As I was walking through a local bottle shop I spied a bottle of AleSmith Decadence and almost as soon as I saw it the beer jumped in my cart and so I had to take it home. Decadence is currently brewed annually to celebrate the anniversary of AleSmith, but was originally brewed in 2005 to celebrate their first decade in business. The beer changes style from year to year and the style this year was Wheat Wine. Some of the styles from the past include:
2005 English-Style Old Ale
2006 Imperial Evil Dead Red Ale
2007 Imperial Porter
2008 English-Style Barleywine
2009 Dunkel Weizenbock
2010 English-Style Old Ale
2011 Maple Smoked Barleywine
2012 Belgian-Style Quadruple
2013 German-Style Doppelbock
After having the bad experience with Speedway, my fear was we might be getting beer dumped in NC. Luckily that is not the case. Decadence was a tremendous beer at 10.0% ABV. The aroma and flavor were filled with strong fruity esters which included pineapple, peaches, and passion fruit. The bitterness is what turned this beast into an outstanding evening. The hops were spicy and floral and bittered perfectly to accompany the sweet malt and wheat characteristics. I picked up a little banana in the aroma, but nothing over the top or unpleasant and this would not be confused with a hefeweizen. If you see it, let it jump into your cart too, it is a great bottle to have and share.