Barrel-Aged Baltic Porter
Upper Hand Brewery

On tap over at Saraveza last night. According to the beer board menu, this was the 2015 vintage (which seems incredible).

The beer pours a dark brown color with pretty good head retention and lacing. On the nose I'm getting considerable dark chocolate and vanilla, with maybe sone underlying bourbon/whiskey. This smells pretty good, though I'm not getting a lot of barrel chatacter on the nose. The flavor profile replicates the nose pretty closely, but is a bit richer and sweeter than I was expecting. Once again, I'm not getting a huge amount of barrel character, but there's some. Mouthfeel is full and fairly soft, with a long, moderately sweet finish. Alcohol is very well integrated into the flavor profile, and I found this beer almost too easy to drink.

Very nice beer from this new to me brewery. That being said, I drink a fair amount of aged ba beers, and this has none of the tertiary flavors I typically associate with a 10 year old beer. So more than likely this was not the 2015 version of this beer that I sampled. Regardless, this is a solid effort from the folks at Upper Hand.

 

Pours dark brown with a thin, creamy, tan head that is short lived.

Smells of sweet caramel malts, light dark fruit and oaky barrel and vanilla.

Tastes smooth bourbon and sweet Caramel malts up front. Then molasses, hints of dark fruit, toasted malt and vanilla. Finish is a lightly Sweet with a light vanilla and dark fruit linger. Full body and lighter, creamy, smooth carbonation.

Wow... what a brew! Upper Hand really outdid themselves with this one! This brew looks like motor oil with only a slight ring of tan bubbles in the glass. It'll knock you on your ass, if you're not careful! The malts and oak are extremely present, and unlike some porters, the beer doesn't taste "burnt." There's a strong sweetness present, as well. If you're a fan of heavy, dark and malty brews, you'll likely love this one!