Total Recall
Drake's Brewing Co.

Looks like this was the 14th beer I had at the Bistro's West Coast Barrel Aged Beer Festival held on November 12, 2011. An amber beer and an imperial stout blended results in a murky brown color that brings a lighter shade of brown to the head that starts out in the good range of 1/2", but then recedes quickly into a fine film in the 1/10" range. Aroma seemed to put more of the stout and port barrel at the forefront as expected over the amber side of the beer.

Taste wise, the amber continues to be swallowed up by the other more dense and lasting flavors. There is some expected undercurrents of caramel and toffee, they get earthed up and oaked up along the way, the port barrel isn't overly sweet, but either it or the imperial stout (Russian?) give the beer plenty of bitter dark fruit notes along the way. There's an average amount of alcohol booziness for 8%.

At the end of the day, its a good beer I was happy to try, even if the oaky dry dark fruit thing isn't necessarily my jam.

 

 

On tap at Far Bar in Los Angeles, CA.

Pours a murky and turbid brown with a foamy khaki head that settles to an oily film on top of the beer. Thin streaks of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Smell is of malt, port, wood, brown sugar, and vanilla aromas. Taste is much the same but is slightly sour and comes with an alcohol kick on the finish. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a slightly crisp and somewhat drying mouthfeel. Overall, this is a good barrel aged beer but I wasn't expecting the slight sourness in the flavor and I am not too sure if it was intended.

A - Served a cloudy black-amber color with a thin finger of frothy tan head. The head fades down at a normal pace leaving behind some nice lace.

S - The aroma is a mix of dark roasted malts with some sweet port, oak, caramel, booze, and a touch of hops.

T - Starts off with some sweet toasted caramel malts with some dark grape and oak. Through the middle some stronger port flavor comes through with more rich caramel malt and a touch of light booze. The finish is a mix of sweet malt with some booze, red grape, and a touch of hop bitterness.

M - Medium-full bodied with moderate carbonation. Feels smooth with a nice sweet and warming finish.

D - Very drinkable. Nice combination of malt flavors from the amber and the stout and the port barrel aging adds another layer of tasty complexity.

 

On tap @ the barrel house, which turned out to be my favority brewery in all of Norcal due to this beer and Brandy Witches alone.

A: Dark brown w/ ambering trim. Minimal off white head that fades fast. Looks stagnent and thin yet silky and viscous

S: Lots of dark fruits and a warm sweetness akin preserves or syrup.

T: Have to agree on the fig newtons, it's the prominent flavor and so much that it even seems to impart a bit of the grit of fig newtons. Otherwise, there is a moderate amount of oak that's well placed as well as port which seems to accentuate the figs and secondary dark fruit flavors.

M: Thick, sweet, low low carbonation.

O: I love this stuff. I tried to buy a barrel from them.

On-tap at Drake's Barrel House

A rather dark amber color with an off-white head. A chocolatey aroma with quite a bit of toffee and oxidation. A little brown sugar and dark fruit in there, too. The flavor has an intense jam flavor, almost a bit of fig newton cookie and chocolate to it as well. Definitely some oak as well as toffee and caramel. Medium bodied with medium carbonation.