots of people kept asking me if I was planning a special beer or if I had one picked out already. I think in the back of my mind I always knew that Labyrinth by Unita Brewing located near Salt Lake City, Utah that we had been cellaring would be the beer.
Oddly enough I first learned about this beer close to 8yrs ago when I was a beer packaging designer and fell in love with it's unique artwork by Utah artist Trent Call. At that time I almost didn't care what was in the bottle! After doing a bit of research and finally finding it we just sort of "held onto it for a special occasion"... funny that occasion happened about 6yrs after we found it!
This week's experiment in aging was MUCH better than last week's... by a TON! Being corked rather than crowned probably had much to do with it as when we opened it, it made the "pop" sound it should and created the foam it should on the head of the beer as well. We've been holding onto this baby since a trip to Central Illinois in 2011 (hence the photo of the bottle date to prove it, ha!)
The last "1" from "11" got a little smudged but you get the idea.
Part of Unita's Crooked Line of beers Labyrinth is a Black Ale. Now I know compared to others this might sound rather plain but that's far from the case. Rather it is a black ale brewed with licorice sticks aged in oak barrels. Without having to even look at the tasting notes (but later doing so) I got out of this beer EXACTLY what I should have! A nice chocolate, licorice flavor with a hint of toasted oak.... it was A-MAZ-ING! At a an ABV of a whopping 13.2% this couldn't have been a better beer to age and I am sure that age added to that ABV a bit as well.
Needless to say the husband and I shared a bottle and I felt prettttttty good after that one glass. Oh the joys of high ABV beer! I am really excited to finally have reached the 1000th beer milestone on Untappd... now I can stop stressing about what I am going to enjoy next and simply have a beer again! Cheers!
Credits | Author: Krista & Photography: Fornear Photo
Sounds like it was a good choice and worth the wait! I don't know if I'll ever get to 1000 unique beers on Untappd, but it's a goal of mine, lol! Congrats on yours!
ReplyDeleteI go to soooooo many beer festivals that it wasn't super hard for me to achieve it. Some people get a little snobby on there about if you simply sample or if you drink a full beer or not. I don't think I could have had full beers of some ones I have tried but that is just me. Mostly because sometimes I simply want to sample something that I have been curious about turn out to not like it or I am being responsible and don't want to get buzzed up. I bet you can do it!! :-)
DeleteI've never heard of black ale's before, but then again I'm not as big into beer as my husband is. You make it sound so delish, which I'm sure it is :)
ReplyDeleteOh if you can find it this one is awesome!
DeleteWe love craft beer too, and we've got a nice collection of bottles, but not that one! My husband really likes the very dark beers so I'll keep an eye out for it :)
ReplyDeleteYou need to!! Sadly we found this one in Illinois.
DeleteOh. My. Goodness. This sounds incredible! We have a few little micro breweries popping up in Aus but clearly are still behind. 1000 beers!!
ReplyDeleteLocal breweries are the best!! If history indicates (before prohibition and they were all knocked out for awhile) this is actually a very rich tradition in our country that is great to be back!
DeleteSounds and looks delicious!
ReplyDelete