Barrel Aged The Newburgh Conspiracy
Newburgh Brewing Company

 

 

16oz. can into Night Shift stemware. Shared with schen9303.

Nose is espresso, brownie, liquorice, soy sauce, cream and roasted malt. There's ample sweetness here but its balanced nicely by the roast and espresso. Beer opens with hints of espresso beans and brownie. Sweet soy sauce, vanilla bean, chocolate and booze in the middle. Molasses in the back adds further sweetness. A touch of tobacco and wet wood lingers and comes in and out. Syrupy finish and aftertaste. Really good. Body is full with low carbonation. Smooth and silky on the palate and dense, rich, hot and sticky going down. Lasting aftertaste. Exactly what I want from the style.

A pretty under-the-radar brew as far as I can tell from the ratings. This is really good and holds its own against most other beers in this crowded style.

Poured from a 500ml bottle into a Speiglau BA glass.

Look is pitch black with thin dark brown head.

Aroma is a full rich roast malt with with a slight vanilla from the oak.

Aroma is incredibly full so much in terms roast malt vanilla and molasses sweetness.

So incredibly delicious.

This beer poured dark as night, but I would say it is as brown as brown can get without actually being black. Opaque - there's no light escaping or passing through, but if you roll the beer in the glass it reveals brown hues. No head, only a little ring of minute bubbles around the edge of the glass and floating rafts of micro-bubbles over the surface. No head, so no lacing but it has legs - oily cling to the side of the glass.

The aroma fills the room, but it is hard to decode. I get caramel just short of being burnt, molasses, espresso roast coffee, chocolate on the bitter side, dark fruits (figs and dates, maybe a bit of sweet cherry), and a faintly floral note over the top. Reminds me of a flavored pipe tobacco in a good way. After a few minutes as the beer warms the bourbon barrel comes on strong - elegant aroma of bourbon, vanilla, and just the nicest touch of woodiness. Incredible.

As fabulous as the smell is, the taste is even better. I found a lot of sweetness and dark fruits in the front with the dark caramel/molasses sweetness and flavor following. Chocolate and coffee are sandwiched in and there's just enough hop bitterness and brightness to liven up this heavily flavored beer. As with the smell, the bourbon came to me late in the game bringing vanilla and surprisingly fresh woody oak goodness. The roast malt bitterness stops well short of the acrid, burnt notes than can happen. This is a deep, intense, well-crafted beer that becomes more enjoyable as it warms.

It is thick with almost no carbonation, yet it drinks easy if that makes any sense. Insidiously smooth at 13%, she's definitely a sipper. No burn from the alcohol, very well integrated. As thick as it is, it doesn't coat the tongue, but the taste lingers and the palate is only cleansed by time between sips. The aftertaste is like tasting it all over again as waves of flavor unravel from the tongue. The malt became very clear to me in the aftertaste. Since it is almost still, there's no surprise sting waiting at the end, either. I think added carbonation would be a detraction.

Overall - what else can be said? An incredible sipper to be savored. It's a good thing it is thick and low on carbonation - it forces you to drink it slowly. I would drink this again in a heartbeat.

Thanks to @cavedave for this fantastic brew.

 

 

 

Flat and extremely boozy.

 

 

Lighter and more mellow than others of it's kind. An easier drinking but still tasty stout.

Very tasty beer. Low carbonation, but helps bring out barrel flavor. The smell of the barrel is amazing and you can definitely taste it

It pours a pure opaque black, not that super dark brown of some stouts, this is pure soot black. A few bubbles on top that fade quickly to an almost bare cap. A swirl leaves oily legs that only grudgingly crawl down the glass to rejoin the rest of the beer below.

Woooaaaaaah. Man gonna take some careful sniffing to break down the scents of this outstandingly delicious aroma. Burnt caramel, whiskey, vanilla, bitter chocolate, espresso, even some floral going on. As I sip I catch oaky notes in the bouquet that smell like when you cut aged oak wood.

The taste is beyond magnificent. Whiskey balances brilliantly with darkest caramel, rich chocolate, and coffee, and just the perfect amount of hop herbal bitter closes the deal. As it warms more of the roasty notes come to the fore, nice roasty bitter that never gets acrid, and just gives a complexity that turns this to a delectable treat.

It is light though thick, as contradictory as it seems.. It clings to palate with comfortable familiarity yet drinks easy with no hint of cloy or alcohol to spoil it. Dangerously drinkable. Very low carb., in fact, almost still, not surprising considering the ABV, but it works extremely well, the lack of carbonic bite leaves it possessing a smoothness that is beyond enjoyable and leads to a clean deep finish.

It drinks better than the "big boys". Amazing beer, highest recommendation.