Savage Oak - Bourbon Barrel Aged Currant Ruby
Imperial Oak Brewing
- From:
- Imperial Oak Brewing
- Illinois, United States
- Style:
- Flanders Red Ale
- ABV:
- 8.5%
- Score:
- +7 ratings needed
- Avg:
- 4.1 | pDev: 3.41%
- Ratings:
- | reviews: 2
- Status:
- Active
- Rated:
- Aug 26, 2025
- Added:
- Mar 01, 2024
- Wants:
- 0
- Gots:
- 0
NO SCORE
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Brewed with Munich and CaraMunich malts for some sweetness and a bready, toasted malt character. The beer is then aged for over a year in an oak Foeder with our custom blend of wild yeast and bacteria for a complex blend of flavors including pie cherry, stone fruits, berries, oak and a mild, earthy funk at the end. After Foeder aging, this version has an additional aging in stainless with real, Currant juice. Adding the juice to the fermenter allows the simple sugars to ferment, preventing the beer from becoming too sweet. The beer was then aged for an additional year + in Buffalo Trace Bourbon barrels. The extra aging adds complexity and notes of Bourbon, vanilla, dark fruits, spice, and oak.
Recent ratings and reviews.
Ratings by GrumpyGas:
Reviewed by GrumpyGas from Illinois
3.97/5 rDev -3.2%
look: 3.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
3.97/5 rDev -3.2%
look: 3.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
An undated 16.9oz bottle poured into a tulip glass shows an ugly, dull looking, muddy, ruddy brown body that only briefly holds a loudly dissapating 1/4" cap of ruby tinged bubbles. When backlit the clear body glows like a ruby.
Bourbon kissed fruit aroma portends a tart and sour elixir that doesn't disappoint.
Taste is tart cherry/currant lead and quite high on the pucker scale. Bourbon notes lean wet oak, especially due to foeder fermentation prior to aging bourbon barrels.
Overall a very tart sour change of pace, but not a looker.
Aug 03, 2024Bourbon kissed fruit aroma portends a tart and sour elixir that doesn't disappoint.
Taste is tart cherry/currant lead and quite high on the pucker scale. Bourbon notes lean wet oak, especially due to foeder fermentation prior to aging bourbon barrels.
Overall a very tart sour change of pace, but not a looker.
More User Ratings:
Reviewed by stortore from Illinois
4.3/5 rDev +4.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
4.3/5 rDev +4.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
500 ml bottle into a tulip glass. Had 4/27/25.
Pours a mostly opaque purplish amber color, with a one inch creamy foam head and light foamy lacing. Aromas of malt, currants, vanilla, some oak, light bourbon, a light funk, light cherry. Smells sour and tart. Flavors of currants, malt, vanilla, some bourbon and oak, a light funk, a little cherry. Tastes tart and sour. Smooth, a very good medium body, well carbonated.
A solid effort. The currants are vivid, and the lighter barrels add a good amount of vanilla. There’s a pretty good amount of tartness and sourness that moderates throughout the bottle- or I got used to it. Really nice.
Aug 26, 2025Pours a mostly opaque purplish amber color, with a one inch creamy foam head and light foamy lacing. Aromas of malt, currants, vanilla, some oak, light bourbon, a light funk, light cherry. Smells sour and tart. Flavors of currants, malt, vanilla, some bourbon and oak, a light funk, a little cherry. Tastes tart and sour. Smooth, a very good medium body, well carbonated.
A solid effort. The currants are vivid, and the lighter barrels add a good amount of vanilla. There’s a pretty good amount of tartness and sourness that moderates throughout the bottle- or I got used to it. Really nice.
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