Texas Bourbon Barrel Series Limited Edition Wee Heavy
Ranger Creek Brewing & Distilling

Got in a BIF from ozzylizard. 12 ounce can into tulip glass, no can dating, but is a 2022 vintage. Pours fairly hazy/murky dark brown color with light ruby highlights, with a 1 finger fairly dense and fluffy tan head with good retention, that reduces to a thin spotty lace cap that lingers. Light spotty lacing on the glass, with some streaming carbonation. Aromas of big caramel, brown sugar, brown bread, toffee, dark fruit, bourbon, toasted oak, light pepper/spicy alcohol booze, and yeast earthiness. Taste of big caramel, toffee, brown sugar, brown bread, bourbon, toasted oak, dark fruit, light coconut/pepper/oak spice, and yeast earthiness. Light pepper/herbal bitterness, and bourbon/oak spiciness on the finish. Light-medium carbonation and medium-full body; very creamy/silky mouthfeel, light lingering spicy oak/tannin dryness. No cloying/astringent flavors. Mild increasing warmth of 11.9% and barrel booze after the finish. Not as complex malt-wise as I expected, but very well balanced between malt, yeast, and barrel flavors. Body feels a bit light from the barrel tannins, but still rich.

Texas Bourbon Barrel Series Wee Heavy from Ranger Creek. Purchased at the brewery, 31/10/22. $ 13.87 (Including tax)/4-pack 12 oz cans ($ 0.289/oz). Room temperature shelf at store, stored at 34 degrees at home. Reviewed 19/11/22. Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Undated can. Served at 50.0 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. The final temperature is 55.4 degrees.
Appearance – 4.
First pour – Deep Amber (SRM 15), clear.
Body – Ruby Brown (SRM 24), opaque. Light penetration at the edge and bottom is distinctly ruby and, when illuminated from the rear, reveals many tiny particles in suspension.
Head – Large (Maximum 4.2 cm, aggressive center pour), beige, high density, quickly diminishing to a 0.5 cm crown and rocky cap.
Lacing – None. At 11.9% ABV I really wasn’t expecting any.
Aroma – 3.5 – Malt. No hops, no yeast, no bourbon. Mildly sweet.
Flavor – 4 – Slightly bitter malt but tries to be sweet. No yeast, no hops. No ethanol (11.9 % ABV as marked on label) aroma or taste. Weak whiskey, not necessarily bourbon, appears on the aftertaste. Moderate gastric warming occurs. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl.
Palate – 3.5 – Medium, approaching creamy, soft but lively carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 3.5 (After deducting 0.25 points for unlabeled personal container.) Overall, drier than expected from a wee heavy and distinctly weak on the bourbon in the aroma department. Still, an interesting take on the style, easy drinking and doesn’t awaken my Islets of Langerhans into frenzied activity.

From a can marked batch 2, produced 5/13/19. Pours dark brown with a few bubbles around the rim. Smells of oak and raisins, a little boozy too. Heavy feel. Sweet and rich malt flavor with some brown sugar/raisin notes. Definitely on the sweet side, but it works.

 

Brownish pour, nice rich body.
Smell is molasses/ caramel malts and barrel with vanilla notes.
Taste brings the caramel and barrel flavor, but there’s a smoothness to it all, even honey notes. Sweet, even like candied molasses, but ends balanced and flavorful.
Feel is a light medium and slick/ smooth, then medium-lightly chewy.
Unique. I enjoy this.