Malbec Wine Barrel Aged Pentuple
Hoppin' Frog Brewery

Small can from Tavour. Dark brown pour, small tan head. Aroma is dark malts, red grapes. Taste brings light red wine notes to the sweet and malty base, light roast, toffee. Heavy feel, but did not pick up on the high ABV.

 

Poured at fridge temp from a mini can. Pours transparent reddish with a little bit of head. The nose is fantastic. Very fruity. Fresh red grapes, apples, and pears. A really nice boozy smell accompanies the fruit. Tons of rich toffee. The taste....oh the taste. This is absolutely insane. Very toffee forward. I love toffee. I love this. Prunes, raisins, booze, brown sugar, a touch of leather, and more toffee. Amazing beer!

 

Clear burnt acorn reddish-brown with a short khaki head that fizzles out to a port-like surface. It's quite beautiful to look at.

The particular barrel works very well here, as notes of maple and burnt orange peel pair with wine barrel characteristics of dark fruit and a hint of tannin making for a deeper, richer, more complex experience than the base offered. Like an old school American barleywine, but cleaner, more refined and much less offensive, a hint of lightly woody, musty and resinous hops add to not unwelcome notes of aged prune and raisin. Barrel char surfaces more as it warms.

The syrupy medium body has a faint crackly carbonation and finishes semi-sticky with a semi-dry heat. The heat recedes too, allowing this to somehow become more drinkable than the base.