Barrel Aged Goodness
Over the weekend my friend hosted a little bottle share with barrels being the theme. Anything that spent time in a barrel was fair game. I had a great time.
de Garde Imperial Boysen Bu: This beer has come a long ways. Back when this beer was released, I thought that while it was good, it wasn’t nearly as good as the other beers that were released at the same time. After a year of plotting and brooding in a closet, this beer has finally come into its stride. Hugely fruity with a lot of funk to balance out the jam, it was a great way to kick of barrel aged beer tasting.
Cycle &+: You can definitely tell that this beer was really good at one point, and it is still tasty, but it is just tasting a little bit old at this point. While the beer industry is going nuts with putting adjuncts like cinnamon, cocoa niba, chilies, chocolate, and the tears of lesser beer geeks into their stouts, it ultimately leads to a messy beer that doesn’t age well. Better drink your crazy adjunct stouts sooner rather than later boys, or weird off tastes are coming.
Wicked Weed Angel Series: White Angel was my favorite by far, tasting like cider mixed with champagne, in a good way.
Funky Buddha The Love Below: Frankly, I like the Outkast album way more than the beer. It tasted incredibly fake and artificial. I miss the old days when Funky Buddha was small and Maple Bacon Coffee Porter was good.
Oskar Blues Death By Coconut: Palate cleanser? Sure thing!
Grimm Maple Bourbon Barrel Double Negative: Pretty tasty, one of the better adjunct stouts from the night. However, I would love to try a regular bourbon barrel aged version of this instead, because I miss straight up barrel aged stouts, none of this other ingredient nonsense!
Casey Cherry Family Preserves: Wow this beer is great! 8% too! Definitely one of the better Casey beers I’ve had, this beer is clean and well attenuated, has great funkiness, big sour notes, and enough fruit to almost be confused with a de Garde beer! HNNNGH.
Cycle Thursday: A lot of Cycle beers have been extremely thin lately, and I don’t know if that is something they are intentionally going for, but it seriously detracts from an otherwise good stout. I want my stout like motor oil, not like water.
Upright Rose/FP Blend: Okay, I’m an Upright homer, and everyone should know this. With that bias in mind, this was my favorite of the night. Super dry, bright, and crisp, with funkiness and a little bit of fruit that blends well with the oak characteristics that came with the aging process. The up front taste is a little lack luster, but the back end comes in so strong that you simply forget that the beer didn’t taste like much initially.
Casey East Bank: Way better than the last bottle I had, despite it being from the same batch. Bottle variation in a tiny brewery? No way!
Cycle Monday: FINALLY, a stout from Cycle with awesome mouthfeel! MY PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED! Best adjunct stout of the night, hands down.
Block 15 Breakfast with the Buffalo: Great beer, but way more bitter out of the bottle than on draft.
de Garde Framiscus: A sleeper beer from de Garde, this beer is absolutely fantastic but no one seems to care about it. Fine by me, they can all go chase after the latest flavor of the week while I drink beer that actually tastes good.
Night cap!
samsbeeradventure 