Double Barrel B.O.R.I.S.
Hoppin' Frog Brewery

Double Barrel Boris from Hoppin’ Frog. 22 oz bottle purchased at the brewery 30 Mar 21 as part of a mixed 8-pack. $128.10 (including tax) ($0.728/oz). Stored at room temperature in store and at 40 degrees after purchase. Reviewed 18/12/21. Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Undated bottle. Served at 55.2 degrees (couldn’t wait any longer) in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. Final temperature 57.9 degrees.
Appearance – 4.25
First pour – Brown (SRM 20), generally opaque but an occasional translucency occurs.
Body – Black (SRM 40), opaque. When rear-lite, slightly translucent around the edges, and distinctly reddish orange.
Head – Small (Seven to ten mm, aggressive center pour), earth yellow, fizzy with short retention, diminishing to a two mm crown and no cap. This continues to decay until there is only a partial ring of miniscule bubbles. Second pour produces a two mm brown sugar crown which is nearly instantly gone.
Lacing – None.
Aroma – 3.75 – No malt, no hops, no yeast. Weak chocolate and (maybe) a touch of char. No coffee, no bourbon, no port.
Flavor – 4.5 – Begins with chocolate and a bit of coffee, no malt, no hops, no yeast. Bitterness builds in the aftertaste but never gets very high – mostly vinous. It appears the port barrels have overwhelmed the bourbon. No ethanol (9.4 % ABV, as marked on container) taste or aroma. Moderate gastric glow. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl.
Palate – 4.5 – Full, less-than-creamy, soft carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 4 After deducting 0.25 points off the top for an undated bottle. Distinctly BORIS leaning a bit to port.

The wood and dryness is very strong in this beer. There is a bit of the wine twang but it does not offer much else. Hard to get through the bottle.

IG: @firesidewithphil

Classic BORIS black with a thick and creamy mocha head settling to an uneven bubbly blanket.

The nose is pretty hot, and taste is exceptionally peppery. It's like a rum & Coke where the rum is very, very spiced. All kinds of oak, accented by touch of hickory, pervades the medium body, as its fine carbonation cuts to a stinging semi-dry finish.

This is a very unique experience for BA BORIS, where the characteristic nutty, roasty and somewhat hoppy base seems to have finally been showed up by some barrel qualities. However, in this case, the pendulum may have swung a little too hard in the other direction, or else the barrels used were just uniquely aggressive. I still think they need to reducing the hopping on their stouts, or change the hops in general, for a more optimal barrel aging result.