Barrel Aged Savannah Brown Ale
Coastal Empire Beer Co.

i have not had the base brown ale that this is born from, but i liked this barrel aged version a lot. not sure if its an imperial base or not, or if they are attributing all this abv increase to the bourbon barrels, which seems like a lot, but its real flavorful stuff, sweet but not overly boozy and still oddly drinkable for this sort of thing, unique too, in that its not super malty, no roast at all, not even really chocolate forward, its lighter than those levels, more toffee and caramel and toast, chestnut and maple, autumnal, i like there this lands, more red even than brown, often these run darker and deeper, not this one, and its surprisingly high in carbonation and heady in the glass. the aroma is brown sugar sweet, but there is nice vanilla and oak and good whiskey character too from the barrel treatment, less alcohol than expected, raisin and date, neat. the flavor has big whiskey up front, cigar, and nice earthy richness and warmth, baked bread, light cocoa, bran, a little barrel char. the whiskey is approaching dominant, really defines this, but the base beer supports it well and this doesnt even get hot when it warms up. more carbonation than a lot of these have which i like, and this ends up kind of mellow for what it is. flavorful stuff, distinctive, sweet yes, but very tasty, underrated i reckon!

Had Barrel Aged Savannah Brown poured from 12-oz. can, bottom stamped "BROWN" but no legible date, into willi becher.

Pours rather murky, deep red-amber with 1-finger tan head, with decent retention, but leaving only specks of lace. Aromas of mild caramel malt and then bourbon off pour, then grassy hop notes, and sweet molasses, with bourbon and malt continuing, and finally some dark fruit and clean barrel as warms. On tasting, begins light, smooth caramel and mildly toasted malts which quickly give way to big whiskey barrel and molasses, before resurfacing as a bready presence beneath a bourbon-sweet and alcohol-warming finish.

Savannah Brown was enjoyable and seemed an excellent candidate for barrel-aging, and while the barrel-boosted aroma is much more fetching, on tasting the bourbon overwhelms. Maybe brandy barrels would be better.

Reviewed from notes. Poured from a 12 oz. can into a Cycle Brewing goblet.

A: Rich brown, translucent but dark. A half-finger of tan head lasts for a good bit, and a good amount of visible carbonation.

S: Whiskey and toffee up front. Some brown sugar and dark toasted malts. Vanilla and mild oak tannins. Some resinous and grassy hops in the background. Whiskey is an obvious, but not overwhelming, aroma...which gives me hope for barrel balance in this beer.

T: Whiskey and oak and vanilla. Toasted malts, brown sugar, and toffee. Resinous hops, and some orange-forward citrus (I’m assuming also from hops) that I didn’t get on the nose. More sweet whiskey and vanilla at the swallow and through the hang. Not overly sweet though – it’s partially balanced by hop bitterness and a mild roast bitterness, though the beer overall favors the sweet.

M: A medium body for a Brown Ale, though the temptation is to think of this as thin, since the barrel notes are significant. Average carbonation sensation. The alcohol I guess is prominent for style, but while there is some alcohol heat going down, it meshes with the beer nicely and doesn’t become overwhelming.

O: This is two in a row of at least better-than-average (though still not great) that I’ve had from Coastal Empire. This is definitely an interesting beer to show up in a 12 oz. cans. It’s not world class. There are better browns, better barrel-aged beers, and better barrel-aged brown ales. But in a can, and accessible, and (I think it was) at a reasonable price point, this is pretty solid. Barrel aged brown ales are probably not my first choice from a personal preference, but this is more than reasonably good.

 

 

 

Pours - Deep brown color with decent mocha colored head great lacing head lasts for several minutes.

Smell - The whiskey is very prominent in the smell, also you can smell the chocolate and caramel notes. I am also getting the charred oak smell.

Taste - The taste is very much like the smell whiskey up front and on the back, from what I found on the internet the ABV is 6.2% it is not on the bottle anywhere but it smells and tastes a lot stronger. Also getting more of the chocolate and oak barrel flavors.

Fell - For a brown ale it is actually pretty thin the alcohol is very present.

Overall - I think they were on the right track but the whiskey is just too overwhelming.

Infected

Barrel Aged Savannah Brown

Whiskey on the nose. Nice color. Thin mouthfeel. astringent. barrel char throughout the finish. Satisfying yet unbalanced. barrel tips the scale from start to finish.

22oz bottle from Sprayberry Bottle Shop (Marietta, GA). 9.99. No discernible bottling date but this was released in 09/2015. Served in a Barrel and Barley teku.

Pours a burgundy hued deep brown with two and a half fingers of pale sandy head. The bubbles recede to a thin ring and a central patch of haze. A few small clumps of lace dot the sides of the glass.

Smells of soft bourbon, oak, cocoa, faint vanilla and a little bit of caramel. Soft and fairly subtle but pleasant enough.

Taste follows the nose. Bourbon, chocolate, wet oak, vague roast, brown sugar, caramel and a faint herbal bitterness. The barrel adds some nice layers but the base occasionally gets lost under those stronger bourbon flavors.

Fairly thin body with moderate carbonation. Bourbon, chocolate and mild char play on the palate in the aftertaste.

Coastal Empire was on the right track with their decision to dress up their award winning Savannah Brown. While it does augment the flavor, for my preferences the base is not quite big enough to stand up to bourbon barrel aging. The barrel character occasionally completely takes over, leaving almost no hint of the base other than its unfortunate thin body.