A Spectacle To Be Consumed
Breakside Brewery - SE Taproom

From Good Times Oakland, 2025 edition.

Pours what appears to be pitch black, small tan head of foam after a vigorous pour, good retention and lacing.

Smell is Bourbon, red wine, roasted malt, chocolate, pitted fruit, hint of licorice. Quite inviting.

Taste is roasted malt, Bourbon and Red Wine, dark pitted fruit, leather, and plenty of alcohol, which is very warming.

It feels full bodied with light ish carbonation, I would drink this again. No problem.

22oz bottle picked up at Worden's Market in Missoula, MT
Poured into a Sunriver Brewing Belgian-style tulip

2025 release

P deep mahogany/black with a tiny tan cap
N med-bold nose of deeply roasted malt, dark fruit, nutty coffee, barrel, tobacco, and some molasses as well; complex
T chocolate dotted with dark fruit and lots of barrel notes, with red wine being the most prominent; balanced sweetness; finishes with more barrel and a touch of nuttiness
Mf full-bodied and thick; med carb level
O pretty solid, but didn't care for it as much as some of Breakside's other big stouts over the past few years; no shortage of barrel character, that's for sure

Review date: 04.03.26
Bottle date: 2025

Enjoyed on tap at Breakside Beaverton, in a snifter.

Look:
The body is an opaque black-brown. My phone flashlight reveals mahogany highlights at the thinnest edges. A fresh pour doesn't raise much of a head, but a solid ring of foam endures to the bottom of the glass. There are a few isolated speckles of lacing, like tiny islands in the middle of the south Pacific Ocean.

Smell:
Initial impressions are cocoa powder and a variety of concentrated fruits, including red currants, dates, and a creamy note of dried apricots. There's also a mild but distinct dry red wine character. Other components are a touch of molasses and a flurry of bittersweet herbal notes that remind me of chinotto soda.

Taste:
Several different kinds of bittersweet from start to finish. Starts with dark chocolate, cocoa powder, and an undertone of oak and grape skins. Then it takes a series of interesting detours. There's a bourbon riff that's sweet and flashes a bit of char. Next up is a wave of strong, dry red wine. Candied bitter orange peel. Dark green herbs with a shred of something vaguely minty. Then the wine comes back, with a salty/briny note sneaking in behind it. Molasses, dark chocolate, and pine sawdust mingle in the finish, along with a swig of chinotto.

Feel:
Full-bodied and velvety with an abrupt tannic bite at the end. Genteel carbonation. Some alcohol warmth which is focused by the tannic character.

Overall:
This is a puzzling beer. (That's not necessarily a bad thing.) The selection of barrels is more interesting than harmonious. The effect is a beer being pulled in several directions at once. Some directions are delicious. Others are merely intriguing. It doesn't quite hold together for me. That said, I am tempted to buy a bottle just so I can find out what a year or two will do to it. Given the changes I've noted in the excellent La Maison du Bang! (another Breakside project which used multiple kinds of spirit barrels), this Spectacle could be headed into some really exciting territory.