French Press - Cognac Barrel-Aged
Saint Arnold Brewing Company

 

Got in a BIF from Ozzylizard. 12 ounce bottle into tulip glass, 2021 vintage. Pours a bit murky dark brown/black color with a 2 finger dense and rocky tan head with amazing retention. Lasting dense cap and soapy lacing on the glass. Aromas of big nutty medium roasted coffee, milk chocolate, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, toast, cocoa, cognac, oak, and light dark fruit/yeast earthiness. Light booze. Taste of big nutty medium/dark roasted coffee, milk chocolate, cocoa, caramel, Brown sugar, toffee, toast, dark bread, cognac, oak, herbal; light dark fruit, smoke, charcoal, vanilla, peppercorn, pine, and yeast earthiness. Medium pine/char bitterness and cognac/oak spiciness on the finish. Medium carbonation and medium-full body; balanced creamy/silky malt, chalky char roast, and oak tannins in the mouthfeel. Lingering resin/tannic dryness after the finish with spicy alcohol. No cloying sweetness, a lot of oak character. Very smooth sipping, light lingering booze warmth after the finish of 9.3%. Very impressive imperial English-ish porter, still a ton of coffee there and great malt complexity.

12 oz. bottle poured into "stout glass" (vertical tulip)
coffee porter aged in cognac barrels • 9.3% ABV • bottled 10/27/22 printed on bottle

L: lackluster pour ... dark almost black brew with dark red mahogany highlights with a thin 1/4-inch head of beige foam; no sticking or lacing; I suspect the beer is 100% clear and a dark amber color, but piled up in the glass it's effectively black; keeps a thin collar of beige foam

S: dark chocolate, meaty red wine, then it opens into loads of sweetness: milk chocolate-covered dates, raisins, licorice, fruitcake, more milk chocolate and the definite aroma of some kind of grape-and-oak cognac thing ... boozy that particular note, but overall the combination is a wonderfully sweet dark-malt explosion

T: sweet up front, earthy midswallow with an oaky finish ... much drier and earthier than the nose, not nearly as sweet to begin with, and the cognac is warming — you can tell there's booze in this beer; over time you can feel the beer trying to open up, but the sweeter notes are struggling to pop through; a grape note is showing up more and more with each sip, which is nice; it's possible I poured this one too cold, so I'm going to let it sit for a bit to see if it will open up some more (if it does, I'll adjust my score)

F: very nice all around, surprisingly light for so big a beer with a lot more carbonation than it showed during the pour

O: disappointing but not terrible; the nose promises glory, but the flavor fails to deliver; there is clear impact from the cognac barrels, which is nice, and I appreciate that they didn't junk up the brew by adding lactose, vanilla, maple syrup or any of the other junk that gets tossed into big stouts, but frankly I'm not sure the brewer made much of a base beer with this one; I'm glad I picked up one of these, but the bourbon barrel-aged version was lights out compared to this (I scored the bourbon version 4.28 overall and loved it FWIW)

 

Bottle I brought back from Houston, shared with Paul and Alex
Inky black with a decent tan head that slowly recedes.
rich roasted grain, decent coffee with bits of chocolate and earth to counter. Vinous grape and light vanilla faint warming alcohol. Great sipper! Wish I brought more back.

12oz bottled 11-23-21. Opened 1-16-22.
1 finger beige head, very good retention - settles in as a solid cap. Dark brown with ruby at the furthest edges. Spotty and wispy lacing. Nose full of roast - coffee and malt, sweet booze /fruit and a unique floral undertone. Roasted malt and sweet grape, works well together. Coffee is mild in the flavor along with a hint of wood and vanilla - everything is well integrated and balanced. Medium body, moderate carbonation and a slick mouthfeel. Smooth and very well balanced, some warming in a long, tasty finish. Outstanding.

 

French Press Coffee Porter Cognac Barrel (2020) from Saint Arnold. 12 oz bottle from Spec’s # 101. $8.53 (including tax) ($0.711/oz). Stored at room temperature in store and at 40 degrees after purchase. Reviewed 11/11/21. Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Part of label design “2020 Cognac Barrel”. Served at 44.7 degrees in a hand washed and dried glass coffee cup. Final temperature 55.7 degrees.
Appearance – 3.25
First pour – Medium Amber (SRM 12), clear.
Body – Brown (SRM 30), opaque. When rear-lite same.
Head – Average (Maximum two cm, aggressive center pour), wheat, short retention, diminishing to a two to eight mm crown and a thin partial cap.
Lacing – Poor. Few anorexic pictographs composed of very tiny bubbles, mostly empty space.
Aroma – 3 – No malt, no hops, no yeast. Weak and odorless, possibly a ghost of cognac.
Flavor – 3.25 – Taste follows the nose but slightly sweet with a bit of coffee, no malt, no hops, no yeast. Sweetness builds in the aftertaste. No ethanol (9.3 % ABV, as marked on container) taste or aroma. Moderate gastric warming. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl. Is that cognac I taste? Maybe/maybe not.
Palate – 3.5 – Medium, watery, lively carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 3.25 Apparently, it’s the coffee that’s aged in cognac barrels before adding to the unbarreled porter. There is a miasmic presence haunting the aftertaste that might be the cognac. Average brew at a premium price.

Dislcaimer : I do not know what happened here.

Review : 12 oz bottle, 2020 vintage, into Calusa Brewery Snifter.

Has a light brown pour with a slight red tinge (but only slight), forming a slick black body in the snifter with a half finger of creamy head that leaves generous lace when swirled.

Aroma from the bottle is somewhat atrocious and gives me a red wine vinegar note along with sandwich spread and salami. Smells like a sub sandwich. The aroma from the glass is more forgiving and gives me red wine-soaked roasted malt and some chocolate notes. Still get a bit of the vinegar here too and a bit of the old salami.

I can't keep this beer in my mouth long enough before my brain tells me to spit it out - as in, a dangerous thing to swallow. I want to taste the flavors but I have been unsuccessful in three tries to keep it in my mouth. It's red wine vinegar, bacteria, dried wine barrel, maggots maybe(?), and bad meat. Wife says essentially the same, but was able to swallow it - and subsequently went to the sink to wash her mouth out.

Feel is irrelevant because I can't keep it in my mouth long enough to develop a profile.

Overall, something went seriously, seriously wrong here. It's this primal instinct to spit it out as if it were poison. Taste preference has nothing to do with it. My body is telling me not to drink it. A "1" overall. This is really something else. Never encountered this before, ever. Would give it 1's across the board but I have to be respectful of each category.

This is as much of a drain pour as anything will ever be.

$8.99 / bottle @ Martin's in NOLA, probably the biggest loss of any single beer I've bought.

 

Pours a chestnut tinged mahogany with one finger of tan head. Traces of lacing & zero head retention

S: Some Brandy boozeyness & coffee, a little chocolate late

T: Follows the nose, some plum & dark chocolate up front. Dry roastyness & a little Baker's chocolate as this warms, plus a little leafy hop & fig. Finishes with with a hint of booze, roasty dryness & coffee, plus some vanilla late to the party

MF: Medium body, dialed back carbonation

I would never guess this as the ABV. I feel like this doesn't really deliver on the barrel aspects & the coffee should be more pronounced

Bottled 11/23/21. Drank 3/28/22
Pour is a deep brown/black with a deep khaki head that fades quickly
Nose is subtle coffee, roasted grain, red wine grape, oak tanin
Taste is grape, oak tanin, cognac, toffee, subtle coffee. Red wine, cherry, raspberry. Hint of vanilla

2022 version bottled 10/27/22. Drank 2/22/23.
Much heavier on the cognac barrel than I remember 2021 being. raspberry / cherry acidity. overtakes the base beer.

It's good but doesn't stand out. Cognac barrel flavor could be upped a little.

French Press Cognac Barrel-Aged has a medium, khaki head, a dark brown, with lighter-brown highlights, appearance, and minimal lacing. The aroma is of dark-roasted malt and coffee, but no cognac. The flavor is similar, with low bitterness. French Press Cognac Barrel-Aged has a medium body and a mostly-dry finish.

RJT

 

A: Pours a near opaque black color. A two finger dark beige head rises with good retention and plenty of lace left behind.
S: Toasted malts, baked bread, and wonderful wood aromas bellowing out of the glass. Vanilla, toffee, and coffee shows up in the back end but builds as this warms and creates a great layered aroma.
T: Up front is all the barrel character you would want. Wood, vanilla, sweetness, toffee, a bit of char. As this warms dark fruits come out, with plums and even grapes. Coffee of coarse, and milk chocolate. Lots going on here, and it all works really well together.
M/O: A full body with high carbonation, which is kind of a staple for Saint Arnold Barrel Aged beers. They usually are much more effervescent than a lot of others stouts around with the same gravity. A bit tannin like as well, then smooths out as this breaths. A wonderful sipper, with just enough alcohol presents to be noticeable and warming, and I'm going to enjoy this.

Everything is so well balanced here, which is to be expected from Saint Arnold. Glad I found a bottle of this and will need to pick some more up when I see it again. Well done all around.