20 oz. Bottle
First foray into Apple Brandy barreling - also bought one of the Rum barrel varieties of this beer, but I've had rum barrel beer before and was curious to see if I got some nice apple and brandy notes out of this.
Pours a dark brown, close to black, with a dark tan head that starts at almost 2 inches and quickly fades to about 3/4 of an inch. Smells of warm malts and alcohol, a nice bit of apple sweetness in there as well.
Alcohol warmth and a nice malty flavor are probably the strongest tastes on the first sip, only a tiny bit of smoke is present on the back end of the sip. There's a bit of apple sourness mixed in with apple and vanilla sweetness, but the sweetness isn't strong and left me wanting more of those flavors in the forefront. There's some bitterness from the malt and possibly from some coffee flavoring as well, though the coffee flavor is very light - the barrel aging and smoke may have added to the bitterness, it's hard to tell.
I did find that the beer became more balanced (but still, this is the area where this beer lacks) as it warmed up. There are a ton of great flavors in this beer, each one just needs to find it's proper place. The alcohol content is moderately apparent, low carbonation.
To be honest, this was one of the most confusing beers I've ever had - it did have some nice flavor, just didn't deliver on my expectations.
3.5/5
First foray into Apple Brandy barreling - also bought one of the Rum barrel varieties of this beer, but I've had rum barrel beer before and was curious to see if I got some nice apple and brandy notes out of this.
Pours a dark brown, close to black, with a dark tan head that starts at almost 2 inches and quickly fades to about 3/4 of an inch. Smells of warm malts and alcohol, a nice bit of apple sweetness in there as well.
Alcohol warmth and a nice malty flavor are probably the strongest tastes on the first sip, only a tiny bit of smoke is present on the back end of the sip. There's a bit of apple sourness mixed in with apple and vanilla sweetness, but the sweetness isn't strong and left me wanting more of those flavors in the forefront. There's some bitterness from the malt and possibly from some coffee flavoring as well, though the coffee flavor is very light - the barrel aging and smoke may have added to the bitterness, it's hard to tell.
I did find that the beer became more balanced (but still, this is the area where this beer lacks) as it warmed up. There are a ton of great flavors in this beer, each one just needs to find it's proper place. The alcohol content is moderately apparent, low carbonation.
To be honest, this was one of the most confusing beers I've ever had - it did have some nice flavor, just didn't deliver on my expectations.
3.5/5
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