Barrel Aged Blueberry Eisbock
Kuhnhenn Brewing Company

2014 vintage; consumed on 2/13/2024

Pours a nearly glossy, purple-hued, jet-brown body capped with a finger of short-lived, pale beige foam, leaving a blank surface, miniscule collar, and no lacing holding to the walls of the glass with any longevity.

Aroma offers freshly pressed blueberry juice overwhelming the sense briefly upfront before a reprieve of subtle vanillins, yielding blueberry soft serve residuals into splintery oak and subtle cocoa lingering.

Taste brings strong overtone of blueberry compote, with accents of cocoa and oaky edges developing past the mid-palate as hints of whiskey linger gently into the finish.

Mouthfeel features a medium body and a mild, rounded carbonation quickly ceding to a tinge of prickly oak; a juicy undercurrent courses over the mid-palate into a creamy back end while a subtle, warming slickness prevails through the swallow.

Blueberry à la Kuhnhenn is generously absorbed into a warming eisbock base only vaguely showing its age, producing a relentless fruity array intertwined firmly with the gentler malted and barrel undertones which comfortably balance this strong ale.

 

375ml waxed and capped bottle into a Tree House teku.

Pours near flat. No head, no lace. Oily legs that leave a ring around the glass. Nose is sweet soy sauce, blueberry fudge, cocoa powder, booze, molasses, and syrup. Beer opens blueberry syrup and fudge. Cocoa powder. Booze, molasses, and blueberry candy. Oak, roasted malt, blueberry seediness at the finish. Body is full with near no carbonation. Slick and oily on the palate and goes down hot and sticky. Long, lingering aftertaste.

This one's delicious. 9 years old and holding really strong.

 

The aroma leapt out of this beer the moment the wax was off and the cap was removed- wow. It pours a very syrupy looking dark brown/purple color, with a tiny head, and no lacing.

This smells like authentic and juicy blueberry jam- it's just so sticky with such a full aroma, even aged a bit like this bottle is. There's sweet chocolate tootsie roll malt in the background, cookie dough, caramel, wet oak, and a bit of bourbon. This smells like it's gonna taste so good.

That would definitely be the correct assumption here. This is staggering, and honestly one of the best beers I've ever had. The blueberry character is (quite understandably) a bit more reined in than the base fruited eisbocks I've had, but it's still there, and it's still big- maybe not directly punching you in the face, but certainly hitting you hard enough to leave a sticky and syrupy purple bruise. The blueberry character is not at all medicinal, which is just great- it's sticky, jammy, and juicy. It evokes the feeling of blueberry preserves, rather than blueberry syrup, even though this is quite syrupy anyway. Beyond the obvious flavor profile in the name of this beer, there's a sweet and candy-like chocolate flavor behind it, with some light caramel, and a damp, bourbon-soaked oak character. It finishes with a bit of bitterness from the oak and the slightly lacquer-toned bourbon character.

Other than that slight prickliness, this shows barely any indication that it's 15.5%. The ABV is that high, and it was in barrels for a year and a half- it's a miracle that this is as smooth as it is. It's got a very syrupy mouthfeel- this is like fruited old ale concentrate, essentially, with a very low level of carbonation. The slight bit of carbonation does help the drinkability, as I would not like this as much if it was completely still.

There is absolutely nothing like this on the market, except for maybe the barrel-aged raspberry edition of this, which I have in my possession, but haven't tried yet. This is incredible, and I am running out of superlatives to describe this beer.

David's party
Light fizzy head, dark purple color
Nose loads of blueberry, syrup, blueberry juice, syrupy eisbock, oaky vanilla buttery barrel
Taste big sweet malt, toasted biscuit malt and syrupy candy, tons of buttery oak vanilla barrel, big blueberry, flesh
Mouth thick little syrupy little alcohol

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

375 mL bottle. Deep purple body. Smells of blueberry, alcohol, a little bourbon, and lots of sweetness. Tastes of blueberry, a bit of acidity, sweet caramel and blueberry. Alcohol. Not a lot of bourbon, but it comes through in the end. Heavy and very alcohol. Not sure why, but this one is not anywhere near as good as the BA Raspberry Eisbock. It's acidic and doesn't seem to justify the alcohol.

This was absolutely phenomenal. Had this right after the barrel aged eisbock and this blew it away. Had a great blueberry color and the flavor comes through strong.

I wasn't sure what to expect as I've not had many Eisbocks, much less BA fruited ones.

The double layer wax made me nervous, but came off easy. Pours brownish blueberry juice colored, no head.

Smell is huge bourbon, blueberry, sweet caramel, bit of cocoa. Smells really, really good. I think can smell hints of its excruciating rareness too.

Taste is awesome. Explosive. I literally forgot everything else for a minute. Boozy, blueberry jam, wonderfully sweet. Some oak, toffee maybe, chocolate. Absolutely delicious. It definitely tastes like an ~18% beer, and so as with such things, a 4 ounce pour was plenty.

Mouthfeel is medium-low carb, slightly viscous, sticky, certainly thick enough.

Loved this beer. One of my favorites I've had in the last year. Stoked at the possibility of trying the other two variants.

 

Shared with JLindros.

A - Poured into a Kate the Great tulip a nice dark nearly black hue with a thin off white head that fades to leave thin wisps.

S - Aromas of huge blueberry jam, fresh blueberries. Very nice light bourbon notes really good.

T - Taste is similar to the nose, loads of blueberry jelly/jam, excellent light chocolate, good bourbon notes. Tons of blueberry.

M - Mouthfeel is nicely carbonated, creamy, alcohol hidden very nicely.

O - Overall this was a very very great beer. The blueberry notes are huge. Jammy but not cloyingly sweet.

Serving Type: bottle