Tide Land
Fort George Brewery + Public House

Great concept. Some barrel aging; collaboration with a whiskey outfit; throw in some younger stout and you end up with a nice low ABV brew with major flavor and complexity.

Look: Pitch black on the pour and viscous looking with a large brown head that fills the glass and slowly settles, leaving great lacing behind

Aroma: Dark chocolate, light whiskey, wood barrel, roasted barley, piloncillo, earthiness, warm brown bread, and roasted tree nuts

Taste: Opens up with chocolate, roast, and freshly baked bread that start developing depth and quickly followed by layers of nuanced barrel and whiskey that pile on. Piloncillo emerges in the middle and earthiness appears throughout as the chocolate/roast and whiskey/barrel go back and forth through the close

Mouthfeel: Full, smooth, clean, medium-high carbonation, and smooth on the finish

Overall: This is some tasty stuff. I missed this last year and so when I spotted a new batch recently, took the plunge as it sounded like a cool concept for a beer. It’s a blend of barrel-aged and young stout and tastes and smells just like one, and a good one at that. For someone like me, who finds full-on barrel-aged stouts to be too boozy and too whiskey/bourbon-heavy, this hits the sweet spot as it has the best of both worlds, blended to perfection. Recommended

Rates 10-21-2024. This beer pours a dark brown color with a very foamy brown head that dissipates almost immediately. The aroma sweet malt, a hint of coffee and some barrel characteristics. The taste is more chocolate, burnt malt/coffee and sweetness than anything. The hop taste comes in the middle and is mild. I'm not much of a stout person, but this is quite decent. BOD 9-15-2023.

Appearance - Pours black with cola brown edging where light can penetrate . Tan, near two finger width head that dissipates in fair time to a thin, consistent layer of suds across the surface. No lacing, save a spot or two.

Smell - Has a bit of sour aroma to it, almost like Jack Daniels, along with chocolate, roast and oak,

Taste - Follows the nose. Initial notes of oak and some whiskey-like flavor, then chocolate and lesser roast kick in. Hint of caramel. Finish brings back the whiskey and a hint of smokiness.

Mouthfeel - Light-to-medium in body with light carbonation. Slick, easy drinker before a drying finish.

Overall - I like the concept, but this one isn't quite doing it for me. I don't know what kind of barrels were used, but I'm getting a Jack Daniels like note in here and I am not a fan of Jack.

Can from Capitol Highway Deli Mart

Black with a brown head with good retention and lacing. The nose is a blend of roast, toast, dark caramel, toffee, licorice and a soft barrel accent. Light vanilla and barrel oxidation notes. The palate opens soft, creamy, fruity with milk chocolate, coffee, dark caramel. The mid-palate has dark honey. Creamy, fruity finish with soft barrel character, light bourbon. Just a hair thin? Excellent.

A 5% barrel aged stout?! And it's got lots of flavor. It's roasty, with coffee in the smell and taste, a little cocoa, and overall a really fine stout. I don't get any whiskey notes at all, but there's a little bit of wood. It's a good looking beer, very dark with a moderate tan head.

Overall, it reminds me of favorite everyday stout, Deschutes Obsidian, which is a good neighborhood to be in.

 

 

12oz can from Boise Co-op. Inky black pour, razor thin ring of head. Rich roasty aroma, notes of chocolate. Taste is roasty, chocolate, sweet, bitterness at the back. Dry with a nice bite, creamy smooth.

12oz can poured into a goblet, absolutely stoked to try this unique concept...the head is large but very dark brown, and the body of the beer sits opaquely in the glass, this looks like it could be a monster. Strong roast and some char-ry barrel character at the beginning plays games with your mind, but this drinks more like a 5% stout than a 10% BA giant, though the flavor profile is more complex than a simple stout, for sure. Roasted chocolate malts, simple espresso, mild cocoa and dark caramel, passing impressions of whiskey and oak barrel, smooth with a slightly acrid/bitter finish. Well-executed for sure.

very very cool beer, and cool idea for a beer, a big mature barrel aged stout blended with a much lower abv stout to yield something with some barrel complexity and depth, but at an alcohol content that demands to be sessioned, i think this sort of thing is long overdue, we see it in other styles, why not stout? i was stoked on this, and think they have something really neat happening with it. looks like a stout alright, deep brown with some apparent viscosity under a short layer of tan froth. the nose here has some oak and char to it, a lot of deep roasty malts but some chocolatey middle ones too, molasses and raisin but not too sweet, an almost dry irish type wrinkle to the grain, and some late whiskey character including a vanilla waft, more dynamic than most 5% abv stouts on their own, even if the barrel aspects are somewhat subtle. the flavor is packed with chocolate character, some mid palate sweetness, and later notes of cola and vanilla bean, the oak is in the background but smooth and soothing to the texture, and the body on this is just right for what it is. no trace of alcohol at all, light smoke, and a long layered finish, faint hazelnut, toffee, and maple. delicious, intelligent, and memorable, glad i have a couple of cans in my fridge to drink!