Stone Of Arbroath Abbey
DC Brau Brewing Co.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A carbonated bottle served in a DC Brau cervoise, as God intended. Beer is dark brown almost black with a nice tan head of small bubbles, some lacing, decent retention, moderate to low carbonation.

Aroma is oaky and sweet with a mild malt to it, the oak is winning here.

Beer is very oaky, I know the beer was fermented in an oak cask so this makes sense, I'm just hitting that point hard so people know, it is an oaky beer. Sort of like oak aged Yeti is a pretty oaky beer, but more so. It works well with this beer though, a nice balance between the malt character and the barrel character. I enjoyed it. Medium body, nice finish. I'd have it again on draft.

 

Appearance: Pours a beautiful coffee/toffee color with about a finger of head, which dissipates to a lingering half-finger of head.

Smell: Wow. The smell is out of bounds. I've never had a barrel fermented beer before. Barrel aged - sure, but never one actually fermented in the barrel. The smell comes across with big malty burnt sugar and a touch of the Belgian funk from the abbey ale yeast.

Taste: You get the oak, the malt, hints of dark bread, and the funk... and they're great.

Mouthfeel: Solid. Coats the mouth, but isn't cloyingly sweet.

Overall: I don't know if I'd call this a Scotch Ale or a "Historic" ale... but whatever it is, is great. The yeast surprisingly compliments the malt profile of the rest of the beer and takes it a step further with the Belgian funk.

I know the brewery had a recall on the bottles out of a fear of a lack of carbonation, but I'm glad I didn't return mine. A week after the recall was issued, I found my bottle opened with a lovely "...kissst..." and all was good.

So if you were lucky enough to get one of the 638 bottles and were planning on hanging onto it, you made the right choice.

I have to more bottles that I'm laying down for the next two years.

This is the Stone of Arbroath fermented in a barrel with Belgian yeast. UPDATE: The day after releasing bottles of this, the brewery acknowledged a carbonation issue and is offering refunds for returned bottles. Stand-up move by DC Brau!

A. Pours a dirty, dark brown. Shockingly little head, just a few loose bubbles. Absolutely zero lacing. Looks like a flat coke.

S. Much better with roasted chocolate, caramel, and coffee. Some fresh bread crust and hints of tobacco leaf. Subtle hints of brown sugar and spice.

T. Roasted coffee, chocolate shavings, caramel, and some sweetness from the Belgian yeast. A thick and bready brew, pretty good.

M: Scarcely any carb at all. What little head this had is long past gone and it's been poured for only a few minutes. Some nice flavors, but the lack of carbonation is very offputting. Belgian yeast also plays a little too strongly and covers up the more enjoyable flavors to an extent.

O: Massively disappointing. Good smell and flavor profile, but the carbonation issue makes this an unenjoyable experience. This is DC Brau's first real foray into bottling and I'm already worried about the regular Stone of Arbroath and Penn Quarter Porter bottles I have sitting in the other room. I have no idea what happened here...maybe it was the barrel fermentation. But there is no way this should have been sold to customers like this.