Carpe Brewem Barrel Aged Baltic Porter
Empyrean Brewing Company

really neat beer here, i love a baltic porter as a base style for something like this, and i think the beer is built just right for the wine barrel, not too heavy or roasty bitter than any of the wood or wine is lost, but big enough to extend and feature the barrel nicely. the bottle in my hand says 8.7% abv, higher than what is listed here, but i imagine this changes at least a little bit batch to batch. it has to right? strong grape jelly aroma, the description here is spot on, sweet and fruity, not as directly cabernet forward as some of these are, or as the barrels often seem to be in lighter beers, but assuredly winey, with a nice dark chocolate and cocoa aroma too. sweet but not cloying. some neat fruit flavors in here too, blackberry, black cherry, and pipe tobacco, with still all the dark malt flavor but not the usual attendant bitterness or heavy roasted body, its lighter than a lot of beers its size, and remains quite obviously a lager to me, the essence of the base style as far as i am concerned. more fruit from the wine than oak, tastes too new for a barrel aged beer, and it feels light, but its all really good. i guess i had no idea these guys were doing such ambitious and delicious beers, i had them sort of written off as too safe years ago, but this recent encounter with some of their more progressive beers has me sold. this was really nice, warms up great too. yum.

 

Empyrean Carpe Diem Barrel Aged Baltic Porter, 8% ABV, 4 IBU. Pours medium viscosity and black, with a one finger tan head on an aggressive pour, leaving nice lacing. Nose is malty sweet jam, taste is roast malt, fruit, and a slight bitter close. Excellent mouthfeel, and overall outstanding. Many folks trying this robust porter would think it is a stout.