Inkwell - Sauternes Barrel-Aged
Muddy York Brewing Co.

Appearance: Black as night, as light cannot pierce it's inky darkness. That said, the great issue of reviewing Stout comes forward as there wasn't event a pinky worth of head, so obviously no lace or retention happened here.

Smell: Strong dark chocolate malt with a white wine presence and a big of implacable hint of sweetness on the nose. Didn't need warming to come out as it's quite potent.

Taste: We start out with that sweet; well I want to say chardonnay note but I think I'm only saying chardonnay as it's really the only other white wine I've enjoyed apart from Riesling which this isn't. That is partnered with a subtle dark chocolate malt that takes over and builds to a bitter end of the beer.

Mouthfeel: The carbonation left very much to be desired, both in terms of the lack of head but also that the beer was quite flat. I'm not sure if that was the intent, but given this bottle was wax capped, and this is a special release that seems meant to be aged, it has to be brought up. That said, the transitioning is great, although really draws out the chocolate note so that it's presence is incredibly mild and short lived in the aftertaste.

Drinkability: Very heavy, as I would expect from a stout like this, however that early wine note, while certainly helping the beer appear boozy, seems to lighten the experience a bit, but not so much where you a drinking cake. It settles down due to the low carbonation, but it goes down well enough.

Final Thoughts: I still feel the sherry cask was the best one of this series, but I enjoyed this one quite a bit more then the port cask they made one year. This was a rare case of a wine barrel aged beer that I enjoyed. That said, that it came from a type of wine that until I got this bottle, had only heard mentioned in passing on the TV show Brooklyn Nine-Nine. That said, I still love what the Inkwell series is all about. Same beer, different barrel, very interesting.