Fra Til Via (To Via From) - Tequila Barrel Aged
Mikkeller ApS

 

 

Tequila aged 2012 version. Bottle from Tipples poured 8/1/14. Tequila usually bad news for me so hoping for the best. Pours pitch black with a massive dark brown head that mushrooms out of the glass. Aroma of chocolate, CocaCola or Pepsi (really like a soda smell), roast, vanilla, some very interesting spice notes like ginger snaps, not a lot of specific tequila characteristics which is OK by me. Roast up front with lightly sweet cocoa, some graham cracker and ginger snap spice, and a finish of funky tequila like booze. I don't do well with tequila so I'm hypersensitive to this, but I imagine it's no big deal for others. A really bitter boozy spice cocoa powder note that is unpleasant to me on the finish. Medium bodied with medium carbonation and a dry finish. Overall this is pretty solid, but not what I was expecting at all. Wish I chose a better time for this when I was in the mood for an end of the night sipper.

Give a man a beer, he drinks for a day. Give a man a tequila barrel aged beer and he might just go crazy on your ass! Porter goes all Mexican as the always roasty "To: From: Via:" Baltic Porter wraps itself in an agave blanket to settle in for a long winter's nap.

Nearly black, the dark brown and hazy ale looks as much of Stout as it does Porter. A dense column of foam pulls from the beer with a loose knit and faltering retention. Trailing with mild lace, its obvious that the beer's head has been compromised by the wood alcohol and spice.

Bold spicy alcohols pierce the nose with bright agave, lime and oak. Lying underneath are the toasty, cocoa, and charred aromas. All that is pulled together with scents of burnt toffee, campfire and vinous fruit.

Dark malt flavors allow for the taste of burnt caramel, heavy toast, french-roast coffee, bittersweet chocolate and mild ash. As its dry malts traverse across the palate, they mesmerize the taste buds with powerfully spicy flavor of tequila- equipped with agave fruit, tangy citrus, light brine and fresh oak. Its low-lying malty sweetness seems to amplify fruit taste of agave and the natural esters in the beer: red grapes, blackcurrants, dark berries, cherries and stone fruit.

Full bodied yet arid and roasty- its body projects a sense of moderacy because of the dry astringency of char. Otherwise its rich texture dries quickly and wakens the spicy alcohols and tequila warmth.

Riding on the heels of the recent enjoyment of this Cognac Barrel version, I enjoyed the Tequila Barrel better; likely because of the fruit and oak that gave the beer something unique and soft. Its shocking because I rather enjoy the taste of cognac over that of tequila.