Winter Lager - Whistle Pig Barrel-Aged
Lawson's Finest Liquids
- From:
- Lawson's Finest Liquids
- Vermont, United States
- Style:
- European Strong Lager
- ABV:
- 11.3%
- Score:
- +7 ratings needed
- Avg:
- 4.35 | pDev: 1.84%
- Ratings:
- | reviews: 2
- Status:
- Active
- Rated:
- Apr 09, 2023
- Added:
- Dec 10, 2021
- Wants:
- 0
- Gots:
- 0
NO SCORE
-
-
A dark lager brewed with traditional Munich, Vienna, and Rye malts. Finished with juniper berries and spruce tips. Genieben!
Recent ratings and reviews.
Reviewed by ryan1788a5 from Massachusetts
4.44/5 rDev +2.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.44/5 rDev +2.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
500ml bottle poured into a snifter.
A: Mahogany brown. Two fingers of sandy head show superb retention. Ample lacing stickage in thick webby clumps.
S: Rye and rye whiskey are forward on the nose. Lots of crusty bread. Toffee and perhaps a bit of bakers chocolate. Whiskey wash and dry oaky vanillins. Deep berry pull. Spruce comes through with a fragrant piney/floral aroma.
T: Follows the nose. Opens with a pull of rye that remains constant. Rye whiskey, though not really in an American sense. Lighter bodied and Canadian, more like. Crusty bread. Dry bakers chocolate. Super deep nutty flavor, like roasting chestnuts. Tight berry flavor. Spruce comes on middle to end with a soft piney flavor that fits surprisingly well. Long finish of whiskey wash and oaky vanilla.
M: Full bodied. Creamy, silky, and a bit chewy. Definite sense of weight, but it registers gently and without and sludginess. Ample carbonation lifts and gently prickles around the tongue.
O: Lawson's has a well-established reputation for a reason, but even I have to admit how surprised I am that this beer turned out as great as it did. It was a bold choice to work juniper and spruce into this barrel aged lager, but it works so damn well. There's a rich and complex specialty malt character going on, rye on rye between the grain bill and whiskey barrel, and somehow they fit the two most unlikely of ingredients into all that and did it perfectly. On paper, juniper and spruce make no sense in this recipe (to my imagination, anyway). In practice, they've created one of the most unique and memorable recipes I've come across in the past few years. I would gladly make this a seasonal revisit every winter, and I hope they bring it back.
Apr 09, 2023A: Mahogany brown. Two fingers of sandy head show superb retention. Ample lacing stickage in thick webby clumps.
S: Rye and rye whiskey are forward on the nose. Lots of crusty bread. Toffee and perhaps a bit of bakers chocolate. Whiskey wash and dry oaky vanillins. Deep berry pull. Spruce comes through with a fragrant piney/floral aroma.
T: Follows the nose. Opens with a pull of rye that remains constant. Rye whiskey, though not really in an American sense. Lighter bodied and Canadian, more like. Crusty bread. Dry bakers chocolate. Super deep nutty flavor, like roasting chestnuts. Tight berry flavor. Spruce comes on middle to end with a soft piney flavor that fits surprisingly well. Long finish of whiskey wash and oaky vanilla.
M: Full bodied. Creamy, silky, and a bit chewy. Definite sense of weight, but it registers gently and without and sludginess. Ample carbonation lifts and gently prickles around the tongue.
O: Lawson's has a well-established reputation for a reason, but even I have to admit how surprised I am that this beer turned out as great as it did. It was a bold choice to work juniper and spruce into this barrel aged lager, but it works so damn well. There's a rich and complex specialty malt character going on, rye on rye between the grain bill and whiskey barrel, and somehow they fit the two most unlikely of ingredients into all that and did it perfectly. On paper, juniper and spruce make no sense in this recipe (to my imagination, anyway). In practice, they've created one of the most unique and memorable recipes I've come across in the past few years. I would gladly make this a seasonal revisit every winter, and I hope they bring it back.
Reviewed by bobv from Vermont
4.35/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.35/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
500 ml. bottle with no date, but we received the first case of this on the 30th of November.
Moderate to vigorous pour yields a nearly one inch off white head with sticky lacing.
Nose of dark roasted malt, rye whiskey, vanilla, caramel, and oak.
Taste mirrors nose rather closely with the juniper berries and spruces tips coming forward on the finish.
Mouthfeel is very nice from such a unique offering.
Overall, seek this one out and you will be rewarded!
Cheers!!
Dec 12, 2021Moderate to vigorous pour yields a nearly one inch off white head with sticky lacing.
Nose of dark roasted malt, rye whiskey, vanilla, caramel, and oak.
Taste mirrors nose rather closely with the juniper berries and spruces tips coming forward on the finish.
Mouthfeel is very nice from such a unique offering.
Overall, seek this one out and you will be rewarded!
Cheers!!
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