Barrel Aged Baltic Porter
Beer'd Brewing Co.

reviewed blind.

Pours a dark brown, almost black color. Thin, weak mocha colored head quickly dissipates. That is likely my fault as I suspect I poured this too cold.

Aroma has notes of roasted malts, some light chocolate and dark fruits. Based on what I am getting on the nose I suspect this might be a baltic porter or something in that family.

Taste follows the nose with notes of roasted malts, hints of chocolate malts, vanilla and some light lager yeast notes. This is clearly a baltic porter - Im ready to call it, That being said, its hot, for lack of a better term. I cant quite place it - maybe its aged in a bourbon barrel or something, or maybe its one of these souped up versions, but either way, its clearly got something else going on with it.

Feel is pretty full bodied, smooth, but very much a sipper. Prickly, moderate carbonation. Semi-dry finish.

Overall this is a lovely beer, as its warming up that "hotness" is coming into clarity and I do believe this is aged in some kind of barrel. Its not bourbon though - its something else that I can't quite place. Maybe brandy? cognac? or rum? something in that family because its sweeter and has a different flavor profile than bourbon.

For my rating, lets go 4 | 4.25 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 ... rDev and overall score pending

16.9(?)oz bottle received via the porch-killing madness of Roguer. I'd vaguely heard of Beer'd before, but I've never had a beer from them.

Poured into a Tree House snifter (again, thanks, Roguer) this was a brown so dark as to be, for all intents, black. Holding it directly up to light did nothing to change that. Thick finger's worth of Khaki foam on top.

If the label didn't say it was Barrel aged, you'd know from the aroma. It's strong enough that I can tell it was both bourbon Barrel aged and rum Barrel aged. There are also the traditional aromas that come with a porter, such as roasty maltiness akin to molasses and/or brown sugar. But the barrels are really, really, obvious.

The Bourbon Barrel aging is also what first jumps out at The taste buds, followed immediately afterwards by flavor imparted by the rum barrels. Only then do you get a taste of what resembles a porter, and while it's good, it doesn't really stand up to the barrel aging as well as it could. Perhaps a year or two of this mellowing could change that, but right now this is mostly about the barrels in the taste. The finish is as clean finishing as a lager yeast beer that's been aged in such barrels can be.

The body is somewhere between medium and full, it's a little thin, mouthfeel-wise, but not to an alarming degree.

This is really good, almost great. I think it's just a little bit too new. I would really be interested in trying this when it's been waiting for a year or two in seller like conditions and the barrel aging has maybe mellowed a bit in its impact on the flavor. Having said that, it was a nice post-breakfast beer to have after a weekend morning's bacon, eggs & coffee.

500ml bottle served in a tulip. Pours the color and clarity of cola with a loose quarter-inch, mocha-colored head that gradually recedes not a thin skim. Nose expresses notes of cocoa, ethanol and toffee, with perhaps a trace of vanilla. Taste is a bit watered-down, muddled and muted. Nothing really pops. Cocoa comes off as chalky and ethanol just adds a strange character to the flavor profile. Mouthfeel is light-medium in body (closer to light) with an assertive carbonation. I generally really enjoy the style, unfortunately, this beer just did not do it for me.

 

Dark brown (looks black in the glass) body; thin yet creamy head, light tan in color. Fantastic chocolate and cocoa smell; a bit of wood; mild spiciness. Bold, rich flavors; milk chocolate; notes of rye and rum; raisin and other esters; spicy. Heavy body; dense, smooth and velvety; light stickiness; mild alcohol heat simmering below the residual sugars.

A very fine Baltic porter, rich in character and exuding a fantastic mouthfeel. It blends together rich, spicy sweetness with a dense lager smoothness. Very complex yet balanced.

Pouring temperature: 45 °F; bottling info: unavailable

 

Good head production and decent retention. Very attractive beer overall.

Excellent aroma, with the barrel influence popping from several feet away. The bourbon seems to be stronger on the nose than the rum, although they are complementary, really working well together. There isn't a whole lot of stout-like notes on the nose, being buried beneath the barrels. Brown sugar, oak, coconut, vanilla, sweet bourbon mash. Perhaps a bit of prune, date, red grape, and toast sneaking through.

Surprisingly thick on the palate, given the single-digit ABV. A touch of fizz makes it less easy to savor than I'd like, but it's still a very approachable beer.

Flavor is very similar to the nose. The base beer lends a bit of dark fruit sharpness, with notes of fig, date, prune, raisin, and red grape. There's also a nice spicy breadiness on the finish, like lightly toasted pumpernickel or rye. Not a ton of oak from the barrels, but they do add a lovely thick blanket of vanilla, coconut, and brown sugar on top of the base beer, as well as an approachable boozy heat that, along with the mouthfeel, make this beer seem bigger than it is - pleasantly so, I might add.

Very good selection of barrels. I'm not a huge fan of rum, but here it blends with the Heaven Hill influence so well that I wouldn't have guessed it was aged in rum at all, neither on the nose nor palate, had I not been informed by the label. Yet, it still adds depth to the overall profile, in particular on the nose.

This is a very well made beer - I would argue one of Beer'd's best forays into barrel aging, in particular among their dark beers.