Tank Town Brown
Bull & Bush Brewery

 

 

Pours caramel brown with a big brown head, far exceeding my expectations for a barrel aged beer. Aroma is a nice oaky bourbon, nutty, caramel, and some biscuit. Flavor followed suit, super balanced. A medium bodied mouthfeel with some activity. Overall, an awesome, awesome beer. Probably the first bourbon barrel brown ale I have tried and it definitely set a ridiculously high bar. Would absolutely drink again.

 

 

2010 vintage, ages in 23 year old pappy van winkle barrel. $7.50 for a 10oz. pours thick, cloudy, and burnt butter brown, with a small cream colored head. smells like vanilla, faint oak, and caramel malts. some definite sweetness and some pronounced alcohol in there. it said 12%abv on the menu, not sure where the listed 8.4% came from, but this one was really potent. flavor was nice, big imperial american brown ale base bolstered by a great sweet woody complexity. this one just keeps evolving in the mouth. feel is just a bit sugary and heavy, even for what it is. i definitely only want one of these. it kind of filled me up and made me hungry at the same time. because of the dueling effects of the big body and the high abv. overall another excellent vintage brew from bull and bush. a little on the expensive side, but there is so much happening in this beer its worth it for the curious palate.

update: had the latest version last night, listed at 12% abv. much of the same characteristics as the vintage, but the alcohol is even sharper and the chocolate notes from the malt are really prominent. i absolutely loved it. what a fantastic big big brown ale!

Well, I love me some Pappy barrel stuff. Leave it to B and B to have some.

Rich caramel color, some dark brown. Somewhat creamy head, slick lacing.

Rich caramel aroma. Sweet. Vanilla hints, some leather and red apple.

Smooth flavors. The caramel is up front, blends well with nuttiness and earth tones. The leather is soft as the apple. Some woodiness to provide a tannin quality. Very smooth beer. I can see this with dessert and/or accompanying some stew or roast.

Draft at the brewpub.

Pours a very dark brown that's almost black in the glass   Completely opaque with very faint mahogany edges.  Half finger beige head that quickly settles into thin ring.  Not much in way of lacing.

Sweet boozy aroma with lots of bourbon but only slight oak.  Lots of bourbon and not much else.  

Medium bodied with a blast of bourbon heat and sweetness that lingers throughout over the sweeter malt notes into a dry hot finish with plenty of warmth in the chest.  Underneath is slightly smokey with hints of caramel and toffee but this is overpowered by strong bourbon.  Very one dimensional and too hot for me.

Apparently this was a 2010 vintage aged in a 23 year Pappy Van Winkle barrel, too bad its not bottled, the geeks would have a field day. Dark brown color and served in a goblet. Smells like bourbon but not overdone, very nice. Flavor was bourbon, wood, delicious brown ale, vanilla, good stuff.