Barrel Project 17.03
Brouwerij Kees

4 June 2020 - Beer #111

Corona Day #84

Price: $7.99 at Top Shelf Wine & Spirits in Las Vegas, NV

Appearance: 3 - pretty ugly. A murky maple syrupy brown with zero head. Only avoided a 2 because the color is quite dark.

Nose: 5 - mmm, all barrel all the time. Those Dutchmen aren't messing around here.

Taste: 5 - this is stupendous. Tons of barrel, no bitterness at all (good). The sweetness is held up by a massive dark fruit foundation. Not boozy in the slightest.

Mouth: 3 - pretty dead, not much carbonation. Glides down effortlessly, but not in a good way.

Overall: 4 - a strange beer experience for sure. Extremely tasty, but oddly brewed.

Stay safe out there, my friends.

Cheers!

I think I owe Mikexw for this one (I forgot to label the bottle). 11.2oz bottle poured into 14oz teku. Poured a very dark brown (almost black) with just a hint of translucence around very top rim. An extremely thin cap of tan head immediately dissipated, left no lacing, but did have very good legs.

The aroma had rich, deep grains, some raisiney aspects, a touch of barrel, and bit of alcohol heat. Maybe a hint of wine, as well? Pretty similar on the tongue, the raisin was dominant, and all the other aspects were fairly well distributed. There wasn't as much alcohol heat as the aroma had led me to expect.

The body was, as expected, full and smooth, and had rich, silky, sweet finish. Drinkability was very good, although, this is certainly a sipper, not a gulper. Overall, a very nice brew. You probably won't see this version around, but I would recommend other vintages/variants if you see them.

 

 

 

 

Pours a dark, burgundy red with very slight carbonation, nearly still in the glass. Aroma of dry caramel malt, fresh and dried plums, whiskey, oaky vanilla, rather boozy. Flavor is caramel malt, fresh and dried plum reduction, raisins, figs, whiskey, oaky vanilla. Finishes deep and full bodied dark fruit like a plum liqueur with a touch of grassy hops. Heavy, almost syrupy, body, with a luxurious mouth feel; mellow, but quite sufficient carbonation despite the quiet pour. This is a wow beer. The still pour made me nervous, but it smells pretty good and on style. The flavor, however, is really rich and deep, like a fruit reduction. Although boozy in the aroma and in the taste, the flavor is so rich that the alcohol feels just right. This is an unexpectedly flavorful and full bodied barleywine. It leans more towards an English barleywine in flavor, but does have a light grassy hop character in the finish that is more similar to the American style. No matter, the flavor is so rich that there is plenty to keep my interest. Very nicely done. I bought this a while ago and hope I can find another to cellar, it is a great candidate. I was already a fan of Kees, but this is still a pleasant surprise.

One of my beer buds held this in the back for me as he knows I love barley wines. Told him I'm not the biggest American BW fan, but double barreled? I'm in. Murky brown color. Smell is HEAVY raisin and caramel. I thought this was an American BW? No hops whatsoever. No head. Mild lacing. Flavor is raisin and caramel overload. Vanilla, molasses, tobacco, leather.... I get heavy whiskey as well. What's the other barrel? Cognac? Can't tell and its not listed anywhere. This is mind-blowing. Moderate chewy body for a BW. Overall, at this point in my 47 years, this is by far, the undisputed, best ABW I've ever had. Maybe because its more like an English? I dunno and I don't care.

-murky brown bottle pour with little visible carbonation. Aroma is sweet fruit, caramel and cognac. The flavor is very rich and boozy with dark, dried fruit dominating. There is no alcohol heat. Fig and some oak are detectable in the finish. This is a treat.

 

Pours a deep tan that's opaque. There's no head and no lacing.

The smell is oak, caramel, whiskey, and a hint of dark fruit.

The taste is super sweet and loaded with raisin. It's basically like drinking whiskey-soaked raisins.

The mouthfeel is medium thick, low carbonation, and very smooth

Overall this is a great beer, very sweet, but not cloying.

 

 

Lighter brown appearance with slight tan head that dissipates quickly. Aroma is a very pleasant Slightly sweet standard barleywine aroma. Taste is also a slightly sweet very pleasant standard barleywine.

L: Poured from a bottle to a pint glass. Had a medium brown color and a murky consistency. There was a small amount of foamy head that quickly dissipated. Not much lacing here.

S: An incredibly good aroma of caramel, toffee, malt, dark fruit, whiskey, and vanilla.

T: Tasted of a moderate amount of malt, lots of toffee and caramel (it's a super sweet flavor), some whiskey notes, dark fruit (raisins, in particular), and light vanilla. This is a big, bold, bracing flavor. It's very focused and uniquely complex. The addition of the whiskey barrel works quite well.

F: A below average amount of carbonation with a smooth finish. Medium- to full-bodied.

O: This is an excellent example of a barleywine. Well made and easy to drink.

11.2 ounce bottle, best before 05/20 printed on the bottle cap. Label says 12% ABV. Served in a snifter, the beer pours a dark brown color with some reddish tinges. There's about a half inch light tan head that fizzled away kinda quickly, and there's also a small amount of lacing. Aroma is nice and sweet, the brew smells like toffee, brown sugar, vanilla, whiskey, dark fruit and some chocolate. Just like the aroma, I think the taste is mostly sweet too. There's brown sugar, dark fruit (raisins), vanilla, whiskey, toffee, molasses, chocolate, earthy, oak and some booziness all noticeable. Mouthfeel/body is medium/full, it's slick and smooth with a low/moderate amount of carbonation. I think this is a pretty good barrel aged barleywine, glad I bought this when I saw it! Recommend this one to those who like the sweeter tasting barleywines. $6.99 a bottle.

 

Very nice double barrel aged barleywine. Very strong aromas of molasses, maple and barrel notes. I would say bourbon and cognac but I'm not quite sure. The maple is very present in the flavour too. Good balance between the sweetness and the acidity from the barrel aging. Not that boozy despite the high abv. It hits you a while after

On tap at Beavertown Extravaganza. Aroma has raisins, dark fruits, brown sugar and whiskey. Taste has sweet malts, dried dates and figs, burnt sugar and whiskey.

Poured from 0.33 l bottle into chalice.
L: dark brown color with a weak foam head.
S:plums, caramel. Wine
T: sweety. Winy. Saturated. Coffee in aftertaste.
F: medium body and soft carbonation
O: great ale. worth a taste.