Hadrian's Wall - Rye Whiskey Barrel Aged
The BottleHouse Brewing Company

16.9oz bottle poured into a tulip
A: Hazy dark brown with a thin head
S: Sweet, caramel, chocolate, rye
T: Also sweet, again milk chocolate, caramel, vanilla and a rye finish
M: Full-bodied, sweet
O: Too sweet, otherwise tasty

 

Pouring clear shiny brown, filing to very dark, yet clear shimmering garnet, this has a big bubbly but clear active head that quickly settles to a more condensed film with a very thin, creamy collar.

Smell is caramel, nougat, faint wet wood, prune and nut.

As with many of their beers, this is a little light in body and carbonation, but makes up for it in clarity and depth of flavor. A pretty complex and delicious combination of vanilla, caramel and dark fruits start us off. While it's not hot, the flavor of spicy yet soft and deep rye whiskey is present, with some soft wet wood and dry roasted nuts. Toasty graham comes out in the aftertaste.

Feel is thin but with a faintly crisp carbonation. It's still slick, and finishes semi-dry.

Picked up a bottle this evening. The lack of a head was disconcerting and the color was more pale than I'm used to with this style. Smell and taste are nice with a good barrel presence. Feel was fine but could be a little thicker. This was a positive experience from a local brewery which I'm glad to support. [edit] I just read the other review (I try to do these independently) and agree on the lack of carbonation. I would consider this a successful work in progress and will give feedback the next time I'm there.

Picked up a bottle of this at the brewery about a week ago. Poured out of a 16.9 oz. bottle into one of my tulip glasses, this beer pours a somewhat cloudy/hazy medium brown color with some bright copper/amber highlights when held up to the light. The appearance color wise reminds me of something like Coca Cola, etc. Barely has any head when first poured, and what little there is settles to a thin ring lining the inside of the glass along with a few very small cluster swirls of foam on the beer's surface. The lacing here is better than the head, etc. Aromas of heavily toasted caramel malt sweetness along with a definite oak and rye smell too along with a bit of booze. It should come as no surprise that the taste follows suit, with a nice, toasted, caramel malt sweetness with hints of toffee and butterscotch followed by a bit if a spice bite from the rye and a bit of dryness from the oak. Not really an discernible hop flavor here, just a hint of an earthy hop presence to round this out. And of course the booziness is also present. Has a slightly crisp, slightly oily, somewhat chewy, mainly smooth, medium bodied mouthfeel with moderate carbonation. I really do wish this was a bit more carbonated, but and although I've not had a beer of this style in awhile, I do seem to remember this style being one that's typically not as carbonated in general as a lot of other beer styles are. But that being said, I feel that this beer in the bottle would benefit overall for being more carbonated. Maybe I just got a bad bottle in that regard. Has a clean finish. A good beer all around here though.

Eric