Carrot Cake - Bourbon Barrel-Aged
Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery
- From:
- Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery
- Virginia, United States
- Style:
- American Amber / Red Ale
- ABV:
- 11%
- Score:
- +9 ratings needed
- Avg:
- 3.5 | pDev: 0%
- Ratings:
- | reviews: 1
- Status:
- Inactive
- Rated:
- Mar 01, 2017
- Added:
- Mar 01, 2017
- Wants:
- 0
- Gots:
- 0
NO SCORE
-
-
Bourbon Barrel Carrot Cake Imperial Amber Ale is made with hundreds of pounds of freshly grated carrots and aged in Kentucky Bourbon Barrels. Spice notes of cinnamon, all spice, cardamon, clove and vanilla compliment the fresh carrot flavor. Five specialty malts, fresh bourbon flavor, American grown hops and our house American Ale Yeast meld with the carrot cake flavor we all know and love.
Recent ratings and reviews.
Reviewed by cjgiant from District of Columbia
3.5/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.25
3.5/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.25
Bottle (seems the release date was late October, so maybe a third year old):
I thoroughly enjoyed the base beer, though found it to be a nice spiced beer (similar to a pumpkin beer). As such, I waited to see what I might classify this beer as, but the spice notes are not there in this version, so I will go with the brewer's classification - Imperial Amber Ale (barrel-aged).
Ok, it pours a bit dark for an amber ale - looking more like a deep brown or a barleywine. The head is nice and foamy/creamy, and builds on an aggressive pour. The head sticks around with full coverage for much of it, but doesn't give a lot of lacing. If the body were a nicer amber with a little more lacing, this could be a 5.
Nose was a tad disappointing when cold, but that can be excused if it opens. And it does... but not as much as I recall the base beer. There is a light spice note in general, and if I take a nice whiff and think about what the beer is trying to be, then I'll be darned, it's not far off (but muted), with spice and carrot [cake] notes peeking through. The wood more than the bourbon steal some attention.
Taste, unfortunately loses that spice note, almost completely. I sorta found the spice note enjoyable in the base beer, but more generally than a carrot cake tasting beer. This beer has a little tang to it that I can see being the carrots that were added. The whiskey, though not hot, and the barrel come out and play a decent role in this beer, but to the detriment of the base beer in my mind. The flavors they bring can be a decent accent, but they take a lead role, and it is this dynamic is what me go with amber ale - the spices from the nose are missing or overrun in the flavor,
Ok, for an amber ale, this has a decent feel - a little more full than I am used to, but fairly smooth and more enjoyable to me than the thinner amber ales I've had.
In my review of the base beer I felt the bitterness was a tad heavy. I think that general impression holds, but I think it applies to the barrel characteristics in this beer. It's a rare case where the barrel aging seems to have detracted from the base beer for me. The nose finally came around with warmth, the taste never really did.
Mar 01, 2017I thoroughly enjoyed the base beer, though found it to be a nice spiced beer (similar to a pumpkin beer). As such, I waited to see what I might classify this beer as, but the spice notes are not there in this version, so I will go with the brewer's classification - Imperial Amber Ale (barrel-aged).
Ok, it pours a bit dark for an amber ale - looking more like a deep brown or a barleywine. The head is nice and foamy/creamy, and builds on an aggressive pour. The head sticks around with full coverage for much of it, but doesn't give a lot of lacing. If the body were a nicer amber with a little more lacing, this could be a 5.
Nose was a tad disappointing when cold, but that can be excused if it opens. And it does... but not as much as I recall the base beer. There is a light spice note in general, and if I take a nice whiff and think about what the beer is trying to be, then I'll be darned, it's not far off (but muted), with spice and carrot [cake] notes peeking through. The wood more than the bourbon steal some attention.
Taste, unfortunately loses that spice note, almost completely. I sorta found the spice note enjoyable in the base beer, but more generally than a carrot cake tasting beer. This beer has a little tang to it that I can see being the carrots that were added. The whiskey, though not hot, and the barrel come out and play a decent role in this beer, but to the detriment of the base beer in my mind. The flavors they bring can be a decent accent, but they take a lead role, and it is this dynamic is what me go with amber ale - the spices from the nose are missing or overrun in the flavor,
Ok, for an amber ale, this has a decent feel - a little more full than I am used to, but fairly smooth and more enjoyable to me than the thinner amber ales I've had.
In my review of the base beer I felt the bitterness was a tad heavy. I think that general impression holds, but I think it applies to the barrel characteristics in this beer. It's a rare case where the barrel aging seems to have detracted from the base beer for me. The nose finally came around with warmth, the taste never really did.
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