I’ve been waiting to try this one for a LONG time, and thanks to Tom (DrDogBeer) my 2009 Secret Santa I finally get the chance.
Pour gives a lovely, deep garnet body and some head and lace that were better than I was expecting. It had some real depth in the visuals.
A very surprising beer. I was waiting to be overrun with the Bourbon experience but the rush of alcohol and warming vanilla notes simply did not come. Some age on this beer may have altered it dramatically, and the beer was very mellow.
Oddly it seemed to have some earth notes, and a little grass hay and green feel. I wouldn’t go as far as to say “saison-like”, not did I taste any “funk” as such, but there seemed to be a fresh hop note around the beer. It remained sweet (as a I was expecting) but it did NOT deliver on the BIG bourbon note. To be honest, although i was surprised I actually still enjoyed the beer very much.
My guess is that a little age has gone a long way to changing this beer which was interesting.
More drinkable than I thought it might be as well.
A bit of crazy experience with this one and I wouldn’t mind betting that my tasting was pretty atypical.