Portage
King Street Brewing Company

 

From my Anchorage haul. This was poured into a weizen glass. The appearance was a nice looking dark brown color with a thin film of a white head. It dissipated within a light half minute leaving barely any lacing. The smell had a strong boozy sweet wheatiness with a light brown sugar to it. Light caramel malts make a slight showing but maintains a nice background as well. The taste was sweet and had a nice wheat backup. There’s a nice sweet caramel strong boozy aftertaste leading into a semi-dry finish. On the palate, this one sat about a medium to heavy on the body leaning towards a decent sipping quality, is it the barrel-aged quality that does this...possibly. Overall, weizenbock - yes, barrel-aged - yes. Would I have this again, YES!

 

2014 vintage, consumed 06/18/2016

 

2014 bottle poured into a shaker pint, Portage is murky dark brown with a thin light tan head that pretty quickly dissipates to a thin collar. The still murkiness is reasonable for barrel aged beers. This one was aged in a mix of port and chardonnay barrels.

Smell is fruity malt, a little honey.

Taste is pretty heavy on the wine barrels, port more so, emphasizing the fruity base of the Weizenbock, with a vinous finish. A hint of butterscotch balances the sweetness, and there's some decent bitterness as well.

Mouthfeel is slick, medium bodied.

Drinkability is ok. This is a nice twist on the style with the wine barrels, but it's rich, making it an enjoyable, yet slow sipper, one of which is plenty.