Only Void - Red Wine Barrel-Aged
Tired Hands Brewing Company

This was a truly terrible concoction. Sour and spoiled like expired yogurt. As far as I know, this was not supposed to be a sour stout! Vinous all around, with very little redeeming qualities. I drain-poured 3/4 of the bottle. Not worth almost $20 and/or waiting in line, and a far cry from the delicious regular Only Void.

poured from a black-waxed 500mL bottle into a snifter. pours pitch black and sits in the glass kind of syrupy and still. big oak and red wine on the nose. almost tannic. taste is tart, jammy grapes with butter roasted malts in the way, way background. medium-full mouthfeel but honestly this was more like drinking wine than beer. excellent barrel notes but also just too much grape / red wine notes and not enough base stout. can appreciate what they were trying to do here but not sure it quite works.

Brewed in September 2018 and bottled in October 2019. Released in 2022. Pours an inky black. None of the coffee or chocolate notes one might expect in a stout. Instead, the taste is surprisingly tart if not just sour. No sweetness at all. Certainly an interesting idea to age the beer in bottles for three years after a year of aging in red wine barrels. But, the result was not a beer I would drink again. Just way too sour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On tap at CBC 2016. Black pour with a large-grained tan head. Sour and bitter, kind of like a Belgian stout with some lambic. A bit weird, but quite enjoyable.

 

Reviewing the Only Void beers tonight. This is a review for the 2013 maroon waxed 500ml bottle. I poured this into the Only Void balloon glass. Unlike the "Stainless" version, the "Red Wine" version does not gush forth, and actually pours a beautiful opaque black color with a reasonable, two-finger thick, tan head. The head is not one to stick around, but it has a creamy quality to it that makes it look more appetizing than the "base" version.

The aroma is jam-packed with fruits, showing off notes of strawberry jam, grape juice, cherry cordial, Black Forrest chocolate cake, and Linzer torte. Really incredible meshing of stout and fruit, and it's definitely inviting. The aroma alone is worth making the attempt to track this beer down.

The body is on the lighter side, with a thin watery consistency and a dry finish. The flavors show off red fruits and roasted malt. I wish that this variant had the same body as the base, with a little more heft, and some of that honey-like residual sugar. This feels a bit too weak in the body to measure up to an Imperial Stout. The carbonation is good though.

This is a big step up from the base beer, and the fruity quality of the red wine barrel worked really well with the stout base. I enjoyed drinking this, and I think I would spend more money on this beer. I believe it was $16 a bottle back in the day.

 

This was a huge disappointment for me...Had high hopes based on Tired Hands Hype. Thankfully...HandFarm did not let us done...That is one great beer. This one - Not so much.

Released in June 2013 drank in December 2014

Appearance: pours a solid black. maybe some dark browns through light or around the very thin edges. a three or so finger tan head that has a strong retention and leaves some big streaks along the sides of the glass. completely dark and opaque.

Smell: dark fruits, plums and dates. chocolate. red wine grapes. booze and roasted malts.

Taste: opens with a variety of fruits. red wine grapes are obvious and sweet. the grapes also blend together with the chocolate and dark malts to form a dried plum to date like fruit taste. semi-sweet chocolate comes through along with another wave of berries. the back end starts to become bitter with deep roasted malts and some alcohol.

Mouthfeel: fairly thick and full-bodied. sweetness up front but washed away by bitter roasted malts. strong alcohol warmth, despite being very smooth and not-astringent.

Overall: First Tired Hands bottle for me. Can't say I can think of too many red wine barrel aged imperial stouts, but I can say that this one is hard to beat. great blending of vinous character with strong roastiness. incredibly well balance and extremely tasty.