Sorrow (Bourbon Barrel Aged)
Ocelot Brewing Company

Pours a medium dark brown. Kind of like a well stained floor in a well made house. None of this gray stain floor shit. Toffee, caramel, roasted nuts on the nose. It’s very nut forward. The fusel alcohol note is very prominent. Has a chocolate covered raisins soaked in alcohol kind of note. It’s on the dry side.The feel suffers from the alcohol note, but it's overall a pretty good barleywine.

 

 

 

 

On tap at brewery:
A dull medium dark brown looks as though it lacks a clarity of substance, completed by the darker color. Head is modest overall but pretty good for a higher ABV BA brew. Soapy off-white to light beige in color, stickiness provides better lacing than expected.

Nose is a little on the sweet side of malty, with brown sugar dried dates being the main impression. Hints of molasses that was aged in bourbon barrels briefly. There’s a little leathery note that is more ABA as it warms, but the sweeter notes reign.

Brown sugar, bourbon barrel vanilla, and to a lesser degree raisin come to mind on first sip. A bite of bourbon and some earthy or spicy hop bitterness (hard to distinguish if bite is hop or spirit) hit mid-taste but don’t put a big dent in the initial flavors.

This is a tad thick and sticky, and that overall is the thing that drug my ratings down about a notch each. It could work decently as an after dinner drink; it’s not quite a dessert beer, but it’s a little closer to one than I’d prefer.