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Southern Tier Brewing Company released two limited edition beers for winter 2016: Back Burner barley wine and 2XSMaSH double IPA.

One of Upstate New York's largest breweries, Southern Tier Brewing Company, has produced a range of high-quality and sought-after beers since 2002. Based in Lakewood, a suburb of Jamestown, the brewery is known for core beers like its IPA and 2XIPA, and has gained national acclaim for seasonals Pumking, Creme Brulee and Choklat. It also continues to grow, adding a canning line to its operation, and producing more than 100,000 barrels of beer (equivalent to 3.1 million gallons) in 2015.

To kick off 2016, Southern Tier brought a beer out of retirement and ventured into a new style of India pale ale brewing.

Back Burner is a barley wine, a malt-forward British farmhouse beer, last brewed by Southern Tier in 2012. It's a full-bodied, sipping beer big on alcohol content (10.6%) and warmth.

2XSMaSH is an unintentional nod to homebrewers. Rather than use multiple varieties of hops and malts in this double IPA, the 2XSMaSH, or Single Malt, Single Hop, utilizes one type of hop (Mosaic) and one type of malt (Special Pale). It has gained popularity among homebrewers as sourcing one style of each reduces costs. For Southern Tier, the beer is an extension of its single-varietal India pale ale series.

Tasting Notes

Back Burner is a barley wine, a British farmhouse-style ale

Brewer: Southern Tier Brewing Company

Beer: Back Burner

Style: Barley wine

Alcohol Content: 10.5%

Price: $9.99 for a four-pack of 12 oz. bottles or $6.99 for a single 22 oz. bottles (prices will vary depending on location). It's also available on draught.

Find It: Supermarkets with large beer sections, specialty beer stores and bars with extra large beer selections throughout New York State. The brewery's beer finder can help.

Look: Dark with a ruby shimmer, and a light white lacing of foam around the edges.

Aroma: Sweet but not syrupy. Hints of brown sugar, and molasses.

Taste: Alcohol is present throughout the entire sip. It starts with a malty presence, including sweet brown sugar and raisin flavors. The flavor transitions to a bitter molasses at the end. The raisin stays with you long after the beer is finished.

Feel (mouthfeel, body): Back Burner is full-bodied, medium-weight and lacks carbonation. The alcohol warms each sip from your lips to your stomach.

Overall: This is an average beer. To be upfront, barley wines are not my regular order, but I do enjoy them from time to time and I was looking forward to Southern Tier's offering. Back Burner was unbalanced -- far too sweet and bitter. Raisin is very present in this beer, lingering well after you finish it. In the end, there were a lot flavors in this beer and they all seemed to conflict with one another rather than complement each other.

Tasting Notes

2XSMaSH is a single-hop, single-malt double IPA from Southern Tier Brewing Company.

Brewer: Southern Tier Brewing Company

Beer: 2XSMaSH

Style: Double India Pale Ale

Alcohol Content: 8.1%

Price: $9.99 for a six-pack of 12 oz. bottles (prices will vary depending on location). It's also available on draught.

Find It: Most grocery stores, specialty beer stores, and bars with medium to large beer selections throughout New York State. See the brewery's beer finder for details.

Look: Golden and clear with a constant stream of carbonation bubbles. A fluffy head quickly disappears into a soapsuds lacing.

Aroma: Tropical citrus hits you right off the bat. Pineapple, mango and grapefruit were detected.

Taste: It starts very fruity with rich grapefruit and tropical notes. You start to pick up the malt in the middle along with some black pepper, and it ends with a toasty, bready finish. It lacks the resinous pine flavor of most double IPAs due to the choice of hops.

Feel (mouthfeel, body): It's light- to medium-bodied. There is quite a bit of carbonation to tickle your palate and tongue, which amplifies the mouth and body warming characteristics of the beer. The finish is crisp and watery, not dry like other double IPAs.

Overall: It's a very good beer. It's tough not to compare this with Southern Tier's 2XIPA, but it really stands out on its own. The 2XSMaSH is juicier and has more tropical notes, whereas the 2XIPA has more citrus flavors. It feels sessionable, with a lot of flavors reminiscent of Founders' All Day IPA, but the alcohol in 2XSMaSH is deceptively strong.

More Upstate NY beers like this

Barley wine aficiandos:

Check out

,

,

,

, and

.

Smashed:

While no one else in Upstate makes a SMaSH beer,

makes both single-malt and single-hop beers. Saranac also bottles a

.

Also from Southern Tier:

Tangier,

, moves to year-round availability. It's about to get a big brother this summer with 2XTangier, along with a new citrus beer, Three Citrus Peel Out. The former is a double IPA version of Tangier, and the latter is a wheat beer brewed with blood orange, tangerine and grapefruit.

Contact us

Have beer questions? Want to suggest an Upstate New York beer to review? Drop us a note at features@syracuse.com. Follow news on Central New York beer and wine on Twitter.

While his friends were drinking Labatt Blue and Milwaukee's Best, Jared Paventi spent his college days in Western New York searching for Samuel Adams and Pete's Wicked Ale. He wanders bottle shops like a child at a toy store, and writes about beer at his website, Al Dente.