Heavy Seas Yule Tide 2014 Weizen Doppelbock Aged in Rum Barrels

Review Date 8/12/2015 By John Staradumsky

  Style: Weizenbock   Brewery: Clipper City   Country: USA   State: Maryland   $ Per OZ: $.36 (B)   ABV: 9%

Yo ho ho. Ho ho ho. Yo ho ho and a bottle of….beer. If Santa had been a pirate, would he have laughed a yo ho ho instead of a ho ho ho? Maybe he did when delivering Blackbeard his presents. I guess we’ll never know, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy a bottle of Heavy Seas Mutiny Fleet Yule Tide Weizen Doppelbock Ale Aged in Rum Barrels. 

Part of Heavy Seas Uncharted Water Series of specialty beers, Yule Tide is (obviously) a winter seasonal release and a beer that, even if you’ve had it before, maybe you haven’t had it before. That’s because Heavy Seas offers a different beer from time to time as their Yule Tide offering (in 2012 it was Yule Tide Belgian Style Tripel).

Each year does seem to be a strong, hearty ale however, and a Weizen Doppelbock (think Aventinus) is no exception. As a result, these make great candidates to hang onto for my annual Christmas in July celebration. That’s just what I did with the 2012, and here I am in July of 2015 drinking the 2014 Yule Tide Weizen Doppelbock.

From the label:

Heavy Seas'ons greetings! As a special thank you to our beer drinking public and supporters of our Uncharted Waters, we offer this malty Weizen Dopplebock aged in Jamaican Rum Barrels, Mon'! Yule Tide is sure to make you comfortable on a cold winter's evening. You could pair this with your mother's fruit cake, but everyone would laugh at you.

Ingredients from the website:

Hops: Styrian Aurora, Tettnang

Malts: 2 Row, Wheat, Munich, Cara Wheat, Dark Crystal, Chocolate

Heavy Seas Mutiny Fleet Yule Tide Weizen Doppelbock Ale Aged in Rum Barrels has an alcohol content of 9% by volume with 28 IBUs. I paid $7.99 for a 22-ounce bomber bottle. Heavy Seas encourages aging of these beers and claims the vintage dating is conducive to that end.

Heavy Seas Mutiny Fleet Yule Tide Weizen Doppelbock Ale Aged in Rum Barrels pours to a dark ruby red color with a thick creamy head and a quite spicy nose of cloves drenched in rum. Taking a sip, the beer has rich deep dark toasty nutty melanoidin notes with some wheat tartness in between, notes of dark raisin fruit, subtle woodiness, and rum raisin ice cream. The beer finishes dry with warming alcohol though not a lot of hops.

A very nice beer indeed with a luxurious full body, Yule Tide Weizen Doppelbock becomes quite rummy as it warms. What will the 2015 edition of this beer bring? Only time will tell. See you next July!

 Glad I tried it?  T

Would I rebuy it??