Double Barrel Porter
Calvert Beer Company

A little history about this beer; it's a very rare pilot batch Calvert first made before even starting up. It's a brown porter aged in both chambourcin and (I believe) chardonnay wine barrels, and it's 6% (small for a BA brew). Calvert's Senor Besos is *sort of* similar, but not really the same thing.

Very much a brown porter in appearance, it pours a decidedly dark chestnut color. The head is three fingers high and lighter khaki in shade. It doesn't have an even texture, but it has decent (not great) retention, and doesn't leave any lacing on the glass.

At my first whiff of the aroma, I get an impressive amount of red/white wine grapes coming through - both are ringing distinctly alongside some subtle oak. The former lightens up as this opens up, while the latter becomes more assertive (adding a great vanilla characteristic along the way). Additional brown sugar, molasses, milk chocolate, and caramel. Beautifully balanced and delicate: it hits all the notes a brown ale/lighter porter should, with the barrel adding a great character without detracting in any way.

Happily, the flavor closely follows the nose. I first get some caramel and oak, followed by wine grapes in the mid-taste. There's a long yet subtle jammy aftertaste. What surprises me is how there seems to be a mild yet prevalent Belgian influence to it - black pepper and bread introduces itself alongside raisins and currants. Additional qualities of dark chocolate and vanilla pop up after a while. Despite the smaller gravity, it has a wonderful depth to it. Let me correct that: it has a wonderful and cohesive depth to it. It's definitely NOT a American-style porter most would expect; it's an old-school English brown porter with hints of Belgian yeast and wine barrels, and it's utterly brilliant.

Surprisingly light and airy in feel - the texture itself is very redolent of a Belgian-style dark ale. So is the lively, mouth-filling carbonation, and so is the dry finish. This had to have been bottle conditioned, there's no other way. The feel and the finish were both nailed - this is normally where an American-made Belgian ale falls short. It's dry without compromising the texture or intensity of flavor. I could drink this sucker all damn day.

I remember tasting this, and it gave me so much confidence that this local brewery would actually produce good beer. They did and still are, but that's not the point. The Belgian yeast elements threw me for a loop initially (they weren't present in the previous batch - though it's a tiny pilot batch, it's also been tweaked quite a few times), but it really works here. This would be an absolutely *killer* base for a properly developed sour ale. If Senor Besos (another BA porter from Calvert) is even half this good, I'll call it a roaring success. Seriously, it's up there with some of the finest barrel-aged brews I've ever had - a shame this particular batch will never be brewed again.

4.46/5: The most endlessly drinkable barrel-aged beer I've ever had, that's for sure