Brandy Barrel Aged Jolly Rodger
Drake's Brewing Co.

 

 

Received in a fantastic trade with urwatuh8. Huge thanks!

6 ounce bottle, no dating noticed, states ABV 11.10%. Sampled from wide-mouthed red wine glass, beer-clean.

Appearance: deep hazy, almost murky medium-brown, limited head, almost no head retention, zero lacing. Bottle shows significant yeast slurry, also on cap, and in neck of bottle. (Disclosure: I just received it this morning and couldn't wait to taste something from this trade, so the disturbed sediment/slurry is very likely attributable to shipping.)

Aroma: deep rich sweet oak and whiskey barrel flavors are huge. Notes of steonfruit, prunes, possibly plums.

Taste: the oak is big in this, with a tangy sweet ester taste. The alcohol body is surprisingly well balanced. Stonefruit, prunes, plums, perhaps dark cherries. Delicious.

Mouth: Competing thin from the high ABV, and thick from the body. Not the beer's finest point.

Overall: A solid, fun, interesting beer, and a well done example of a huge beer in oak. Complex and kind of complicated to evaluate, given a lack of style benchmarks: it's relatively rare to see any Sottish style, even wee heavy/scotch, taken up to this high an ABV, much less aged in bourbon barrels, so I think it's a very good representation of an essentially experimental style/variation.

Had this beer at Christmas in July at Barclay's on College in Oakland, California in 2007. The beer board listed it as having been brewed in 1990! Served by the 1/2 pint. Poured a murky brown with no head- to be expected from such an old ale, but really, it's prettty ugly. The smell is of very ripe fruit, sweet tarts candy, alcohol, banana bread. Complex and warming. The taste is even better, similar flavors as the aromas, but with the addition of tart apple and a long big brandy finish. A little tannic bitternesss throughout. Unusual and delicious. Mouthfeel is rich and smooth, and despite the lack of head, surprisingly carbonated given the age. Unusual to say the least and quite boozy tasting. It's a treat after dinner, but I don't know if I'd want more than one. I'm not a fan of all of Drake's barrel aged beers, especially given their cost. This one is worth looking for, and it wasn't obscenely priced. Who know if anymore will show up, but you never can tell with Drake's. Although this was technically labelled as 1990 Drake's Brandy Barrel Aged Jolly Rodger, I left off the 1990 when I added it to the database thinking that other year's might crop up and don't necessarily warrant their own listing given howw rare this is anyway.