Reclaim Me
Anchorage Brewing Company

 

Used motor oil black with nothing but a thin brown chain around the surface.

Big toasty oak almost emulates salted caramel, which obviously fits right in with the mushy brown sugared banana vibes. Coconut perhaps add viscosity, while also coming out in exhale with some chocolate wafer, waffle cone and dark fruit, but it's countered by whiskey that's quite spicy, impressively of rye.

This would probably be way too hot, especially next to other beers, as is often the case with Anchorage in many instances, but is met well by the sort of balancing decadence here.

Appearance: black & flat, no head, no bubbles. Aroma: heaven! Lots of bourbon, brown sugar, some banana telling you this is going to be good with plenty of sweetness. Flavors: bourbon, bananas, coconut, brown sugar, vanilla, oak, delicious roasted grain & more bourbon so. Feel: so thick & syrupy the carbonation is not missed. I can feel a little alcohol heat in my stomach but didn’t taste any. My bottle lists the ABV at 19.25 which is a lot more than the 15% list in this page. It really doesn’t gee anywhere near either of this figures. I’m loving this beer!

From the Untappd Top-Rated Box (Batch 4). Poured from an undated parafin-capped 375 ml bottle into a tulip glass.

Look: Opaque black, with only the tiniest brown head that disappeared immediately and left no lacing. Looks and films on the side of the glass like dirty motor oil.

Nose: Dominant bourbon, dark malt underneath, licorice, and some brown sugar and cooked brown sugar.

Taste: Immediately sweet on the attack, with bourbon and brown sugar following, then more oaked bourbon, and more sweetness still. The alcohol tries to balance the sweetness, but I’m not getting the depth and bitterness balance of the dark roast. Any banana and coconut is buried under the brown sugar. OK, maybe I get a little coconut, but it’s sweetened coconut, not toasted coconut. This doesn’t really taste like beer.

Mouthfeel: Very thick and chewy, adequate carbonation.

Overall: This, unfortunately, is much more alcohol- and oak-laced pastry than stout. It could be a decent pastry stout with less brown sugar and more malt. I respect the below reviews, and realize, humbly, that my take is much different. I also note that many of the previous reviews are from three years ago. Is it possible the recipe has changed? Or did Untappd throw a three-year-old beer in its most recent Top-Rated Box? I thoroughly enjoy stouts, including imperial, barrel-aged, and pastry stouts — this one is just too sweet for even me. Honestly, I drain-poured the second half of it.

 

 

Slate black body with a light brown collar. Smells strongly of coconut and banana with big bourbon barrel, molasses and faint maple backing. Taste flips, bourbon leads powerfully and boozy, adjuncts with supporting semi-sweet chocolate, vanilla and caramel in the background giving support to the now second fiddle banana and coconut. Feel is so boozy, flambéed banana for real. Bananas foster stout that is decadent and potent but lights you up! The intensity of flavor, barrel depth shown off and the viscosity is to be commended, but the booziness is so potent that as you go down the glass it starts to add up.

Special

Well documented is the double dry-hop techniques of ale making, but triple barrel-hopping is something different. Aged in three different types of bourbon barrels at three different intervals lead Anchorage's version of a couch-surfing stout to an elevated pastry stout plateau.

Inky black and pouring like motor oil, Reclaim Me settles with a rather ominously still appearance with a swooning scent of whisky woven chocolate, tons of barrel complexity, kahlua-like savory spiciness, bold suggestions of sherry wine with dark fruit and coffee-like savoriness. Deliciously sweet on the tongue, a thick coat of chocolate, molasses, almond brittle and cake batter all frame a decadently sweet upstart.

Yet a surprisingly balanced taste takes hold once the lavish sweetness seeps into the tastebuds as the barrels promote more port, sherry and madeira character to meet the chocolate density. Dark fruits of blueberry, blackberry and currant seem grilled and intensified while caramelized oak, nutty flavors, espresso, vanilla and black cherry all carry into a simmering campfire warmth.

Lavishly full, pillowy and plush on the palate, the pastry stout takes an absurd amount of barrel character to achieve such impeccable balance through barrel choice and patience. Despite its heavy price tag, this beer is worth every penny, right down to its long, powerful and savory aftertaste.

 

375ml bottle at share. Near black pour, fizzy brown head. Aroma is roasty, coconut, banana and boozy. Taste comes in on a slick, velvety body, sweet and strong, chocolate, banana and coconut, vaniila, like a candy bar that just turned 21.

poured from a 375mL white-waxed bottle. pours pitch black with virtually no foam and hardly any bubbles. chocolate, oak, coconut, bourbon, caramel and faint banana on the nose. taste follows with the base stout, barrel(s) and coconut leading the way. as it reaches room temp, the banana makes it way out of the shadows but it never dominates or even comes close to dominating. thick, full mouthfeel with a lower level of carbonation. tons and tons of barrel on this one, as expected. this is bananas done right. here, they compliment a thick, barrel-forward stout and coconut to create a wonderful, dessert-y barrel-aged imperial stout.