Bourbon Barrel-Aged Baltic Porter
Cycle Brewing

 

 

Dark pour from the bottle, strong smell of the barrel right out of the gate. This is a high quality porter. Taste up front is chocolate, barrel, char, and finishes with tobacco, leather and bitter barrel char. The mouthfeel is thick and viscous. Overall this is a phenomenal porter that drinks more like a stout. A fine porter I strongly recommend

 

 

22 OZ BOTTLE! SPLIT WITH MY WIFE! LET’S ALL YELL BECAUSE WE CAN’T GO TO RESTAURANTS!

Light goes into the beer, bounces around, & doesn’t come black out. Nose is tame: malty.

Cycle Barrel Aged Baltic Porter does the unthinkable: makes a beer smoky without making it terrible. The smokiness up front is understated but assertive, like that bartender who catches your eye repeatedly but won’t take your order. Malt drives this, with successive blasts of sweet maltiness, sprinkled with light bourbon, black leather, black licorice, with a dry, chalky finish (black chalk, or maybe shoe polish).

Very good beer: a good dose of the barrel would have pushed this over the borderline of excellence.

Deep space black, faint brown ring. Bourbon warms a bath of dark chocolate, licorice, leather, wood, prune, soil, and caramel, a combination that represents the hight of the style. Taste is sharp with the wood, licorice, and some kind of root, with lush plum, prune, and fig, while the bourbon builds upon the path of char, leather and earth, leading to a boozy crescendo with the licorice in particular. Stays medium bodied but very warm with booze, sticky and chewy. Top notch baltic porter

04/25/20 bottle @ home

 

 

9200th review! 22 ounce bottle into snifter, 2019 vintage bottling. Pours dense opaque pitch black color with a 1 finger fairly dense and fluffy dark tan head with solid retention, that reduces to a thin ring of lace cap that lingers. Minimal spotty lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of big dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, vanilla, bourbon, toasted oak, coconut, fudge, brownie batter, marshmallow, biscuit, and dark bread/crust; with lighter notes of licorice, molasses, raisin, fig, date, smoke, char, leather, tobacco, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/oaky earthiness. Minimal booze in the aromas as it warms. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of dark/black/roast/bready malts, bourbon barrels, and light earthy hop/fruity yeast notes; with big strength. Taste of huge dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, vanilla, bourbon, toasted oak, coconut, fudge, brownie batter, marshmallow, biscuit, and dark bread/crust; with lighter notes of licorice, molasses, raisin, fig, date, smoke, char, leather, tobacco, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/oaky earthiness. Mild herbal, grassy, peppery, roast, charred bitterness; and bourbon/oak tannin spiciness on the finish. Lingering notes of dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, vanilla, bourbon, toasted oak, coconut, fudge, brownie batter, marshmallow, biscuit, dark bread/crust, licorice, molasses, dark fruit, smoke, char, leather, tobacco, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/oaky earthiness on the finish for a while. Fantastic complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/black/roast/bready malts, bourbon barrels, and light earthy hop/fruity yeast flavors; with a great roast/hop bitter/sweet and bourbon/oak spiciness balance; with no cloying, acrid, astringent flavors after the finish. Lightly increasing dryness from lingering bitter/spiciness. Very clean on lager flavors, with minimal fruity/yeasty notes. Light-medium carbonation and full full body; with a very smooth, creamy/silky/velvety/bready, and lightly slick/sticky/chalky/tannic mouthfeel that is fantastic. Mild increasing warmth of 10%, with minimal barrel booziness lingering after the finish. Overall this a fantastic Baltic porter. All around fantastic complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/black/roast/bready malts, bourbon barrels, and light earthy hop/fruity yeast flavors; very smooth and dangerously easy to suip on for the big ABV, with the mildly bitter/tannic/drying finish; amazingly soft/silky feel for the ABV. Amazing balance of super rich malts and bourbon barrel presence/integration; with mild earthy hops and fruity yeast. Not overly sweet/heavy from lingering dryness. A highly enjoyable offering, and outstanding spot on style example as expected.

 

 

 

Picked up a bottle a few months ago at Hollingshead Deli in Orange, CA. Pulled and gave a light chill. Served 54* in my Avery snifter.
As expected ... poured black as sin with a quick one finger head that quickly dissolved into a tan thin ring and beer showed slight hints of burnt orange at edge when held to light.
Nose was a bit reserved but taste was explosive. Huge waves of gentle roasted malts; dried dates and fig; vanilla and wood. Bourbon was present but as a complement not a driver. Black licorice but more sweet than bitter. Never cloying.
Superbly smooth and silky. Never too heavy; never sticky. Hints of espresso.
Highly impressed and enjoyed. Fairly pricey but definitely worth it at @$1.00/ounce.
Excellent.