Dragon's Milk Reserve - Maple Oak
New Holland Brewing Company

Big, frothy light tan head. Retention is good for the style, and lacing is excellent.

Maple, brown sugar, and bourbon on the nose, and strong implications of chocolate and vanilla. Cream, oak, mash, minor char, red grapes, molasses, licorice. It's inviting, but if a stout can smell watery and thin, this somehow manages it, along with a minor metallic note.

At first it translates to the palate well, with thick, rich malty tones expressed in waves of chocolate and espresso, wrapped in an envelope of maple, bourbon, and oak. Toward the end of the first third, red grapes start to emerge, eventually pairing with some char, coconut, and vanilla. Sweet maple keeps you smacking your gums throughout, and by the final third, brown sugar and banana emerge to join the maple, along with dry chocolate.

Nutty finish, yielding to cream as the sip lingers for quite some time: not sticky, not dry, just slowly fading from your palate, with each fading flavor allowing another to be revealed, like a sculptor "discovering" his art from within the rock.

The hints of metallic notes from the nose never realized on the palate, but the watery impression remained. There's no boozy hint of the 11% ABV, and it's got a soft yet lively, medium full body, but it's lacking some of the fullness of the best imperial stouts.

This is a beer not lacking in complexity and depth. The straight flavor profile itself isn't a home run - it doesn't do anything the "best," but it never stops revealing more and more, and rewards a long, careful, savoring sip.

2019 vintage. Lots of burnt barrel and sticky maple sweetness.

2022-07-09
12oz bottle served in a WABL sample glass. Bottle is dated 06/27/19. @superspak sent it to me in NBS BIF #15.

Pours very dark brown, translucent around the edges, with a tiny Y shaped dusting of head in the center and a medium-thick ring around the edges. Tiny amount of extremely fine, very slow active carbonation. Smell is boozy, bourbon, anise, some maple sweetness. Maybe a hint of char.

Taste is definitely boozy, anise tones down a little bit, I get more coffee and burnt toffee out of it. Maple is there, but not super pronounced (maybe it'll become more noticeable as the beer warms up). Surprising amount of roasty bitterness to balance the sweetness.

Mouthfeel is thick and smooth. Overall, very nice beer.

 

This might have felt compulsory for New Holland given Founder's CBS, but it's a worthy addition to the maple/aged stouts. Might be a little sweeter and less rich than CBS, but wow nonetheless.

LOOK --- BLACK - 1 finger head - low retention - decent lacing - could use a bit more carbonation but a beer of this magnitude with ABV and barrel aged will be on the lower end
SMELL --- amazing maple syrup and butter on pancakes - some caramel - coffee - chocolate
TASTE --- AMAZING flavor - a great deal of oak, maple, chocolate, coffee, toffee, and tobacco - very powerful - very good
FEEL --- a bit thinner than expected - but high ABV - still full and thick
OVERALL --- One of the best brews that I have had -very flavorful- this is right up there with another of my Michigan favorites: CBS - I will be on the lookout for this (and other Reserves) in the future

 

Bottled 6/20/19. Pretty tasty. Sweet, but not overly so. Lots of roasty dark malt. Barrel presence is subtle yet ever present. Not syrupy, not thick, nor oily in any fashion. Great booze kick. I don’t remember how many of this I bought. If it was a four pack, I’m surprised none of them left much of an impression, because this is a very good beer.

 

20 June 2020 - Beer #124

Corona Day #100

Price: $6.99 at Hop City in Birmingham, AL

Appearance: 4 - clearly brown on the pour. Very white head, nice lacing.

Nose: 5 - interesting, at first I thought it was all bourbon, but it's really the maple that hits you. The barrel itself is mild.

Taste: 4 - definitely tasty. All the flavors are there, but they're complementary to a blah stout.

Mouth: 4 - chewy but a bit on the thin side

Overall: 4 - a very nice everyday barrel aged stout, if such a thing exists.

Stay safe out there, my friends.

Cheers!

I had this relatively fresh and then again a few months later and it definitely lost some of it's punch. Fresh it was an amazing blend of maple and bourbon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A - Pours pitch black with a two finger creamy tan head. Nice amount of soapy lacing.

S - Aroma is maple, vanilla and oak.

T - The taste is maple, oak, dark chocolate, vanilla and roasted malts.

M - Medium body with medium carbonation. Soft mouthfeel with a dry finish.

O - Pretty solid. Nice maple flavor throughout.

Black in color with no light penetration. There’s a fingernail of brown around the rim and covering half of the top. I smell maple syrup, oak, barley, and vanilla. I taste vanilla, maple, oak, and alcohol. The mouth is thick, chewy, and warm with alcohol.

Bottle. Tan head. Dark brown, black color.

Light bodied for an 11% stout. Maple is fairly light. Bourbon is fairly light. Lots of sweetness. Chocolate and lightly roasted malts. Caramel.

It’s decent, especially for the price, but I doubt I’d buy another 4 pack.