Dire Wolf - Armagnac Barrel - Coffee Vanilla
Wolf's Ridge Brewing

From the 8 oz bottle in a snifter. This unique little brew pours a muddled
blackish brown with a nice head of tan foam that settles to a thick ring, thin
swirling layer, and shows some light lacing. Nose of cognac (armagnac), dark
coffee, dark fruit touches of blackberry, raspberry, and cranberry, oak, brown
sugars, dark coffee, and dark chocolate. Flavors surpass the nose with vinous
armagnac, oak, vanilla, earthy malts, dark bitter chocolate, dark coffee, cranberry,
raspberry, blueberry, tart cherry, and medium char. Nice mouth feel; full body, smooth.
rich, coating, light carbonation, and finishing medium dry and balanced between char
and malt.

Overall----another excellent brew

Cheers

Another one from the stockpile that has been waiting too long. Pouring it into a snifter, it foams up minimally, leaving a small, kahki top on top of a rather black draught. The head vanishes quickly into a ring of bubbles on the outside. Smelling it, I detect that woody, alcohol smell of a strong barrel-aged stout. Unfortunately, I have not had the opportunity to learn much about spirits, but I think I smell something fruity, almost apple-like, that I would attribute to the armagnac. Oh yes. On repeated sniffs, a strong whiff of coffee comes through.

The taste. That's just smooth. There is the chocolate and the coffee, a bit bitter, but very balanced with the malt. I think I detect the fruity armagnac taste up front with the chocolate, too. Yum. It's pretty thick but not much carbonation. Just smooth. A little creamy.

This was from their anniversary celebration last year, so who knows if we will ever see it again. I would certainly need to lock my wallet in a safe.

8 oz bottle, born on 9/23/21, poured into a Dire Wolf Teku glass at 55 degrees F:
L - dark and murky with a hazelnut head that lingered around the edges of the glass
S - armagnac, coffee, molasses
T - roasted malt molasses, armagnac, coffee on the finish
F - thick mouthfeel with minimal carbonation
O - excellent beer, flavors blending marvelously!

8 ounce bottle, packaged 09/23/21. Served in a Wolfs Ridge Dire Wolf chalice, the beer pours a dark brown/black color with about an inch and a half tan head. Head retention and lacing are both pretty good. It's a mostly sweet aroma, as the brew smells like Armagnac, fudge, dark fruit, caramel, coffee and roasted malt. Taste is similar to the aroma, but there's also some vanilla and oaky flavors noticeable too. The fudge and Armagnac stand out in the taste and aroma but don't overpower the other flavors. Mouthfeel/body is medium/full, it's slick and a bit creamy with a low/moderate amount of carbonation. I liked this brew a lot, my only complaint is that it was such a small bottle! I need to buy more of this one if I can!