Quaff Bros Nola's Rye
Mt. Carmel Brewing Company

I picked up two bottles of this last August and have been saving this one due to how much I enjoyed the first, but alas, it does me no good sitting in the fridge half a year.

A strong pour into my snifter yields an inch and a half of tightly packed foam. This recedes and eventually leaves a smooth burgundy mirror in the glass. The beer at first appears a murky light brown but then a deep red when held to the light. The smell is glorious. Sweet, maple-y bourbon and vanilla hit your nostrils right away. Charred wood follows up and lets you know this beer once slept in one of Kentucky's finest barrels. This is seriously an amazing smell; one of my favorites. I can't keep my nose out of the glass.

Enough gawking and sniffing; let's get to it. The first sip is liquid candy. Very sweet and filling. There's a slight tingle of burn at the end to remind you of the alcohol content. All of the smells manifest in the taste as well. There's caramelly sweetness and vanilla with woody undertones. The flavors aren't quite as big and in your face as the scents but this tastes very good.

The first time I had this a half year ago I remember being struck by the amazing mouthfeel of this beer. It's so smooth and rounded that I can't recall another beer like it. Well that still holds true. After some aging there's a tad more carbonation but this goes down so easily it's dangerous. I could honestly drink this all night. It's a shame this was a limited release; it's easily the best beer from the Cincinnati area, one of the best barrel-aged beers I've ever had, and definitely something I'd love to see more of.

appearance: poured very thick and syrupy with the bubbles slowly rising to form a thick and creamy/slick head. bubbles continuing to rise slowy throughout the drinking of it, loved how thick and syrupy it looked. head dissipates after a while, but a few slick bubbles are left around the edge of the glass throughout.

smell:sweet,caramel, vanilla, booze, and a nice smell of bourbon.

taste: sweet maple flavor at first, rye and a bit of caramel malt flavors, spicier at end. bit of alcohol burn but not too much that its is bad. Not too syrupy in taste despite looking very much so in the pour.

mouthfeel: thick, creamy, and smooth. little bit of carbonation keeps it alive and moving a bit in your mouth.

drinkability: very smooth and easy to drink for a 9% beer. little bit of alcohol flavor coulld detract, but if you like bourbon or don't mind a bit of heat it is pretty nice. dangerously drinkable to me, wish it was available all the time. the favorite of mine out of their first 3 Quaff Bro series of barrel aged beers. While the other 2 were good, this is very good.

12oz bottle courtesy of alexsdad06.

Pours a hazy brownish amber with an impressive thick creamy head that recedes very slowly to a healthy cap and leaves a bit of lacing.

The aroma is spicy and earthy with the rye and sweet with caramel malts. Then, of course, is the bourbon which certainly lingers in the nose after each whiff.

Taste is even boozier with the bourbon really dominating. Sweet vanilla and caramel underneath, though faint, and the finish brings the spicy rye and a ton of whiskey burn.

The mouthfeel is off-the-charts smooth with the rye lending a silky character to things. The bourbon is heavy with moderate carbonation. Just coats the mouth completely.

This is an extremely impressive beer. Very smooth with the rye and bourbon mixing well together. It's definitely on the boozy side and not super drinkable but that's nitpicking. Great beer.

Pours a caramel, reddish copper color with about an inch of medium/thick bodied off tan/beige head.
Smell is highly malty-syrupy with rye notes in the aroma.
Taste quickly fills up the palate with some malts and rye bread quality. A caramel laden body of the beer makes it very sweet.
Finish is long lasting and dynamic sweetness and rye bread.
Drinks well here at 9%-sometimes small hangups in house dynamic the syrup here is.

Appearance - a reddish, caramel pour. Comes out like oil, very thick. It looks like a dud carbonation-wise but a few seconds after starting the pour, a bubbly froth slowly forms and rolls around the goblet. A few fingers of manilla foam take their time forming up. Looks like it will lace well, yet the stuff is too thick for that and the legs slide down into the beer.

Aroma - immense boozy whiskey aroma. Estery mash, caramel and vanilla, wow this is heady. Did they forget to add the beer?

Taste - I pretty much had the rest of the review done, waiting for the palate to uncover all potential flavor before I do this part. At this point in the beer's life, though, there's not far to go. It's a pure whiskey experience all the way. Very little beer flavor here, and while the barreling is tasty and quite intense, it is also removing any semblance to beer outside of the bubbles and uber-smoothness. Not that I mind much, but even when I try to focus on some malt or hops, I can't detect anything other than the Sazerac.

Mouthfeel - huge fluff and creaminess make this an intense mouth-filler. Reminds me a little of trying to down raw egg (it's that thick), but this is far easier. So thick it's actually a bit distracting to where it takes some getting used to. The carbonation is there but is fighting a losing battle trying to get noticed here. Huge body.

Drinkability - this beer has me curious as to how it will cellar. Worth getting a few to store for a while.

12 oz bottle, 9% abv. A hard pour produces a hazy dark copper colored brew, with a tan bubbly head. Head fades rather quickly, leaving no lace.

Complex in the nose, with caramel, toffee and fig. Fruity esters present. Oak, vanilla and booze as well.

Loads of malt up front, caramel and toffee. The beer resists being overly sweet with a good bast of wood. Some vanilla, booze and just a faint hint of rye.

Huge, creamy body. Carbonation is very low. Almost needs a little more. Alcohol is present, and warms the chest. Very complex. A very big, full beer. I like what is going on here.

Thanks to my pal toph (bierguy5) for this bottle. Pours a very thick copper, unfiltered with a tight wound off white head that leaves no lace.

Hints of oak, caramel, toffee, date, spicey rye, vanilla, and a floral ester.

This is a pretty damn good beer. Thick and creamy as hell. No hints of rye but sweet toffee leads the way with vanilla riddled oak at the long sweet finish. Date, and dried figs, caramel, quince and slight bittering hop that is overpowered through the end. I'd drink this often.

A - Pours a slightly hazy dark gold with two fingers of pillowy off white head that has excellent retention and lacing.

S - Lots of oak, bourbon, and rye spiciness with hints of dried fruit at the end. Very complex aroma that takes a few deep whiffs.

T - Taste is a very subdued rye with a strong vanilla and bourbon flavor throughout. Oak comes out near the end along with english hoppiness in the aftertaste. Very complex beer that is a great sipper, very little alcohol in the flavor to speak of.

M - Mouthfeel is incredible, as creamy as a milkshake floats on top of the tongue with almost no alcohol burn except for a tiny heat at the end.

D - This is a beer that actually put me in a better mood (I'm sure 9% didn't hurt) but at a reasonable $3 per bottle, this is a great drinking beer.