Twin Creeks Bourbon Ale
Northwest Brewhouse and Grill

 

A thick, creamy, off-white head sits atop a dark amber body. Bourbon hits the nose right from the first whiff, and dominates the initial flavor as well. Mouthfeel is thick and chewy, and when combined with the woody, slightly smoky whiskey flavors, creates a very strong impression. A bit of alcohol flavor comes through at the finish, but seems not at all inappropriate, and is complemented by a moderate bitterness. Malts develop a bit as the beer warms, gaining a nice toffee character to round out the beer. Quite well done.

Clear light brown body wears not much head at all. Striking bourbon cask aroma. Mild grassy hops, earthiness and caramelic maltiness is about all there’s left. Restrained alcohol in the nose, but it becomes far more apparent and heating in mouth. Very woody, very bourbony, very simple. This was quite the living proof that bourbon barrels can’t make a beer. This screams for bolder malt structure and something, anything to counter the massive sweetness.

Whiskey character soills out on first uncapping the bottle...pours out a caramel amber huye, with a flushcreamy head, dotted with occasional brown bits, overall impressive.
Aroma: as I said, whiskey notes aplenty, smooth, yet sharp, caramelly, and strong,... oaky, yeah, doesn't have a particular ale quality, it's all whiskey...
Taste: thick and full, yet smooth and slick, settles easily off the palate. It occurs to me that all the bourbon/whiskey oak-barrel-aged beers I've had were stouts and porters, and perhaps an old ale or two...this is the first, I think, that used a lighter ale as the base, really allowing the whiskey character to dominate, rather than merely add to the flavors already in abundance.
Sweet, and fulll of toffee, raisins, other dark fruit, ...and somehow creamy and delicious. Damn, I like this...terribly, terribly flavorful, rich and complex...an amazing, unique creation from a brewery I'm sampling for the first time. Such sweet stuff, with a never ending barrage of taste.
I'd like to get some more of this, for snowy days, rainy nights, sad times, happy times, times of doubt and instances of severest certainty...any time's the right time.
thanks to weefisheads, again!

12oz bottle obtained via trade with Skyhand. Thanks for the opportunity...

Poured into an imperial pint glass, wow, even with a careful side-glass pour we got 3 1/2" of dense light tan head over the orangish brown brew. Head lasts forever, I've been waiting 10 minutes to try to fit the rest of the 12oz bottle into this 16+oz glass. Lacing leaves foam everywhere! Aroma is, as expected, upfront sweetly of bourbon-tinged alcohol. Taste is just like the aroma, with maltiness dominated by the bourbon character. Not that there's anything wrong with that, they named it a bourbon ale... Mouthfeel is a bit harsh, with some strong alcohol at the outset, but not bad for the style. Drinkability is good, with lots of flavor to appreciate.

12 oz stubby bottle.
Pours a nice brown color, not dark, but definitely brown. The head is insane, extremely thick and rather large with a normal pour. Lacing is excellent.
Smell is very nice. Bourbon is the main component, but there is a slight hint of hops under the deep bourbon scent.
Taste sweet and oaky with a hint of alcohol heat. There is a little hop bitterness thrown in there as well.
This is a pretty decent brew, very interestng. The alcohol heat is a bit over the top for such a beer, but it still seems to work.
Thanks again to Skyhand :)

Wow. When I opened the bottle, I could smell bourbon. I like Bourbon aged beer, but usually the bourbon flavor is too much in the background, or too hidden by vanilla and wood flavors. There was some serious bourbon in here. Poured with a nice thick head, left decent lacing on the glass. The color is what set me back a bit. It's just well, brown. A very bland brown, with no hints or tinges of anything else. Taste was heavy bourbon with some sweet malty taste to match. Had a full mouthfeel, well carbonated, almost too carbonated, but it was just on the line. I really enjoyed this beer, but I don't think I'd want more than 2 in a night. Thanks to Skyhand for the opportunity to try this!

Poured with lots of carbonation filling the glass half full of foam. Cloudy dark amber, slight chill haze. Big aroma of bourbon with some hops blended in. Overcarbonated mouthfeel. Flavor is also very much bourbon like with a light hop/malt flavor underneath Just a bit too much bourbon for me.

Served from a brown 12 oz bottle, the head was minimal and disappeared quickly. Conditioned in bourbon barrels? It smells that way. A pleasant whiskey smell mixes nicely with a malty sweetness and just a hint of hops. The taste is a nice, strong ale with just a drop of bourbon added. It's surprisingly dry, with the bourbon flavor especially noticeable in the finish. Curious about the origin of the bourbon barrels, I checked the Bear Creek web site: My favorite, Knob Creek. However, I'm still curious about the abv, being used to all beers above 5.7% subject to mandatory labeling in California but apparently not in Washington. Thanks again to RoyalT for the sample. If only it were available locally.

Appearance – This was absolutely gorgeous. The head foamed up like a banshee and was thicker than shaving cream. It was tan, pitted, and went down very slow. The body is a deep, dark, rich brown.

Smell – This smells like nothing I’ve ever had before. It’s very musty, like it has been aged forever and a day. Once I got past that, the bourbon aroma kicked in. The bottle advertises that this is, “Conditioned in bourbon barrels,” and boy is it ever.

The malts are lightly toasted and very sweet. There also seems to be some sort of hop balance in there. This one is serious.

Taste – The malts really come out in the taste. They are firm but sweet. The sugar leans more towards brown and molasses, I think. There are also some very dark ripe fruits in there as well. Of course, throughout the drink is that old, musty, woody, bourbon flavor.

Mouthfeel – This is definitely full-bodied and big on the carbonation. The alcohol makes itself known as well. I couldn’t find it on the bottle but I’m guessing around 8.0 at the least.

Drinkability – This is like none other. It was a pleasure to drink. I’ll keep a few bottles around the house when I feel like having something special.

Update – I cellared a 2001 (the vintage I originally rated) for a little over a year and had it just a few days before Christmas 2004. The body has mellowed just a bit (I wouldn’t quite call it “full” now) and the sugars and alcohol have become a bit more noticeable. I liked the way that it aged and it is certainly ready to drink at 3+ years old.

This is an amazing beer. The bourbon flavor can only be appreciated by someone who knows the difference between whiskey and bourbon. My wife loves Maker’s Mark so we always have some around the house, and VENOM pegged it exactly right when he called that flavor (I just snuck a nip for comparative purposes).