Mass Extinction Ice Barley Wine (Phillips, 12%)
More beer and marketing alchemy from Phillips of Victoria.
Ice barley wine – not a completely new innovation but still pretty rare – follows the same process of freeze distillation that a bock does to create an eisbock like my beloved Hermannator: Essentially, freeze the beer, in this case a barley wine, and keep what’s unfrozen.
This, of course, makes for a much higher alcohol content, so methinks Phillips may be telling sweet little porkies about the 12% ABV. Barley wines already clock in around that figure, so distilling it would ramp up the strength considerably. I’ve been informed that 12% is the B.C. Liquor Control Board’s cut-off point for taxation of beer – beyond that, it’s taxed as a spirit, so some massaging of figures is probably worth the brewery’s while.
Regardless, this is an unusual brew that’s worth trying for its unusualness, and to witness again Phillips’ characteristically imaginative marketing. It’s a fantastic name and a fantastic label, which depicts a frozen triceratops skull and informs us that Mass Extinction was “frozen 3 times during the Fermentaceous Period” and has “archaealcohologists salivating over their topographical maps.” Silly stuff, but I love it.
On the serious side of things: Mass Extinction is an alluringly clear brew that runs through shades from garnet to dark gold highlights. It pours with average carbonation.
There’s not a huge complexity on the nose, but it’s still lightly fruity with aromas of toasted caramel, slightly solventy booze and a little bit of floral hops.
In the mouth, it’s all about the malt: A dense, powerful, sweet roasted maltiness, in fact, with scorched caramel, toffee, some licorice, raisins and a hint of vanilla giving way to a big bitterness and a wave of alcoholic heat that warms the belly. An all-over dryness follows.
This would make for a great dessert beer – rich fruit puddings would make for a nice pairing, I reckon – and would also go well with some blindingly saline blue cheese; though it would also stand up well on its own as a digestif.
Mass Extinction was released way back in January, but I’ve still seen bottles around my usual liquor store haunts (Steamworks comes to mind). Mercifully, it’s a 341ml bottle.
Beer Cat: Uninterested
jzeschky@theprovince.com
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