Rum Barrel Aged Coconut Mountain Man
Verboten Brewing and Barrel Project

 

Had on tap. Man, there is a lot going on here, a theme I am beginning to notice in the few verboten beers I have had. Let's start with the barrel, rum but not as boozy or sweet as usual, rather rum soaked wood with character, love that. The coconut, cocoa, vanilla, caramel, pretzel, molasses cookie, and slight maple are combine into a pot of sweet treat, smashing into each other on a stage of rum. The smell is more muddled compared to the taste because of the depth. Sweet for a strong ale, but has a lot of complex character, and frankly is fun.

i always hear people, especially the big breweries, talk about how "local" beer is killing the business, how its all low quality wash and regionally hype driven and more annoying than beneficial or interesting, and i have never really agreed with that, as much as some of the larger national craft brands remains close to my heart, it just never seemed to make sense, and i have waded through my share of lackluster brew kit ambers, scorched under fermented stouts, and totally crystal malted out india pales from startups all over the country, but every once in a while, a beer like this comes along which takes "local" to the next level. verboten is about as local as it gets, small and self contained, they get only a little bit of beer outside of their home market, and really, you never hear much about them down here in denver. this completely caught me off guard, and while i have very much liked the beers i have had from these guys, this totally blew me away and made all the amateur and middling "local" beer that takes so much heat around the country all worth it, just to find this one. its so different than anything else out there, and frankly would out compete anything in the style as far as im concerned, and im talking anything at all. the coconut is on point, toasted and desserty, almost caramelized with these rich malts in here, gooey and baked, sweet enough but not diabetic, and super natural to me, robust as heck but not forced, as good as coconut can be in beer, and really a different side of it here. almost an english barleywine at its base to me, the right amount of boozy and bready, and the rum barrels are decidedly not bourbon, with an older, weirder oak to them, and a spice character to the liquor. its awesome, it flatters the coconut, brings it out, and hints at things like nutmeg and vanilla bean and molasses. i thought this beer was absolutely incredible, and might be the best "local" colorado beer out there right now. i put local in quotes to denote the negative connotation this term has come to have for some reason, like any old joe can start a brewery these days and a lot of the beer sucks, and this is so defiantly apart from that type of thing. epic beer right here, not to be missed!