Reforest Kelley
Forked River Brewing Company
- From:
- Forked River Brewing Company
- Ontario, Canada
- Style:
- American Imperial Stout
- ABV:
- 11.5%
- Score:
- +7 ratings needed
- Avg:
- 3.89 | pDev: 4.37%
- Ratings:
- | reviews: 1
- Status:
- Retired
- Rated:
- Jan 10, 2023
- Added:
- May 15, 2017
- Wants:
- 0
- Gots:
- 0
NO SCORE
-
-
Sour Bourbon Barrel Aged Russian Imperial Stout w/ Black Cherries
Dammit, it’s sour, Jim!
Yes, Bones, it’s gloriously sour. No mean feat for an over 11% imperial stout. ReForest Kelley is an out-of-this world experience and took a lot of work to push it towards its tartness- as well as taking an awful lot of patience! Who else is putting a beer like this in bourbon barrels for over 18 months, as well as incorporating locally-sourced fruit to add to its complex flavour?
Big, bold, oaky, and sour with a background cherry finish- this beer brings together elements from across the universe of brewing to yield a careful blend of flavours. The base beer is our national gold medal-winning bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout Weendigo, to which we added sour cultures and Ontario black cherries sourced from Heeman’s just down the road. And oodles of bourbon flavour? Yeah, it’s got that too.
Dammit, it’s sour, Jim!
Yes, Bones, it’s gloriously sour. No mean feat for an over 11% imperial stout. ReForest Kelley is an out-of-this world experience and took a lot of work to push it towards its tartness- as well as taking an awful lot of patience! Who else is putting a beer like this in bourbon barrels for over 18 months, as well as incorporating locally-sourced fruit to add to its complex flavour?
Big, bold, oaky, and sour with a background cherry finish- this beer brings together elements from across the universe of brewing to yield a careful blend of flavours. The base beer is our national gold medal-winning bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout Weendigo, to which we added sour cultures and Ontario black cherries sourced from Heeman’s just down the road. And oodles of bourbon flavour? Yeah, it’s got that too.
Recent ratings and reviews.
Reviewed by thehyperduck from Canada (ON)
3.66/5 rDev -5.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
3.66/5 rDev -5.9%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
500 mL bottle purchased at the brewery in 2017. Guess what I found at the back of my cellar? Apparently this beer has been re-brewed at least once, but this is the original release - so take this review with a grain of salt, unless you also plan to sit on your bottle for five or six years.
It cracks open with a good, solid hiss, but thankfully no gusher (always a concern with these super-old beers). It's inky black and opaque, capped with nearly two fingers of smooth, foamy, tan-coloured head that fades within a matter of minutes. A creamy collar is left encircling a thin cap, with minimal lace deposition. Boozy as hell, with big bourbon and oak aromas interspersed with black cherry, vinous funk and a woodsy, herbal note; very subtle suggestions of cocoa and vinegar.
It's different, that's for sure: very fruity, sour and funky for the most part, but those imperial stout flavours come crashing in at the end with all the delicate sensibility of a bull in a china shop. Sweet black cherry and tart cherry juice at first, with subtle oak and balsamic giving way to some big, boozy bourbon flavours by mid-sip. A quick burst of roasted malts and dark chocolate near the finish, followed by an ensemble-cast conclusion of bourbon, sour cherry, oak tannin and alcohol; funky, dirty, cherry pit aftertaste that sticks to the taste buds. Full in body, with low-ish carbonation that weakly agitates the palate. Smooth mouthfeel, but very limited drinkability - I barely managed to polish off the bottle (avoiding the dregs, obviously).
Final Grade: 3.66, a B grade. Reforest Kelley is a gruff, brash sour stout that will not appeal to everyone. I assume this is based off of Weendigo, their bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout (as of 2017), but it has become 90% wild ale at this point. Relentlessly boozy, and the tail end is downright harsh and clingy at some points... part of me kinda likes it, part of me wishes I were drinking the base stout instead, and the rest of me just wants to move on to something else ASAP. I wouldn't discourage others from trying this, but soured imperial stouts are really not my jam at all.
Jan 10, 2023It cracks open with a good, solid hiss, but thankfully no gusher (always a concern with these super-old beers). It's inky black and opaque, capped with nearly two fingers of smooth, foamy, tan-coloured head that fades within a matter of minutes. A creamy collar is left encircling a thin cap, with minimal lace deposition. Boozy as hell, with big bourbon and oak aromas interspersed with black cherry, vinous funk and a woodsy, herbal note; very subtle suggestions of cocoa and vinegar.
It's different, that's for sure: very fruity, sour and funky for the most part, but those imperial stout flavours come crashing in at the end with all the delicate sensibility of a bull in a china shop. Sweet black cherry and tart cherry juice at first, with subtle oak and balsamic giving way to some big, boozy bourbon flavours by mid-sip. A quick burst of roasted malts and dark chocolate near the finish, followed by an ensemble-cast conclusion of bourbon, sour cherry, oak tannin and alcohol; funky, dirty, cherry pit aftertaste that sticks to the taste buds. Full in body, with low-ish carbonation that weakly agitates the palate. Smooth mouthfeel, but very limited drinkability - I barely managed to polish off the bottle (avoiding the dregs, obviously).
Final Grade: 3.66, a B grade. Reforest Kelley is a gruff, brash sour stout that will not appeal to everyone. I assume this is based off of Weendigo, their bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout (as of 2017), but it has become 90% wild ale at this point. Relentlessly boozy, and the tail end is downright harsh and clingy at some points... part of me kinda likes it, part of me wishes I were drinking the base stout instead, and the rest of me just wants to move on to something else ASAP. I wouldn't discourage others from trying this, but soured imperial stouts are really not my jam at all.
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