22 oz bottle, $7.95 from the relatively unlikely location of Cheers, Carrollton, GA, USA. Bottled on Jun 19, 2009. Black foil on the neck with a white cap.
This should be interesting – a style that I am not crazy about, with the additional element of wood aging that I generally don’t enjoy, from a brewery that I have enjoyed in the past, but lately has put out a couple of beers that I have been less than impressed with! We’ll see.
Pour is mid-amber, perfectly clear body with an amazingly high head. The retention and lace are both excellent. Looks very good. The second pour is cleaner and beautiful.
Nose is very alcoholic with plenty of vanilla from the oak. It is surprisingly sweet and malty for a beer that sits in the DIPA category.
The sweet vanilla, the malty character and the oak are continued straight into the taste. The hops don’t even manifest themselves in the finish – they kick-in in the aftertaste and then linger somewhat. The hops are strong, dry, bitter and soapy. Dry aftertaste lingers on a backdrop of even more oak. Alcohol warms and even burns a tad, too.
A unique beer that REALLY showcases the oak in a much better and more positive way than I recall from almost any other attempt. It honestly begins to provoke thoughts of similarly produced wines – not in the taste as such, but in the marriage of the beverage with the wood aging.
Having said all of the positive things above, it’s by no means an easy beer to drink. The strong presence of all of the elements, coupled with the ABV makes it start to wear a little on the palate after about half of the bottle. I’m not surprised by that of course.