11.2 oz “stubbie” bottle from Hop City, Atlanta, GA, USA.
WOW! This happens about every 6-12 months, i.e. a beer that truly blows me away.
A truly magnificent, regal beer.
The pour and the appearance are most definitely the weakest points. A light brown, murky affair with an annoy over-carbonation that leads to a difficult pour and foam that snakes out of the bottle.
After the somewhat disappointing appearance things REALLY take-off in a serious manner.
The nose and tastes yield a pretty much perfect combination of light liquor and beautiful depth of raisin based fruit, alongside a lovely, candied Belgian presence, with gentle warming alcohol. This beer has alcohol hidden beyond belief but still delivers a caressing, seductive warmth in the chest on the way down. Layer after layer of malt goodness break on the tongue with light peat and repetitive smoothness. the beer repeats it’s gentle kiss over and over again that creates a lingering, loving ending and an aftertaste that is difficult to remove. Class.
I’m simply not a huge fan of barrel-aged beers but this an exception brew that takes me to a place that i was not expecting. Stunning.