Madness & Civilization #17
Hill Farmstead Brewery

This one pours a fairly dark black color, with a small head, and a little bit of lacing.

This smells like oak and spicy herbal barrel character, with caramel, raisin, black cherry, milk chocolate, bourbon, and coffee.

That dash of Aaron that was in cognac/port barrels for four years makes its mark on this one, punching above the amount that was put in, adding a really nice tannic oakiness, a sort of dusty old barrel funk, caramel, toffee, and maple. There’s lots of chocolate and coffee here, with oakiness punching in throughout the drinking experience. There’s a nice dark fruitiness to this, port, cherry, raisin, and plum, like dried fruit leather. I imagine this will not age well, as it’s got that sort of pleasantly and mildly oxidized feel to it now. The bottle does say drink before six months, so my impression is that the brewery agrees with this take.

This has low carbonation, but it’s pleasantly soft, unobtrusive, and lifts the beer up just enough. There’s basically no booziness.

I very much enjoy this, and it’s probably the best entry in this series since maybe #10.

 

 

 

 

Many thanks to phineasmcclintock for sharing this.

A - Dark pour with toffee colored lacing and lots of legs on the sides of the glass.

S - Toasted chocolate, port wine, and oak permeate the nose with a little bit of alcohol.

T - Toasted chocolate, oak, port wine, and ends with a nice lingering toasted chocolate and red wine on the back side.

M - Silky, viscous, leaves a light sugary residue on the lips and warming in the back of the throat.

O - This is really fantastic and highly recommended.