Very Old 16
Voodoo Brewing Co.

Pitch black pour, with sandy brown bubbles that border the liquid inside the glass.

The nose initially comes forward with a predominance of dark chocolate and raisin, but with time in the glass there's a real peatiness that begins to come to the forefront. Undertones of anise and toffee add layers of complexity to this potent profile.

The palate really showcases that barrel character - rye spice, smoke, whiskey-soaked raisin, blistered oak, and a touch of vanilla.

The mouthfeel is medium full, silky smooth and with a low but present carbonation. There's the slightest touch of astringent bitterness on the backend to accompany good heat.

 

The first of the five bottle set enjoyed side by side on New Year's Eve, appearance is tar black with a slow to build but level dark tan head that fizzles out to the finest chain. A swirl stains glass a varnish brown.

Very chocolatey to start, and velvety smooth but far shy of thickly viscous, taste transitions to smokier roasts and chars before exhaling mixed nuts and toffee.

As it warms, both the nose and the palate bloom with a very mild but present sassafras-like rye spice. Coming back after dabbling in subsequent bottles perhaps reveals a bit of natural maple character within the rye barrel threads.

The medium body has a prickly carbonation that becomes a fine crispness before a warming, semi-dry finish.

It may be worth noting that I was going to include the Sazerac Rye variant of Very Old in this lineup, which was released separately, but I decided not to. This decision was not just in light of the four other intimidatingly looming bottles I was soon to open, but because it was immediately apparent how much less expressive the 16 year old Heaven Hill rye whiskey barrel was than the 18 year old Sazerac rye barrel, which I'd previously had on draft at The Compound during 2022 BA Day. While this was tasty, it was my least favorite of the set. By contrast, the Sazerac was a thing of nearly perfect beauty, so I'll be saving my single bottle for a more deliberately contemplative day.