Strait Of Calais
River's Edge Brewing Co

 

 

22 ounce bottle into tulip glass, bottled on 5/22/2017. Pours moderately hazy/cloudy deep orange amber/light copper color with a 1-2 finger dense and fluffy off white head with good retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a moderate amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas of big caramel, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, toffee, bourbon, coconut, toasted oak, brown bread, golden raisin, plum, pear, and red apple; with light notes of pepper, clove, herbal, and yeast/toasted earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of dark/bready malt, fruity yeast, honey, and bourbon barrel notes; with great strength. Taste of big caramel, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, toffee, bourbon, coconut, toasted oak, brown bread, golden raisin, plum, pear, and red apple; with lighter notes of pepper, clove, herbal, and yeast/toasted earthiness. Light peppery yeast and bourbon/oak spiciness on the finish. Lingering notes of caramel, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, toffee, bourbon, coconut, toasted oak, brown bread, golden raisin, plum, pear, red apple, light pepper/clove, herbal, and yeast/toasted earthiness on the finish for a while. Great complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready malt, fruity yeast, honey, and bourbon barrel flavors; with a nice malt/spiciness balance, and zero cloying sweetness after the finish. Medium carbonation and medium-full body; with a very smooth, creamy, bready, and silky mouthfeel that is fantastic. Lightly slick, sticky, tannic, and drying. Mildly increasing warmth of 8%, with slight barrel booze lingering after the finish. Overall this is an excellent barrel aged Biere de Garde. All around great complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready malt, fruity yeast, honey, and bourbon barrel flavors; very smooth and easy to drink for the ABV. Very rich and complex dark/bready malts with nice fruity yeast presence; and fantastic barrel integration. Never overly boozy, tannic, or drying. A very enjoyable offering, and spot on style example. Got better as it warmed. Aromas were pretty fruity initially, but balanced out perfectly.

500ml bottle format appears a hazy copper color with a white froth that holds decent.

The nose on this is sweet and boozy. As it warms up a pretty distinct acetaldehyde character emerges smelling of green apples with a backing of vegetal matter.

The taste is a sweet hot mess of booze and dirty honey. I could almost forgive the green apple taste if this was brandy barrel aged but since it was in bourbon, its quite distracting.

This is medium to fuller bodied with modest carbonation. Not good....and thats not just me being a jerk - the guy I shared it with was also quick to the drainpour. You cant win them all, better luck next time.