Bourbon Barrel Aged India Brown Ale
Foothills Brewing Company - Downtown Brewpub

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On tap at Busy Bee in Raleigh, served in a tulip

A - very dark brown with a thin, dense, off white head that has great retention

S - caramel, bread, sugar, oak, bourbon

T - holy bourbon! the bourbon is super intense with a faint oaky, caramel, alcohol character. There is a very mild hop character that barely fights through.

M - full bodied, smooth, well carbonated

The bourbon barrels seem to overtake this beer. The strong malt character and balanced hops of the original don't seem to stand up to the bourbon. The woody, bourbon notes take over here. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't as balanced as it should have been.

Had this one at the brewpub last night during "trivia night." Came out a tawny copper-brown, with a thin beige head capping it off. The nose is sweet with vanilla, bourbon, oak, toffee. The mouth is mellow with light carbonation; velvet finish. The barrel-character comes through quite a bit on this one, as it masks the hoppy base that this beer has. Yet, this beer isn't overpowering in its bourbon-character. Vanilla, oak, booze, caramel. Mild bitterness noted, but the hops are near absent. This is a dessert beer if I've ever had one. I was a little hesitant with this style being "barreled," but I would get this again. A treat.

 

I'll temper my remarks by saying that this is the first time I've tried an India Brown Ale so I am not that familiar with the style and its requirements. I had this on tap at Lucky 32 the other night and the server had mistakenly said they had an IPA. I'm not one to send a new experience back so I thought I would try it. I don't think this will be my favorite style but I did have two glasses so I didn't hate it.

It was a dark brown/black in appearance and arrived with a less than one inch head. There was good lacing on the glass.

To me, this seems to be one of those in between styles that doesn't measure up to either a Pale Ale or a stout/porter/boch beer.

 

 

 

On-tap at Barley's Taproom & Pizzeria, Greenville, SC. May 2011:

The beer appeared a deep reddish brown with a thin off-white head that was well retained (the thin head I attribute to the bartender), but no lacing to note . The beer gave off a big bourbon/alcohol aroma with a hint of vanilla and oak or earth. An ever so slight hint of hops, but you really have to search for it. The taste is heavy on the bourbon/alcohol, which I think overpowers the taste of the beer too much. Muted hops. The beer had a heavy feel with lower carbonation. Overall, I expected more hops, but overall a good beer.

Big thanks goes out to kkipple for sharing this one with the bus this weekend! Served from growler into a Brewvival sampler imperial pint. Poured red brown with a one finger off-white head that subsided to a minimal amount quickly. There was no lacing evident throughout the glass. The aroma was comprised of sweet malt, roasted malt, wood, sweet alcohol, and big dark chocolate. The flavor was of roasted malt, wood, dark chocolate, and sweet alcohol. It had a medium feel on the palate with mild carbonation. Overall this was a pretty good brew. I actually just recently had this one on tap and I found the growler to be a lot nicer. The flavors from the growler were more robust and inviting in comparison. The big dark chocolate on the nose really helped out the aroma on this one in a big way. Really glad I got to sample this one again and I suggest you do the same if you get the opportunity.

Hey what can I say, I love what these cats are doing down here.

Pours a hazed out garnet brown with a tight sticky tan head that hovers thin but all covering with good lacing.

A quick hit of sour & BAM bourbon vanilla grainy malty goodness and a dose of slightly piney resonius hops, intoxicating!

The flavors follow the nose with Creamy malt grains and bready coffee then WHAMO the bourbon kicks in with a nice smokey woodsy vanilla goodness and a dash of that sourness (sour mash whiskey I presume) with a clean bittering hop playing nice the whole time and finishing with a touch of piney hop goodness.

Creamy and right on time with a good medium low carbonation level that I admire in good ale. I go fuller on the body here and with good reason, quality ale.

These guys are heavy hitters, so seek and consume for WE WANT THESE KINDS OF PEOPLE BREWING !!!

On tap at the Mellow in Greensboro.Poured a hazed chesnut brown with a light tannish colored thinner head,aromas are full on bourbon and caramel malt,the hops are pretty light trying to fight thru the big bourbon aromas.Quite sweet on the palate,alot of brown sugar and sweet vanilla tones,the bourbon is predominant with the hops again playing a secondary role.Iam not as a big a fan as the other bourbon barrel aged beers Foothills have put out that I have tried.

Picnic tap in the corner of the brewery during the pre-sex party. The tap handle said "India Brown Ale" so I got some but this was clearly bourbon barrel aged. I tracked down an employee and asked and he confirmed my palate's awesomeness and told me that it was the bourbon barrel version.

Beer is brown and really hazy, tan head, no lacing, nice look to it.

Aroma is woody and bourbony, I don't get a lot of hops in the nose....

Beer is sweet and has this tannic quality to it that is rather nice. It's not a great beer, it's odd but I liked it. The sweetness plays off of the liquor well and the whole thing, although disjointed, was enjoyable. I had two pints of it so I guess the drinkability is good.