Barrel Aged Bing Bang
Thunder Canyon Brewery

Beer Geek Stats
From:
Thunder Canyon Brewery
 
Arizona, United States
Style:
American Strong Ale
ABV:
7.9%
Score:
Needs more ratings
Avg:
3.9 | pDev: 0%
Reviews:
1
Ratings:
1
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Feb 15, 2012
Added:
Feb 15, 2012
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  0
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews.
Ratings by Gueuzedude:
Photo of Gueuzedude
Reviewed by Gueuzedude from Arizona

3.9/5  rDev 0%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
Sampled November 2011
Arrives from the tap with a creamy, nicely amber stained, tan colored head. The beer is a dark, concentrated amber color that shows a brilliantly clear, still looking (not much carbonation bubbles), bright red / amber hue when held up to the light. The aroma smells of caramel and vague fruit notes that suggest of raisins, and perhaps prunes. The Bourbon Barrel character is actually pretty subtle here, it melds in with the toasted malt character of the beer and suggests and toasted woody notes, perhaps a hint of woody spice, some Bourbon fruit notes. The fruitiness seems a touch thin at times (as opposed to rich smelling I suppose), but all in all there is a nice mix of fruit, toasted / caramelized malt, and Bourbon Barrel character in the nose; this is quite well balanced aromatically and comes off as being executed very, very well.

The beer is somewhat sweet up front, with lots of caramel and fruit notes up front; towards the middle it picks up a solid, though still subtle, spicy Bourbon note that has just a touch of a bite to it. The finish has a lingering raisin and berry like fruitiness that melds with barrel influenced notes of vanillin, and a noticeable toasted coconut flavor. The beer is quite smooth, with very little carbonation, there is just a hint of carbonic texture to this, but being served directly from the cask it is only just carbonated. The body has some viscous character to it and is medium’ish in character; it isn’t heavy, but it isn’t a beer I would consider quaffing a couple pints of. There is just a touch of a presense of alcohol warmth in this beer. The long finish sees a light, woody astringency lingering on the palate along with some Barrel spice character. There is a certain vinous quality to this beer that pokes through the brighter fruit and sweet malt notes, but is definitely there. The spiciness and a touch of wood-oak flavor is subtly noticed throughout the flavor provile, but clears a subservient role to the fruit and malt flavors that dominate this beer.

One of the most integrated Bourbon Barrel aged beers I have had in quite some time; this must be the second use of this barrel. The bourbon character definitely influences this beer, but if not told about it before hand I could see easily not realizing that the extra complexity comes from this source. This is quite nice in the end, better than the base beer and in many ways one of the best Bourbon Barrel aged beers that I have had in quite some time. My ideal Bourbon barrel aged beer is one where the barrel character plays a clearly subordinate role to the base beer, this is quite rare in the beer world right now, but this one clearly achieves that balances quite nicely.
Feb 15, 2012
Barrel Aged Bing Bang from Thunder Canyon Brewery
Beer rating: 3.9 out of 5 with 1 ratings