Barrel Demon
Miyashita Shuzo

 

 

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a very dark mahogany brown with moderat light transmission and a fine light khaki head that slowly dissipates to nothing over a short period. Aroma of dark toasted malt, dark dried fruit, licorice and cherry; quite boozy. Closer to a strong ale profile than a stout. Flavor is similar, with dark toasted malt, dark fruit resembling a fortified wine, like sherry, hints of cherry. Finishes with fresh dark fruit and cherry with mild estery notes and a little woodiness. Medium bodied with light creaminess. An impossible to catagorize beer. It's not really a stout, although the base beer has dark malt. It most resembles an American strong ale style beer because of the solid, dark base and interesting fruit notes and wood, as well as the robust alcohol.Rated as a strong ale because it is very nicely made and flavorful. It is a little boozy in the finish, which is it's only flavor flaw. Both this beer and its brewery are almost impossible to identify; different sites have different brewery names and even the manufacturer's site is ambiguous and confusing. The cap on my bottle said "DOPPO", which matches the other beer from the Miyashita Shuzo sake and beer brewery site, so I hope this is right.