Winter Bourbon Barrel Bomber
Grand Canyon Brewing Company

 

A- A murky brown ale is just about the only way to describe this one. The bottle almost exploded when I opened it, so there was a huge head, but I'm not sure that was intentional.

S- Mostly ethyl alcohol and burn with just a touch of brown ale malt roastiness detectable underneath.

T- Some light bourbon notes up front quickly followed by light brown malts. A touch of chocolate and nuttiness contribute to roasty flavor that is there and gone quickly. The back end of the drink is fairly boozy and bourbon forward again, but there is also a bit of spicy off-flavor as well.

M- Middle of the road in terms of weight, this one is also highly carbonated, which is odd for the style. Alcohol is most present in the scent and flavor, but less so in the feel.

Overall, this isn't a very good beer. That being said, I found it somewhat tolerable and exceeding the very low expectations I had given that it has a piece of wood floating in it.

 

Pours brown almost like soda in color. Very foamy head with thick lacing. Smells of maple, smoke, some hickory, and whiskey. The taste is pretty mild, I am getting mild bourbon, smoke, sweetness from maple, overall not too bad but very light in flavor. This beer could have potential with a little more kick, but not horrible. Some posts here hit this one pretty hard, my bottle is really fresh so maybe that helps.

Awful - someone needs to be fired at Grand Canyon Brewing Company!

2014 - Purchased this beer on a recommendation from an employee at Total Wine. Loved it. Purchased this beer as a gift for my neighbor, who enjoys a good beer.

2015 - Purchased a case of this beer. AWFUL! Every beer was overly carbonated and upon opening each bottle, they fizzled out copious amounts of foam. I filled 5 glass mugs and made a huge mess of beer jizz all over the counter. It did not taste anything like 2014.

2016 - I hoped 2015 was a fluke. I purchased 2 more bottles this season hoping the problem was resolved. Nope. What a mess. I am really disappointed with Grand Canyon - this is unacceptable!!!

 

The only beer I've ever had that was literally u drinkable. I've had drain pours before, but this is the first beer that I couldn't actually drink.

The second I popped the seal, it spit out all over the place. Effing foam went everywhere. I finally got over a trash can and waited...and waited...wand waited...and waited, but the foam never stopped coming out of the bottle.

I needed to take a shower so I grabbed an empty can and held the bottle over the can so it could drop into the can. Then I stick the bottle into the sink so it could foam all it wanted while I took a shower.

Some 7 or 8 minutes later I got out of the shower and it was still foaming out of the bottle.

I want to get s glass to pour what was left of the beer I to the glass, thinking that would stall the foaming and I could enjoy what was left of the beer. But, it wasn't happening. I got an ounce or two of beer before the head was over the glass and while this was going on the foam in the bottle was again coming over the top.

So I said to hell with it and poured the whole thing down the drain. Literally never took a sip.

Apparently this isn't a beer, it's just foam in a bottle.

Bottle from Total Wine-Henderson. Medium clear brown with sparse head, aroma and taste of chocolate first, dark malt second. Very sweet in overall presentation, but tasty.

 

From BeerAdvocate Magazine #84 (Jan 2014):

This bomber of Brown Ale brewed with maple syrup was packed with a widget (from theflavorbomb.com) containing a bourbon barrel oak stick. Bourbon notes are weak, other flavors were thin too, and the oxidized wood flavor dominated as a result. Gimmicky at best.

STYLE: American Brown Ale
ABV: 6.0%
AVAILABILITY: Winter Seasonal

LOOK: Dark copper, fizzy lacing

SMELL: Toasty, caramel, vanilla, wet grain husks, paper

TASTE: Thin, grainy, toasty, light caramel; hints of maple, vanilla and bourbon; husky, astringent, woody, oxidation

 

 

 

Doops brought this over for beer night a while back. Cheers dude!

From a bomber into a snifter
Bourbon barrel brown ale with maple syrup.
Comes complete with “flavor bomb.”

APPEARANCE: A clear light brown pour yields a 2+ finger, medium looking, semi-creamy, light tan head with very good retention. Light maroon brown in color with medium carbonation evident. Head fades to a splotchy wisp and coats the sides of the glass. Looks fine with some nice lacing.

SMELL: Nuts, some cocoa powder and leather. No real sign of the maple syrup or bourbon barrel.

TASTE: Nuts and leather flavors up front, with a rather mild and dry finish of nuts and leather again, some cocoa, as well as some dried fruits. No trace of maple syrup of this illusive bourbon barrel. Must have missed the flavor bomb.

PALATE: Medium body and medium carbonation. Creamy enough, goes down fine and finishes slightly dry. Fine here.

OVERALL: If they had just labeled this a brown ale and stopped there, that would have been fine. I like brown ales when I’m expecting one. Instead they advertised a bourbon barrel ale with maple syrup, so I was expecting that. Stupid me. As I was feeding the last half of the bottle to drain, I noticed a plastic insect-like contraption in the bottle. This must be the illusive flavor bomb. After smashing the bottle and taking out the insect, everything became clear. It’s not that this was a bourbon barrel ale, as I assumed from the description on the bottle (again, stupid me), this was an ale that had slivers of a bourbon barrel inside it, as this insect carried a couple oak slivers inside its belly. You have to be friggin’ kidding me… Well, I guess you get what you pay for, and $4 for anything that’s ever even been in the same room as a bourbon barrel is just wishful thinking. Still, this took up valuable luggage space coming back to Holland that could have been used for anything else. Skip this one unless you’re looking for an average brown ale with a practical joke attached.

Bland, barely a winter beer. No bourbon. Barely a brown ale even. Very flat, no head. Not pleasing.