Double Barrel V.S.O.J.
Revolution Brewing

Yields a dark brown, slightly reddish color with a dark brown head which vanishes directly after pouring.

This offers toffee, warm caramel and dried oak on the nose, together with toasty coconut, nutmeg and faint alcohol dipped cinnamon.

The mouthfeel on this is velvet, featuring a heavy body with just the right amount of carbonation during its finish to maintain the beer’s overall balance.

Tastes of smoky campfire, rustic, almost salty, licorice and timid toffee with luscious caramel and warming, dry oak. This got a slightly warmer mid palate, leading with toasted barrels, sweet cinnamon and a whiff of Bourbon dipped rock sugar, evoking a pleasant dryness on the back of the tongue. Finishes with sugar wrapped espresso, milk chocolate and the maintaining prominent wood barrels offering a spicy, maple syrup defined, long lasting finish.

This is quite subtle regarding its high abv, convincing with a fantastic balance and well nuanced depth. The barrel is there in a complex fashion with just a glimpse of heat to speak of, while adding to the spices and the prominent maltiness in this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Canned on 12/29/2022; consumed on 10/5/2024

Pours a silky murk of amber-mahogany topped with a short-lived finger of beige-hued foam, leaving a slight layer of sudsy cap, modest collar, and minimal-no lacing holding to the walls of the glass.

Aroma bursts with rich caramel and toffee as soft tobacco tones and leather offers a delicate contrast to notes of maple hard candy and a sturdy background barrel influence.

Taste brings Werthers Originals and waves of lightly smoked toffee into tobacco and subtle dark cherry undertones, leaving residual dark cocoa to contrast an ample char finish.

Mouthfeel offers a full body and a moderate-high spritz of prickly carbonation; a taut roast underscores building barrel warmth over the mid-palate to flaky slickness and a vaguely sticky finish.

A stalwart expression of the style, unabashedly flavorful and thoroughly expansive in detailing; approachably immense.

 

 

Pours a dark mahogany brown color with an unfiltered look, and settles in the glass with a nearly black body and a soapy tan head that dissipates pretty quickly, which isn’t surprising given the 16.8% ABV. Absolutely gorgeous barleywine.

The first note on the nose is an intense oak aroma that is a product of the boozy barrel note that follows, then lush, decadent caramel and toffee notes, and just a hint of stone fruit as plums and a bit of raisin. I am slobbering on myself.

The taste has all of the components of the nose, with the luxuriously decadent caramel and toffee flavors up front, the oak cutting the sweetness, and the plums a smidge of tart fruit that is a perfect finish coasting into the boozy warming at the back of the palate from the barrel.

The mouthfeel is rich, full, and decadent, suiting a beer of this gravity like a glove. This is a tippity top world class barleywine that I can’t recommend highly enough. Truly magnificent.

 

 

A big thank you to Quinnimical for knocking this 12 oz. can off my wants list. And since I pretty much want everything Revolution ever makes, I’m sure it’ll be replaced by 3X Barrel Super Ultimate VSOJ soon.

The pour is even darker than regular plain old VSOJ. The bouquet is intensely alcoholic, shedding bourbon & spicy rye all over the interior of my nasal cavity.

Double Barrel V.S.O.J. is a true sipper. The grossly understated 14% ABV hits like Joey Browner in his prime, suffusing all of the senses, including a few I didn’t know I possessed. Rye dominates, bourbon places second, then the barleywine tries to get a few words in with brown sugar, toffee, caramel, molasses, with sharp oak on the finish. Well, other than the alcohol finish, of course. I wonder how much of this I could drink before my brain waves flatlined.

Sometimes massive barrel is just massive barrel. Sometimes it’s beautifully integrated with a great beer. This is the latter. A masterclass in barrel aging that, well, I can find no flaw in. In sixteen years of searching the world, here is my eight perfect beer. I love it.