Periodic Motion - Double Barrel-Aged
Fonta Flora Brewery

 

Pitch brown opaque pour with a light brown cap that settles into a collar. Aromas of barrel the whole way: rustic too with char, black strap molasses, earth, and barley all leading in that barrel. Taste actually, gasp, has barley as a star, unheard of these days in a dba barleywine, and yet it is here, pairing with the rustic barrels so well, char, leather, dried prune, and even cocoa emerging here and there. Feel is the winner, FF is so good at this: warm, rustic, chewy, yet not overly heavy or thick, drier.

Pours dark black. Aroma is complex. A balancing of fruits, brown sugar, roasty oak, vanilla, caramel and barrel. Taste mostly follows nose. Sweet combination of brown sugar, dark fruits (fig), vanilla, oak and bourbon. Mouthfeel is medium (barely). Very tasty.

Unlocking the most that bourbon barrels have to offer, Fonta Flora does something that haven't been done in the archives of history- they barrel aged their barleywine... twice!

Double Barrel-Aged Periodic Motion hits the glass with a very deep, dark garnet pour in nearly stout-like darkness. Without any meaningful froth, the still ale entices the nose with a slew of dark sugars, dark fruit, savory barrel qualities, toasted oak, vanilla, caramel, coconut and whisky spice. Candied-sweet with brown sugar, molasses, butterscotch and chocolate slather the tastebuds with a continuation of date, prune, raisin and fig with hints of cherry, sherry wine and dark berry. All wrapped in a chocolaty cocoon, the session develops a strong bourbon finish and peppery spice.

Full bodied, pleasantly cloying and chewy, the lavish ale coats the mouth like most after dinner elixir. Save for a dessert beer with a long savory finish and lingering bourbon warmth throughout the chest.