Ringneck Bourbon Barrel Poor Richard's Ale
The Brew Kettle Taproom & Smokehouse / Production Works

Wax-sealed bottle: The beer is a murky brown-amber color with a medium thick and rocky light beige head. Sticky patches of lacing mostly near the top of the glass. Strong aroma of molasses, malt and coconut. Rich and very smooth-bodied. The barrel-aging definitely imbues the original version with a pronounced bourbon flavor. Woody, malty flavors along with hops and peppery alcohol. The finish is round and sweet, with a lingering bourbon aftertaste. Very good overall.

22 oz. bomber bottle with a cap that was covered with lime green wax. I've never had a beer before in where the cap was covered with wax. The label has a bad computer printed white label of Ben Franklin holding a pitcher of beer and below him it says "toast time, first American's 300th Birthday January 17th 2006." That was word for word. I don't know why it has that date on it when I got it in late August. The Brew Kettle says that Bourbon Barrel Poor Richard's Ale spent 8 weeks in a bourbon barrel and makes this Scottish Ale something you may never forget and has a 6.5%ABV. If it helps, I got this beer at the Brew Kettle in the back, where they sell bombers of their beer.

Appearance: When poured into my Samuel Smith Imperial Pint glass, the beer was a light mahogany brown color with ruby highlights. The head of foam was a big disappointment. All I got was a small skim of white foam and after only 1 minute, there was nothing there. No rings, no white sticky lace, Nothing! By the appearance it looks like it's from January 17.

Smell: It had a nice potent aroma of smoked caramel malts in the beginning and then an aroma of cherries and bourbon barrel oak. At the end there was a subtle aroma of bitter hops.

Taste: The taste was that of smoked caramel malts, a very subtle taste of dark fruits, bitter hops, a little touch of vanilla, and all of this ended with a strong taste of bourbon, oak, and some alcohol. As you can tell, the end is where you can really taste the bourbon barrel. I never had much luck of good tasting beers form the Brew Kettle that I bought in bottles, but this one changed my mind.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied, very little carbonation (if that), and it had a mild aftertaste of bourbon and oak. The taste of bourbon and oak overshadowed the alcohol.

Drinkability: Like I said before, I've never had much luck with Brew Kettle bottles, but I could drink another one of these if given the chance. I'm sure it's better on-tap, but I had some much beer there, I had to take this one home with me. A fine barrel aged beer.